| Bologna is not only home to Europe's oldest university, it is also home to the world's smallest women. I have watched countless size zero women devour pizza, paninis, and oil drenched bread. I have to ask just how is this possible. I convince myself that these women must be working out day in and day out. However, the stares of curiosity and wonder I receive as I jog through the city lead me to believe that exercise is not a common practice in Bologna. Unless chain smoking becomes an Olympic sport, I do not
envision these women training for anything in the near future. In Bologna, two hour naps during the work day take precedent over any type of athletic activity. The size difference between myself and the Kate Moss look-alikes is compounded when at 5'8 and 140 pounds, I can barely manage to stuff myself into an extra large in the Bologna shops. I never thought I would be considered plus-size, but in a sea of women who all look like they have walked off the runways of Milan, it is apparent that there is a vast difference between American women and the women I have observed in Bologna.
Any woman who is a size zero in the United States most likely hasn't even seen bread since 1985. So, again I ask in this Atkins-free society how do these women maintain their waif status? For now this question seems to be unanswerable. The plethora of size zero woman who eat like American football players continues to be an anomaly. For the rest of my stay in Bologna I will wear the slimming color black and try my best to blend in. | 
