Bowdy’s study abroad trip

Our plane landed around 11 pm Sunday night in Marrakech. Our drivers picked us up from the airport and took us to get something to eat. We stopped at a little hole in the wall restaurant that our driver said he liked, and it might have been one of the best philly cheesesteak sandwiches I’ve ever had. It definitely hit the spot after a long day of traveling. Our air bnb was around 30 minutes from the center of Marrakech. Once we arrived to our place we were stunned at how nice it was for the price we paid.

One of the best parts of our place was free traditional Moroccan breakfast included every morning. It mainly consists of a variety of different breads with fruit, honey, cheese, or Nutella spreads. Our cook also made us eggs most mornings. They also served the famous Moroccan mint tea every morning which was absolutely amazing.

After breakfast our drivers picked us up and took us to town to see the Marrakech’s famous Souks (world famous market). Id say it was an absolute culture shock for all of us. Every single person tries to sell you something. Negotiating was fun and also a learning experience. A general rule I used was make an offer at around 10% of what they originally offer. There are tons of scammers in the Souks. The Moroccan currency is MAD. 1 USD is 9.12 MAD. For example, I negotiated for a pair of sunglasses and bought them for 200 mad so that equals about $22 usd.

We walked straight to the main square after getting money out of the ATM. Immediately we saw Cobras and Monkeys. The venders try to tell you to get pictures of them, then try to guilt you into paying them for a tip. I managed to sneak a picture in of the cobras.

We walked around the Souks for a couple hours. We managed to get lost multiple times which is very easy to do. Towards the end of the day we bought head scarves and wore them to dinner. We also bought linen outfits to go with the headscarves.

A very common meal is Tangine. I had chicken tangine for dinner and it was great. We ended up having it several times throughout the week and I got super tired of it. It’s also not easy on the stomach at all. One of the guys with us got food poisoning later in the week and was sick for a couple days.

Monday-Wednesday were just thesis days as usual. Nothing much to add.

Thursday morning we went to Milan. Once we arrived we checked into our hotel (it was basically a hostel) and grabbed some lunch. After that we took the train to the center of the town and our professor had a scavenger hunt game for us to play. We split into 2 teams and had to go around the city and solve riddles in order to find certain famous landmarks and historical areas. That lasted a few hours, then we had dinner and went back to the hostel for the night.

Friday we had a contemporary architecture tour until around lunch. Milan has a lot more modern architecture than every other city we have been to so it was pretty interesting.

The Bosco Verticale, or Vertical Forest, in Milan is one of the world’s most famous examples of sustainable architecture. What makes them unique is the integration of more than 800 trees, 5,000 shrubs, and 15,000 perennials across their balconies, creating a living façade that changes color with the seasons. The vegetation helps absorb CO₂, produce oxygen, reduce noise, regulate temperature, and improve urban air quality. Each balcony was engineered to support the weight of mature trees and withstand wind loads. Beyond its visual impact, Bosco Verticale represents a new model for urban biodiversity and green living, inspiring similar “vertical forest” projects in cities around the world.

After that walking tour we had lunch and then had another tour of the Duomo and Terrace. The Duomo di Milano is a massive Gothic cathedral right in the heart of Milan that took almost 600 years to finish, and every inch of it is covered in crazy-detailed carvings and statues. It’s the largest cathedral in the country.

Saturday morning we went to Lake Como and rode E bikes for a couple hours. We ended up riding around 20 miles by the end of it. It was an awesome experience.

Saturday night we went to a soccer game. Inter Milan vs. Cremonese. I’ve never been to a soccer game before so it was amazing. The environment was awesome, there was a lot more energy in the crowd compared to sport events in the U.S. Inter Milan ended up winning.

We went back to the hotel for the night. Sunday we hung out at the hotel all day until our flight to Marrakesh, Morocco (Africa) for our fall break! So far it has been amazing. I’m currently sitting at our air bnb by the pool writing this blog. Our cook is making us lunch right now. We are definitely spoiled for the week. I will update about the Morocco trip next week.

I don’t have much to add about Monday-Wednesday, we just worked on thesis all day everyday. I have now started on my estimate.

Thursday morning we left for Ravenna for the day. We toured a couple Basilicas and also got to see Dante’s tomb. Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) is one of Italy’s greatest poets, best known for The Divine Comedy, especially Inferno, which I read a couple of years ago in school. His work shaped the Italian language and has influenced literature for centuries. I’m not a big reader, but when I had to read Inferno for school I started to begin to like it, and really enjoyed reading throughout the semester. Because of this, seeing his grave was really interesting to me.

Pictured above is inside Saint Francis Church. Under the water is the original floor of the church, dating back to the 5th century. They put goldfish inside to help keep the algae down.

After all of our tours in the city we toured the Trevi office, a company known for its work on dams and other large foundation projects. They walked us through their operations, explaining how they approach complex engineering challenges, and gave us a look inside their warehouses. It was impressive to see how they design and manufacture much of their own equipment. They did some work on the dam in Fort Gaines in 2002, and mentioned that it was right next to Eufaula. Who would have ever thought Id be hearing about Eufaula in Italy! After this tour was finished we traveled back to Urbino for the night.

Friday morning our bus left Urbino at 5 am to head to the Dolomites. Little did I know, this was the start of a trip that will stick with me forever. A trip that reminded me how great our Creator really is. Truly the trip of a lifetime. It was around a 7 bus ride, which was not fun. Once we arrived in the Dolomites, we toured the city and then went to a popular tourist spot- Nova Levante. We spent about an hour here. The pictures I got here almost look fake. We were disappointed that it was foggy and not sunny, but in a way I think it made the experience better.

That night we went to dinner and then checked into our hotels.

Saturday morning we left the hotel pretty early to get a start on our almost 11 mile hike. My Apple Watch said I had 30k steps on Saturday. It was all worth it. There’s not a whole lot to say about the hike other than the fact that it was beautiful. It was also extremely muddy and I messed up my tennis shoes pretty bad.

As you can imagine we were all pretty exhausted after hiking so much, so we had dinner and we straight to bed after.

We woke up early again this morning and did another hike before our long bus ride back to Urbino. Supposedly the trail we hiked on today is pretty dangerous and 5 people have died on it in the past year, they believe it’s from phone usage and not paying attention while walking.

After the hike we took gondola lifts up the very top of a mountain and ate lunch at a restaurant.

That’s all I have for this trip. I have so many more pictures I could add but it would be too many. It was hard to choose which ones to include in the blog. We are now on the bus on the way back to Urbino. It was nice to sit down and rest our feet after walking so much the last couple days, but sitting down for 7 hours on a bus isn’t much better. I will update in a couple days.

Thursday we traveled to Rome from Urbino, which is about a 4 hour drive. Once we got to Rome we checked into the hotel and grabbed some lunch. We all got burgers, something we don’t get to eat much here!

Later in the afternoon took public transportation into the city to walk around. We walked around for a while, got dinner, then went home and got some rest for Friday.

Friday morning we had a guided tour of The Vatican Museum/city, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. Unfortunately the Pope did not come out to say hey. Friday afternoon we went inside the Pantheon.

Saturday morning we had a tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and the Palatine Hill. This was my favorite part of the trip. Being inside of the place where so many crazy events took place was cool. The craziest part to me is how they would flood the bottom of the colosseum using the aqueducts and have naval battles with ships. Standing in there made that a little harder to believe but made it even more impressive.

We were done around lunch Saturday. For the rest of the day we hung out at the pool at the hotel and then went to an Irish pub in town that plays American sports to watch the Auburn game. Today is Sunday and there’s nothing going on, we are just on the way back to Urbino.

Monday was my birthday and all I did was thesis for about 10 hours unfortunately. I woke up early and FaceTimed Sydnie and grabbed breakfast so I had a good start to the day. Professor Rahn picked up some croissants for the class and the class sang happy birthday for me. Thank you professor Rahn.

Tuesday and Wednesday were big thesis days as well. I’m currently on the way to Rome for the weekend and our project plan is due Friday so we all tried to finish it and turn it in Wednesday so we don’t have to worry about it. Luckily I was able to finish so now I can enjoy my weekend.

That’s about all I have. Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY mom! Will update about the Rome trip in a couple days.

Saturday we had tours of Venice for the majority of the day. We walked around the city, toured Saint Marks Basilica, and The Doge’s Palace.

The Doge’s Palace is known for its Venetian Gothic architecture. It was originally built in the 9th-century as a fortified structure, though almost none of that early building remains today. It was gradually expanded & rebuilt, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries, when the current Gothic structure began to take shape. It was the residence of the Doge (the chief magistrate and leader) of Venice, but also housed the main political, judicial, and administrative offices of the Venetian Republic. One of my favorite parts was walking over the “Bridge of Sighs”. The famous Bridge of Sighs links the palace to the prison. Legend says prisoners would sigh as they crossed it, glimpsing Venice (or the lagoon) through its windows for the last time before confinement. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of the bridge or the prison.

After the tour we were free for the rest of our day. Me and some of the guys got a gondola ride throughout the city.

We got dinner after and went out for some drinks with some of our UTSA friends for the rest of the night.

Today is Sunday and we are heading back to Urbino. It’s about a 3 hour train ride to Pesaro then an hour bus ride to Urbino. We went to a breakfast place this morning that actually had American breakfast. It was the first time I’ve had eggs and bacon since I left Alabama.

There is a Five Guys in the train station, so of course we stopped and ate before getting on our train. This is also the first burger I’ve had since I left Alabama. I’ve been spoiled with American food today.

Not much else going on today. Planning on working on some thesis later when I get home and resting up for the week. Our project plan is due Friday and we are heading to Rome on Thursday, so these next 3 days will be very heavy thesis days. Looks like I’ll be doing thesis all day on my birthday tomorrow!

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.

Overall this week has been nothing but schoolwork, our project plan and 3d model are due next Friday so we’ve been trying to get a lot done. Monday morning I stopped at the normal coffee shop we always go to and got some breakfast and espresso before class.

All I did the rest of the day was sit in the classroom and work on thesis until dinner. We got gelato after dinner.

Tuesday was the same, thesis all day. It was a great day in the Mensa, we finally got some chicken. It may be the best Mensa dinner I’ve had so far. I’m used to a very heavy protein diet so it’s been an adjustment getting used to the food here, as well as eating pasta every single meal.

Wednesday was also the same, except we had our cultural class with all the UTSA students from 9 to 11. Professor Sattineni took us out to dinner to one of the best pizza places around.

It’s Thursday morning and I’m currently off to Bologna for the day then heading to Venice for the weekend. Will include everything in the next blog.

Saturday morning starting at 9, we had a 4 hour tour of Urbino. We toured some museums, the Duke’s palace, and a church. The tour was a little bit longer than it should have been, but we got to see some incredible artwork and also some new places around the city.

Saturday night we ate dinner at a fried chicken place. It was so good to eat something that we are used to eating in America. There was a stage set up at the old fort on top of the mountain later that night with live music, so we hung out there for the remainder of the night.

Sunday we slept in a little bit to catch up on some rest. We didn’t do much other than eat, watch football, and work on some thesis. We were watching NFL red zone and every time someone scored, we did 7 pushups and every field goal that was made we did 7 air squats. It made the game more fun to watch and also woke all of us up a little bit.

Thursday morning we loaded up on a couple buses and rode for about an hour to an organic wine tour. The farm we visited produces wine and olive oil. It was super cool to see how they make everything and how much they care about the farm and the quality of the products they produce. We got to try the grapes and each kind they had were amazing.

After the tour we did some wine tasting and got to try their white and red wine. You can definitely tell the difference in the quality, it was super fresh and tasted great. After that we went to a restaurant and had a 5 course lunch.

Thursday night there was a dj party where they set up a stage in the middle of the town square so we hung out there all night.

Friday we went to Pesaro, the beach town an hour away from Urbino. We went to an art museum and a big church. I’ve never been in a church like that so I really enjoyed it.

After our tours we grabbed some lunch and went to the beach for a couple of hours. I can now say I’ve touched the Mediterranean and swam in the Adriatic Sea. There were tons of mini jelly fish in the water, so we had jelly fish wars all afternoon. It doesn’t sound like the brightest idea but it was fun haha. We then caught a bus back to Urbino and ended our night with some sushi.