WHAT A WEEK! I never knew I could do so much within 7 days. So I got to Paderno del Grappa last Monday, which is where campus is located. It's about an hour train ride north of Venice. So, the first few days we got settled into the dorms, attended orientations and took advantage of the Sports Bar across the street. They have wine of tap and great drink specials! You could pay a euro for a glass of wine or six euros for a pitcher of wine. We all thought that the wine they serve would be equivalent to Franzia, but it was WAY better than Franzia. As it got later in the night, the locals started to show up after their workouts in the gym next door. A few of us talk to them and they could speak English very well, which was surprising. They were teaching us all of these Italian phrases, talking about their futbol team and what bars to go to in the nearby towns.
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| The girls at the Sports Bar. |
For our first weekend in Italy, we decided to take a trip down to Florence. We left right after class to catch the three hour train ride from Padova. We arrived in Florence around 10pm and cruised around town looking for our hostel. All 16 of us looked like complete tourists walking around with maps in hand and taking pictures of every street corner and building. The best surprise was taking a turn down a random street and seeing the Duomo right in front of us.
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| Girls in front of the Duomo |
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| The Duomo |
After getting settled into the hostel, we decided that we deserved a night out after our first successful week of classes. Conveniently, there was a small bar located across the street, so we all hung out there for a bit. Then we made the journey over to Club Twice, which is the club Jersey Shores went to during their summer tour in Italy. This club was nothing compared to the Boom Boom Room at the Hawk in Lawrence. Everything was very modern. There was funky lighting and even the bar was glowing. I was surprised how much American music they played versus European techno mixes.
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| Some of us at the bar across the street from the hostel. |
The next day we got up early and grab a cappuccino and pastry from a nearby Cafe. Then we began to explore the city! Since there were 16 of us in the group, we decided to divide up into three groups. We decided it was best if we didn't look complete tourists and stick out like a sore thumb. For most of the day, we walked around the city and looked at various markets and town squares. There were so many street vendors that would come up to us and try to make us buy things. This one guy came up to us and handed us this toy rocket that you launch in the air. The he looked to some of the guys to pay for it. It was pretty funny at the time. After eating lunch at a pizzeria, we headed over to the Academia Museum. It is known for showing Michaelanglo's David sculpture. Seeing David, was probably one of the coolest I have ever seen. There is so much detail. You can see his veins, muscle tone and even the creases in his hands. I wanted to take a picture, but the security guards were watching us like hawks and not to mention there were 20 security cameras.
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Front Door of a Chapel next to Duomo
After exploring the town all day, we heading back to the Duomo. We walked up 463 stairs to get to the top of the tower just in time for the sunset. The stairs were so steep and winding. Just as we thought we would never make it, the six of us finally reached the top! It was definitely worth climbing all of those stairs. You could see the entire city of Florence. As cheesy as this sounds, it was a great ending to a great day! Next weekend a few of us are off to to the capital of Slovenia! Hopefully Ljubljana is ready for us! Ciao!
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| Ceiling in one of the domes in the Duomo before climbing up the stairs. |
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| Watching the sunset from the Duomo. |
