Fact and Fettuccine
 
A quick chart to help separate the tortellini of fact from the tortelloni of fiction of what really happened in Bologna:

SAIS BC Rumor: All that Bologna students do is sit around and eat pasta.
SAIS BC Truth: Sometimes we eat risotto.

SAIS BC Rumor: The workload in Bologna was lighter.
SAIS BC Truth: False. The workload was the same, but everything in Italy takes twice as long to do. For corporate finance homework, it would take forever to get your hands on a financial calendar. You had to wait a fortnight for the merchant caravanning it overland from the bustling port of Venice only to get news that his donkey died mid-trip and now you need to pay a surcharge.

SAIS BC Rumor: Everyone in Bologna is best friends with each other.
SAIS BC Truth: 99.3% true; no one likes Mike Beaton.

SAIS BC Rumor: All Bologna students smoke.
SAIS BC Truth: Mostly true, but the Scandinavians dip “snoos,” a First World version of “qat.” And for those of you who have not traveled abroad, the black-clad Eurotrash chain smoker is an endangered speices – an unfortunate victim of smoking bans slowly creeping over Europe like a health-conscious Black Plague.

SAIS BC Rumor: The Bologna Center lacked exciting speakers.
SAIS BC Truth: The Bologna Center proudly hosted the Italian President Napolitano, Prime Minister Prodi, and the Mario Bros. (BC ’82).  Unfortunately, we were not Metro accessible to the Washington power elite (minus Luigi’s warp zone), so DC folks win this round.

SAIS BC Rumor: Bologna students prefer to speak Italian.
SAIS BC Truth: We don’t prefer to speak Italian, it’s-a just-a that-a our-a Eng-a-lish has become-a, how-you-a-say-a, accented in an offensively stereotypical way?  Ciao, ciao.

SAIS BC Rumor: Bologna students think DC kids are workaholics
SAIS BC Truth: You stopped reading this and went back to your Econometrics problem set four rumors ago, didn’t you?

SAIS BC Rumor: Some Bologna students are actually CIA operatives and SAIS Bologna actually got its start as a cover for spying on Italian Communists during the Cold War.
SAIS BC Truth: [redacted]                                                                             

SAIS BC Rumor: Bologna students already received a diploma.
SAIS BC Truth: This is true. We had a commencement and everything and received the 1-year SAIS Bologna Center Certificate in International Studies (prized by collectors of certificates and the gold stars one can affix to them the world over) in addition to be intensively schooled in the arts of love.

SAIS BC Rumor: Italian girls are hotter?
SAIS BC Truth: Let’s just say one’s neck muscles are ripped thanks to all the reps done walking to and from class.  And they loved-a our-a acc-a-cents-a!