Living in a squad

I missed my friends in Venezia! Hence, went back again over Carnevale. The flat is like a squad, people come and go, you see new faces ever so often (by the hour!!), at the peak of it all, there were more than 10 people sleeping in the tiny flat, bear in mind that there's only 1 (+0.5) bedroom in the flat. The only thing is that the main occupants actually do pay rent, so theoretically it's not really a squad.

I dont know what to report about the Carnevale. It was amazing to see people propped up like a peacock, rococo exotica, masks gowns makeup, just because I have never seen such extravagance. I admire these people as it's not very comfortable to parade all day long wearing the suffocating mask that also makes you sweat profusely. And imagine wearing the heavy costume in a city where vehicles on road do not exist, you literally need to go everywhere on foot, unless you're so rich you can afford to pay for gondola (cough... cut throat), water taxi and the like. The best thing is they're all doing it for the sake of .....doing it! Or maybe fame, but then again, they're behind masks so no one can actually tell who they are. So because you dont get charged for taking photos of any masquerade kings and queens, the tourists wouldnt call it quits even after taking a million shots. Venezia would have looked like a discotheque powered by constant flashes of digital cameras. After a while, it really felt like I was in the longest running circus. By then, I didnt know whether I should still be amused ...

Unintentionally, we made it a point to miss every single stage performance, always arriving tad late, or couldnt find the location of the piazza where the concerts were held. A lot of the time, I was just chilling, chilling in the 'squad', chilling on top of a well in Piazza Santa Maria Formosa, chilling by the rio, chilling on a jetty along the fondamenta, basically anywhere where we could bask in the sun like reptiles or munch on food like pigs. We were nocturnal. There were days where I didnt sleep at all. Parties everywhere. Firejuggling. Drums pounding. It was like a state of trance.

At the end of it all, I was completely knackered. Woke up too late on the day of departure, still wanted to give hitchhiking a go, figured that it took me 3 hours to hitchhike from Montichiari airport to Venice, so should still be able to make it. Alas, it wasnt my luckiest day, only managed to get one lift from Venice to Mestre, it was pathetic. Rushed to the train station and was

---

---