Venice

Since I last wrote two big events have taken place for me! On Friday my group participated in the Da Vinci low ropes course. This involved more team building activities that were much more physically demanding than the past team building activities! It was very fun to see everyone work together to succeed and feel the adrenaline rush of trying to get the best time in the events. My group did the course inside because it was pretty chilly but it was still super fun! We started in the morning by doing less demanding team building exercises and worked our way up to the three big events after lunch. We climbed through a makeshift spiderweb, scaled a 12 foot wall and crossed a balance beam (the spiderweb and balance beam aren’t as easy as they sound!) It was very rewarding and I am glad that I had the chance to participate.

Saturday morning bright and early 5 other girls and myself left for an overnight trip to explore Venice. I was blown away! Venice is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen despite the weather being cold and muggy while we were there. We spent most of the day walking around and letting ourselves wander. We found St. Mark’s square, the San Rialto Bridge and many cute shops that lined the main street of Venice. We also splurged a little and went on a gondola ride through the residential parts of the town where Andrea (our gondolier) pointed out Marco Polo’s house and the highest point that the water had ever reached in Venice. It worked in a little bit of an educational aspect to what was truly a wonderful day! That night we settled in to our hostel after venturing out for some pizza and gelato! YUM! In the morning we headed back to get some homework done and regroup before classes fully started this week.

When we got back in the afternoon, because I already had completed my homework, I decided to go with Tom and Patrick to attempt to climb part of Mount Grappa. Because we just got a couple inches of snow we were told we wouldn’t make it very far but we decided to go and explore at least how to get to the trail. What a hike it was! We walked to Crespano (where the small Sunday morning market is) and then proceeded to take a road that was a straight hill incline for at least two miles. When the road finally flattened out we found the trail behind a small church. The view was amazing! We began to climb the trail but it was steep, snowy and very windy! We went up for about 40 minutes before deciding we’d be better off to try again in the spring (if we can all handle the hike just to get to the trail base!).

Classes are now in full swing this week and it’s nice to have a set routine to get used to, however not having any homework for the first couple weeks was unbeatable! The class environment here is much more personal and the class sizes are much smaller than home. It makes it much easier to focus and get the most out of what the Professors are teaching.

We have decided to stay around Paderno this weekend to rest and get ready for our first week long travel break that starts next weekend. Paris and Zurich is where I’ll be headed! Can’t wait!