Northern Italy was AMAZING!!!!

So if you are wondering why you havent heard from me the last few days it is because I have been on a trip through northern Italy and it was amazing. It was a class trip so I traveled with the 9 other people in my program and a professor. We were gone for 5 days and saw 4 cities Venice, Verona, Trento, and Milan.

We spent a day in a half in Venice. It was nice, but the weather was gray and nasty so I would like to go back one day and get a better feel for the place. It was very neat to be in a place that didn't have any cars or streets, just rivers (or canals) and boats. I didn't have time to go to the island of Morano to see the glass blowing as I had hoped, but I did get to buy some beautiful glass while I was there. Because of time and other people on the trips tight budgets we opted for a short cheap gondola ride across the canal instead of a nice, long, expensive ride around the city. It is nice to say I had the gondola experience, but I would have much preferred the nice gondola ride. Ours felt more like an overloaded canoe with a driver in a stripped shirt.

Next we went to Verona. The night we arrived in Verona was by far the most fun night I have had this semester. We were staying in a very nice hotel with a really good festival going on down the street. The festival highlighted the different foods from all the regions of Italy. There was a band playing and a booth that was making really amazing sandwiches. We spent the evening listening to the band and enjoying the atmousphere. The next day we toured Verona and saw all the sights including the house that is said to be Juliet's House from Romeo and Juliet.

The next day we went to Trento. Trento is the city where the Council of Trent was signed and the Counter Reformation began. We spent the morning in Trento visiting one of the largest construction sights in Italy. They took very good care of there by providing us with boots and hard hats to wear on the job site, and they gave us free lunch. The project is by world famous architect Renzo Piano. That afternoon we went and saw a few sights around Trento.

We took the train to Milan where we checked into the hotel, grabbed some dinner, and went to bed after a long day of traveling and sight seeing. On the final day of the trip we toured Milan. It was fun to see another city and to get to go on top of the Duomo, but over all I was not just overly impressed with Milan. It just felt like another big city to me. It didn't even really have the historic charm of Rome, though its public transit was much better!

So here I am at Wednesday just now stating my week thanks to my trip. Lucky for me my week ends tomorrow because we don't have classes on Friday. We do however have a regional field trip. I am looking forward to it. My roommates and the other students however are not looking forward to it because they have a review next Tuesday in there studio class and are very stressed. I am extremely grateful that I am not in studio and do not have to worry about it.