First month in Bologna
My dear friends and family, thank you for coming to read my blog. I value your readership, and I’ll do my best to write consistently once more. The first month in Bologna has been fast-paced but an absolute delight. My purpose here is to finish my studies and attain my MA International Affairs at the one and only Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies here in Bologna. SAIS and its students, for better or worse, is its own bubble within the city. Nonetheless I could not ask for a more intelligent, stimulating, and challenging environment to be a part of. I will be here until May 2017, and I’m happy to have you here and to share our little world.
Bologna Institute for Policy Research (BIPR)
Anyone who knows me understands that I cannot just rest easy and study, but I have to work for something. I’ve been hired as the Social Media Coordinator for the Bologna Institute for Policy Research (BIPR), the policy and research division of SAIS. I’m excited to work here to position BIPR and SAIS as the leading academic environment that it is. Besides the Twitter and Facebook, (which of course you should follow now! 😉 ) I hope to get a podcast going based off of the weekly seminars given by revered academics. Ultimately, the goal is to put the SAIS Bologna Center on the foreground of International Relations Academics in Europe.
Day Trips out of Bologna
One grand thing about being among such adventurous types is that the friends you make are keen to see as much of Italy and Europe as possible in their 1-year here. I have the luck to join them whenever the chance presents itself, or of course when I organize a trip myself. So far, I’ve been to the beautiful Florence and the culinary capitals of Parma and Modena. You can rest assured that the Italian kitchen remains one of the best in the world. I look forward to seeing much much more throughout Italy, but also in neighboring countries, especially in Eastern Europe.
The Bologna Half-Marathon
One last thing to report is running the Bologan Half-Marathon this very morning. Never before have I ran such a long distance in a single go. Over the month that I’ve been here, several of my colleagues and I have been doing 21km training runs up to the famous San Luca overlooking Bologna. Though many more of those training runs need to be done until our next race, I’m proud of myself to have completed the 21km today. Nothing was better than being to walk out of my apartment and jog to blocks over to the starting line. Perks of living in the center of the city. Thank you to the mates that ran the half-marathon with me today, you motivated me to get to the 1 hour 40 minute mark today!
Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think, especially if you would like to read more!
Salute!
