Italy with Class

Time and time again I find myself amazed at everything that has been going on here. This weekend, in particular, was busy and freaking amazing. The first week of classes was hectic and threw me off the schedule I've been used to for the past three weeks. It was kind of a slow transition, but I think I'll get used to it. There is a lot more work than I had expected to do for the two electives I'm taking, but I know it won't be too horrible. And if it is, well, I'll just have to make do with what I've got.

With the classes being on site, I get to see so many awesome places. This week I went into the Duomo, saw the frescos of Santa Croce up close, and walked around the Duomo museum all for free with my classes. There is so much that I never would have really appreciated without learning about it there. One of my favorite places was Santa Croce not because Galileo and Dante are buried there, but because it is a different church from the others. It's less dressed up, in a sense, and when all of the ostentatious decorations and paint is imagined away, the simplicity of the church is what makes it beautiful. I really liked that, but that church, as well as all of the others, are always colder inside than outside. Temperature-wise, of course.

Tiramisu birthday!

I also got to spend my 21st birthday here in Florence which was a blast! Besides the program and my peers making it special, my host mom made me a tiramisu birthday treat and gave me earrings which was really sweet of her.

After dinner, a few of us went out to a place called Be Bop where they have Beatles Night every Tuesday. The place doesn't open till 10 p.m. and stays open till around 2:30 a.m., but the drinks were reasonably priced and the music was really great. The Beatles cover band were made up of Italians, but they were actually really good at their impersonations. The stage, seating area, and bar are all underground too which gave it a cooler feel. I really liked it and I'm planning on going back sometime.

The Italian Beatles cover band.

Besides classes, though, I went on two trips this weekend. The first was to Siena with the program. It was a full day trip and we were able to have guided tours in the churches and museums as well as have time to explore and walk around on our own. There are some people who didn't think we had enough time to ourselves, but I was happy with the time we had. It's always nice to start off in a new place with a tour just so you can get your bearings and learn more about its history, and then go off and walk around. There are lots of hills in Siena that reminded me of San Francisco, so we definitely had a lot of exercise. Siena is a smaller, quieter town than Florence, but no less beautiful. We got to climb up to the random wall that was abandoned after being built, and the view from up there overlooks the town and all the country around it. It was quite a climb up the circular staircase that was very narrow and tight, but it was definitely worth it in my opinion. I also learned somewhat from experience that Italian wine, though very good, is also much stronger than wine in America. I may not have expected that, but I'm glad I know now.

The three Virtues: Faith, Hope, Charity.

The inside of one of the many rooms
inside of the Duomo.

The Duomo of Siena.

The view of Siena from the top of a hill.

The view of Siena from the random wall.

Two of the many costumed people.

Then on Saturday, most of the people from the program and I took a trip on our own through EuroAdventures, a European student travel site. We went to Venice to see carnevale and it was around 65 euros for the bus ride there and back and entertainment on the bus. We had a pretty large group and we inadvertently split ourselves in half between the two buses going. It was a pretty even split too, so walking around and getting lunch was easier on us and the restaurants.

Lunch was nice because we were lured into a fancy-looking place with the promise of free cocktails, no tax, no cover charge, and 6 euro pizzas. The guy was true to his promise and so I was pretty pleased with that. Note to self: sometimes those people who are trying to get you into their restaurants are actually true to their word.

My friend about to get hit by a banana.

A view of the party parade.

The weather was horrible in Venice when we went; it was rainy, windy, and really cold. But after getting lunch, we found the parade of people all wearing masks, dressed up in costumes, the band, and people partying all around. It was a lot of fun joining them. We were able to kind of blend in with the crowd wearing our own masks, and took lots of pictures of and with the costumed people. We went off on our own after awhile to take a little break and wander. Then we found the parade again and followed them all the way to the Mediterranean where they took a boat somewhere. We took that as our cue to leave, but following them, some of them grabbing us and dancing, others getting hit with blown-up bananas, was a lot of fun. It really felt like a moving party with the theme, strangely, being about bananas.

The mask I bought in Venice for 4 euro.

After the parade was done for us, we went and took another break at a cafe where we spent nearly an hour and a half just talking and laughing at all of the things that had transpired that day. Then it was time to meet up with everyone again and, by then, all of our umbrellas were breaking in the unbearably harsh wind and rain and we were dying to get into the bus and stay there for the three-hour ride. It took us forty-five minutes to get from San Marco square to the buses; usually it takes around an hour to get to San Marco, but we were pretty desperate to get back.

Venice!

I could see why Venice is such a romanticized city. The canals that surrounded us everywhere were beautiful and is definitely the city's trademark, though the gondola rides are very expensive. The way people get across is usually by water taxi which is sometimes easier than finding the bridge to get across.

All in all, going to see and experience carnevale was worth the time and money. Even with bad weather, we got to party along with a lot of other tourists and Venetians and have a good time together. Though the two groups we split into never really met up, I think we both had an awesome time. While we were following the parade, the other group went bar crawling, and we both had fun stories to share afterwards. We're going to Venice in two weeks with the program, but by then carnevale will be over. I just hope the weather is better by then!