Scuzzi, mi scuzzi!

It was on the train to Bologna where I had my first real EuroTrip moment. I'm in this little cabin with 6 seats, flanked by four older Germans who were in for the long haul overnight to Munchen. Our communication was less than passable, but we smiled and said "oy" when I put up my heavy suitcase and they were very impressed with my iPod shuffle that fits in my mouth. The best part, however, was when the 70-year old German man to my left decided it was time to fall asleep and rest his head on my shoulder. That, combined with a 40-minute delay on a 1-hour train made the trip interesting, but hey, I'm in Europe. Take a rest, and sleep on your neighbor.

It was great seeing Jess, my long lost wife who I hadn't seen since the past summer. She's having a great time in Bologna (a total college town: 100,000 students out of 400,000 residents) and living with three Italians in a nice flat.

She and I went around the markets and bought supplies for our impromptu Passover Seder, which she was hosting in her apartment for us and three of her friends. We then spent the afternoon cooking: beef goulash, tsimmes, stewed artichokes, charosis, hard boiled eggs, salt water, the works. Her friends brought the wine (6 bottles for the 5 of us), and we got started around 7pm. Jess compiled her own Haggadah, which was mostly a compilation of a basic family Haggadah and the Zeehandelaar family Haggadah. She also wrote a fantastic dramatic reading-style rendition of the story of the exodus which we performed with joy. I'll post the Haggadah in a few days when she sends me the PDF.

Needless to say, 4+ cups of wine (plus Elijah's, which I sneaked while the goyish guests opened the front door) we were quite spent, and ended up not leaving the apartment but rather watching YouTube videos that they hadn't seen since they havent been in the states. (Search "Kelly Shoes", "Tony vs Paul", and "Box in a Box" into youtube search).

Over the next couple of days, I was able to to again see most of Bologna, which is also a pretty walkable city. Main highlights are the central Piazza, with two towers (one leans, one you can climb), plus the university area and a few museums. It was my first time walking around a city alone where I didn't know the language (while Jess was in class), and while interesting, I found myself looking for everyone who looked American. I guess its not so easy to feel comfortable in a foreign city.

My time in Bologna was competed with two adventures. Last night, we were all planning (as in about 8 of Jess's friends from the program) to go to this huge gay club which apparently has quite the party on Wednesdays. The only problem is that you need a "Tessaro" to get in, basically a club membership, which can only be purchased one of two ways: either at this club, with the caveat that it can't be used for 24 hours, or at the sibling club completely on the other side of the city that could be used that night. Begging in Italian as she may, Jess could not convince the people to sell her a pass that would let her in immediately, so we schlepped across the entire city to buy this stupid pass. We made good time, and buses worked well, so we were back at the club by the time the others arrived at around 12:30am. It was truly quite the party, very European (i suppose?) and left around 3am for our 40-minute walk home. Quite an adventure.

The other slight obstacle to my plans came today, when I arrived at the airport at 9am for my 11am flight. MyAir, it seems, decided to reschedule the flight for 4pm, yet decided that it needn't notify the 150 people taking the flight. However, in true Zeehandelaar fashion, when life gave me lemons, I paid 20Eur to sit in the club with free snacks, couches, internet, and relative peace from the rest of the angsty travelers. So I've been able to pass the time fairly easily, catching up with the late owls in California (-9 hours) and even one friend in Beijing. Not to mention writing this blog post.

Italy, it seems, is a place that has its ways. People only drink coffee in espresso shots, and certain ways at certain times of the day. People dress to show their class, and therefore dress well. But it's a classy place, and if I spoke Italian I would probably find this a nice place to be. I'm very ready, though, to get on this damned plane to Spain.