now on to why i titled this blog "v is for victory!" this weekend marked the date of our first weekend excursion! Venice and Verona! we caught a train to venice friday night, and arrived late at the hostel around midnight! the hostel was very clean and surprisingly had more than enough amenities. the mode of transportation in venice is none other than...a water taxi!! which bright and early in the morning saturday we took to the stop at Venezia where we were able to see St. Mark's Basilica! the amount of time it would take to have constructed and designed this church is more than i could ever imagine! (the entire ceiling is a mosaic, which alone is enough to blow your mind! - with enough little titles to cover 1.5 american football fields and over 500 columns!!) madison, kiersten, allison, mary kate and i all enjoyed lunch by one of the canals and were given free cherries as a gift! after a long day of shopping (mostly window shopping for myself) we headed over with the rest of our friends and hopped on gondolas to wind down the end of our day. we had quite the day ahead of us! come 4 am sunday morning miranda, madison, kiersten and i were off on another train to verona where we planned to have a leisurely stroll through this beautiful, little city! in just a matter of hours we were about to walk around, take a few pictures, visit juliet's house, write her a letter, select a few little treats, enjoy a shaded lunch with the view of verona's colosseum and witness one of the most well thought out and extravagant marriage proposals we'd ever seen! what more could a few girls ask for? back on the train by 2, meet up with everyone else back in venice and then we were on our way back home! the best part about getting back to rome was being greeted by our lovely missing piece of the "hottro quattro" - caitlin! as if venice and verona weren't enough monday's tour to the colosseum was educational as well as interesting! check out my pictures below to experience this amazing country because words just can't do it justice!
p.s. i've been extremely excited and pleased to be practicing my italian in and out of class everyday! it's getting better and better and i've had at least 3 Italians tell me my italian was benissimo! also i bought the book The Help...just one slight difference...it's entirely in italian!! just like the book...i might need some help!