Venezia

I'm a bit behind updating the blog with pictures.... The last couple of weeks have been filled with studying, as we had two tests. The first was a neuroscience test, and the second was syntax. This week they are adding another 3 courses to our schedule, along with extra hours for department seminars when we hear visiting scholars talk about their research. It's all interesting stuff (apart from statistics) but it's a bit overwhelming. So I probably won't be able to travel as frequently. Which is why I'm glad I went to Rome this weekend. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures to share, as my camera deleted about 130 yesterday. I will borrow some from my classmates whenever they share them with me.
In the meantime, I will share pictures from Venice (Venezia).

Venice was such a beautiful and mysterious city. The moment you walk out of the train station, you are in front of a canal filled with gondolas and small motor boats. Instead of a metro system, there is a ferry system to transport people around the island or between smaller islands. Our hostel was located on a smaller island, so we took it a lot.
The streets of Venice are typically very small and very intertwined. It's ridiculously easy to get lost, but my classmate Kristina has been there 7 times and led us through the maze of bridges and canals with great ease. We mainly walked through the city, looking at different views, different churches, famous piazzas, etc. We stopped to shop (only a little) and window shopped in the expensive districts. We had dinner on the first night in a quaint little restaurant, very out of the way. The waiter called me capricious. I still don't know why. After dinner a group of men came in and played songs at our table. The first song was Italian and created a wonderful atmosphere, but the second song was Hello Dolly which was strange to hear coming from an accordion in Venice.

The second day we walked through the city a bit and toured the inside of St Mark's basicila (which is enormous, the ceiling is completely covered with golden murals of Biblical stories and saints) and then took the ferry to a small island. There are two main small islands off of Venice, Murano and Burano. Venetian glass is made in Murano, which looks mainly like a small Venice. Burano is built in the same fashion as Venice, but all of the houses are brightly colored and very well-kept and it is less touristy off of the main road. We went to Burano, which was my favorite place. The sell lace, glass jewelry, scarves and more along one main street, but you are free to wander among the canals and houses. I don't think I saw a door that was duplicated-- even the doors were all beautifully unique.
After Burano, we went back to Venice and walked through a few more piazzas before going to the train station.
Here are the photos:

*Venice*

*in front of the basicila of st. mark*

*birds attacking me in the piazza of st. mark (technically, i asked for it... i pretended to have food in my hands)*

*gondola in venice*

*at dinner, posing for a picture to send to potsdam, begging them to send me money (which they still haven't done)*

*luckily, my classmates bought me dinner: polenta, sausage and ribs. i was going the healthy route*

*day 2, island of burano. all of the houses are painted in bright colors*

*beautiful burano*

*burano*

*all of us in burano: olga, olha, me, kristina daria, felipe*