Venice

Venice was everything I thought it would be and more. I thought Rome was amazing; I thought Florence was pretty; I thought the Tuscany countryside was beautiful; but Venice was perfect and so picturesque. Our short time there was one of the best weekends of my life.

We decided to have new roommates for the weekend. It turned out to be a wonderful idea because it allowed us to branch out from our original roommates and get to know others on a deeper level. Venice was a very low key weekend. We did not have any tours planned which allowed us to do anything we wanted. Since we were so used to being constantly on the go, all of the down time wasn’t something we were used to, but definitely something we needed. A group of us went on gondola rides at night and learned all about Venice. There are 118 islands with 420 total bridges. Thinking about how they built Venice is absolutely remarkable. Living in a place like Venice seems so surreal and I would love to go back.

Saturday was spent touring the islands of Murano and Burano. Since a group of 20 girls is pretty large to do anything, we split up into two groups. This was such a perfect day. In Murano, the glass island, we saw a glass blowing demonstration. It was remarkable. We felt the silicone sand they use and saw one man make a vase and horse. He made the horse in about one minute, it was unreal. After roaming around Murano for quite some time, our group headed to Burano, the lace island. This island was right out of a movie. These were two of the prettiest places I have ever seen. I spent the entire day with the one group and because I looked at this trip as an opportunity to get to know many people, and not just a select few, I decided to have dinner with the other group and Kyle. It was an extremely romantic setting, most likely meant for couples, but we had a wonderful evening. It was the best tiramisu I have ever had.

One thing Venice taught me was to go with the flow. Growing up in a rather large family, I’ve always had the “go with the flow” type personality, but being with a group of 20 girls, not everyone is always going to want to do the same things and you just have to go with it. When you’re in another country, experiencing new things, sometimes you just have to do what you want and not worry so much about pleasing others. I consider being a “people pleaser” as one of my biggest flaws. I’m getting better as I’m getting older, but it’s something that I continue to work on. The weekend spent in Venice helped me realize being a “people pleaser” only hurts me in the end and makes me miss out on opportunities. 

glass blowing in Murano

Murano

Burano

dinner in Venice

view from the bell tower