Tonight a group of us are leaving to go to Rome at midnight, so I decided I better update now, before I come back overwhelmed with stories.
Today was quite a full day because we had Cafe Giovedi at 9, which where the two language classes meet together to speak Italian together for an hour and we're aloud to bring food and stuff. Then we had to leave at 10:30 to walk to la Piazza di San Marco, where we found our fellow Wake students standing in a giant pool of pigeons! Don even had one sitting on his head at one point. It was really funny, but I stayed away, just like you told me to Paige. I am avoiding the bird flu to the best of my abilities and so far we have had no incidences of people playing soccer in the house with a bird's head. ;o)
Because of our art history class, we get to view all these amazing sites and museums for free. Even if I want to go back and visit it, we will get reimbursed for the tickets we have to buy. (I don't think it works the same way for our families though. Sorry to disappoint!) Today we saw the amazing mosaics in the San Marco Basilica. It really made me want to make a mosaic, because they are just so amazing. The architecture is really incredible, too! Apparently the building has an unclassifiable style because it's so oriental/arab looking but still with venetian taste. I really love the mosaic on this one dorm on the porch that tells the entire genesis story. It's really just incredible. But my favorite part is the floor! Because of the flooding, it has warped to the shape of waves over time. To me, that was just really... symbolic and poignant I guess? It was really cool none the less. The amazingness of this city, even though it is constantly struggling for survival. The elements that make it so insecure are exactly what make it so beautiful and amazing. We also went on the roof, like where the horses on in the front and took a lot of pictures.
Then we had our film class for 2 and 1/2 hours from 1:30 to 4:00. We discussed "Paisan" and "The Bicycle Thief." Right now we're focusing on the neo-realist period, but I think it's about to die, so we're moving on. It was your basic conversation about the meaning of art, etc etc. I keep thinking about John Barth because just like a lot of these movies are meant for audience participation and based on a lot of visual scenes for communication, Barth forces his audience to interact and creates visual images literary with his words. He is just amazing! I wish I had brought his book with me. I also wish I had brought my Anne of the Island book with me. There is a rare English book store around here that I really want to find very badly. Because I am, after all, my father's child and even if I'm a slow reader, I have a passion for reading as many books as I can and owning all of them in case I love them or need them later for some amazing quote that pops into my head that I absolutely MUST find!
After class, Sarah and I went shopping at this store we always pass by and it was having a sale. I bought a red sweater. I really want to buy some shoes. I feel so American in my sneakers and it is driving me crazy! So hopefully I will be able to buy some very soon.
Tonight we are having another group dinner so I know that will be amazing!
The fog is really thick tonight. I tried to take pictures, but I'm having a hard time getting the camera to capture what I see. Like it's just right outside the window. You can't even see across the canal. My favorite view of the house is from downstairs, out the front door and tonight it looks the way Venice should on a winter night. Just completely mysterious and romantic with all the fog.
Also, today Sarah and I saw one of the men who sells, either fake or stolen or both, purses get chased down by two plain-clothed cops. It was rather exciting, but all the did was take his stuff away. In a way it was sad because I realized I really hadn't seen any black people working in any shops so far. I've only seen them selling that stolen stuff on the street. I hadn't noticed that until after this incident.
The other day, on Tuesday I believe, the Olympic Torch was lit right outside Casa Artom. It was so incredible! I think we were the only ones in Venice who really cared, or at least that's what everyone's saying. But this Olympian named Cesare (I don't know his last name), who is an Olympian sailor came up to our front porch in this gondola with a policemen and the gondeliers! We talked to them for awhile and brought them wine. They gave out chocolate but I think I was upstairs getting shoes on my feet and getting the wine with Don, while that happened. It was unbelievable because the torch was supposed to come by at 2:30, so we had all been just sitting around, planning trips for like 2 hours, waiting for this stupid "great ball of fire" to come by. (I had started singing "Great balls of Fire" just to get everyone pumped...) People were supposed to yell from the front porch when it came by because we all got tired of sitting in the windows in the freezing air waiting for this thing. But no one yelled up, instead I had just come into my room (which looks over the Grand Canal) and was talking to my roommate about whether we thought it would come or not, when I looked out the window and saw this gondola that looked like it was going to run straight into our casa! Then I realized one of the guys was wearing an Olympic jogging suit thing so everyone starting yelling and running downstairs. In the mist of running on our slippery marble floors, my slippers came off and I ran outside, onto the porch, where by the way it was SNOWING!, bearfoot. It was slightly chilly. So anyway, we hung out with them and took pictures and shouted "CESARE!" Then the torch started to come by and it was carried by Olympians on gondolas making their way to San Marco. So I videotaped the whole thing and took some pictures of it being lit. It was just amazing! I saw the Olympic Torch in Venice, on the Grand Canal, while it was snowing. The snow was enough! But everything else was just icing on the cake. Later that night the snow started sticking and I missed a snowball fight, but then almost got caught in one the next morning between school children. :o)
Hopefully it will snow again and this time I will know to go out at night.
Now for technicalities. I have found a good website, FINALLY, for posting pictures and rather than posting them on this blog I am just going to put down the link and everyone can bookmark it and check out my pics whenever you want to. Right now I have albums, but not all of the albums are full and I still have many more stories to tell in here. However, right now I do not have the time to tell them all and this has been a rather lengthy posts, but only because I am addressing the comments of my readers who are telling me what they want to hear about.
Wided, I am sorry I don't have those pictures for you yet. It is winter. Not exactly the season for that kind of hunting, but I will try much harder to get out and get some pictures for you!
Also, I have not taken any pictures of the house yet. I will soon but it gets rather busy during the week and we are still taking care of logistical stuff. So I will get those out whenever I can.
Here is the link to my pictures
Please tell me if it doesn't work and I will try to fix it.
Pace!