Rainy Venice and Slow Weeks!

Written by apantuosco February 21, 2019

Worth it!

Third Week: February 8, 2019

Ciao! This past week has been pretty calm for me. I’ve just been going to all my classes, drinking a lot of coffee, running around Paderno, and eating a lot of pasta. Just another week in Italy!

TRIP TO VENICE

Last weekend, a few of my friends and I went to Venice. It was so beautiful-it was crazy to actually see a place that I had virtually seen so many times.

We arrived in Venice on Friday night, took a water taxi to our Air Bnb, and went out for dinner. I don’t know if you all know about Venice’s flooding problem, but I did not know it was such a huge problem. It started raining right before we went to dinner, and by the time we were done with dinner, water was coming into the restaurant. We ended up having to buy those little water boots for 10 euro, but it was so much fun. I felt pretty unstoppable in those weird shoes. I made a lot of walking on water jokes-they just never stopped getting funny!

On Saturday, we explored a bit more and basically just walked all throughout Venice and looked at everything. Venice is pretty touristy, but it is still such an amazing experience. If any of you go to Venice, just accept the fact that you are a stereotypical tourist and go on a gondola ride. Our gondola guy even had a red and white striped shirt and everything.
We miss you Jacob!

Overall, Venice was amazing, and I highly recommend getting lost there. There is so much to look at, and it’s so easy to walk around.

REALIZATIONS

It has been interesting to witness the reactions of local Italians over these past few weeks. At first, I felt like they viewed Americans in a negative way, kind of in a “you’re an outsider” kind of way. And that may be true for some people, but overall, I’ve found that the Italians are friendly and want to know more about us!

The other day, I was in the gym locker room with this Italian woman. She started talking to me, and then realized I was American and got all excited. She was so sweet and asked me so many questions that I didn’t understand. I smiled a lot and said “sì” about ten times, but I am pretty sure we are best friends now!

*What I’m trying to say, though, is that the locals are welcoming and are truly interested in Americans. I want to get to know them all better!

RECOMMENDATIONS

Off of that realization, I want to recommend the class “Italy Live.” The first day of this class, I felt pretty overwhelmed. But now, I know basic phrases, and it’s made me feel more comfortable with being here.

It’s important to try and step out of the “American bubble” and embrace the Italian culture that we are surrounded in. Go to coffee shops by yourself, order in Italian even if you know you’re pronouncing it incorrectly, try to talk to the lady in the gym even though the language barrier is clear. BRANCH OUT! Do it!

Arrivederci!