From Romeo to Juliet

Holy catfish.  Almost three full weeks down and I still can't believe I'm in Italy!  Every day in Paderno is a completely new adventure but I will admit it still doesn't feel real.  Maybe a regular schedule it will help make it seem like less of a dream but right now I'm still in the stage where it seems like a constant vacation.  Going for a run every day with a perfect view of the mountains would be enough by itself to make this an ideal semester, but throw in constant travel opportunities and I cannot even express how happy I am to be living the Italian dream for another three months!

My first experience as a world traveler took Emily, Abby, Beth, TJ, Joey, and I to the city that inspired one of the most famous love stories of all time - Verona, Italy.  Leaving the comforting gated walls of Instituto Filippin for the first time was a bit intimidating but the minute we all hurriedly collapsed into our seats on the train that we hoped was ours, I knew there was absolutely nothing I would have rather been doing at that moment.  And the longer the trip progressed, the more I realized how much I was loving every single second of it!  It didn't hurt that when us four girls arrived outside our hostel/apartment that we were greeted by the sweetest Italian lady who instantly made us feel welcome and completely at ease.  Maybe it was the beautiful, enormous apartment (properly named after Romeo) that was a block from the Ancient City Gates, had a roof terrace view, a Jacuzzi, and a fridge stocked with Pepsi and Proseco but from the minute I got there, I knew we had discovered something completely unique!

Exploring the city that night (in typical Italian fashion we ate pizza!) and then waking up to a beautiful Veronese day really started the trip off on the right foot!  Just walking around that day we were able to see the beautiful Arena di Verona, the Piazza delle Erbe, the view from the top of the tallest church tower in Verona, and both the house and tomb of Juliet.  Not only did we get to see all of the sights but I had the Italian street vendor version of a "Pizza Roll" (much better than the frozen ones in the box!) and a religious first official experience with authentic Italian gelato.  I wasn't nearly ready  to leave when it came time to board the train back to Bassano but I think that just means it was the perfect way to kick off the semester's travels!  Stay tuned for details from the Slovania trip in the next post...ciao!!

Also, here's a link for the apartment we stayed in while we were in Verona - I would highly recommend checking it out if you're ever there!!
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Romeo-Apartment/Verona/36354


And just a few more lovely pictures!

Streets of Verona

Arena di Verona

368 steps later we made it to the top! 

So...how about that ride in?!

I have officially been in Italy for more than a week now and it still doesn't feel real yet!  When I first arrived in Venice with two of my very good friends from Iowa State, Emily and Abby, I was so excited and fascinated with the city that I couldn't even fully wrap my mind around the fact that we had actually arrived, that Italy (something I had been looking forward to for months!) was actually happening!  After arriving in our hotel we decided to immediately go out and explore the island and just like that I had officially kicked off the Italian adventure that had been so many months in the making!  Walking around and exploring the historic city was absolutely amazing and I may of had a religious experience with a my first authentic Italian pizza!  Seeing so many things that I had only ever before seen in pictures or movies was so surreal that I'm still ridiculously excited about it.

When we all arrived on campus the next day I was once again completely blown away by the beauty of Italy - the countryside, the mountains, the towns were all so different from what I'm used to in the United States that I know it will take me awhile to believe Paderno is actually going to be my home for the next few months!  Taking a tour of campus, meeting all of the other people in the program, and recovering from jet lag took up a good portion of the first few days but it has all been so interesting that the time has flown by.  My roommate Beth is really awesome and I felt like I'd known here forever within the first two hours!  I'm seriously looking forward getting to know everyone else just as well and I know that is definitely going to be one of, if not the, best part of this entire semester!

So far the most stressful part of the trip (aside from LIFE!) was making our first weekend travel plans.  Before we actually started the process of working on transportation details and hostel bookings I had never considered how time consuming it actually is to figure everything out!  However, we successfully planned and executed our first adventure outside the safety of the campus walls and had a fantastic time in Verona but I think that's a story I'll save for the next post...ciao until then!!


Just a few pictures :)

Me, Emily, Abby & 3 months worth of  luggage!

Venice was more beautiful than I ever imagined!

The view from my room...definitely beats Iowa!