We got in Friday around 12ish and, having heard that the best way to get
over jet lag is to just stay up until nightfall local time (+6 hours), we
decided to just stay up until it was night in Italy. That’s a lot of not-sleep.
Hotel Bologna, our one star bed and shower, had a major lack of wifi – like
none at all. Luckily, we have friends who are staying in a hotel with wifi.
Also luckily, we ran into one of them who had just happened to come back to the
hotel because he felt sick. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been back for hours
and we would have been up a creek. After our short reunion, we decided to walk
around the city a bit and see some of the sights. One of the first things that
I noticed was that the plant life in Genova is eerily similar to that of
upstate South Carolina – pine, magnolia, and fig trees, boxwoods, hydrangeas,
and geraniums. Best I can figure it’s because we have not traveled that far
north. Basically, it’s basically home with palm trees.
The setting here is kind of weird. We are right on the ocean…and the
mountains. This, however, makes for some gorgeous views. Looking back at the
city from seaside, it’s like the soil was peeled back to reveal a bustling
civilization upon a hill.
The food, as expected, is delightful. The pizza is quite flavorful, right
down to the sauce. Breakfast, however, is a bit different. Our hotel didn’t
have “continental breakfast,” so we went down to the corner store the next
morning and got some kind of almond cranberry fruit bars that were pretty
tasty. All this time in Genova, however, and I have yet to have a hearty
breakfast. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, not to
mention my favorite.
After we all convened again, we decided that we would fancy seeing another
fine Italian city and decided on Portofino. The train ride was only half hour
long, but it didn’t take us all the way to Portofino – it took us to Santa
Margherita Ligure, which is the picture perfect Italian seaside town. The water was blue, the sky bluer, and the hills a dark green. Buildings were similar to those in Genova - placed every so carefully on the hillsides.
Walking around this small town, we happened upon a vast
villa that was home to an opera school, in which a rehearsal was ongoing.
Walking through the rose garden, overlooking the Mediterranean, listening to an
opera – welcome to Italy. The cathedral directly beside the villa was standard-ish on the exterior.
White marble, large columns, cornice details, pretty typical. Inside was a
totally different story. The ceilings were painted to look as if they extended
into the heavens. Each bay along the exterior wall had an icon with a different
saint, each with its own lavish housing of a specific pediment and column
structure. With some, the marble columns were twisted. One even had the flutes
carved into a twisted column. That is extremely impressive. It’s like the stone
is melting in the awe of the presence of a deity.
Our last day before moving in, Sunday, August 19, was much of the same – touring
more around the city of Genova. With all of our friends who had arrived in the
city yesterday, we went into a church across the street that was very similar
to the church in Santa Margherita – bland exterior, but o so lavish inside. These
buildings remind me of those rocks that you break open to find crystals – from
the outside, it looks just like every other rock; crack it open, and it becomes
something worth seeing.
Overall first impression of Genova: pretty sweet city. The city itself isn’t
sketchy, at least not when I was out and about. Although not the cleanest city
(political graffiti tears through nearly every building), the people are
relatively friendly, the food is amazing, and the gelato is close by. I think
that I’m going to enjoy this semester most fully.
-Tyler
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