Prior to arriving in Bologna for the Spring 2017 semester, I knew I wanted to find a way to play soccer in Italy. I play on the Dickinson Men’s Varsity Soccer team so playing soccer while abroad was important to me in order to stay in shape, and I figured it would be an easy way to integrate myself into the culture. I got involved right away upon arriving in Bologna with a team called Cu.Bo Calcio 1978 through Ellen Laird, the Program Associate at the Dickinson center in Bologna. Cu.Bo. is a team that is organized through the University of Bologna, and the players are either current or past students from the university or those who worked at the university. In Europe, there is no formal organization for collegiate sports like the NCAA we have in the US, so Cu.Bo played in a regional league against teams that were also in Bologna or from the surrounding towns.

Dickinson students have practiced with Cu.Bo in the past so they are accustomed to having Americans on the team; however, most of the players only spoke broken English and the coach spoke almost no English. My Italian, on the other hand, wasn’t much better considering I was in the beginning 101 course at the Dickinson center. I was pushed to learn the language much faster spending time around the soccer team in order to communicate with the other guys and the coach. As a result of listening to the other players, I also learned words and phrases unique to the Bolognese dialect that I was not exposed to in the classroom.

During my time in Bologna I played in about a dozen matches with Cu.Bo and attended practices every Tuesday and Thursday. I found that playing on the team greatly enhanced my abroad experience since I was able to build relationships with local Italians who were my age. I would often meet up with guys from Cu.Bo for dinner or go out after the games with them. I discovered different parts of Bologna that most abroad students would not find without the help of locals which I shared with the other Dickinson students. Likewise, I learned a lot about how the sport of soccer has an influence on the Italian culture. All the players took the games seriously and we even had a small fan-base that would travel to the games to support us.

I would definitely recommend students studying in Bologna to get themselves involved in the community somehow. Playing sports is a great way to do this since Bologna is a city with lots of young people, but there are many other groups and activities to get involved with. Playing soccer allowed me to expand my experience abroad beyond what the Dickinson center had to offer. Although I did meet a lot of Dickinson students that I may not have interacted with back in Carlisle, I think it was important to also make connections outside the Dickinson community. This made me feel more like I was actually living in Bologna as a resident rather than simply studying there as a student. I also have kept in touch with some of the guys from Cu.Bo, and know that if I ever return to Bologna I will have old friends I can call up.