Happy November! I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween, especially seeing as you were all in Round 1 of recruitment. Hooray! From the sound of it, it seems as if it went very well! I’m so excited for new members, even though I will have to creep hardcore on Facebook to find them all. Now that Bid Day is taking place at night, we will have to stay up extra late to get in on all of the excitement!
Things are getting more and more interesting as time goes on here in Venice. I’ll start with last weekend. For our project, we have to count people getting on and off of the ACTV water buses, which are the main form of public transportation here since there are no cars allowed past the parking garage as soon as you get onto the island from the mainland.
So last Saturday, we began our field work and started counting people getting on and off of boats at the Piazzale Roma stop, which is one of the closest stops to the main cruise ship port. Besides the flooding that changed the boat lines a little bit, things seemed to have been going okay. That is, until an ACTV worker approached us and asked what we were doing. The tricky part is that he asked us in Italian, and he didn’t speak any English. We must have looked like complete idiots, but we told him that we couldn’t speak Italian (because our Italian class in A-term was kind of useless). He left, but ten minutes later he came back with another ACTV worker, who could speak some English. He asked what we were doing, so we explained it to him, and then he asked to see our papers (on which we were writing down numbers so that we could reset our counters after each boat). After that, he told us that we could not do what we were doing because we didn’t have the proper authorization from the boat company. So, he basically told us to GTFO.
We mildly freaked out, and by mildly I mean probably more than was necessary, but we called Fabio and told him what happened, and then met with him the next day to discuss a new game plan. He now finds entertainment in joking with us about how we’re going to get arrested and go to jail for a few days. Good one.
So, that was our super fun weekend. I bet you’re all jealous. But actually, you probably are because I’m in Venice and you’re not. Mwahahahaha.
While all of you were braving the storm that was Hurricane Sandy, we also got to experience some stormy weather that brought high tides, or “acqua alta” as they like to call it. It’s kind of fun wading through the waters, only to a certain extent though. It’s a good thing that they had a few extra pairs of rainboots at the project center. Here is a picture of a flooded street right by our apartment, and this wasn’t even the worst we’ve seen so far!
So after a few stressful project days and a lot of stracciatella gelato (my current favorite flavor), things took a sharp turn for the better. On Tuesday, we basically spent the entire day with our advisors, beginning with a group meeting in the morning in which they told us we’re doing a great job. After that, we met up with them at lunch with a few people from other groups. The place we went to was a little sandwich shop close to wear the old project center used to be, so the owners are all pretty familiar with Fabio. The panini we got were pretty good, and really cheap compared to other places.
After lunch, Fabio and Kyle—who went to Venice for his IQP a few years ago and is now an intern for the project center—took us out for a row down the Grand Canal. The reason behind it was so we could get pictures of the boat stops for our project, but we all figured that this way was much more fun than sitting on a regular ACTV boat or walking to each stop. We even got to learn how to row Venetian style! Not to brag or anything, but I was pretty much a champ at it. Fabio said I was a natural. I guess it’s just in my Italian genes.
Following our rowing adventures, our group had dinner with our advisors at a restaurant closer to where Fabio lives (of course, he knows the owners there too). We had a full-course meal of bread & oil, appetizers including shrimp cocktail, sardines, and cod (which was mixed up with a little mayo, so it looked a little bit like tuna but tasted way better), spaghetti with a choice of sauce with some sort of fish in it (I got shrimp and it was delicious), more fish (which required deboning), a dessert of Irish coffee, and espresso, which I tried for the first time while here and am now addicted. I was beyond full afterwards, but it was so worth it. Our advisors had plenty of nice things to say about our group, and overall it was a great day.
That leads me up to Halloween. Of course the holiday isn’t celebrated here as widely as it is back home, but it definitely still exists here. There are a few shops and restaurants that get into it. I’ve still seen a fair share of skeletons, jack-o-lanterns, and witches, so it’s nice to have a little piece of home here with us. I even saw a few people with their faces painted, and a small group of kids trick-or-treating! A few of us bought Venetian masks to wear in celebration as well. Of course, I used the holiday as an excuse to get some candy too. They didn’t have Crispy M&M’s at the store this time (they still sell those here!), so I had to settle for peanut ones.
Now that Halloween is over and it’s November, Thanksgiving is on my mind. Sadly, being an American holiday, it is not celebrated here. However, the group of students here will be putting together a dinner to have during the week before the holiday. Thanksgiving break is when most students choose to do more long-distance traveling. A few of us have planned to take a trip to London and Dublin for a few days. I’m so excited! Maybe I will have to write another post about those adventures, too.
It’s hard to believe just how much work we’ve actually gotten done while having this much fun. I can tell already that this term is going to fly by!
I miss you all and hope that everything goes well in recruitment. I know you will do awesome because you are all wonderful ladies! See you in a few weeks!
Marissa :)
P.S. – Maybe when I get back I will make you all some tiramisu. Not in a bag.
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