Studiare, Studiare, Studiare!

So, here I am in the last month of my experience in Venice.

Like I said before, the work has really kicked in. So first I'll start with the boring stuff. I spent all Sunday on San Servolo... didn't go anywhere... in fact, I was in the library most of the day, sometimes all by myself, working on my One World, One Language paper. This was the one where I interviewed my roommates about their English education and usage. I finished it, and then I checked over my Shakespeare paper, and that's ok, so then I moved on to my Islam paper... wow, this must be really boring to read.

On Saturday, I went back to Lido in the afternoon with John and Lauren. We actually saw a segment of the Giro d'Italia, the famous national bike race. It wasn't "exciting" like we thought, that is, it was the first stage, so no one was winning and the bikers were just racing against the clock to fight for the possession of the first maglia rosa (pink shirt, it means you're winning). The bikers raced in teams, so a car would go by announcing the team, then 12 or so bikes would shoot by, then another car or a motorcycle would bring up the rear with a few stragglers. So not really exciting, per se, but it was still an awesome experience. That is, I'm really glad to say I saw the 100th Giro d'Italia in Venice. That's right, it was the 100th running of the race, cool huh?

So after that, I went up to Cannareggio, the northern sestiere of Venice, to do my site visit for my last architecture report of the semester. Pretty interesting... there was a housing complex we had to look at that had a nice little view out on the lago. I met up later with John, Lauren and a few other BC friends - we went to this two-story restaurant that we sometimes frequent where the waiters just love us! Or just pretend, we don't know. And after that we went out to Campo Santa Margherita for a little bit, just to meet up some friends. Anthony got back via train from Vicenza, where there was the Cuban music concert.

On Monday, I went into Venice early in the morning (no morning classes anymore since Italian is over) and I did two interviews with some people in the sestiere of Santa Croce for my architecture and Italian final projects. I asked a woman with a dog who didn't want to answer my questions at first, but I said, "Oh, it's only 2 questions," and she finally agreed. You just kind of have to push people a little bit here. But when I started asking the questions, her dog went crazy and started barking and jumping. The interview went well though, regardless. I also asked this old man who was walking really slowly to the main campo, S. Giacomo dell'Orio. But I only got the two interviews because it was the morning, and people are... well, I hesitate to say "busy," but people have things to do.

My classes are now kind of pointless because I've finished all my papers and have just one final exam left, which is May 25. That's for the Islam class. Anyway, so classes are soooo boring! But outside class is fun, I just speak to the Italian students a lot. Usually Anthony joins me, and I like that because then both of us get practice. Whatever, I've already said that.

Monday night, I went to Ca' Foscari after classes to meet up with Elena. She just finished her lessons and invited Anthony and me to the Collezione Peggy Guggenheim, a really famous modern art collection in Dorsoduro (that's a neighborhood, a sestiere of Venice). At this event, which started around 7, you pay 7 euro and get entry to the gallery as well as two spritz. Elena and I waited in Campo Santa Margherita for her friend Maura, a childhood friend of Elena. We had to meet Anthony at the gallery since he had to work in the library on San Servolo. But we all met up eventually. This was such a cool event! There was this weird band playing artsy music and all these artsy people sipping spritz and talking to each other. And the gallery was amazing, even though I'd already been. A lot of our friends from VIU ended up going, so we hung out with them. None of them were Americans though (it was just me and Anthony, I think). But the Israeli students and a couple Germans were there. A decent group of us went to Campo Santa Margherita afterwards to get a couple slices of pizza at Pizza al Volo, a place that's really popular with the students.

Tuesday I was too lazy to get a haircut. I did end up doing two more interviews for that architecture project, and I started on my Architecture final paper. I have a lot of resources cited, so that must be a good sign. Nothing much really happened on Tuesday... I was in the library all night, until like 12:30. I went back this morning to finish my Architecture paper! And then I had class....

Today there was a lecture at 5:00. I went, and it was pretty interesting. A Chinese professor discussed the importance of China for the 21st century and its recent history, ie how it's had a Rocky Balboa-style comeback. All the Italians have to go because it's mandatory for the globalization program. I went because I thought it would be kind of interesting... some parts were kind of boring, yeah, but the reception after was amazing!!! Yeah, they really know how to do receptions here. Tramezzini, panini, different kinds of sweets (dolci) and prosecco. Then most of the Italians got on the vaporetto to head back to Venice, or Mestre or wherever. I struggled with the lack of internet in my room... it seems to happen every other day... and I finally got a decent amount of resources for my Islam paper, so I finished writing it! And here I am now, in the computer lab.

If I want, maybe I'll cut my hair tomorrow morning, before classes. I just think it needs to happen before I go to Sicily, that's on Friday. I'm going with Jenn and Tim, two Americans (BC and UVA). We're staying in Palermo for 2 nights and then we're heading to Trapani for a day. It's gonna be hot! I'm excited, been looking forward to this trip for a while, but actually I think I'm going to miss Venice, just a little bit. We'll see. But I'm getting really ready to go home... nothing against Italy, I think it's my favorite country, but I've got my work, my housing lined up for the summer in Boston! And I cannot wait!!!!

Ok, a little scatterbrained for a post, but whatever,
Ciao!
Andrew