Bologna- My Trip To KΣ Birthplace

 So since before I arrived nearly six months ago, I wanted to get to Bologna Italy. It is the birthplace of one of the most important things in my life, something that has changed me to my core, it is where my Fraternity, Kappa Sigma, was founded.

With only a month left in Europe and having spent the last six months in Croatia, I have been feeling that my window of opportunity to visit my "Graceland" and every attempt to get there seemed to be doomed to fall apart. I could feel a shadow looming over this venture and I was going mad with trying to make the trip worked. Luckily for me I have met some wonderful people here. One friend, Nurra, and me have found similar spirits on one another and part of that spirit is spontaneity. So only two days before we decided to drive the seven hours to Bologna for only a few hours before having to return to pick someone up from and airport and heading back the seven hours trip to Zagreb.

So we got to the car rental place at around 8 in the morning. I was clearly not use to being up this early since... well since the day I woke up to get on the plane here. Not to mention I could barely sleep from finally getting to go to the one place I wanted to go to for so long. We got the car and we made sure the car we got was automatic, see in Europe everyone drive manual instead and I was not comfortable driving a manual car on the tiny streets of Europe. It was so nice to be behind the wheel of a car, it is funny how you miss the little things sometimes. So at 8:30 we headed out for Italy. But first we had to stop at Nura's boyfriends three hours away to drop off a package.

The first landmark we saw in Italy.

Once we got onto the road and headed out I realized we had no maps no gps (which in the states is just my regular phone) or anything to tell us where to go. I knew how to get to Nura's bf place because there was signs there but after that we were getting to Italy blind. This bothered me but not Nura, who just went with the flow. So three hours later we drop off the package and right before we leave I realized we could check the map, this turned out to be the smartest choice ever. Because for the rest of the trip down the Italian highway we were usually confused if we were on the right road, and that is with having written down the directions! The roads in Italy were not only lacking signage but are straight as an arrow. We would easily go 15-20 miles without an exit, gas station, or anything, that is including turns in the road. Not to mention the Italians drive CRAZY fast. For anyone one planning to do a road trip in Italy, be ready for small roads and fast speeds, my foot had the pedal all the way to the floor the entire time, that is roughly 110 mph. We had a small car but we were often passed by faster cars, the funny thing is the speed limit was supposed to be around 70 mph. But after many wrong turns and 7 hours of driving, we arrive in Bologna.

Bologna at first seemed underwhelming, it looked just like a modern city with no distinct culture or anything, for all I knew we could be in any country. So I was kinda let down as we parked the car and went searching for some landmarks that are important to KΣ. As we walked closer to the heart of the city my original feelings quickly melted into sheer joy as every step brought us into a world of the past. We first passed a huge old cathedral, from then on all the buildings had coat of arms of the people who paid for them, intricate carvings depicting family emblems. I finally felt like I was in Italy. Yet after driving so far I just wanted to sit down and have a cup of coffee. We could see huge landmarks and national jewels all around us, and here we are standing where millions of people and thousands of years have passed enjoying an espresso in the shade of these monuments. Yet we did pay for this luxury, we paid for one cup of coffee what we  would pay for an entire meal in Croatia. The funny thing is, that was just a regular price for coffee in Italy, Croatia is so wonderful to have many of the same beauty yet not leave you walking away from a meal nearly broke.

As we discovered the city I saw people drinking from a small fountain out in the open. I thought it was incredibly bizarre that drinking water was just coming out in the middle of the city. So I just had to have a sip! Then we walked around and saw some of the oldest schools in the world. Bologna is known as the city of letters and for good reason, the worlds first university was built here. One classroom was made completely of wood. it was amazing, on the ceiling you have nearly life sized wood figurines attached. It was one of the most impressive pieces of craftsmanship I have ever seen, if the had money to make rooms like this in the past, what on earth do our universities spend their money on now! Even the hallways were spectacular!

Over thousands of coat of arms decorated nearly every inch of the hallways, even the ceilings in the staircase had them, the years it would take to paint each coat of arm must have been ages! I wonder if each one represented a graduate from that school, in that case, I would love that tradition to make a comeback! But since most of the tours were in Italian or you had to pay for them and we were just sneaking about there was no sure fire way to know.

The coat of arms that hung all over the walls

After lurking through the city and exploring much of the city I finally saw what I came to see. Their are two towers in the city that are known. They say the towers are where the richest resided in the city. This is a city that held the place of popes, granted they were some of the worst popes in history. Now being a fraternity man and this being basically our holy ground I could not help but get a little stereotypical. I brought a paddle with me and a koozie from my fraternity and drank a beer in front of the monument. Then as I walked around the base of the smaller tower and noticed that the stones that made the tower were crumbling. So I walked around and without causing further damage collected the small rocks as gifts to my brothers back at the house. It was amazing, I was in pure bliss the entire time I was there! I am so lucky to have Nura along for this journey because she was so helpful in making this dream a reality. It was a wonderful three hours, it felt like we had just got there when we had to leave. 

We then left and drove back. After a few hours on the road we stopped only miles from the famous city of Venice at the airport. We picked up her sister (again after getting slightly lost on the confusing roads) and were on the last leg home. It was an amazing journey and we pulled in early in the morning and returned the car. The next day I woke up and it felt like just a dream, I was halfway through brushing my teeth the next morning before I remembered where I was the day before. But it is something that I will never forget. It is a time in my life where in less than a day I travel off to another country for 14 hours just to see a city in three hours. I hope I never lose that part of me, I hope I never find myself one day without out the will of adventure I posses now in my youth.