I'm home. And it feels good. There is nothing like the comfort of your own bed. In the next few days I will have to un pack and re pack and make my way up to Merril, NY to have another great summer at camp. I can't wait. I've been going to camp for years, and if I close my eyes I can sometimes smell it. It has a sense of security and home.

Venice was a wonderful experience that I will always remember. Coming back from Rome and Florence I almost felt that "home" feeling, but I don't think I would ever live in Venice permanently. The stay was nice, but I could never live in such a touristy city. I enjoyed the walking, the art,  the maze, and the water...but I missed the comfort of being able to drop my spazzy laptop off at a repair store spur of the moment, or take a drive in my car with the windows down, or order tap water (with ice and lemon) with out confusion. I'm so lucky to live in a place with many luxuries that I can sometimes take for granted.

A common theme in class was "finding one's self in Venice". I don't feel like I've found myself necessarily, but more that I've found I am content with myself. I do not have to apologize for having different interests, thoughts and ideas than my peers, and vice versa. We are all different and take away different experiences and thoughts from studying in Venice. I am excited about the things I have learned, and I will keep them with me for the rest of my like. I learned through our excursions, outings and lectures, but also from observing and absorbing. The knowledge I have acquired here is invaluable.

The end. For now ;)

xo - sam

Yesterday I went to the Guggenheim all by myself. I knew I could not leave Venice without seeing one of the best art collections in the world. It was really impressive. Also impressive: that I was able to navigate myself with no help! I didnt even get lost! 

I saw Robert Rauchenberg's Gluts exhibit. I really loved the use of found metal objects and street signs. I didnt realize until I was there that I have not seen a street sign in almost a month! The permeant collection was also interesting. Picassos, Duchamps, Kandinskys, Pollacks, Dalis - some of my favorites! It was 12 euros well spent.

Experience: Today I spent a few hours at the Biennale. I was a bit underwhelmed. I was expecting some AMAZING work, but for some reason nothing really struck me. I couldnt and cant even find the name of the artist that did this really interesting take on a dysfunctional couple's apartment. After the Biennale being hyped up SO much, maybe my expectations were too high.

Thought: I hate to admit this, but I'm sort of counting down the days until I come home. Living in Venice has be an awesome experience, but I'm ready for eating sushi(no more Italian food for a while, thanks), driving my car, sleeping in my bed, and being with my friends and family.

Experience: Today may have been one of my FAVORITE days in Venice! My professor set up a meeting at a gallery to meet with an amazing artist, Gaspare Manos. I had never heard of him before, but immediately fell in love with his work. This particular gallery had his most recent show, Kimono. He explained how the Kimono is a beautiful and respected article of clothing, but when it is worn you feel free and easy in it. He had small canvas' lined up in a kimono shape, each canvas a small painting, all expressing a certain emotion. He also had small abstract sculptures that looked like contorted dogs with muzzles. His last painting in the back was a spiritual yellow figure splashed with a cranberry color. It was also expressing freedom. Gaspare was kind and patient with our questions. He seemed to really enjoy talking about his work. He took us to his studio to show us more work and answer more questions. His work reminded me of one of my favorite painters, Cy Twombly. When I told him this, he seemed really happy and impressed! He asked me who my favorite artists were and told me he could see me being a great art critic  or curator: one of the BEST compliments of my life! He gave me his book and inscribed it : "In the hope that you will curate one of my museum exhibitions!" He seemed to really enjoy my opinions and comments. So exciting!

http://www.gaspare-foundation.com/

Thought: Gaspare told us to do what we love and live a happy life. I want to find what I love and live a happy life :)

Home sweet home! It feels weird to refer to Venice as "home". At least it's home for 5 more days.

EXPERIENCE: Last Thursday we took an 11:00 pm over night train for our "big" trip to Rome and Florence! In Italy, you have to reserve seats on long train rides...unfortunately, we reserved them for the wrong night train. After a minor stress out, we were able to find some seats and luckily did not get kicked out. Friday morning at 6 am we got into Rome and crashed for 5 hours in the hotel. When we finally woke up, we found a great tour bus for 18 euro for two days. The bus drove us all around Rome and took us to the biggest sights. We stopped at the Colosseum and walked around. After sight seeing for a while, we payed 20 euro to go on a Pub Crawl. Basically a Pub Crawl is a good way to meet other American Students. It was really fun, and had open bar for the first hour. After the open bar we "crawled" to different bars, free shot at each one. Free T-shirts too!

The next day we got on the tour bus again and ended up at the Vatican. AGAIN we found a sick deal: 5 euro for a tour. Our tour guide was really awesome, and pointed out all the coolest stuff there. He also suggested a GREAT restaurant, hands down BEST food of the trip for the best price. 16 euro for mushroom risotto (THE BEST), some kind of blue cheese meat (interesting), really awesome tiramisu, and endless red wine.

On Sunday we woke up early and took a train to Florence. I felt like this portion of the trip was less successful. The same tour group was more expensive, so we didnt have a great way to get around and hit the best sites. We did see the David for 10 euro, which was a rip off because we saw him AGAIN for free outside in a square. Sure the one in the museum was the original, but as an art history major I saw literally no difference. Mostly we spent the day at the market shopping for souvenirs. My friend Christian bought a great leather jacket!

Today we spent most of the day at the train station in Florence. Our train was delayed but we had fun playing cards. On the train ride home we hit one more "bump". There was an oldish woman (probably around 65) who REFUSED to move out of our RESERVED seat. It was a bit of a struggle to fight with a stubborn Italian speaking woman. Two train conductors got involved and eventually made her leave. My friend that speaks Spanish understood that she said in Italian "I don't care if the president comes, I will not leave this seat." Another Italian woman next to us said "Italy is a beautiful country filled with not very beautiful people". Interesting that an Italian would say something like that about her own people. I always thought Italians were very proud (kind of like Americans).

Thought: Even though I felt relieved to be back in my Venice apartment, I think it will feel even better to be home in 5 days :)!!!

So it looks like my laptop is a done deal. I'm going to have to go the rest of my stay here without one. This would be upsetting under normal circumstances, but I'm REALLY upset because it looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and accept 2 incompletes for my courses here. I have two major 10-15 page research papers due, and there is no way I can complete them without a laptop. I've talked to my professors and they have agreed to let me finish the papers after I come home from camp in August. Now I'm going to have these two papers looming over my head the whole summer...birthday wishlist: new MACbook Pro please. No PC ever again.

Today was packed full of cool things. First we went to Chisea di San Rocco which was COVERED with Tintoretto paintings. Tintoretto's are some of my favorite paintings since I just finished my Art, Artists and Society class last semester. It was basically a 1400-1800 European Art study. My professor was really passionate about Tintoretto's Crusifixion, so to see it in person was unreal. I LOVED it.

Next we visited Ca' d'Oro, which translates to House of Gold. Here's some info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ca%27_d%27Oro

Lastly, we FINALLY went to Murano! This is the island where they blow Venice's famous glass. It was really cute. I took awesome pictures at the presentation we went to. Unfortunately, no more pictures on this blog :(. It's so cool of Christian to let me borrow is laptop, I don't want to clog up his computer with my pictures.

xo - sam

This sounds so "American", but I really miss the pleasures of speedy service. While in the states I complain all the time how about slow things can be, but it's NOTHING compared to Italy. I was on the phone with Dell Tech support for 2 hours to find that no, they do not ship AC adapters to Italy. So here I am, writing to you from my friend's laptop while he is out.

Experience: Wow, where to begin? I've been doing so much lately! Thursday at 6 am we woke up early to take a 4 hour train to a small town called Belluno. I wish I could load some pictures to show how BEAUTIFUL it was. The town is located right at the base of the Alps, with beautiful skylines and mountains, the Dolomites. We drove about two hours up to get really high up to the top. Unfortunately the ski lifts were closed for the season, otherwise we would have gone all the way up!

Experience: We stayed at a hostel Thursday night. It was my first time in a hostel, and it wasn't horrible. The hostel was a little creepy because it was mostly for nuns and priests. It was errily quiet and seemed like a good place to film a horror movie.

Experience: Our main objective for going on this overnight was to see this HUGE dam that was used to block out water. We woke up bright and early, 7 am, to see it. The dam was built originally to block water from this small town. The dam was unsuccesful in 1963, and completely demolished a small town in a surrounding area. Very sad.

Friday afternoon my friends from camp came to visit! Katie is studying in Rome and Jen is studying in Florence, and they both came (with Jen's lovely friend) to spend two days and a night in Venice with me! We had such an awesome time! First we just sat in my room talking for hours...we hadn't seen each other in a year! They had made a reservation at a really beautiful resturant on the water. We were all exhausted from traveling, so we didn't even go out later that night. We all went to sleep around midnight! Very early for us. The next morning we went to San Marco so they could see all the things I had seen the week before. Experience: We did spend 8 euro to go up to the top of San Marco Tower. I took AMAZING pictures. I'll be sure to post them as soon as I fix my laptop :(. After we put Katie on her train home to Rome, Jen, Ellie(her friend), and I went back to the ghetto, but unfortunately everything was closed for Shabbat! Jen and Ellie still really seemed to enjoy themselves there. We strolled back towards the transtation and looked around in all the shops. We had a really good time!

On Sunday, Christian and I had planned to visit Verona, but it was a national hoilday and realized that most things in a small town would be closed. Luckily, most places were open in Venice, so we spent 5 hours just wondering around and shopping. It was really awesome. We bought some really fun things :).

Thought: You would think all the churches in Venice could sink up their bells. I don't need an alarm clock here, with bells ringing every 10 minutes i wake up just fine :).

Thought: What happens when it thunderstorms in Venice? Christian and I were caught walking home in the rain for the first time since we've been here. It was slippery and wet on the cobblestone and all the umbrellas opened walking down narrow streets was really strange. There was no thunder or lightning, but what happens when it does? Does the Vaporetto close the same way everyone has to get out of the pool? Hmmmm.

I'll post pictures from my weekend soon! Hopefully!

xo - sam

Yesterday a Shakespearean scholar, Shaul, came to our apartment to discuss The Merchant of Venice. It was an interesting discussion but my class and I were not told to read The Merchant of Venice, so the discussion was mostly based on the movie. I think our professors are having trouble communicating exactly what they want. 

After our discussion, we walked over to Gallerie dell'Accademia, a wonderful collection of Venetian art. It was SO incredible to see some of the artists I've studied in person, rather than in a text book or on a slide. There were video cameras everywhere, so I couldn't take any pictures, but this was my favorite painting:

The Tempest

Today it was FINALLY a comfortable temperature. Since we've been here, it has been exhaustingly hot. 85 to 90 everyday. Today was 72, but really windy! I was wearing a dress and I had to keep doing the "Marilyn Monroe" dress hold. First we went to Universita Ca' Foscari Venezia and listened in on a lecture by Ferit Orhan Pamuk, authour of My Name Is Red and Nobel Pize winner. So cool, right!? The only problem was that the lecture was said in English, Italian and Turkish so it was kind of hard to follow. Plus, again, none of us had read the book, so we really had no idea what was going on. Bringing us to the lecture was a good idea, just not really well executed. It was cool to see what a classroom/lecture hall looked like though.

After that we walked over to the Jewish Ghetto. It was SOO interesting to see the different synagogues. The ghetto was very different than the rest of the squares in Venice. For one, there were trees and plants...very little nature besides water in the rest of Venice. Also, the buildings were much taller than the rest of Venice because the Jews were confined to one small area, so they would build new floors on top. Again, no pictures allowed, but I got some from outside.

the ghetto

outside the synagogue museum.

The Ark where the torah is held. The one picture i snuck before the tour guide came in. 

The synagogues were so beautiful and ornate. It was so interesting to see three of the oldest temples in the world.

Matzah ball soup for lunch! the matzah ball was kind of brown looking, like a whole wheat matzah ball. I was so glad it tasted just as good as Bama's. I also had some falafel. Not as good as Israel, but better than New York!

After our tour, we slowly walked home and looked in some shops, my favorite thing to do. Tomorrow were going on some type of overnight in the Alps? The details are fuzzy but I'll report back later!

xo - sam

This weekend was very relaxing. I slept in late on Saturday and went to Lido for the afternoon. Similarly to the States, there was HEAVY traffic getting to and from the beach on a Saturday. The Vaportto was PACKED and Europeans do not care about personal space whatsoever. American's have this "bubble" that no one else can enter unless invited. Venetians have no problem standing right against you, like you've been buddies for years. Also, hygiene is very different. I don’t think deodorant is necessary. Semi-unfortunate on a packed, hot, sweaty boat.

On Sunday, I slept in very late again and decided to take a walk around my neighborhood. A lot of my friends in the program were CRAVING good ol' fashion American food, so we ventured to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. After a week of small portions, American nachos may have not been the best idea. It was the most full I have been the entire time I've been here. I think that was the goal, but it didn't feel good. I missed the "light" feeling. I'm so used to eating to fill myself, but as my parent's trainor says, we should "eat to live, not live to eat."

Experience: Today was SO COOL! We finally ventured to Piazza San Marco, or St. Mark's Square. As predicted, there were MILLIONS of pigeons.

Marina (the art hisorian that has been touring with us) was able to take us inside St. Mark's Basilica and showed us a really holy area where St. Marco is supposedly buried. She told us that they hardly ever let tourists look, so it was really special to get the chance to see.

Definitely not allowed to take photos. I snuck a few.

I plan on going back within the next three weeks and paying the three euro it costs to look at the square from the top.

More amazing mosaic, similar to Torcello.

Always fun to find this star in a church!

After the basilica, we ventured to Palazzo Ducale di Venezia, or Doge's Palace. This was really awesome because it was the home to all the important government people of Venice in the 1300's, but it was also the prison for the most dangerous criminals. The building is beautiful and regal, but the basment is a cold and dark jail.

This is essentially a Tattle-Box. This is where Venetians could tell the government about traitors and rule-breakers.

One of the girls in my program was almost thrown out of the palace for taking pictures, so I only snuck one.

how gorgeous is this ceiling? I want to redecorate my room to look like THAT please.

View from the palace. I think I'm going to have to blow this one up and frame it when I come home.

Thought: Is The U.S. the only place in the world that serves ice cold tap water? Every country I've been to outside North America seems to be flabbergasted by free cold water. Here in Venice is no different. First, waiters pretend to not know what "tap" or "sink" water is. They know, they just want you to BUY bottled. Second, even when they finally bring tap, its medium cold in a TINY glass, no ice. Not even enough to wet my throat. Even at the Hard Rock, an AMERICAN resturant, we asked for tap water and our lovely waitress said she could get in so much trouble for bringing us ice tap water. We had to pretend they were voldkas. I wasn't very good at pretending; I don't know anyone that can gulp a huge glass of plain voldka as fast as I did. (The glasses were huge! And she gave us lemon! Who knew I could miss water so much.) We gave her a big American tip for her kindness.

Ciao for now! xo - sam

On thursday we sat in our living room with our professors and finally dug into what well be studing this semester. I was extra itchy to get out and explore; it was hard to concentrate. My Enviormental Psychology class seems REALLY difficult and time consuming. I hope it doesnt get in the way of ACTUALLY being in Venice. I think after we all freaked out about the workload, Mike (my professor) is considering lightening the workload. My Myths and Art of Venice class seems perfect. We watched and discussed the movie Summertime (featuring Katherine Hepburn). Although it wasn't MY favorite, I see why Kathy (other professor) assigned it. The movie is about getting lost and finding yourself and adventure in Venice. It's a nice opener to living here.

We lost electricity at around 10 pm last night! 6 girls blow drying and straightening their hair with American appliances is not the best of ideas. Again, I was stuck without internet for almost 24 hours. It's insane how much we rely on our laptops.

Experience: Today was awesome! We went to Torcello really early this morning. One of my professor's friends, Marina, an art historian, came along to show us.Waking up early was NOT fun, but seeing Torcello Cathedral was awesome. 

this picture is too dark to really see how amazing the mosaic is. its incredibly detailed, and the gold just glitters. its beautiful.

again, such insane mosaic.

After Torcello, two friends and I went to Burano, the town famous for making beautiful lace. Burano reminded me of a fairytale! The colors are so pretty!

After visiting Burano, Christian, Tara and I managed to find our way home really fast! This included two Vaporetto rides and wandering through some streets we didn't know. I was really happy with how fast we got back! We even beat home some friends that didnt visit Burano and left almost 45 minutes before us from Torcello.

Thought: Skype is awesome. I really loved hearing my mom's voice today. I wish I had a functional laptop. (hint hint dad)

Today we all slept until noon. Jetlagged much? We had planed to wake up early and go to Lido (the beach), but I think sleep trumped beach. We took the Vaporetto (basically the subway, only by boat!) to the last stop in Venice.  

As soon as you step off the vaporetto. Cute little bike parking!

We layed out on the beach for a while. The water was warm, but it was like swimming in the Hudson. Not exactly like the Australian beaches I've been to. The beach was fun, but I wouldn't recomend it to someone looking for clear blue-green waves. I got some color, thank youuuuu. I was begining to hate wearing shorts with my white legs.

Experience: After we got some sun, some friends and I decided we were curious about Italian Chinese food. Even thought I was skeptical, I can never really pass up Chinese food. The wonton soup was okay. Instead of scallions they used shredded letuce. Gave it a very "lettuce-y" taste. In fact, lettuce was probably their main ingredient in most of their dishes. Surprisingly, the kung pow chicken I tried was really good. Everything was way lighter than a normal American Chinese meal. No thick breading or heavy sauce. Just chopped white meat and veggies with a light, slightly spicy sauce. Kinda cool.

After a nice day at the beach, this was a really awesome sight. The picture does not do it justice:

Thought: Isn't it a crime to be stuck inside the apartment while beautiful, sunny Venice is just outside the door? A day off from class today means a full day tomorrow, 9 am-4:30 pm.

xo - sam

Sorry to have been a little M.I.A. Besides beging really busy, my laptop has been on the fritz in a MAJOR way (hint hint dad) So I finally got it to work after two days of seperation.

My first breakfast in Venice!

A few of us from the program went to a little cafe near our apartment. Croissant and Cappuccino! Then we went out with our professors and expored Venice a bit. I got an Italian cell phone, but it was really difficult to buy with the language barrior. Turns out I need to buy a sim card with minutes.

Then we got some...

Gellato! My first gellato of the trip was hazelnut. A wise choice.

Then at night I went out for an AMAZING meal with two friends. I got frutti de mar over spaghetti. It was bangin', but sooooo expensive. I wont be going out for a meal like that again until the last few days of the program.

After our meal, we met up with everyone else and went to this AWESOME square (forget the name, I'll report back later) with a really cool vibe. It was lined with cool cafes, resturants and bars and it seemed like a really young crowd. We had a lot of fun! Stayed out soooooo late. We got SOOO lost on the way home. Venice is really like a labyrinth. Especially at night when everything is closed and all the buildings look the same. We walked for a lonnnnng time; it was a really good workout. By the time we got back it was 4am Venice Time / 10 pm New York time, so it was almost like going to bed early in the states. 

Experience: Today we went supermarket shopping. Christian and I bought a bunch of food we thought would be quick to eat so we wouldnt have to go out for as many meals. We got cheese, bread, yogurt, eggs, granola bars and pasta (of course). Shopping for simple foods in another country is so much harder than just going to pick up a few things at the A&P. Christian needed milk for his cereal and it took us at least 10 minutes to figure out which was skim. A cute Italian lady helped us. She hardly spoke english, but was so willing to help. She was so nice!

Thought: Children that throw tantrums in the U.S. are bratty. Children that throw tantrums in Italy are adorable. Everything is cute in a different language.

Thought: Yes, tipping is not customary in Italy. But getting charged a euro to sit is. Hmm.

I have arrived!!! After a loonnnnng trip across the Atlantic, i have finally made it to Venice! My BEAUTIFUL appartment is located in Sant'Angelo. Seriously, this appartment is crazy!!!! I can't even believe I'm living in such a beautiful place!

My bedroom...I got so lucky!!! It's actually a double, with a cot as the second bed, but obviously no one wanted to sleep in a cot, so I have the room to myself! The wall across from my bed is built in book shelves...which I decided to use for my clothes.

View from my room! Quite Interesting.

We have an AMAZING living room and kitchen...my favorite part is our balcony. Awesome views.

View from mini-balcony.

Christian on the mini-balcony. I took the picture from our big balcony.

View from big balcony <3.

This picture doesn't do the apartment justice. It's marble floors, cute furniture. Super nice.

Experience: As soon as we all finished showering and unpacking, we left to grab some dinner. We ended up hanging out in Piazza San Marco and eating at a little pizza place called Pizzeria Marciana. I had Vegitariana pizza, which was okay. The Pinot Grigio was delish.

Thought:  I can see how annoying Americans can be. We're so lound and pompous. I hope people think I'm Canadian.

Ciao! xo - sam

1, 2, 3. Testing. Testing.