Our first post!! – Matthew & Alyssa

What’s this all about?

Alyssa and I are excited to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure that we’re sure will be incredibly memorable. We want to share this experience with others and have a way to document our travels so we can look back on them in the future!

So what are we doing?

Alyssa is currently enrolled in CMU Heinz College’s Master of Arts Management program. This program offers a study abroad semester in Bologna, Italy! We love to travel and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore a country that we’ve always wanted to visit.

While Alyssa is studying courses to help complete her master’s program, Matt will be taking courses at the University as well! Right now he’s exploring taking courses in feminist literature as his background is in creative writing.

Matt is also hoping to get back into writing while they’re there and maybe (just maybe…) he’ll post some of his writing on this blog somewhere 😄

When are we leaving?

We’re going to be heading out on Alyssa’s birthday, August 28th 2024 and will be gone for about 4 and a half months, returning on January, 9 2025. We’re going to miss some major holidays unfortunately but want to keep in touch!

We’ve got a LONGGG day of travel ahead of us with 2 layovers and 3 flights – a total of 14 hours of travel to get there from Pittsburgh 🥲

Where are we staying?

We’ll be living in Bologna’s downtown area which we are told is filled to the brim with tons of amazing food and activities – it’s basically a college town as there are two major international universities located in the area. We’ll be attending the University of Bologna.

Supposedly Bologna is culinary capital of Italy and eating our way through cities is our favorite way to explore so we’re very excited to try out the cuisine. In addition, the University of Bologna is Europe’s oldest university so there is a lot to discover and learn in the way of history and culture!

The Towers of Bologna in the main square of the city

Our digs in Bologna will be very small. It’s a one bedroom apartment that doesn’t even have a living room 😳 so it’ll be a bit cramped but there are lots of outdoor spaces to hang out, cafes to drink wine at, and we also plan to travel quite a bit while we’re there.