Buon Carnevale!

After being glued to weather.com all day on Friday, my roommates and I finally accepted that the 80% chance of rain in Venice for Saturday wasn't going to change. We decided not to go on the school-sponsored trip because it wouldn't have been worth the money in the rain. However, there was no way we were going to pass up the opportunity to see Carnevale, the ancient festival that Mardi Gras is based off of. So at 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning, we boarded a train for Venice armed with umbrellas, raincoats and some high expectations.

We absolutely had a BLAST. Despite the crappy weather, Venice is GORGEOUS even at its ugliest. We met a fantastic but kinda shy guy named Fabio on the train who was going to visit his girlfriend in Venice. He told us all about where to go and even escorted us around when we got there. He spoke very good English but didn't believe us when we told him so. It was so cute, everytime he finally understood what we were saying he would light up and say, "AH!" And when talking about Venice he kept calling it an IS-land. We giggled but cut him a break because after all it is spelled that way! He taught us Italian phrases and we taught him about what "having an attitude" meant. hahahaha. So much fun.

Carnevale was everything we wanted it to be and more. Listen closely to the lyrics of "Masquerade" from Phantom of the Opera, and that's exactly what it was like. Images of trashy Mardi Gras rowdiness were flashing through my mind on the train, but it wasn't like that at all. People were very respectful and classy for the most part even when having a grand old time. Everyone including the tourists were all wearing some sort of mask, hat, cape or costume of every vibrant color you can imagine. Glitter, feathers and confetti were everywhere on the streets and bridges. Vendors were selling multicolored candy around every corner. The narrow alleys were all strung with white lights and lanterns. Lots of people were decked out in the extravagant traditional costumes with billowing fabric and ornate masks, and those were absolutely stunning. San Marco Square was packed with parades, costumed performers, a big stage with fun music and all with hundreds of glittery masks flashing by all the time. It's such an amazing tradition, we loved it!

I took pictures of only carnevale because I plan on going back to do the touristy stuff another weekend (I can't wait for that either! I would have to say that I think Venice is prettier even than Florence.) The only downside of our trip was that our feet were absolutely soaked by the end, and we had to RUN to catch our train. Venice is a labyrinth, and we had no idea how long it would take to navigate the twists and turns. Honestly, when trying to give someone directions in Venice, you might as well be saying, "Ok, now to get to the train station, spin in a circle, take three paces back, go right, jump up and down, stand on your head and then take the third left on your right." Everything winds and backtracks because of the canals, and there are little alleys running every which way. So confusing, but we finally panted our way into the station with a few minutes to spare.

We then proceeded to sleep until 5:30 p.m. the next day. We still have no sense of time whatsoever, and our room doesn't get light during the day when the big windows are closed. It's going to take a while for the jet lag to wear off!

Last night, my roommates and I had our first REAL Italian meal. We treated ourselves to a more expensive restaurant that ended up being just down the street from our apartment. (Maps make Florence look huge, it's not at all. People will say "OHHH that's so far" when we ask for directions, but that usually means it's about a ten minute walk!) The name of the restaurant was "Buca Mario" and was the complete experience - waiters in bowties, white table cloths, candles on the tables, wine bottles on the walls, a complete dessert tray and a goodie bag of chocolate chip biscuits to take home. It was hands down the best food I've ever had in my life! Our waiter was named Aldo, and he kept saying, "Grazie, I love you" and would sing to us when he came over to wait on us. I had gnocchi with tomato sauce, a mozzarella-tomato salad, and a caramel dessert with strawberries. We also had bread, red wine and little lemon drop drinks. It was pricey to be sure, but absolutely 100% worth it! We figure it's okay to treat ourselves every once in awhile - it's what we are here for!

We then went to an American club to watch the Superbowl. It started at 12:30 a.m. here but we stayed for the whole thing. SUCH an exciting game, the place was tearing at the seams in the final minutes with all the noise! Goes to show how many New Yorkers are here. I was disappointed because I love the Superbowl commercials best of all, and those of course weren't broadcasted here. But it was a close game, and that was more exciting. Tara Reid was at the club too, and Robyn got a picture with her. She really wasn't that pretty, but it was cool that a celebrity was there anyway.

Today Robyn and I went shopping for food for the first time, and we plan on making tortellinis with tomoto sauce, tomato and mozzarella salad with olive oil & vinigrette tomorrow night. MMM. We're going to try to learn how to make our own sauces soon. I found Giada's multicolored pasta noodles, so we got some of those for later this week. The markets are wonderful, but I'm sure we probably bought medicated lotion instead of handsoap or something - we can only guess what we are actually buying because it's all in Italian. I'm picking it up pretty quickly though, and classes start tomorrow. The big market with all the fresh produce and meat wasn't open today, but we got enough necessities to get by for awhile. I'm looking forward to my first trip to the big market though.

I would also like to add that I am in love with fresh mozzarella. It is by far my favorite food discovery so far. I had a sandwich with mozzarella and prosciutto (however you spell it) for lunch today and it was to die for. By the way, my obsession with plain sandwiches was apparently meant to be as well, because all the sandwiches here are just meat and cheese. Stores have them sitting already made in the windows, and when you ask for the one you want, they automatically toast it for you. SO good. They also only put one little layer of meat on their sandwiches, none of this piling on pounds of ham and turkey like they do at Subway. Honestly, it's kind of better that way. I might be biased, but everything seems to be better here.

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