Opera House

As usual, I left my camera back at the apartment today, which was pretty disappointing because we got to tour around the opera house that was built in the mid 1700's, I'm pretty sure. It's funny how buildings like that seem new these days to me. We heard some Pavarotti recordings this week in class, and you can go for 10 euros in the cheap seats, so I'm actually pretty excited to go. Plus, if I get my fill after an hour or so, for such a cheap price I can say I went and leave without feeling bad about it. We also went to this really cool music museum, with lyres and lutes and all different kinds of instruments. Apparently, at the age of 14 Mozart studied music in Bologna for a summer, and had to take an exam for some type of certification to be able to play liturgical music. They had the original exam on display, which he surprisingly didn't actually do that well on. There was also the only existing copy of the first music book ever printed on display from 1501. My favorite part of the museum, though, was the section dedicated to eunuch singers, especially since we were in that area at the same time as a group of 10-12 year olds on a field trip, who were (hopefully) blissfully unaware of the concept of castration. Unfortunately, it was our last guided tour around Bologna. I've enjoyed them all, even though we saw a lot of things that wouldn't have piqued my interest at all at home. It's just a great way to get a sense of Bologna's history and culture, and it adds a lot of context to us living here. A lot of my classmates just weren't that interested- I feel like they'll regret not opening up to new experiences here later on- it's usually just about finding the next club or place to eat. Don't get me wrong, I love finding great kebabs around the city (more on them later), but I just feel like even though I've kind of been in a shell culturally for so long, now is the time to appreciate the museums, art, and music. I'm not planning on coming back to the states as a finely cultured young gentleman or anything, but I feel good about opening up to new experiences and move outside my little box that I've become comfortable in. Personally, I know that I would regret not forcing myself to do that later on in life. Now anyway about this kebab business, and this is something that really needs to be addressed, kebabs are the ballz. My roommates are 100 percent convinced they're going to make millions by turning kebabs into fast food in America. It's a cheap way to get a huge amount of food, and they're like the burritos of Bologna. Little kebabaries (yeah I just made that word up) are literally everywhere and I've had them for lunch the past 3 days. Its made with the same bread as a gyro, or you can kind of get a burrito style too. We load them up with sauce and everyone here puts french fries on top. The meat is awesome too. It's lamb, I know- like I said I'm trying to have new experiences and that means eating a baby sheep every once in a while. Anyway that's my piece for today. I won't be able to post for a while because tomorrow I'm (hopefully) leaving for Florence so expect one on Sunday.