Hey, This post was supposed to go up on Monday, I even uploaded all the pictures & got everything ready except for writing the post but we went to Chicago with my family over the weekend. We were supposed to stop at a hotel so I figured it could be finished then but of course all of the hotels were completely full. We ended up just going all the way there and we were all going a little crazy. Then my moms friend who we were staying with wouldn’t share her wifi password with us. I guess I shouldn’t count on having wifi 24/7!
When I left off with my study abroad experience, I had just gotten my computer stolen and we had our apartment raided. Once we left the police station we had to rush home and get on a train to Venice. It was really hard to be excited because of what happened, it didn’t help that I got stuck sitting by strangers so I didn’t have anyone to talk to. It was hard not to think about what I could have done differently to change what happened.
We finally arrived after 2-3 hours and I was still a little down but I started feeling a little better cause everything was super pretty around me. They announced our roommates and I figured that I would be with the 3 roommates that I had been with the whole time and the two guys on the trip but I found out I wasn’t because one of the other girls basically picked who everyone roomed with to benefit herself. It made me feel rejected!
We got to our apartment and it was super cool, way better than our apartment in Venice and I got to room with a girl that was super cool and I hadn’t hung out with her a lot on the trip yet. Mostly because of a girl that everyone got annoyed with who was around her 24/7 (you’ll here more about this later). Once we got settled we were meeting with the rest of the group to see the Guggenheim. We walked instead of taking the water taxi since our apartment was so close and made it before everyone else. The water taxi was amazing for getting around the city, I think it was 25 Euros for a two day pass. It was included in our trip price so I don’t know for sure. The teacher ended up showing up after the museum was closed so we went out to eat instead.
The rest of the pictures were taken during the first day while we were exploring the city. I started enjoying my time because the feeling of Venice was so much different than it was in Florence. It was so much more relaxing with no cars and no gypsies or venders trying to sell us things as viciously. I am so glad the trip was right after the incident. It made me realize that I couldn’t change what happened and that I should still be grateful of where I was.
Our second day in Venice we went to the Bienale, which is an art expedition that has exhibits from every country. Four of us decided to sleep in instead of getting up at 7 to either explore or go to another museum. We were exhausted. We left a lot earlier than we needed to because we wanted to get breakfast and we weren’t sure how long it would take to get there on the water taxi. Again, we made it there way before the teachers and everyone else. They were an hour late! We found an amazing bakery for breakfast and I got a donut and water for 2 euro! I wish I knew the name of it! I’ll try to find it before I do the places to visit while in Italy!
The next two pictures are from my favorite exhibits from the Bienale!
This one is from Venezuela. It was a bunch of really cool graffiti. According to my teacher it was boring because they do graffiti every time. I still thought it was amazing. If they do it right, might as well keep doing it.
This one is from Russia! You walk into the lower section and they only let women through and hand you umbrella. We had now idea what was going on but you were tole to grab a handful of coins and put them into the bucket and you could keep one. It was up to the women to keep the cycle going. I’m not going to go into detail about it but you can probably find out more online.
The US exhibit was really strange to everyone that was with us. I really didn’t understand it at all.
The last picture from Venice is one of the weirdly pretty and ugly chandelier in our apartment. We had also found out that we would be getting a new apartment once we got back to Florence. I was super sad to leave Venice but glad that I wouldn’t have to stay in our old apartment. Our new apartment was so amazing! We had a little outdoor sitting area (it was blocked in by walls) a loft with two beds and a bathroom and a bathroom downstairs. It was also across the Arno river so it was less touristy and a lot quieter. The were two blocks away from the Boboli Gardens too.
I’m not going to go into detail about what we did each day in class. I’m just going to share some of my favorite moments. The last actual day of class we went through the Vasari corridor to get to the Pitti Palace. It was super cool to go through the same hallway that the Medici walked through and most people don’t get to see! Once we were done with that, we wandered around the Boboli Gardens for a couple hours. Here are some of the pictures from it!
A random cat wandering along with us!
It was so pretty we even decided to go again the next day. For our last day in Florence and the last free day, we had so many things that we wanted to do and we ended up getting everything done. First we did the rest of our souvenir shopping for all our family & friends. Then headed to the Boboli gardens. After wandering for a while we sat in a grassy area because you really don’t see a lot of grass in Italy! You can’t look around Michigan without seeing grass so we all missed it a little. After that we went to Gusto Pizza! The most amazing Pizza I’ve ever had! I wish I could go back just for that pizza! (Well not just for that reason!)
That night we went to our favorite gelato place (again I’ll have to look up the name!) and went to the Ponte Vecchio bridge to put some lover locks on. As you know I don’t have a boyfriend so I kept both of my keys to give to someone in the future. One of the girls suggested I did it and I thought it was a great idea.
The next day we were headed to a bus to Rome. We had to carry everything we brought across Florence to the train station. I wish I would have just paid for a cab! You’ll see pictures and hear stories from my Rome trip (the last weekend/days in Italy).
Also tomorrow I am going to be apart of the MINI Project hosted by Messy Dirty Hair! I’m super excited to share my outfit and see what the other beautiful ladies came up with for their accessory. I definitely hope to to the Messy Project once I have a job in the future! Make sure you come back tomorrow and check it out!