carnevale di venezia 2013

We had an extremely busy week filled with midterms, quizzes, papers and speaking tests and yet we still found time to go out for Kerry’s 21^st birthday. Once again, the week flew by and before we knew it, it was Friday again. We went to class to take our Italian midterms, which included a five minute speaking portion during which we needed to be able to introduce ourselves, tell the date and time, etc.—everything you would expect for your first Italian test. HOWEVER, because our course is a mere four weeks long and we already halfway through, the tested material didn’t stop there. We also needed to know how to describe our daily routine, our family, how we act and look, how we order at a restaurant, THE LAYOUT OF THE ROOMS IN OUR HOUSES and more. We thought we were doomed, but luckily Magda, our darling Italian professor, did a lot of the talking and nodding and I somehow pulled out an A minus.

Kerry's Birthday celebration at Coyote Ugly 

Throwing our definite and indefinite article grammar study sheets in the air, we rejoiced at the culmination of our midterm and headed back to the Montarina to -- you guessed it -- grab our pre-packed backpacks and head for the train station. We arrived in Venice about four hours later and met our landlord for the weekend on the stairs of the church across from the train station. She arrived a few minutes later, shook our hands, and told us to follow her. We had no idea what to expect but we did as we were told and lined up behind her like kindergarteners, giant backpacks and all, as she led us through the tight Venetian alleyways. To our surprise, we were at our apartment building in less than four minutes. She showed us the light switches, the buzz-in intercom keypad, the bathroom (bidet included!) handed us the keys, and left us on our own. We couldn’t believe how well we scored, considering the dark wood floors, granite countertops, and the fact that most of the others in our group were stuck in dingy one-roomed hostels for nearly the same price.

 

Without even changing clothes, we dropped our bags and headed back out in search for a place to grab dinner. Walking through the alleyways and marveling at the kiosks filled with carnival masks, we were suddenly ushered into a restaurant by an eager Italian manager that wanted our business. We were skeptical, but our hunger did our decision-making and we ended up enjoying free drinks and a wonderful meal. Turns out that if you order pasta in Italy, you really can’t go wrong. After dinner, we perused the shops, bought some wine, and headed back to our apartment to get ready for the night.

After finally refreshing and changing clothes, we all pulled out our handy dandy travel handbooks and flipped to the Venice nightlife pages. There was only one club mentioned. so our decision was made quickly and soon enough we took to the streets to find it. Thanks to Bryce, our human GPS, we got to the club, paid our covers, checked our coats and wandered in. Inside, we found the dingiest hole in the wall dance bar that I have ever been in. Living and learning, we shrugged it off, got a drink and stuck to our own group, dancing and making the most of the lowly lit location and trying not to make eye contact with the scary monsters around us. (OK… that description may have been a little exaggerated, but I’m trying to tell a story here!)

Getting home wasn’t as easy. Apparently, while we were in the club, there was a high flood warning alarm and the tight pathways were flooded with nearly a foot of fishy smelling gross canal water. We did our best tip-toeing and hopping through puddles, but it is safe to say that many pairs of shoes were ruined. We were a little annoyed until Carter fell into the canal in an attempt to avoid a massive puddle, providing us all with enough laughter for the entire weekend.  We finally got home safe, rinsed off the fishy water and tried to get some rest.

The next morning, we woke up excited for the free walking tour that Rachel set up through Trip Advisor. That is, until we looked outside and saw that it was pouring rain and freezing cold. Determined to captivate the rich history of Venice, we layered up and headed out in search of our meeting place. As you may have heard before, navigating Venice is a lot like trying to find your way out of a corn maze, so when we finally met our tour guide we were an hour late, sopping wet, shivering and starving. We knew that it wouldn’t be fair to cancel, so took a deep breath and tried our best to remind ourselves that we were in one of the most beautiful and unique cities in the world. The tour was informative, but extremely pale in comparison to our free walking tour in Munich, so we were all relieved when the tour ended and we could head home.

Walking into our apartment, we were surprised to find that the number of Virginia Tec students hanging out in the living room had nearly tripled. We heard horror stories of scary, far away hostels and welcomed our classmates hoping that the place wouldn’t get completely trashed. After all, what is family for?

After venturing out a few more times in small doses throughout the day, it was finally time for our three course feast at a nearby restaurant. Jordan met Connor and Sean at the train station (or should I say “surprised” them thanks to his new mask) right in time to join us for dinner and we walked in our massive group through the pouring rain to the restaurant. We had a nice lengthy meal, eating like the Italians do—slowly and with a lot of wine. After dinner, we stopped at a small bar where, in no time, 3 of the girls in our group were recruited as bartenders (semi-dangerous considering our drinks were suddenly free). Then we decided to check out one of the Carnivale events that our waiter suggested which was only a block away. Another large European dance party type thing, we hung out until we had had enough fist pumping, gathered everyone, and went home.

When we finally got back to the apartment, we realized that both of the keys went home with the first group an hour earlier. With no way of reaching them, we needed to find a way to break into our apartment or we would be sleeping with the stray alley cats. Luckily, we made enough racket that another couple who lived in the building buzzed us in but not enough for them to call the police on us. We thanked them as best we could, went inside, and tried to find space to sleep in our now overcrowded apartment.

I have never been so happy as I was when I woke up the next morning to a sun-lit window. We jumped up in excitement, cleaned our apartment spotless and checkout out by ten. It was finally time to experience the Venice Carnivale; but first, we went to the train station to store our backpacks. We got there right in time, because as soon as we received our luggage tickets from the nice uniformed Italian men, the length of the line multiplied by ten (leaving those who showed up a little bit later with the choice to carry their backpacks around all day).

We grabbed calzones, strapped on our masks and took to the streets. For hours we walked around the tight alleys, spending the majority of the time around the areas of St. Mark’s square and the Rialto Bridge admiring the parades, live music, stunning costumes and detailed masked figurines all around us. There isn’t much I can say about the day in words, so you will have to flip through my pictures to get an idea of what it was all like. We wandered to the back streets where we found a little family owned quaint Italian restaurant to relax in and grab yet another plate of pasta. The owner was a bit overwhelmed with the sudden onset of nearly twenty masked American students, but obviously still delighted to have us.

We arrived home around midnight that night after our late train rides right in time for the Super Bowl to start! Unfortunately, most of us ended up passing out somewhere around halftime and looking back, I was so delirious watching that I don’t think I could tell you about a single play let alone which team was which.

All in all, we had a great weekend. I do wish that we could have absorbed more of the city’s culture and explored some of the surrounding islands, but due to the over-crowdedness of Carnivale, the stress of traveling with a big group and the soul-sucking weather conditions, those excursions will just have to happen another time!

We now face yet another work-packed week filled with group projects and quizzes, but the 8-hour days are totally worth it.  Next week, I will travel with seven other girls on our first ten-day break to London, Edinburgh and Dublin. I cannot express how excited I am to travel with a small group and explore the three cities I have most looked forward to visiting.

Until then!

Linds