Vroom Vroooom

Naples! Panoramic view of the entire city from a castle a few hours before we got on a train to Venice.

Venice at night! On our way to a Vivaldi Concerto!

Statue in a preserved Celtic village in Germany!

Ciao amici!

Sounds like you all are living it up around Europe (& Down Under)!! And I completely agree-- time is on steroids!

I can't believe that once-upon a time I was seriously second-guessing studying abroad in Venice. I may or may not deny that in the future if you ask me, but it's completely true. What an experience! I've made great friends, met such interesting people, and I keep eating "the best food I've ever had" like everyday (however, this comment does not apply to our cafeteria food)! When I first got here, I couldn't believe an entire bowl of pasta was seriously just the 1st course. And THEN I was expected to eat a 2nd course (meat) and a 3rd course! AND dessert! It was fantastic.

Besides the food, life in Venice has been fabulous. My classes are really interesting & only slightly demanding (which is great- we all plan our presentations & work around travel plans, not the other way around :D...) I may have mentioned this in my last post, but VIU is an international program & each school brings their own professors. And the students come from all over the world. I'm in a WWII class with German, American, Japanese, Italian, & British students. Can you imagine class discussions?!

I still feel like I haven't gotten to know Venice as well as I need to before I leave! A few weekends ago we explored several of the islands in the Veneto-- saw Murano (the famous glass-making island), some other one with beautiful parks & modern art, and San Michelle cemetery (Ezra Pound is buried there). I was reading my "Let's Go Italy" book & was super surprised to learn that there were 108 islands in the Veneto! Hellooo, I've been to like 5. 

Oh, and flood season is coming up! Obvi we live in the lowest point in all of Venice. Our knee-high rain boots won't suffice! I may have to rock those tight, thigh-high rain boots they sell here. Oooor not :D.

On weekends, I've mostly been traveling-- trying to take advantage of the few weeks before winter hits Europe. This last weekend I went to Frankfurt & visited a friend & a few weekends ago we went to Naples & Capri! These next few weeks (consecutive!) are already booked: Rome (this weekend), Brussels, Budapest, Prague, Dublin & Paris! Hopefully I'll get to go to Morocco! I really wanted to go to Cairo, but it looked like I was going to have to sell a body part to buy a plane ticket. People actually do that on E-bay though.

It's been so great to hear from everyone. You are all in my prayers!

nat