Venice

Alright back from Venice! Venice probably is the most beautiful place I have visited so far. On Monday we cut classes short, headed to the bus station and rode to Arezzo our leaving spot. From there, a group of around sixteen of us (professors included) took a train to Venice Saint Lucia. It was a bit late so we hung out and people watched for awhile till it arrived. I swear this trip has really allowed me to take hapiness in the small things in life, and one of those things is having a reservation so that you and your friends are guarenteed a full cabin on the train. This means we all have seats together and can close the curtains and not have to worry about people getting on and off or going through our stuff. The train ride was about 4 hours long so not too bad, and great for getting in that nap I had missed out on for the last few days. So Venice is gorgeous! (will include picture) Its basically a fish shaped island surrounded by some more quiet smaller islands. From the quiet large train station (they said about 10,000 people go through this train station PER day, hold on to your purses ladies! From there we purchased a rolling venice pass and a 72 hour vaporetto pass. The vaporettos are basically these boats that ferry people to and from the island and to many destinations along the way since walking across Venice would take forever. I actually would have perferred the walk since I have this nasty seasickness habit hehe. Anywho, we had mass confusion for a few minutes before finding the right vaporetto and heading to the most wellknown landmark in Venice, Saint Marks Square. Ok, Saint Marks is basically this enourmous square flanked by a church, a belltower, and 3 large window-filled buildings. Within the square are A) tons of people and B) lots of restaurants and chairs (dont sit, they charge out the wazoo!) C) Late at night bands from competing restaurants come out and play famous orchestral music (I could dance all night, I feel pretty, Maria etc..) D) this square is filled with couples dancing and kissing and blah blah blah you know the deal... Actually, people are not only allowed too but encouraged to dance in this square to the music so on the first night I twirled Bria around in my best tango-esk fashion (dad you would be proud)

Anywhoo, we got to the square marvelled a bit, and realized we all still had our enourmous packs and went to find our hotel. Venice is filled with these tiny shop-heavy streets, so we got a bit lost because of Brias tiny map until we found our hotel. It was right near the Ferrari store, which I am sad to say I never actually got the chance to go in lol. Our hotel, Hotel Astoria was nice, it was exactly what we needed since we wouldnt be spending much time in it in the first place, the only downside was Kiran and I in our two bedroom had no A/C and it is hot as bejesus in Italy right now! lol. After that, the six of us decided to commit another cardinal sin of study abroad and we went to The Hard Rock Venice Restaurant. OMG, I seriously need a moment of silence just to appreciate how nice it was to go to this restaurant after a month of straight Italian food. This place had chicken nuggets, fries, burgers, and most importantly free refills and they split the check! I cannot even express how incredible I felt after I finished my food SO GOOD! Ok, back to business than we went and hung out in Saint Marcs for a bit, found a little quiet pub and had some wine and gabbed about Venice so far, then I got dragged to another not so quiet bar and all the girlies had a bit too much to drink. I was alright though and still managed to get us all back to our hotel safe and sound. Then we crashed to get ready for our next day.

Our next day, We took the vaporetto and visited Murano and Burano. These two small islands are known for their blown glass, and lace. It was really fun to go to Murano because its a sleepy little town cut in half by a large canal of water and filled with small glass shops, a glass blowing factory, and large glass sculptures everywhere you turn. We spent about an two and a half hours there picking up presents for our lucky friends and family at home ;) Before a group of us split off and went to Burano, an even smaller island. This island was cute and covered in beautiful multicolored buildings lining its "grand canal" but we quickly saw all the main sights and decided that all our feet had, had enough. About a two hour vaporetto later we were back in Saint Marks. I then required a nap for 45 minutes while everyone got pizza, and I got gelato for dinner (hey like I said an any time of day food, plus its cheap and Venice my friends is not!) We then had the bright idea to hop on a vaporetto (they run 24 hours a day) and do a "night cruise" to see the sights. Ok, A) we got on the wrong boat so we saw pretty much nothing and B) I felt horribly seasick. Blah, not fun but we did see a few huge cruise lines that were docked there and we all commented about how a vacation from our vacation would be nice.

Ok, Day 2 (trying to make this short) Kiran, Spencer, her friend Eric, and I went with Cathy to Vicenza this day. We woke up bright and early, took a vaporetto to the train station, hopped a train (Spencer and Eric missed this one so they met us later) and an hour later we arrived. This place is known for its ancient theatre (teatro olympico) that has been beautifully perserved over the years. We arrived, took a bus, and had AMAZING lunch (I had shrimp and zuccihini salad, a water, and roasted potatoes) and visited the museum. The Theater tour itself was pretty short but the theater is gorgeous. Its this raked stage will a front wall facade and three streets projecting backwards that are designed in perspective style and get shorter as the distance increases. They said that they put little people at the back of the set to give the perspective even more believability, which I think is too funny. Its also surrounded by statues of the members of Academia at the time looking down on the stage watching the show going on. The theatre opened in the early 17th century I believe and its opening show Odeipus Rex started at 1:30 in the morning and didnt end till 4, housing over 2000 people. After the theatre we got amazing gelato, and headed back to the train station. That night I had a way too overpriced dinner and turned in early while the other girlies went out

Our last day we got breakfast, hung about, packed up and hopped the train back to Arezzo. After a long bus to Sansepolcro here I am safe and sound. Overall, this trip was amazing. I think our group is now comfortable with each other, we all know our particular roles we play, and its pretty much smooth sailing to find and reach our destinations. Now we are in Sansepolcro for three or four more days before my group is headed to Cinque Terre for three days and then on to Stechlberg Switzerland for two. Hope everyone is doing well, thanks for all your great messages about the blog will continue to post as much as I can!

Ti amo!

Ciao

Sara