I can’t believe that we’ve been in Italy for three whole weeks! Time goes by so fast when you’re having fun 😀 This was definitely a busy week, both in and outside class. We started a new course, MECH 203, which is definitely more intensive than the last one. The course, mainly about SolidWorks, consists of lectures, tutorials you have to complete on your own, and two projects. While interesting, it is quite a bit of work. Still, we managed to find time to explore Italy a bit more.
This Tuesday, some classmates and I took 6 hours of trains in total to see the famous leaning tower of Pisa. We climbed the tower and you can really feel the tilt in the tower as you’re doing so. We also visited the attached cathedral and museum, then ate at this great pasta place that lets you customize your own pasta.
Pisa
As our days in Bologna are numbered, I decided to spend my Wednesday afternoon further exploring the city. After lunch, my first stop was a gelateria, Delizie Bolognesi. Their Nettuno flavor (a blend of sea salt, vanilla, and lemon zest, with added pistachio crunch) is my favorite in Italy so far, so of course I had to go back. I then visited the Civic Archaeology Museum and the Archiginnasio Palace. The museum has a really large collection of ancient Roman and Egyptian artifacts. While I visited the Palace before, I wasn’t able to get tickets to the anatomical theater, which is the room where dissection lectures were held, so that’s what I did this time.
On my post-lunch stroll
I also visited some beautiful churches, namely the Basilica of San Domenico and the seven churches of Santo Stefano. I also came accross what I assume is a theater troupe in the middle of a dramatic performance (that I unfortunately couldn’t understand) in the square right in front. I finished up my walk at the Osteria dell’Orsa, where I had the Bolognese classic tagliatelle al ragu.
Old churches and delicious tagliatelle
On Thursday we visited Parma University for a class trip. After we arrived, Dr. Trevas gave a lecture. Then, we visited some mechanical engineering labs in the university and heard about the research they were working on. After that, we ate lunch at the school cafeteria with some of the students.
Food from their cafeteria + campus view
For project 1 in MECH 203, which was to model something in SolidWorks with design tables and patterns, I decided to attempt to 3D model a flower. It took a lot of time and effort but I’m pretty proud of the result.
my flower in different configurations
Over the weekend, some classmates and I decided to visit Naples and Pompeii. After arriving in Naples on Saturday, we visited the duomo and the underground tunnels. There was a period in the tunnels where we had to squeeze through a really tight passage, so that was fun. After that we went up a hill to castel sant’Elmo, where we saw some beautiful views of the city.
Naples, underground tunnels, duomo
On Sunday, we visited Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. At Pompeii, we saw a lot of old Roman ruins and even went into some of them. We then took a bus halfway up the mountain and hiked to the top to see the crater. While the crater was cool (you can see a little bit of steam coming out), the unobstructed view of the entire area was even better.
Views from Pompeii & Mt. Vesuvius
Overall, I had a great week, though it’s quite sad to think that our program is almost coming to an end. However, we’re going to Turin next week, so I’m definitely excited for that!