Venezia!

Saturday:

I went to bed at 1:30 on Friday night and woke up at 5 with the intention of sleeping on the train on the way to Venice.  It was snowing when we left the house and went to the train station.  Janie and I sat in our own little spot on the train, but we never slept. We listened to music and talked for the whole time.  I think we were too excited.  About 10 minutes before arriving, I sent a message to one of the exchange student girls that I had talked to on facebook to see where they were.  One of Janie’s friends messaged her as well and said that some of the exchange students were meeting on one of the bridges at 12:15 so when we arrived we navigated our way there and waited. 

There were so many people it was crazy!  When we first came out of the train station, there were a bunch of people dressed up and there were a bunch of places where people could get their faces painted.  The bridge we were supposed to meet at wasn’t too hard to find.  All the craziness began when the other exchange students arrived.  There were about 15 of them in this group and we all introduced ourselves.  After that, we stayed on the bridge for about 30 minutes just talking about everything. There was so much to say!  Janie and my host parent’s let us stay with the exchange students and they left.

We finally got the group moving so that we could see more of Venice.  After walking a little bit, we all stopped again to wait for some of the others to eat.  While we were waiting, some people went shopping and others were exploring the place where we were standing.  I went with two other guys and while we were waiting, we talked about how are exchanges are going.   We got the group moving again, minus about 4 people who went somewhere else to shop, and we started walking in the direction of San Marco.  On the way, I lost Janie and another group of people.  There were so many people there that it was impossible to stay together.  There were also a bunch of people in costumes and masks.  About 20 minutes later, Janie’s group found us again and we made it to San Marco.  Everything was absolutely beautiful, but there were so many people we could barely move!  There, we met up with another group of about 10 exchange students and walked near the sea where all the others were.  

About 5 minutes after standing in this one spot, a bunch of different groups of exchange students arrived and we spent about 30 minutes greeting each other and asking questions.  More groups would show up and I wouldn’t know if they were exchange students or just tourists in Venice until the other exchange students who knew them started talking with them. It was all very confusing and exciting at the same time.  We stayed in the same spot talking with everybody for about an hour and then some of the groups were starting to leave with their Rotary chaperones, so Janie and I decided to say goodbye to everyone and go off on our own.  We had to meet up with our host parents at 6 so we had about an hour of free time to wonder around on our own. 

During this time, we took smaller streets and explored a little.  I also bought my carnival mask!  Then we figured out where we were supposed to meet with everybody and we headed back to San Marco.  We took some pictures and then we walked back to the train station.  It took about an hour to get there and Janie and I got gelato on the way.  Everybody thought we were crazy because it was really cold outside, but for me, only my hands were cold.  Half way back to the train station, I got really tired and irritable.  There were a bunch of people and everybody was bumping into everybody.  The party was just getting started for others and there were a lot of people who were drunk and we probably walked by about 15 people who had their own bottle of wine.  It was entertaining as well. 

We got back to the train at 7:30 and Janie and I went to our seats and sat down right away even though the train wasn’t going to leave until 8:30.  Nadia had packed me two sandwiches, an apple, and a bottle of water for lunch so that I didn’t have to buy lunch in Venice, but I was so busy talking and walking, I never ate any of it.  The only think I had eaten after getting off the train was the gelato I got that night.  Maybe that was why I was tired and irritable at the end.  On the train, I ate one of my sandwiches, and around 9, we got more sandwiches for dinner.  After eating, I started listening to my ipod and I tried to get comfortable for the five hours home.  I think I fell asleep a lot, but only for a couple of minutes each time because it was extremely uncomfortable.  My eyes could barely stay open and I kept doing the head-bobbing thing. 

We finally got home around 1:30 and I got ready for bed and then went to Giulia’s room to tell her about my day and for her to tell me about hers.  We talked for an hour and then I went back to my room.  I was on facebook for another hour so that I could add all of the exchange students I had met and then I got to bed at 4.

I didn’t end up getting much sight-seeing done, but I took a lot of pictures and made a bunch of new friends!  It was a great day.

Sunday:

I woke up at 1:15 this morning when Nadia called me for lunch.  I was still extremely tired.  We had lunch and then I went to my room so that I could look at and upload my Venice pictures.  I went through all of them and there were 100 that I was trying to upload on facebook, but it wasn’t loading for me.  I tried 2 more times before I gave up and went to take a shower. 

At 5, Giulia and I left to walk to her friend’s house near the center.  It took us 30 minutes and we had carnival donut type cookies at her house.  We stayed there until 6:30 and then we started walking to the pub.  Part way there, Giulia saw her friend in his car so we got a ride with him for the rest of the way.  I stayed with Giulia and her friends for a little bit until some of my friends showed up and then I went inside with them because it was cold and I was shivering like crazy.

At 7:30, I went with Giulia and one of here friends dropped us off at home.  I put my pajamas on and then we had dinner.  After dinner, Giulia came to my room and we talked for a little bit until she had to leave to go out again around 9:15.  I’ve been trying to upload Venice pictures to facebook for the last hour and it’s not happening.  I’m about to kill my computer!!  I have no idea why it’s not working, but it is extremely annoying and I don’t want to spend another hour on it, but other than this, it was an amazing weekend.

Not getting to bed early tonight…

Ciao!

~Devon