Venice Weekend

January 29, 2018

Ciao! As today is winding down, I figured it would be a good time to talk about Venice! Our program, ASA, took all of us to Venice for an overnight and it was BEAUTIFUL. Such an interesting city to learn about...

We took the train Friday morning (8am...I'm exhausted) and got to Venice around 10:30. Once settling at our hotel, we took a private boat over to the other side of the city, Piazza San Marco. This is where we saw the beautiful basilica that is the current burial place of the evangelist, Saint Mark (I know for me at least, this was like an "oh my gosh, I've found Christ" moment). We learned that the church ceilings are covered in over 2 acres of 24k gold sheets and it's hella old.

Besides the history, this weekend was the start of Carnival in the city, which is basically just Mardi Gras x100. It's the Venetian's excuse to start celebrating Fat Tuesday, like 2 months early (can't really say I blame them). Apart from buying an extravagant mask to make me fit in with the locals, I also got to fulfill my dream of being on a gondola ride! It was magical, especially since my gondolier sounded like a 40-year chainsmoker as he sang "That's Amore"...I felt like I was in the Lizzy McGuire movie.

Later that night, my friends and I were all ready to hit the town full force, except, we learned that the town wasn't ready for us...Venice doesn't necessarily have the most "happening" night life for young adults. I guess I should have known this, seeing as though Venice is the size of Syracuse, NY. BUT, we pushed through and found a local Irish pub (weird I know) and it was filled with locals that, really were not fond of our being there at first...but after the drinks were poured and the conversations rolling, no one really minded anyone's company. And after we left the bar, we got to watch the city practice for the carnival parade in the morning! Come to think of it, that night sitting around the table with my close friends, laughing and drinking rosé, has been one of my favorite nights thus far.

The next morning at 8am (again...exhausted), we took another boat ride to the glass factory on Murano! This was really cool because we got to watch a glass blowing demonstration and tour through the showroom with all the beautiful, hand made pieces. After Murano, we took the boat to the island of Burano (I know real original with the names here guys). Although it wasn't the most beautiful day, Burano's brightly painted houses and shops made up for the dull sky. But, after walking about 6 miles that day, we were all ready to head back to Florence.

Later that night, when we got back to our apartments, I realized that this isn't some glorified vacation I'm on, but this is my home for the next 4 months. It's all really starting to sink in that I'm going to live here and study here and eat here like a real Italian! It's my intention to soak up every single minute of it!! I'll add some pictures below of the fun weekend excursion (I also posted an album with all of my pictures as well)...until next time, ciao!