Anna in Bologna: Study Abroad Spotlight

This week’s edition of Campus Celebrity features Barnard Junior Anna Carolan, currently spending the year abroad in Bologna, Italy. This experience has cultivated her deep love of the arts and personal philosophy that small moments matter the most. Anna is a talented storyteller, and we love hearing about life on the other side of the ocean! Read on to learn more about graffiti covered classrooms, how old Italian ladies act when they don’t approve your fashion choices, and so much more! 

1. Now that you’ve been there for almost a year, which restaurant and boutique owners know you at this point? Or alternatively, do you like returning to the same spots over and over again ?

I spend a scary amount of time at this one café called “Camera a sud.” I have tried almost every meat plate they have to offer and every combination of milk and coffee you can think of. My friends and I speak raucous and obnoxious English, so after about my 79th full day spent within the cozy interior one of the bartenders asked me for advice. She’s struggling to plan a road trip through New Orleans and up to California as a graduation present to herself, and wanted my advice. Even though – unbeknownst to my new friend — I grew up in one of farthest states from those beautiful corners of our country, we are now Facebook friends and share warm words every time I go. The café is only  a three-minute gallop from the University, and it therefore has become my refuge. The Gorgonzola, pear and coppa bruschetta, chocolate and pear tort, and Campari spritzs are currently my three major food groups.

2. What makes you feel like bologna has become your new home?

Bologna is a relatively small medieval pit of a city… and I say that in the most endearing way possible. I can walk the length of the city in 35 minutes yet have never felt underwhelmed or restless here. The city is the most porticoed in the world, so I am quite literally enveloped not only by Bologna’s culture but also by its architecture. I love this mini metropolis because of its claustrophobic nature; I never meet someone without running into him or her again, I never walk home alone at night with an inkling of fear for my safety. The University of Bologna is the oldest academic institution in Europe and second oldest in the world, therefore, the culture is one of great intellectual richness. This intensity permeates not just the city’s university life, it is reflected in the vermillion hues that swath the medieval and modern facades of each street, and saturates the savory palette of the Bolognese diet.

Bologna is home to about 70,000 students but attracts very few tourists, which is extremely nice. While my one-year stint here is shorter-lived than that of other University of Bologna students, I don’t feel like a cliché study abroad student. The Italians that frequent the ancient academic institution are from other regions of the nation, hours from home and a large part of the student body is comprised of international students. The beauty of Bologna is harder to find than that of cities like Florence and Rome; its charm is hidden in private palazzi and painted across the ceilings of strangers’ homes. 

3. Any creative or life changing experiences you’d like to share?

Attending classes both through my program and at an Italian university has strongly altered my perspective on education. This October I walked into my Semiotics of Art class and was transported to an alternate universe. The four walls of the lecture hall were covered in graffitti, and no one, save for maybe seven students, had arrived. I was on time, but failed to realize that when Italians say 3:00 they mean 3:30. Or 3:12. Or 3:24. Or never. When the room filled with students it reeked of cigarette smoke and 1970’s nostalgia, and when my professor traipsed through the doors no one stopped gossiping or groaning. Students talked at marathon pace through the entire class, others rolled cigarettes nervously, while some scribbled voraciously on their graph-lined notebooks. People stood in the middle of class and casually sauntered out, while others came about an hour into the lesson.

While this first class was a bit of a culture shock, what shocks me the most is how much I am now able to really appreciate my Barnard and Columbia classes. The exams here are mostly oral; students are expected to read the course texts and literally spit them back at their professors.  Also, papers are about as foreign to Italians as peanut butter or ripped tights.

4. How has your time abroad inspired your future?

I have definitely been inspired to continue expressing myself through what I wear. When someone looks different out eccentric here people take notice and aren’t afraid to voice their opinion or disgust. For instance, if I wear rights with holes in them people will stop me to let me know or if I’m showing too much skin old ladies will literally hiss at me as I walk down the street. People dress or the season and give a lot of time and effort into looking well put together here, so i don’t believe that Italians don’t appreciate style. Yet, these experiences have allowed me to realize how hard it is to be superficially “other” here.

I love Italy, but it is a place that moves painstakingly slow, especially in comparison to New York City. Yet living in the midst of this lethargy has taught me to live more patiently and to savor seemingly mundane moments, instead of consuming experiences and obsessing about my next project or goal. My time in Bologna has inspired not just my future but also how I perceive the future. I have no idea how my time here will affect my life, but I also don’t feel hard-pressed juice this year for tangible career opportunities or academic advances.

(Photo by Anna Carolan)