trentacinque gioni all'estero

Today we visited the Galleria Borghese, one of my favorite museums in Rome! Only 300 people are allowed in at a time, so we got there early so we could maximize the full 2 hours (9-11am) in the museum. Three of Bernini's famous sculptures are featured in this exhibit, since he was commissioned by the gallery owner to make them: Pluto and Persephone, Apollo and Daphne, and David. We ventured to Santa Maria dei Popolo where we saw more original Caravaggio works. After, we went to the Pantheon, which used to be a pagan temple, but is now the largest still-standing dome in Rome. They even have masses in the church every once in awhile. Later, a bunch of us went to Sant. Anna, which was a few blocks from Piazza Venezia. We decided to hit up Scholar's, which we heard lots of Americans go to for karaoke on Tuesday nights. At first, it was fun and we met lots of people from other American universities, but it became overly crowded (it felt like Pav on a Thursday night...not great). We ended up heading back, but one of the Xavier students ended up puking on the night bus, so we fled the scene real fast and took taxis home. Interesting end to the night.

This week begins the most intense week of my art class with Suzanne. We started off at Sant'Agostino Church where we viewed Caravaggio's Madonna di Loretto and numerous other famous works. Next, San Luigi dei Francesi where we viewed several more Caravaggio works. On the trek up to the Galleria Doria Pamphilj, we noticed a camera crew and crowds. Our first instinct was that the pope was coming...such tourists we are. It ended up being a civil protest of some sort. The Doria-Pamphilj family runs the museum and even lives in the upper quarters of the house! It was a gorgeous museum filled with many famous works. Many of the girls from the art class stayed in to work on visual analyses, but Brooke and I ventured out to get dinner. We ended up eating at Ristorante Abruzzi where I got the house pasta...it was amazing. While we were exploring and attempting to make it back to the 913 bus stop, we ended up going even farther away. We walked past the Vittorio Emmanuele and found ourselves in Trastevere. We sat on the steps and watched a street performer play the guitar until we gave up and took a taxi back to campus. I love spontaneous nights like these.

Sunday morning, we had to be out of our Airbnb by 10am, so we attempted to find a local breakfast place, but failed miserably. The location we were tracking just wasn't there, so we stumbled upon a random eatery and had something small before heading out to Venice. There was a friendly kayaking/canoeing competition among all the locals, so we sat on the edge of the canal, dipped our toes in the water, and just watched the boats go by. We found out it was a rowing regatta called Vogalonga. We spent the rest of the day picking out last minute souvenirs and exploring before our train at 7:25pm. Right before heading back, we ran into the Support hands, which we got a closer look at. My friend Lauren discovered her love of cannolis (she had 2 from 2 different places on the way back to the train station). Overall, Venezia was AMAZING. It's a bit pricy, but worth visiting as long as you don't fall for all the tourist traps (aka gondola rides and water taxis).

Today, we all woke up comfortably in air conditioning (and not in a pool of our own sweat). We decided to take the vaporetto to the islands of Burano and Murano. Burano was gorgeous...filled with colorful houses. It is known for their intricate lacework. We ate seafood at a restaurant called Al Pescatori. Murano is known for their hand-blown glass. It was nice to leisurely explore and shop in all the local stores. Copped some beautiful glasses (fingers crossed that they don't break on the way back). We headed back to the mainland for dinner at Osteria del Lipo Nero, which was way overpriced. At the table next to us, there was a family splashing water at each other and then all of a sudden, someone dumped a bucket of water (that must've held their wine) on what I assume was the mom or aunt. They were all laughing and having a jolly ole time...family goals. Later, we were walking through Mestre, and Brooke's singing caught the attention of some locals. We ended up hanging out with them for awhile...they even took us to a local bar that we wouldn't have been able to find on our own. At this bar, we met a famous basketball player from California (playing in Venice), Julyen Stone. We took tequila shots and had gin and tonics with our new Italian friends the rest of the night.

It's the first weekend abroad, and we're heading to Venezia bright and early (the train took off at 7:50am). The train station is very different from the airport. Train stations aren't posted until 10 minutes before takeoff. There's no security line to check your bags. A man may or may not come through the train to validate your ticket. I slept the whole way there, but woke up just before we arrived to make sure I didn't miss the stop (the train stopped numerous times to let people on and off). 3 hours later, we arrived in Mestre (the stop before Venice). We bought 3-day passes that gave us unlimited rides on the bus, tram, and vaporetto (water bus)...we even got a discount for being under 25. We took the bus to our AirBnb in Mestre, which was gorgeous. This man's apartment was tucked away in a little street. It had wifi, air conditioning, and a gorgeous patio (which we had already planned to drink wine on when we got a chance). The guy left a list of tips and places to go to nearby, which was very helpful. One of those places was a burger restaurant across the street called Osteria Plip. I got a margarita and smoked burger (which came out with a glass smoker...ask me to show you the video I took of it). The margaritas were SO strong...I was feeling it after that one drink, wowza. Their business card was a wine cork! Later, we took the tram to Venice where we attempted to take the vaporetto to Rialto Bridge to explore. My art professor, Suzanne, gave us a list of places to go and some helpful tips to get around. We saw the giant hands (a 2017 art piece by Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn) supporting the Ca' Sagredo Hotel. We wandered the streets, allowing ourselves to get lost in order to stumble upon any little treasures that might present themselves to us on our journey. As we were taking pictures on a bridge over the canal, a gondolier was flirting with me, trying to get me to spend 100 euros on a gondola ride...no thanks. We leisurely strolled around San Marco square, admiring all the stores and people-watching (peep the lady in the limoncello dress + shoes). Suzanne suggested a restaurant (San Trovaso) that she was supposedly known and loved at, but they didn't recall her. I got a lasagna there. The waiters teased us and kept commenting on Brooke's dancing. He told us to meet him at a club in Venice later LOL. We hit up a local supermarket for some vino and had a low-key night drinking and chatting on the patio.