Packages from home, bars, and Halloween in Venice :)

I finally got my package Nick sent me from home. Sara and I had Kraft mac and cheese for dinner and I sipped on some Starbucks via. I started watching season 2 of lost and finally got to see the season 3 finale of True Blood, after waiting 2 months. It was nice to have some things from home again.

2 weeks ago I was late to photo because we had to go to the immigration office to finalize our permit to stay. The office was on the other side town and I got really lost trying to get back to the workshops after. I spent all my time in the dark room again trying to get ready for mid terms next week. That Friday one of the guys, Alex, came to the dark room with me so I could teach him how to develop. It was my last chance to finish everything for my mid term so I went a few hours before him to make sure I could get everything done. I managed to finish everything in time and then got home and painting for a bit. I decided after a few drinks to go out with the group, Sara stayed behind and painted. Alex bought me a drink for helping him in the dark room and I made a little face out of wax at the bar and then went dancing with Eliana and Britney. They played YMCA and songs from Greece and well all sang along loudly, it was so fun! That Saturday Sara and I took the bus to Fiesole, a little town 20 minutes from Florence. We couldn’t figure out how to take the bus so we just got on and pretended to have a pass. We took pictures of the view of Florence and then wandered into an empty church and then had lunch and went back to Florence, again for free on the bus, yay for free bus rides! That night Sara painted and I went out with the group to a couple bars. We went to one club and they tried to charge us 50 euro each as we were leaving, which is absolutely ridiculous. We refused to pay of course. That Sunday Tommy came over and we watched Top Gear in my room for hours, I forgot how funny that show is.

We had mid terms last week. I felt pretty good about them and I think I got ok grades, i got a B+ on my Italian mid term and then 97.5% on my art history final. After finals were over we spent the weekend in Venice for Halloween! We left Saturday morning at 4:30 am from Florence, stopped in Bologna at 6:30 am, and then got to Venice at 9:30. We figured out the ferry system and got to the Island of Lido where our hotel was. They let us leave our bags in the room early even though it was only 10 am. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Venice, went to the palace and stared at the amazing artwork, especially the ceilings. We wandered some more around Venice, bought masks for Halloween. We decided we wanted to “find the sun” meaning watch the sunset by the water. Walked though ALL of Venice for an hour looking for the water. We finally found “the sun” on a cruise ship dock in the middle of no where, no clue where we actually were. We watched the sunset from the curb, the Sky was dirty with pollution and the sun was behind the boats but it was still a pretty awesome sunset. Found dinner at a little restaurant and had some very good gnocchi with a gorgonzola sause.We went back to the hotel about 8 pm and went to bed early since we had been up all day and were tired from walking. We watched some cartoons first though, Balto and Shrek in Italian. In the morning we got up, had breakfast, and watched some Italian news. We left the hotel by 11, leaving our bags in the lobby conveniently. Went to Venice on the ferry, which was free, since we only had tickets for 24 hours and they had already expire. We went shopping and  Sara bought a couple little things and I didn’t buy anything. Went on a gondola ride in the rain! Spent 90 euro on the ride but it was still amazing! Took the ferry again (snuck on again) to the gardens between Venice and Lido, had lunch outside the gardens which was some PB & J and Pringles. Found a café at the gardens and had tea and coffee there for 2 hours trying to warm up, stay out of the rain and kill time. Went back to the hotel to get our bags and change in the bathroom into our Halloween costumes. Took the ferry to the train station and checked our bags for the rest of the day. Took the ferry back to the main part of Venice and ran to the theater for a play about Venice's history. On the ferry I put on my masquerade mask and had people take pictures of me becasue appearenty nobody wears masks in Venice on Halloween. I was the only one at the play for awhile with a mask on. we had no clue where to find a masquerade ball that night and we decided to figure things out as we went. The play was good, after we found dinner at a different little resturant. Went for another walk and took pictures. we found kids in masks trying to scare people and free drinks at a restaurant. Made our way back to the train station at 11:30 to get our bags before they closed. Found out that we had to go to a different train station outside of Venice to catch our 3:11 am train. We got on the next train out of Venice in order to get there. Got to the proper train station by midnight and we waited for 3 hours in the cold for our train. We managed to sleep a bit and it wasnt too bad, minus some homeless people and the fact that the bathroom was closed. Finally made it safely on the train only to find out it was a “Harry Potter train” with sleeping cabins and there was no room for us. Sat in the hallway until the conductor made us go into a room with an older man and a guy our age, we managed to get some sleep still during the 3 hour ride home Finally got to Florence at about 6:30 am on Monday. Walked back to our apartment and fell asleep until 2 pm, thank god it was all Saints day and there wasnt class. overall it was a very good Halloween weekend in Venice, minus a few traveling errors and some rain!