Bowdy’s study abroad trip

Thursday was a super packed day. We arrived in Bologna around 10 am and did tours of the city for a couple hours. We got to see the tallest leaning tower in Italy as well as another church. We also toured the University of Bologna, the oldest university in continuous operation in the world.

After our tours were done, we got on a train heading for Venice. It was my first time on a train in Europe so it was exciting. Once we arrived in Venice, we checked into our hotel, got dinner, and settled in for the night. It is no doubt the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.

Friday morning we woke up at 5 am to go to a job-site tour. We toured the Aviano Air Base. It is located about 50 miles north of Venice, it is a major U.S. Air Force installation that serves as a key component of the NATO defense network in Europe. Luckily, a former Auburn Building Science graduate works for Conti Federal (the contractor on the job) so he pulled some strings in order for us to come tour. They are building a warehouse type building and a helicopter simulation building. It will basically be like a big video game but real life training. The warehouse project didn’t have a whole lot to see, they were erecting steel but it was still cool to see.

There wasn’t much to see in the helicopter sim building so I didn’t take pictures. One of the best parts of the tour was seeing jets take off and land.

The superintendent cooked us lunch and it was absolutely amazing. It was all local grown beef. After the tour we went back to Venice, ate dinner, and went to an orchestra concert.