End of the First Week

Well, today is Friday and the end of my first week in Italy. I can't believe it is already 1/4 over! It really does not seem possible, and I don't want it to end so quickly! Yes, I really to miss everyone back home, but I found a solutiotn: you can all just come over here! :D
So with classes, they are much more difficult that I originally thought. The classes are taught all in Italian and one of the two teachers won't even let us talk to each other in English, even if we are just trying to figure out what we need to be doing. We spend most of the time lost, and kind of try to find our way along in the lesson as it goes. We started verbs on Wednesday, learned a ton of new verbs on Thursday, and learned to conjugate them today. It is very, very, very similar to Spanish in this sense, but with just enough differences to still leave me confused! They also started doing this thing where they will give us a huge list of words and tell us to match it up with the appropriate adjective. The nouns and adjectives are either feminine or masculine, singular or plurale, and you have to match it up with the correct adjective on the list. It is so hard though, because the verbs and nouns have already been changed out of their root word. In Italian, when you say, "I" do something, the root of the verb gets an "o" on the end. This is true if the verb is and -are, -ere, or -ire verb. THey want us to describe the meaning of the word shile speaking Italian, then tell whether it is an -are, -ere, or -ire verb. First of all, I HATE how they just automatically assume that we know the meanings to all of the words they throw at us, then they make it seem like we should already know the answer when we ask. Second of all, it is impossible to tell if a verb is and -are, -ere, or -ire verb when it is conjugated in the (I) or (you) forms. The (I) verbs all end in "o" and the (you) verbs all end in "i." So I asked the teacher how you can tell. All she told me was that you need to memorize them. Great.......becuase I know every single verb in the Italian language. Right.
Sorry, I will end my rant now! :)
But other than that, I had a ton of fun going this week! On Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to the Lido (a huge, very famous Italian beach) with a few friends. It was so beautiful! The beach goes on forever, and it has the FINEST sand I have ever seen! The water is so blue and so clear it feels like you're floating in a bottle of deja blue! But the water is very very salty. You can float without even really trying at all! The salt just holds you on up there! We have plans to go back again tonight with a big group.
Yesterday, though, Sarah and I went on a self guided tour of Venice. We started right after class got out (1:00 our time), and walked everywhere! We went down to the Accademia (which is closed for remodeling or something), continued down to a GORGEOUS catherdral called Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute (literally it means the church of Saint Mary for heath). It is absolutley stunning! I couldn't even really get all of it in one picture! It is right on the Grand Canal, and is by far one of my favorite places.
After seeing the catherdral, we backtracked, caught the Accademia bridge accross the canal, and went to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square). It is beyond words for how beautiful it is. Even the pictures don't even begin to give it justice. It is massive and gorgeous and there are so many people! The perimeter of the square is surrounded by buildings that are a tall, white, and ornately decorated. But the main attraction is the Basilica di San Marco. ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!!!!!! If you ever get the chance to see it, say yes without a moment's thought!! The architecture of the building is beyond compare, and as if that weren't enought, it has paintings on the underside of the arches that are inlayed with gold! Completely breathtaking! We didn't get to go inside any of the buildings yet though. It was way more expensive to buy them on the spot. If we go to our school and get a museum pass, we can see all the museums and churches in Venice for only about €12!! Each museum on its own charges €6! I really can't wait for next week, because that is when we are going to the museum tour!
After seeing San Marco, we made our way over to the Ponte di Rialto (the Rialto bridge). It is so funny, because TJ and I have a picture of this bridge hanging up above our couch in the living room, and now I'm seeing it in real life! It is really gorgeous too! I saw it once at night on the way back from the beach, and it looks amazing all lit up at night, a near perfect image of it reflecting in the Canale Grande below. Just perfect. It's just as neat in the day time too. I never realized it, but when you see the divisions on the bridge construction, it is the back side of shops that are actually on the bridge! There are three walking paths on the bridge--one on each outside edge, and one throught the middle, with shops lining the path. I was a little dissapointed though, because side of the bridge that is facing away from San Marco is covered in grafitti! Grafitti is a really big problem here, and you can't go 10 ft without seeing something that has grafitti on it.
After seeing the Rialto Bridge, we started on our way back to my apartment so we could change to meet up with friends that night. However, along the way, we found a little cocktail bar! Cocktail bars are almost non existant in Vencie! Better yet, it was happy hour with buy one get one free drinks! :) :D We each got 2 margaritas and a sangria. :) We stayed there a long while talking and just chatting about everything (especially the differences between England English and America English). We later headed back to my place, got dressed, and went to the student district to meet up with tons of friends from class. We had spritz, which is like THE drink of Venice! It has bitter Aperol, white wine, prosecco, and sparkling mineral water. You mix the three ingredients in a large glass and add an olive or a slice of orange and an ice cube. People here usually go out for spritz before dinner, around 6:30 or 7, have 2 or 3, then eat dinner around 8 to 9. The spritz was ok, but not as good as everyone made it out to be. :( A little bit of a let down. But we stayed there a long time and had a ton of fun getting to know everyone better. I know 2 other girls from the US, 4 from Germany, 2 from France, 2 from Croatia, 1 from Poland, 6 people from England, 1 person from Austria, 1 person from Austria, and one from Holland. It is so amazing getting to know people from all over the world! And it's pretty funny that I came here to learn Italian, am picking up a British accent, and am learning tons of words in French! :D Talk about a global society......
But we are planning weekend trips, too. We have nothing planned this weeked, but next weekend, a big group of us are going to go to Florence. We plan on getting the Eurorail to Florence Friday afternoon so we can get settled in our hotels/hostels and all, and then head out to see the sights. Then we will have all day Saturday to sight see, and part of Sunday too. Then we will come home Sunday afternoon/evening to get ready for classes on Monday!
We are planning another trip the Rome the following weekend, with about the same format, only we will be flying. It's only €50 to fly roundtrip to anywhere in Europe! I wish I had more weekens available! Oh I would go see everything!!!
So this afternoon, I am taking a nap. It about 90 some degrees outside, and no one around here has air conditioners. How the day schedules usually go, is that businesses open around 8, close around 2, open up again around 4 or 5, and stay open til 9 or so. They all go home for lunch midday and sleep throught the hottest part of the day. It is such a weird schedule for me to get used to! But after my nap, our big group is going back to the Lido for some great swimming, and after the sun goes down, we are going to head to the club on the beach! :) I can't wait!

First Day of Classes

Yay! Today was the first day of classes! You wouldn't expect me to be excited about that, but I really just wanted to meet people; and I did!!! I have friends over here now! Whoohoo! :) I actually was pretty worried that I was going to be the only one in the class who spoke English and very very little Italian. However, right off the bat I met Sarah, who is from London. She is so funny and we have plans to take weekend trips together to Rome, Florence, and Naples! We hit it off right away, and it turns out she was just as worried as I was that she would be all alone! Later we met Sam, who is also from England, originally from around the Wales area. However, he is moving here to coach rugby! He was a player but got injured and was offered a job, which he accepted. Only problem was, he doesn't know a lick of Italian! So the rugby club sent him to the Istituto Venezia to learn. :) Sarah just wanted to come here to see the country and learn a new language, just like me! We have plans for all of us to go to the Lido, which is the huge, very popular beach on the edge of the lagoon. You have to take a boat to get there, but they run 24 hrs a day, so if you miss one, another will be along shortly. Sam actually lives over there by the club he coaches at, so he offered to show us around. Sarah and Sam went there today, but I really really needed a nap (jet lag still hasn't left me yet). But, I am resolved not to stay home all day. At four, the university is having a walking tour of Venice, and I am going to that, camera ready! :) After that, my roommate Arianna said that her and a few of her friends are going to a pub tonight, and invited me along, so that sounds like a plan!
Last night, I walked around Venice for 3 hrs trying to find the university. Now that I know the way, it only takes me about 20 min walking to get there, but the scenery is beautiful and the walk is easy. But, while I was lost last night, I found some of the most amazing places!!!! Churches, piazze (plazas), and live music! I will try to post as many pictures as I can, but I will have to cut them back--I took over 100 pics last night!
Also, I am very glad that I did not listen to the tour book 100%, cuz I would have died wearing my more formal clothes all the time. It is so hot here during the day, and no one believes in air conditioning! Also, no one really dresses formally unless they are on their way to work, and even then, many go dressed causally! Something else that Italians don't believe in: microwaves! No one has one except 1 little shop that I saw on my way to the univeristy! It's crazy! I don't know how they reheat their leftovers, unless they just put it on the stove and heat it up that way, but it seems like a huge waste and a huge chance of burning it. I know I probably would!
But I better go. Enjoy the pics, and I miss you all! ~Becky

I MADE IT!!! (barely)

I am here! I am in Italy! My first connection flight was really easy going into Philadelphia. The flight over wasn't bad, it was just so uncomfortable to sit in one spot for 9 hours! There was zero wiggle room, and my chair was broken so that it would not recline. Needless to say, I did not sleep well on the flight. However, I did see some sights I will never forget! I got to see the sun set over the Atlantic Ocean! It looked like the ocean was on fire! What was even weirder was that I saw the sun rise again just 3 hrs later! (Not really sure how that works out the way it did!) It was very odd, like I was in a parallel universe! I finally did fall asleep for a while, and when I woke up, I got my very first glimpse of Europe: a huge mountain peak was towering above the clouds, and the pilot said that we were flying over the Swiss-Italian border, and we were looking at the Swiss Alps! It was truly, truly breathtaking.
However, once I landed, things got a little bit messier. I got through customs just fine and all, but my flight came in at 9 am and the guy wasn't supposed to pick me up from the airport until 11 am. So, it was really hot inside the airport itself (no AC) so I decided to wait out at the bus terminal where he was supposed to pick me up. Only problem was, he never showed! 11:00 came and went. At 11:30, I tried calling the cell phone # they had given me for the guy. So I had to go in the airport to a newstand, buy a calling card, and call the guy. Then the operator said, "I'm sorry, but the number you have dialed is not assigned." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was freaking out, and tried to call the lady whose apartment I was staying at, and got the same result! It was now 12:30, 1.5 hrs after he was supposed to be there, and I am freaking out in a minor panic attack, stranded in the airport with no idea what to do. SO, I called mom and dad (love you guys!) and vented and talked to them, and they reminded me that they probably had a desk for tourists who need help. So I went inside, found it, and talked to the lady. Apparently I had misunderstood the letter. I had read the letter to say that I was to wait for him at the airport at the Piazzale Roma bus terminal. What it meant was that I was supposed to take the bus to Piazzale Roma, then meet him on that side of the termianl! :) Whoops.
I called Arianna (the lady I am staying with) and told her that I would not be at the apartment at the discussed time. She totally understood my situation, and offered to meet me at the Piazzale Roma herself since neither of us could get in contact with the man. So, I bought a ticket for the No. 5 autobus a Venezia, and met her. THANK GOD!!!! She led me back to the apartment (which is a huge maze, by the way) and made me a honest to God Italian pasta dinner with olive oil, zucchini, peas, twisty noodles, and parmesan cheese. :D It was fantastico!
After all of this, I finally got to shower, almost a day and a half since my last one! God, it feels good to be clean! :) Now I am putting my things away in the drawers and trying to get my life in order for the next month.
Next challenge: classes start tomorrow at 8:45 am at the Istituto Venezia (which is clear across town!) It's not the classes I'm really worried about, it's how to get there! Wish me luck, and I love you all! Becky

Last Day Before I Leave

So, today is Friday, and that means that this is my last full day before I get on that plane and travel thousands of miles to a foreign country where I barely speak the language. But surprisingly, I am very excited! I talked to the girl whose apartment I'll be staying in today via email. Her name is Arianna, and she seems incredibly nice! Better yet, she told me that she has wireless internet in her apartment, and a washer! Sweet deal! I was really worried about how to get onto the internet, and a washer will make my life sooooooo much easier!
So, for whoever wants to get in touch with me while I'm over there without spending a small fortune on international roaming fees, I suggest you download Skype at www.skype.com. If you have a webcam or a built-in one on your computer, we can talk for free via the internet! Sweet deal, huh? Or, if you don't have one, many computers will have built in microphones. This will work just fine, too. It'll be more like a regular phone conversation, you know, without video. :) Otherwise, if you try to call my cell, it will cost $1.29 a minute! :O When I get over there, I'll find out if she has a land line phone in her apartment that I can use, and if so, I'll let everyone know. If you use international calling cards and call from a land line to a land line, it a ton cheaper. With the cards I bought the other day, it was 50 cents a minute for me to call from Italy to the US, and only 34 cents for someone in the US to call me in Italy! :) So, I will keep you all posted on the phone # thing.
So, my flight leaves KC tomorrow at 12:30, so we're going to get there around 10:00 just to be safe, which means we are leaving around 8ish. From KC, I fly to Philadelphia, and from there, I fly straight to Venice's Marco Polo Airport (cute name, huh?). Then I have to wait 2 hrs for the guy to come pick me up to take me to my apartment. The airport is on the mainland, and this guy from the college is going to take me to the actual city, which is located a few miles away in the lagoon. It's hard to imagine that an actual city exists on 118 different islands in the middle of a huge lagoon. Boggles the mind!
Thankfully, I am all packed up with everything I could ever need. Better yet, my bag is actually under the weight limit of 50 lbs! (but only by 2.8 lbs! :D) I'm also carrying on my backpack with 2 days worth of clothes (in case my luggage is lost), my laptop, travel books, basic stuff like makeup and toothbrush, and all the important docs I could ever need. If all goes as planned, I will have window seats the whole way, so I'll be able to see Europe as I'm flying in! :)
Since I'm all packed, I'm taking it easy today and just relaxing. When TJ gets off work, we're heading into Manhattan to double check on the apartment we want to rent. Yes, in the midst of all of this, we are moving the week I return! We originally moved to St. Marys b/c it was halfway in between Manhattan (school for me) and Topeka (work for TJ). Well, when the job in Topeka fell through cuz of the economy, he got a new job in Manhattan at Mead Lumber. So, its really dumb for us to be living in St. Marys when we are both centered in Manhattan. We will pay way less in rent and gas by living there, so we decided to do it! The place we want is 3 blocks from campus, so I won't have to use any gas to get to school, and all of my sub. teacher positions are around Manhattan, too. I think it will work out really nice. :D
Well, I just realized that I have been writing forever, and the washer just dinged, so I'm off! I won't write again today, and most likely won't get to write tomorrow morning, so I'll write you all again from the sunny and wet city of Venice! :) Take care, and keep in touch!

Warmest Wishes,

Becky

Four Days

Okay, so it is the morning of the 14th, which means that I leave in four days! I'm having really mixed feelings about my trip now, back and forth from really really excited to really really nervous. None the less, I have my bags 3/4 of the way packed. The only things that they really need now is last minute stuff like my hairdryer and my flat iron, etc. I'm trying to run around and make sure I have every little paper that could possible have a tiny bit of information on it that I would need over there. It's kinda silly, but I have this fear that I'm going to get over there and realize I forgot something really important, like my apartment address!

One Week

Okay, so I'm leaving in 8 days, a little over a week. I'm starting to get a little freaked out right about now, but everything seems to be in order! :) I'm going to miss everyone so much!