Sei:Six

Ciao a tutti!
Venice update and a few pictures!


Welcome to Venezia!

Golden :)

Classic Carnevale Costume... and yours truly!

San Marco

VERRRYYYY CROWDED bus lol

Venice was amazing. It is unlike any city I have been to. We arrived Friday, the day before Carnevale. It was nice to be there early and see Venice before the craziness started. The city is so charming. With no cars, it is eerily quiet. It is magical just wandering the streets, but also quite confusing. We spend the first day getting lost, shopping, and wandering. We all bought masks in preparation for Carnevale. I bought a white one that I plan to paint! There were some amazing shops we came across. The architecture is amazing, too. We also went in the church at San Marco. It was beautiful and the golden ceiling and mosaic work was phenomenal.

Saturday we took a long vaporetto ride around Venice and to Murano. A vaporetto is a water bus in Florence. Then we went to San Marco and got into the spirit of Carnevale! There were thousands of people, lots of them dressed up. The people who go all out are incredible, as you can see in some of the pictures! There were concerts going on, street performers, and people everywhere. We wandered and went to other squares in the city where there were vendors set up, an ice skating rink, DJs, and general activity everywhere. We got Vin Brule, a hot wine, and enjoyed being a part of the festivities—while wearing our masks, of course!

Departing from Venice was another adventure in and of itself. We had an overnight train that left at 3am and was to arrive in Florence at 6am. The only problem was our train did not leave from the center of Venice, but from a station 45 minutes outside the center. We were not aware of this, but were early enough that we knew we could take a bus to the station. That would have been easy, except for the fact that there were a few hundred people trying to get on the same bus as us! Can you say, sardines? We did get on the second bus that came, squished but happy that we would make it on time. The overnight train was brutal, but worth the great trip!

This week in my Women and Religion class, we “interviewed” two senior Italian women to get their perspective on the experience of a woman in Italy. They were so sweet. They are both part of a historical society that is having an exhibition this weekend. I’m going to go. They are going to have pictures and movies and lots of stuff. It should be cool. Back to class, though. The women also sang for us and we sang the chorus of one of a song about crickets. It was great.
In my art history class this week we went to Palazzo Davanzati. Pretty cool palace.. not as big as Pitti and I still have to go to the Medici palace, but it was fun.

Now a side story not really related to my travels, so feel free to skip this is you like. The other night Alyssa and I were looking up classes at USD. We were then looking at some of the Theology department faculty. One of the faculty members had S.T.D. by his name.
This is what followed:

Staci: “What’s an S.T.D.?”
Alyssa: (Gives me the… “Did you really just say that?” face)
Both: Laughing. Lots of laughing.
Staci: “But really, I want to know.”
Alyssa: “Not like you can just look up STD.”
Staci: “Oh, I’ll find out.” (proceeds to look up STD) “I found it. It means Sacrae Theologiae Doctor.”
Alyssa: “Which means?”
Staci: “Hold on…It’s the final theological degree in the Catholic Church.”
Alyssa: “So basically.. only the theology department can get an S.T.D.”
Both: Laughing uncontrollably. ANNNNDD… we are still laughing about this.

We are obviously very mature. It is hilarious, though. You learn something new everyday! Until next time, much love!