After about a month of walking through the holes in my shoes all over this city, I decided I should just shell out to purchase a much faster mode of transportation. A bike! And boy does Bologna have a bike reputation
There's the good: bike paths, bike posts, buses who are aware that a ninety year old lady is cycling along next to them, bike baskets, bike seats for your two kids, one in front and one in back (yeah I still think that one is dangerous)
Then there's the bad. As a university based city, this means theft. Bike theft is overwhelming common here. So common that people can go through three or four bikes a year! If you're really stupid about it, maybe even in a month! You could even say bike theft is relatively accepted. Students can walk down the main university street looking for that sketchy kid standing on the corner whispering "bici! bici!"
You tell him your interested. He tells you to wait a couple minutes. And two minutes later he comes back with a bike that he clearly was just storing around the corner.
The nice thing about this system though is that you can pay only 10 euro for a bike. And might as well buy it stolen because you just know yours will get stolen eventually.
As tempting as 10 euros sounded, I am a firm believer in bike karma, so I went ahead and paid the 50 euro for my lovely pile of metal at an actual used bike store.
Let me describe this fine specimen for you. She's white with pink and green accents (how I always end up with something pink here is a fantastic question). The smooth leather seat has been shredded so a shiny black "fake" leather is covering up the wounds. The brakes work so well that I only have to use my feet half the time! And ever since it rained the second day I got it, there's no longer any need for a bell! You can hear me squeaking down the road from a mile away.
And yet, I absolutely love it!
Riding a bike around this city amplifies everything magical about it. With the wind whipping around you and the colorful porticoes flashing past, I feel like I jumped out of an airplane and am parachuting through candy land.
Since I live outside the city walls, it makes everything seem so much closer and accessible. I can get to class in ten minutes. The train station (the complete opposite side of the city) in twenty. And I don't have to worry about walking home alone at night.
Of course, when I first bought the bike, I didn't think I'd have to re-learn how to ride it. Here's a glimpse at my typical bike schedule throughout the day:
8:45am- Bike to class in the middle of rush hour. Swerve to avoid a moped as I accidentally run a red light.
11:00am- Bike to BCSP office for a different course. Turn down a one-way street and have to squeeze against the wall to make way for a car.
1:00pm- Bike to my Kelly's apartment for lunch. Hit a couple walking on the sidewalk. To be fair, they were walking in the bike lane portion.
3:00pm- Bike to class. Have a heart attack as the bus passes me one inch from nudging my handlebars.
5:00pm- Bike home from the grocery store. With three bags, milk, eggs, and way too many heavy cans of tomato sauce, I turn a corner and completely wipe out. Don't worry. The eggs survived.
8:00pm- Bike to a friend's house for dinner. An eighty-year-old man passes me...
12:00am- Bike home. Freeze my fingers off because I forgot my gloves.
At this point, I'm really surprised that my only casualties have included hitting people as they cross in front of me and falling on the much safer sidewalk portion of the street. Unfortunately, I don't think the Bolognese have ever heard of helmets so I really have my own common sense protecting me from imminent death. My plan right now is to maintain a very practical mantra of slow and steady. I'll just have to deal with my bruised ego as that old man passes me.
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