Domenica Pomeriggio a Venezia

Last Sunday afternoon, I was given the wonderful opportunity of being shown around Venice! I was very lucky to have locals as my tour guides so there was no stopping to look at maps or taking long winded routes to the main sights.

I could've cried when I got out of the train station it was so beautiful and I'd already decided it is my new favourite city (sorry Bath) before we even got to Piazza San Marco or the Grand Canal.

I think the photos speak for themselves and they say a picture tells a thousand words, so I'll let them do the talking. Have a look at the "snaps" tab or my Facebook page for all of the pictures I took :)

Our trip provided me with the opportunity to use a train for the first time ever abroad! I've been told horror stories about Italian public transport with remembering to stamp the ticket on the platform to validate it etc, but my host family made everything look easy. And people actually talk to you on public transport here! They will actually strike up a conversation randomly. Normally I'd find this wonderfully friendly and a welcome change from the London trains, but I spent most of the journey terrified that someone would start talking to me and when some random lady asked me if it was my first time in Venice (and something else I couldn't understand), I just smiled and nodded and tried not to prompt further questioning. She turned out to be quite chatty once she got going though so I got swept into the conversation. Terrifying, but undoubtedly good Italian practice. 

The train journey into Venice is a wonderful experience in itself. You have to go across the low bridge and if you sit on the left side of the train, all you see is water directly beneath you, giving you this strange sensation that you're on a boat.

Inevitably, there were plenty of British weekend-trippers out and about in the city and I took great pleasure in listening in to a few conversations. Being on holiday, they probably wouldn't bat an eyelid hearing other British people walking around, but when you haven't had a face to face conversation with a fellow countryman in nearly 6 long weeks, it is the most wonderful feeling to hear a familiar accent. The general consensus from what I picked up on seemed to be that people are annoyed they chose this week to go abroad when there is equally good weather back home!

A Glimpse of My Week

Believe it or not, I'm five whole weeks into my time in Italy already! The last two weeks especially have just flown by and by the middle of next week I will be half way through my stay. I think I underestimated the adjustment it would take to go in such a short amount of time from living in a student house and being very very independent, to moving into a family setting again where independence and privacy are extremely limited and there is literally no-one else my age who I can talk to face to face. The town I'm living in is comprised of mostly young families and elderly people, and the lack of students around has definitely taken some getting used to! On the whole though, I am enjoying the change of scenery and enjoying discovering the benefits of being away from other people my age for a while.

• There was an epic thunderstorm raging last night which I enjoyed immensely :) The storms here aren't the same as the pathetic ones back home which last a minute and then fizzle out. The humidity here is pretty intense and a storm can crop up completely out of the blue. Yesterday evening we sat outside eating dinner and enjoying the sun, then 10 minutes after we'd finished, the skies opened and I had to shut the shutters on my windows and curl up in bed watching the Apprentice and listening to the tuono e fulmine.
• The 7 year old I'm looking after has become quite clingy this week. I think that very recently I've noticed a breakthrough in my confidence in speaking Italian and she has realised that I actually do understand what she is saying most of the time and that I can tell when she cheats at games! While we've been getting on well all along, I think it is only recently that she has seen the "fun" version of me that speaks Italian rather than the version of me that is there to get her to do her homework. She therefore takes every opportunity to stick to me and follow my every move. I don't mind really, I'd rather it was this way than have her completely reject me, but as someone who values my alone time very highly, I will enjoy when I'm at home and I'm able to have a shower in peace without her banging on the door trying to coerce me into building a barbie palace from straws and sticky tape!
• Everyone here is very excited about the Royal baby's arrival in the next few weeks and it is the opinion of many people here that since I am British, I must somehow have infallible knowledge of exactly when the baby will arrive, what gender it will be, and what name will be chosen. I've been telling people that I think it won't come until August and it will be a girl called Charlotte. I had to form an opinion on the matter because I am constantly being asked when they should be checking the news!
• Up until this morning, I had managed to go a whole 5 weeks without having to deal with any Italian administration organisation. I was quite enjoying being able to live here without having to worry about all the paperwork forced upon my classmates doing an Erasmus or work placement. Today came the point though when I couldn't possibly avoid it any longer and I was faced with the task of finding the post office and telling them I wanted to send a courier letter to England. My confidence had been knocked substantially after I received my second year results yesterday and found out the worst mark I've ever received at university was in Italian speaking, and I spent the entire walk there going over in my head what I was going to say and feeling really properly scared about the whole thing. Turns out though that they understood me just fine and I understood them just fine, and it all worked out pretty well! I was given two options for sending this letter: 1) The cheaper option which would take "a week" (translation: 1 Italian week= 3 British weeks), or 2) the more expensive 1 day option (translation: no post on weekends so it wouldn't be sent until Monday, and 1 Italian day= 2 British days so in reality my one day option turned into a 4 day option.) So obviously I went with option 2. Thanks a bunch French government for asking me to send a bunch of random forms halfway round Europe. It really makes my life so much easier ;)
• I've noticed that I have become very attuned to British people out and about. Yesterday in the park I spotted a family on the other side of the field who I knew within 3 seconds were British. I don't have a clue why, I just somehow knew. And sure enough when they got into earshot they were complaining about the heat in Yorkshire accents.

Aside from all that, my week has consisted of dressing up as a bride and staging a wedding between two toy monkeys, playing tiddlywinks and building a farmyard scene under the kitchen table. We also watched Harry Potter in English, and for those of you who have ever watched Harry Potter or Titanic with me, you will know I am really annoying because I recite lines during the film. I managed to hold my tongue this time, but not joining in with Hermione's "It's Leviooooosa, not Leviosaaaaaa" was the hardest part of my day.

Ciao until next time!

Alice :)