Two Weeks in Venice

I wrote this almost a week ago, but haven't been able to post it.

     I’ve been in Venice for two weeks now, and I’m not sure what I think of it. For the first few days it felt a little weird to be here since I can’t just go back home if I get bored or whatever. After settling in, I really began to enjoy it here. It’s out of my little bubble I live in and I was basically forced to meet new people that, back in Boca Raton, I never would have said a word to. I’m not the kind of guy who enjoys going out with big groups; my idea of fun is locking myself in my bedroom and playing guitar. Speaking of which, I haven’t even touched a guitar since I left the United States, and I’m losing my fucking mind over it. Anyway, I’ve met a lot of new friends since I’ve come here and done a lot of things that I normally don’t do or that I’ve never done before. This past Thursday was one of those nights that I probably won’t forget any time soon.

Era veramente una delle più bellissime notti della mia vita!

     We went over to the girls’ apartment after school and dinner to hang out. At one point we were sitting around and one of the guys started talking about if you just be yourself and do what you want to do things will work out (or some shit like that) and behind me from the computer the song “You Can Go Your Own Way” by I think Fleetwood Mac was playing. I don’t know why but it was like the most epic moment I’ve ever experienced. It reminded me of like one of those 80s brat pack movies like The Breakfast Club, except it wasn’t as fucking stupid as that movie. It was great.

     A little bit later everyone went to the bar by our apartment but since I was still pretty stoned I wasn’t really feeling up to walking down there so I stayed at the girls’ apartment by myself, and sat on the couch listening to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. It was pretty epic since the album faded in right as they were walking out the door and everyone came back right after the last note played. Venice is such a quiet place so when you listen to music, all you hear is the music and the rest is silence. I’ve never enjoyed Pink Floyd so much. Normally there is always something else happening that distracts me from the music, but that night I just sat there by myself listening. Everything sounded so much clearer and I could hear every little detail of the album perfectly. The whole album just made perfect sense. David Gilmour is one of my favorite guitarists so it was great to really listen to his playing. I’ll have to crank the Buckethead up one day while I’m here that way Big B can melt my face off with his super cool solos.

     After I came out of my Pink Floyd coma by way of Gina scaring the shit out of me, I was in a weird haze all night. I was extremely relaxed and just sat there listening to music and enjoying the company of the people around me. For the first time I felt totally at ease and content with everything around me. This is why I came to Venice! Right? Well, this feeling lasted through the next day when we went on our tour of the villas (more on that some other time) but it faded quickly on Saturday. We went to the beach on Lido and it was fun but as we were waiting to vap it back home (vap it: to take the Vaporetto, the water bus service in Venice) I got tired of being with these people. All of a sudden, I just wanted to be alone.

     It’s a strange thing how fleeting a moment of ecstasy can be. Luckily, I don’t fret over most things like that. I try to enjoy things as they happen, because I know how the universe sometimes likes to work. John Keats talked about this shit all the time in his poems and odes. The very presence of extreme joy necessitates pain because the joy isn’t going to last; it won’t last. There is always loss. The very fact you have joy means there will be loss, because the world we are in will bring about pain and suffering. But here’s the good part: the opposite is also true. Just like you relish joy, you should embrace the painful times because that won’t last either. So I guess from all this bullshit I just wrote here the one thing I’m trying to say is that while I had one amazing night followed by a turrible day, there are many more great nights ahead and many more turrible days as well. I have four more weeks before I leave Venice and go to Milan so we’ll see where my adventures will take me between now and then.

Now for some photos! I have a few hundred photos on my computer that I haven't been able to upload since we don't have internet.

Finally got a decent photo of the bell tower

Inside the Doge's Palace. You don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner, a rebel.

Reese

San Giorgio Maggiore

Night shot.. probably the best photo I've taken so far.

St. Mark's Basilica

Went to St. Mark's Basilica... I honestly had never seen any photos of the inside before so I went in there fresh (Frank Costanza: I like to go in fresh!). I live in my own little world so I don't know much about historical things like the Basilica, but while some people may think that's a bad thing I think it's great. It brings an element of surprise and allows me to be in complete shock when I see these things for the first time, like a little kid who has never seen Star Wars before and finds out that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father (spoiler alert). I'm not the type of guy who is easily impressed by things. In fact, I hate almost anything new that anyone shows me. Admittedly, when I first arrived in Venice I thought, "Yeah, so what?" It was probably because I had just gotten off a thirteen-hour flight and been up for well over 24 hours, but it just didn't pop out at me the way I expected to and I was a little disappointed. But that's a good thing, since usually the things that initially grab my attention are the things I end up liking the least. Anyway, when I went up to the terrace of the Basilica and saw the lagoon shining in the sunlight behind the piazza I thought it was incredible. I took some photos but they couldn't capture the moment, sadly. But I'll take memories over photos any day. I don't know.. it's just something that stuck out to me. Photos below. Oh and just a side note, walking between the two pillars you see in the photo is bad luck because back in the day they used to do public executions between them. So of course you know that Reese walked between them.

Thoughts After My First Week in Venice

Tomorrow will make it one week since I've been in Venice. It's kind of weird because I like skipped over last Friday on the flight.. idk how to explain it haha. I stopped going out with a map a few days ago since I can just wing it now if I get lost. One thing I found out is that stupidity exists in all countries. The tourists here don't know how to walk around and stop in the middle of the street. But I'm one of them I guess so I can't really say anything. But it's such a pain in the ass to get home because we live right next to San Marco. I'll have to go exploring this weekend to find a less crowded way to get to school and back. Going to go to the thrift store to find me a suit this weekend hopefully. We had our group dinner last night and I didn't have anything fancy to wear and all these other people got snazzy and I'm just sitting there with my polo shirt and jeans. It's been freezing cold here so far, like the other day it was in the 40s and raining. That was the only time I missed Florida so far (besides the absence of Mtn Dew and Taco Bell).
     Looking forward to going out and seeing some more places here in Venice this weekend. I'll probably go to either the Rialto or the other bridge over the grand canal at night to get some photos. I need to go out by myself so I can actually get decent photos without the group leaving me behind. I'll probably go up and down some back alleys to get some photos that aren't so touristy like the ones in San Marco or from the Rialto.
     Oh and after the initial shock of being in a place where everyone speaks Italian I've finally started speaking it to people. It was a little intimidating at first since they're all native speakers and know the language like I know English, but now that I've settled down I feel a little more comfortable speaking it. It's so cool being able to have little conversations in Italian with people because in the United States I have nobody to practice with besides when I go to class. I'm glad I came here after studying for a couple years because now it's really just applying the language skills that I already have and expanding my vocabulary. From what the beginner students have said they seemed extremely intimidated by the language at first, probably because they're surrounded by so many people who are fluent and they don't really know it at all. I would definitely recommend anyone who wants to study abroad to study the language for a few semesters before going. But then again almost all the stores and restaurants speak English because it's a big tourist area, so it's not really difficult to communicate if you're not interested in learning the language. Well, It's almost 2 pm here so I need to get in the shower so I can go out and do something.

Finally in Venice

     I am finally in Venezia. Everything here looks like Pirates of the Caribbean buildings to me. But that's just me. You can like feel the buildings sloshing around or whatever because it's all built on water. It's kind of trippy. The best thing of all is that they sell Happy Cola at all the supermarkets because it's a European candy. They have no Mtn Dew or Dr Pepper here but they do have Coke available everywhere so I can get my caffeine from that. You can get a six-pack of 2 liter bottles of water for only like 50 cents it's ridiculous. I was surprised by how much graffiti is everywhere.
     All the shops are like the kind of touristy shit that you see at Old Town in Orlando. But there is a Disney store on the way to school with Mickey Mouse shirts that say I <3 Venezia lol. I'm still going to Disneyland Paris, though. Everyone here speaks English, sadly. Our apartment doesn't have internet and the tv doesn't work so we have nothing to do at home. But we usually go out and walk around or try to meet up with the other people in the group even though nobody has a phone and we have no idea where anyone is. I'm hogging this girl's computer so I'm gonna cut this short. I leave you all with my initial impressions of Venezia. Everything is different, but the same... things are more moderner than before... bigger, and yet smaller... it's computers... SAN DIMAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RULES!!!!!!!!

Getting Ready to Leave

Tomorrow is my last day in the United States, so if you didn't see Reese already then you won't be seeing him for a long time. I'm gonna try to post some stuff on here but I'll probably end up forgetting about this in a week. But nobody reads this shit anyway so it's not like anyone will be disappointed if I forget about it. Anyway, I just went to Disney World and I found this Vinylmation at Epcot so I have a new decoration to put on my amp to go with the other stupid shit that's already on it. Hopefully I'll be able to visit Disneyland Paris at some point, but I'll figure that out in a couple of weeks. By the way, I suck at photo-ing so deal with it.
Ciao!