A Venice Fish

This past weekend Hil, Melis, and I went to Venice for Carinvale. We left early Friday morning and got to Venice around noon. After two weekends of trains and buses, we are finally getting the hang of traveling. Our only glitch came when we forgot that we had to validate our tickets downstairs and almost missed the train…but we made it! Good thing we all like to run! Venice was the most unique city I have ever been to. Besides the lack of cars, and plethora of gondolas, Venice had the coolest streets and shops. There were 100000 different masks for Carnivale and more blown glass from Murano (an Island really close to Venice) than I could have ever imagined. It is a really cool city, but this weekend was not all peaches and cream. Arriving in Venice we set out to find our hostel. It wasn’t tough to find,but when we walked in I was a little apprehensive. I knew that it wasn’t going to be the nicest hostel (it was the only one we could find in Venice for the weekend of Carnivale…never a good sign), but I think I may have been spoiled from Siena. It wasn’t horrible but I defiantly did not want to stay in “A Venice Fish” more than I had to. After we left sketch hostel we headed into Venice. I had been reading Rick Steves on the train and it was pretty clear that Venice was a city that did not really use road names, but landmarks to figure out where you are located. We figured we would just walk around, get lost, and look at signs to find St. Marks Basilica. Our plan worked after about 3 hours. It was pouring rain and the signs proved to be very tricky. We wondered around, went in stores, and really anything that was free. It was fun but the rain made things more complicated.

When we went inside St. Marks Basilica my eyes goggled at everything. I love the intricacy of every church we go into. You could stay in St. Marks for hours and never get tired of looking at the walls, ceilings, windows… Almost everything in St. Marks is a mosaic, so if you look carefully you can see all the little tiles that make the whole pictures. Everything was gold. We stayed for a while inside the dry warmth of the Basilica and then finally ventured out to see the Grand Canal. I loved all the gondolas and funny men who paddled them. Sadly, because of the rain and price, we opted out of riding on a gondola, but if I ever go back on a warm sunny day, I WILL ride in a gondola! The rest of the day we spent wondering around, exploring all the many bridges, and eating Nutella crepes!We went back to “A Venice Fish” around 7. They provided free dinner at 8:30 and by 7 we were so drained I didn’t care how sketchy it was, we needed a place to sit down. We stayed in a four person room, so we only had one girl we didn’t knowwith us. She was extremely nice. Everything was going great (besides the fact that we had to pay 5 euro for sheets), until our new roommate informed us that she had read/heard that this hostel was known for bed bugs and that is why she had brought all her own linens. Greaaaat. I’m laughing just thinking about what our faces must have looked like when she told us this.I thought of what my dad always says “don’t let the bed bugs bite”, and how he would most likely respond in this situation (“a few bed bugs never hurt anybody”). We toughed it out, but I only slept on the clean sheets we had paid for. I was freezing during the night so Melis and I ended up snuggling in a twin size bed for warmth. It was a night to remember. Woke up early the next morning, ate the free hostel breakfast, and said CIAO to “A Venice Fish”!






Saturday was a much prettier day in Venice. What a difference not having to lug around at umbrella can make! It was also the first official day of Carinvale so the streets were packed with mask and costumes. It was entertaining to walk around and see all the uniquely dressed people. St. Marcos square was teeming with tourist and there was a huge area set up where clowns, entertainers, and musicians were playing! By the end of Saturday I felt like I really knew the streets of Venice. We literally
walked the entire day and probably made at least 5 loops around the city. I can’t deny that I was pretty happy to rest my legs on the train ride back to Firenze. We had our first run in with sketchy Italian men on the train. One man stared at Melis for the last hour of our train ride, it was pretty funny. I slept happily in sweet Bella Rosa Saturday night!


This week has been full of classes and not much sleep. I really enjoy every class but my favorite is photography class (cooking is actually my true favorite of course). My teacher speaks broken English, but I can normally catch the drift of what she is saying. This week we learned about the basic functions of our cameras and about a famous French photographer Henri Cartier- Bresson. He was known for the lines in his photography. These are a couple of his shots that I liked:





Our assignment this week is to “feel the world around you”. We have to take 10 pictures of what we “feel” in the world around us (following Bresson’s example of lines and emotions). Should be interesting. Maybe next week I’ll post my “feel the world around you” photos!


Other Fun facts and quotes from the week:

-on my way to class I discovered a coffee vending machine. It .50 Euro and it gives you a little to go cup and then you choose what kind of coffee, cream, and sugar you want. It also makes hot chocolate. I’ve never seen one of these machines in America (they probably have them in big cities) but I’m thinking if I put one of these in the middle of CH I will make bank next year.

-Italians dress their dogs in little coats.

-“Photography is not just the party for Facebook” – my photo. Professor.
-"I'd rather be with Jesus in the rowboat in the middle of the storm, than standing in the sun on shore without Him.” – M’er via e-mail

-“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like the stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life- in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.” – Philippians 2: 14-16

-“ If we were willing to endure so much sweat and labor in order to raise our bodies a little closer to heaven, how can a soul struggling toward God, up the steps of human pride and mortal destiny, fear any cross or prison or sting of fortune?” – Petrarca (read in The Ascent of Mt. Ventoux in my Renaissance class)
We tried out another church this week! It was great. There were mainly study abroad kids since the service was in English and it was run by two missionary couples from Finland. One of the couples had two little girls and it made me realize how much I miss being around little kids. Can’t wait to come home and see all my little cousins (especially my newest little cousin Della Sharron!).

This weekend we are headed to Interlaken Switzerland. Don’t know if I’ll ski, but it will be fun to play in the snow!

Love and miss y’all.
Wing Wing. Meow Meow. Love Love
Bec