Mi Piacci l'Italia!

A (Late) Recap of My Adventures in Italy:

I arrived in Milan on Monday, after a 7-hour-long train ride through the alps. I had realized mid-train ride that I do not speak Italian, and that this may be problematic. In the end, it wasnt problematic, but slightly scary/limiting. I don't like not knowing the language! I couldnt say "thank you for letting me stay in your lovely home!" to Fede's mom, or ask a guy at a store how much things cost. Well, he probably spoke english, but its not the same!

In the end, I became sick of not knowing Italian, so I had Fede give me a few short lessons during our train rides to and from Milan. I can conjugate verbs in the present tense now, and know how to say things like "I would like THIS please!" and "how much does this cost?" which proved useful in Venice, when I didn't have a native Italian to order things for me and help me buy tickets and such.

My trip was amazing overall-- I met Fede's family, ate a whole lot of homemade Italian food (nom nom nom), ventured to Bergamo and Milan, and saw a lot of churches and museums. Bergamo was an amazing city to visit. It was divided between the upper and lower cities, the upper is old and medieval, and the lower is new and commercial. It was very interesting to walk around, and probably my favorite place I visited in Italy!

We also went to Milan twice, and climbed to the top of the Duomo, ate a lot of panzerotti (like doughnut bread, with cheese and tomatoes and prosciutto inside!), went to the Palazzo Reale, the Castel, andddd the Blind Institute, where we did this really cool blind-simulation-thing. It was an hour and a half in complete darkness, guided by blind people, where we got walking stick things and had to explore different environments ("city", "forest", "boat") without being able to see them. It was a really interesting experience, but slightly terrifying considering it was all in Italian! I basically clung to Fede for dear life.

After five days at Fede's, I headed off to Venice to meet Sweet Briar friends. Venice looked a lot like a Disney facade, but then you realized that it's actually real, and people actually do live there (strange realization indeed). The #1 tourist activity in Venice is to get lost, and I was really good at that. En route to the hotel, I got lost twice. The first time, I was helped by nice old Russian ladies (how did they know where to go??), and the second time, a middle-aged Venetian man was like "oh, im walking that way, i can guide you for a bit". Thennnnn he asked "can i see you again?" Awkward....

After successfully arriving at the hotel, I met up with Sweet Briar kids, and proceeded to get lost more in Venice, see San Marco's, avoid pigeons (difficult task), eat lots and lots of pasta and pizza, and visit the Doge's Palace, which was amazing. It was a good way to learn about the history of Venice, after my super touristy days there!

When I hung out with Fede's friends, they made fun of France a lot, and pointed out that Italians were nicer and generally better. While I certainly agree that Italians were soooo nice, and that Italian food was sooo amazing, I am still glad to be back in Paris-- its starting to be more of a home base now that i've been traveling more!