Full Speed Ahead

Sorry, This might be a short one, because I'm tired and I don't want to write this in more than one sitting. I feel like I lose my flow if I do.

I titled my last post, "Let's pump the brakes." What an inaccurate approach/expectation to my experience over here! I understand now that any attempt to slow down to smell the roses is completely futile. I've been here 39 days now. That's about 22% of my total time here. These past 39 days have gone by faster than any period of 39 days I've ever experienced before. And I know that there's no slowing down. All I can do is thrust my head out the window of this screaming, accelerating train and try to notice a few important cities, sites, and moments as I pass them by.

I've traveled the last four weekends. So far I've been to Milan twice, Cinque Terre, Verona, and Venice. Venice was amazing. It was very very cold though. It was unlike any city I've ever been to. The city is built on over a hundred islands. There is a confusing network of bridges, pathways, canals, alleyways, and piazzas that are devoid of any organization system known to man, that is guaranteed to get you lost.  I definitely got lost a few times. It's easy to turn down an alley you think you recognize and all the sudden you have absolutely no idea where you are, or which direction you came from. I pride myself on my directional abilities, but for the first 24 hours I was there, I had no idea where I was going. It was exciting trying to navigate a city without any discernible pattern or organization. However, somehow I always managed to make it back to my hotel.

Carnevale was going on during the time I was there, so the city was flooded with tourists. Most of the tourists flock to Piazza San Marco. It's the center of the festival, but right on the sea. I'm sure you've seen it before. The opening scene of The Italian Job was shot there. Because of Carnevale, I was expecting the city to be exploding with life at night. My expectation didn't exactly align with reality. I went out to dinner with about thirteen or fourteen of my friends at a restaurant near...the river. I couldn't take you back to where it was because I really have no idea. Venice is an expensive city. The Venetians know how to make money off of tourists. If I recall correctly, I believe our group rang up a bill of about 350 Euro. Such a crime. After dinner we left the restaurant and searched for a sign of nightlife. We found a piazza with a DJ playing, but without any dancing to be found. So we invaded the piazza and claimed it for USAC**. Over the next few hours people started to follow our lead and we turned the sleepy Queen of the Adriatic into a bumping hotspot. Unfortunately, the night was cut short. Anything too noisy for the locals gets shut down around midnight. So we set out to explore the city and make our way back towards the hotel, which was on the other side of the city. We got lost a few times, but made it back eventually.

**USAC is the name of my study abroad program

On my second day in Venice, I ventured over with some friends to the glass blowing sector of the city. Venice is famous for it's glass. It was so cool. I saw a guy blow this amazing glass horse. It took him maybe a minute to make. I've never seen glassblowing in person, so it was a really cool experience for me.

On our way back to Torino from Venice we stopped off in Verona. Verona is probably most famous because it is where Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet takes place. The town was actually really cool. If you were to imagine what a classic little Italian town would look like, it would be Verona. I was only there for about two and a half hours, and I was eating lunch for over half of that time. From what I saw, it seemed like it would have been a really cool place to explore. I wish I'd had more time there.

Juliet's Balcony

This Monday marks the beginning of my sixth week of class. WHAT?!? How did that happen? I have a final this week in my Intensive Elementary Italian course. And I have a midterm in my Modern Design class. I forgot that I was over here for class, I thought I was just on vacation. Non importante. Quando parlo italiano, tutto i ragazzi e le ragazze capisco. Non è vero, ma molto divertente per me. Ciao Americani, Google tradurre queste frasi. Il mio italiano non è perfetto, ma non c'è malle. Dieci minuti per scrivere questo in italiano.

Ok, I think I'm finished with this post. I'll throw in some cool pictures and call it a night. I'll have more insightful stories next time around, I promise.