I first arrived in Bologna Italy just over 35 years ago for the 1st year of a 2-year post-grad degree program.
I have only been back once since then about 20 years ago for a very short visit, yet it all seemed like just yesterday to me. In preparation for Alumni weekend I snagged a great AirBNB just steps away from the campus. Arrived a day early and spent hours walking around my old haunts. Then enjoyed 2 days catching up with (introducing myself to) my old classmates – most of whom are way more important than me now. About 1/3 of the my class attended this reunion and most that did were Europeans.
The panel discussions and award presentations were very interesting in the aftermath of the US and Dutch elections and the run-up to the French election and debates about dismantling the Euro.
After those events my class of 1982 (the largest of all the classes at this years Alumni reunion) met at the ancient Osteria de Poeti for a late dinner.
The dinner was withing walking distance of my AirBNB. The video of the walk home below is longer than it could be but it also shows how different life can be lived. If you are impatient, fast forward to when I took a detour to a side street where the college kids were partying, then skip to the end when I am walking down a boring sidewalk and pull out a key to my AirBNB behind a nondescript door.