Miss me? A few of my avid fans, aka mom and dad, have been asking for an update on life, and it has been quite awhile since I last updated this. Where do I start? Last weekend was spent celebrating Carnevale in Venezia with some much needed DG loving. Mike and I at the last moment booked a train to Venice, not quite sure if we would be sleeping on the street or not. Luckily the hotel Lucie and Lauren stayed in had rather lax security at night so we crashed in their cell of a room. Barely big enough for the two of them, Mike and I squished in. We pushed the two twin beds together and the four of us slept all cuddled up horizontally across the beds. We all got a little closer during those two nights. But onto the real reason we were in Venice. Carnevale was so ridiculous; people everywhere dressed up in ball gowns and masks, street drinking, mini parades and plays in Saint Mark’s square. I loved every minute of it. Our first day, which for Mike and I at least had started at midnight since we took a midnight train and got in at 7 in the morning and had to wait for 4 hours in the McDonalds at the train station for Luce and Geiger, was spent exploring Venice in the gorgeous weather. We just walked and walked, getting lost in the alleys and bridges of Venice until we ran in San Marco’s Square, where everything was going on. It was kind of the basis for everything for the weekend. All the plays to celebrate were put on there, at night there were outside dj’s in the corners and fashion shows. The city itself is so beautiful and I was a little upset that it was so crowded because of Carnevale because I feel like we didn’t necessarily get to experience the real Venice so it’s definitely on my list to come back too. Luckily the group I was with wanted to see as much as the real Venice as we could so they ventured with me and we wandered in and out of the side streets as far away from the tourists as we could. But it still seemed like every piazza we turned to there were more Carnevale festivities going on. We had been living off crackers and nutella that day trying to save as much money as we could and for dinner it was some more nutella and crackers, followed by 2 euro bottles of wine we had brought from Rome. We went back into Venice when it got dark to see the other side of Carnevale. What can be said about Carnevale at night? Think of mardi gras mixed with Halloween mixed with New Years, and then throw a European spin on it. There were dj’s in the squares, hot wine and hot sangria everywhere (new favorite thing by the way) costumes of every kind, not just the ball gowns we had seen during the day, and all the young Venetian locals mixing with the tourists. We met two the first night named Fabio and Mateo who took us to Saint Margaret’s square where we thought there was going to be pizza but it ended up being the biggest dance party on the island. We didn’t stay out too late that night because we had been up since 5 that morning and went back to our very cramped room, in our very cramped bed.
As I soon found out, very early the next morning, Lucie White, my future roommate is a morning person. A very early morning person. I don’t know how this is going to work next year, I am definitely not a morning person. So despite the fact that it was our only day to sleep in and we had gotten only 3 hours of sleep the night before we were up and moving by 9:30. Following a delicious and nutritional breakfast/lunch of…nutella and crackers, we went back to the island. I thought it was packed yesterday? Ha, you could not move more than a couple inches each minute on the Rialto or in San Marco’s square. People were everywhere. Luckily we had explored what we wanted of Venice the day before so we got a 12 hour pass for the water taxi and went over to the island of Murano, famous for its glass. Afterwards we tried to get on this beautiful island that was a cemetery for Venetian families. Of course right as soon as we started walking through it, it closed, so we hopped back on the water taxi and took it to San Marco square about a 35 minute ride. Being on the water and being able to smell the ocean made it feel like summer, except it was about 40 degrees out. When we got off at our stop who did we happen to run into but Rick, Morgan, Courtney and Margaret! Who we had been trying to find all day. We sat with them watching sun sent over one of the basilicas and the ocean, and then threw confetti all over each other. We decided to splurge and get a good dinner and set of in the narrow alleys to find a place that was local and without too many tourists. After a dinner sans nutella we went back to the hotel to relax a bit so we could stay out later and enjoy the last big night of Carnevale. Saturday night was even bigger and crazier than Friday, all the squares were absolutely packed with music and dancing and we met plenty of people. And I’ve found my new favorite drink, hot sangria, absolutely delicious. When we finally started the walk and bus ride home we tried fruitlessly to find pizza or some doner kebabs, no such luck. The next day after successfully sneaking into the hotel for two nights we (being Lauren and Lucie) checked out and then Mike and I headed back to Roma and Lauren and Lucie went off to Florence.
After only a 3 day break from those two, Lucie and Lauren came to Rome for the last part of their winter break. We spent all Wednesday finding their hostel ….and then finding a different hostel when theirs turned out to be far from everything and kinda creepy. I definitely got a good use out of my monthly bus pass that day. The next day I had class, but for dinner we and the guys went out to this great restaurant L’Archetto my friend Maria had recommended. Over 200 kinds of pasta, delicious pasta. I got artichoke and mozzarella bruschetta, with a salmon tomato cream pasta and split some house wine with Lucie for only 13 euros. Afterwards some people went home and then Luce, Lauren, Alex, Dan and I headed over to Trastevere and found this little bar with two Italians playing guitar, alternating between horrible renditions of American songs, and then Italian songs where all the Italians in the bar would sing along too. The next day I met up with the girls and we explored some more of Rome and then made plans to meet up with everyone else at the Spanish Steps to go out to a Mexican club in Testaccio. For dinner we ended up at L’Archetto again, yes it is that good, and this time I got a funghi and mozzarella bruschetta, and a lobster brandy and tomato cream pasta. Lucky you Dad, I will be taking you and Dianne there when you visit. The place we went to after was a Mexican restaurant that turned into a discothèque at midnight with free cover, we had so much fun dancing till whenever it was. I finally got home at 4:30 AM and had to get up at 9 to meet Luc and Lauren again down at their hostel. We walked around for the last few hours before they left to go back to Poiters, and even ran into some Madridians who were visiting. After saying goodbye to those wannabe frenchies, I went home and crashed. It had been a lovely week but I was beyond exhausted. Oh and of the many highlights of the week, I felt like a real Italian, at least to the point where I got around everywhere on my own, knew which stops to get on and off at and even had other Italians ask me directions. Of course I couldn’t really respond but it felt great to know my way around the city.
Sunday after sleeping for over 12 hours, I went with my roommate Tiffany and her friend Vy to Villa Borghese. It was so beautiful, ponds with ducks, streets blocked off so that little kids could roller blade and bike around, grassy areas for picnics and museums. It’s definitely a place I want to visit again when it’s warmer and the flowers are blooming. It reminded me a little of Zilker Park and Town Lake and that area of Austin. We even saw a guy propose to his girlfriend on a rowboat out on the pond. It was so cute and I just had to take a couple of creepy pictures of it. Dear future husband: please propose to me in Villa Borghese or something like it in Europe.
It’s been a wonderful week and half, just what I needed right before midterms start. Can you believe they actually make us take exams in this place? And in 4 days Chris and Jimmy come and visit from Madrid!
The pictures are as follows:
Top left: Lauren and I on our first day in Venice
Top right: The church in San Marco's Square
Then a picture of Venice.
Lucie, Lauren and I in our masks.
Lucie, Mike and Lauren.
Lauren, Lucie and I in front of the Trevi
The pond at Villa Borghese, and then the happy couple that I creeped on while he was proposing.
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