At the beginning of Summer of 2007 (I was almost 16 years old), me and my parents went to Bologna with my godparents and my cousins (their sons and daughter), for a couple of days, for the graduation of their eldest daughter at the University of Bologna. She got a degree at the DAMS (Discipline delle Arti, della Musica e dello Spettacolo/Disciplines of Arts, Music and Entertainment), with a thesis about the Italian poet, writer, director, screenwriter, actor and dramatist Pier Paolo Pasolini and his archetypes.

It was my first time on an AIRPLANE, and it was freaking AWESOME!! It gives me a shot of adrenaline every time it takes off and every time it lands!

The first night didn’t go so well, because, unfortunately, my cousins (me and the 2 sons of my godparents were rommates) slept with air conditioning on. And the air conditioner was pointed, not on purpose, to my bed. The next morning, I was literally green. The next nights, they turned the air conditioner off.

The rest of the trip was fantastic. My cousin, who lives there, showed us Piazza Maggiore, where the Italian actor Alessandro Haber passed right next to us, the Fountain of Neptune, the towers of Bologna (Asinelli and Garisenda), the faculty of Literature and Philosophy of the University. One morning, we walked in front of the Roxy Bar (from the song “Vita spericolata” by Italian singer Vasco Rossi), and, one evening, me and my cousins went to dinner with my cousin’s friends and colleagues.

It was a really nice and chill trip. Congratulations, cousin!