Leap Year Epicness

As you have to know (and if you don't shame on you!), but this year is a leap year, and today is the 29th of February. That's right!!! Today only happens once ever four years, and I must say it has got me thinking about rarities in life in general.

First off, happy birthday to everyone that was born today. How does it feel to be 4 years old and in high school, or 20 and have been retired for 10+ years?? And since Aladdin is my favorite Disney movie, and half of you are guaranteed to be under 7 years old here is your birthday cake!!

Happy Birthday to YOU!

On a slightly more serious note, this day come around once every 4 years. That seems like its not that often, but to be honest, the experience I am having right now is GUARANTEED to only happen once in my lifetime! Its really weird to say that because a part of me obviously never wants it to end. In fact I am actively searching for jobs here in Italy so that after this semester is over I can stay here and work. On the other side is the fact that next week will be our spring break and mark the halfway point of this semester. Last semester when we were half way done I laughed at everyone who was freaking out about having to go home, but now I understand EXACTLY what they are talking about. I will graduate college at 21 just off of spending 9 months abroad and living in Italy. Lets just say I don't think I am exactly ready to stop exploring the world, traveling around, and being adventurous, but don't tell my mother please!!

As much as I want to take the hour glass and turn it on its side I recognize that it is not possible, so there is only one other option;

ANDIAMO A ROTUNDA E BALLIAMO CON PANTALONI ROSSI!! 

Translation into English: We go to Rotunda (a discoteca here in Torino) and we dance with red pants!

It was such an awesome coincidence that this year we are all abroad and this year is a leap year so as a group we decided that we are going to literally dance this leap year away!!

So if you are in America; cheers up, have a great evening, and happy leap year.
And if you are in Italy (Torino specifically); we are going hard all night at Rotunda at 11!!!

Carnevale di Venezia

This past weekend we went on our weekend-long USAC planned trip. Last semester was our trip to the Genoa, Santa Margherita, the Cinque Terre, and Portafino, and this semester it was Venezia and Verona. Before this weekend I had been to over 25 cities in Italy, and I must say that Venice was my absolute favorite!

Best Sign in Venice

Everyone always talks about how difficult it is to get around Venice, but I was surprisingly happy with how well myself and Marcus did at directing ourselves around the city. We really only got lost one time on Saturday night, but besides that I really felt like I knew where I was going. My favorite part were the signs that directed you to the main Piazzas and canals; they allowed you to follow the paths that were correct and then branch off when you needed to so that you didn't get lost. This one to the right is my absolute favorite sign in Venice! It literally tells you to go in opposite directions to get to the same place!

It is however very difficult when you know you want to go straight, but the road ends directly into a canal without a bridge. It was frustrating because you knew where you wanted to go, weren't lost, but couldn't get there! Rather you had to turn around and take a left, then walk down three or four blocks, to then take another left across a bridge, then walk back the three or four blocks you walked up and you were where you wanted to be (and that was if you were lucky). This happened a couple times when we were following music through the canals to get to places that might potentially have a dance floor that we could go dancing at. Ironically the joke was on us because the music just echoes through the canals and we were listening / following the music of a private party while walking in a circle around Venice.

One thing that is interesting about Venice is that there is not a single discoteca, nightclub, or anywhere to dance at night time! However, we didn't let that stop us; we ended up finding a piazza that had a DJ playing some music and everyone standing around, drinking, and being social!!! At that point we decided that if we couldn't go to a party, then we would start one... and start one we did! Because it was so cold in Venice, we felt that grabbing a bottle of wine each wasn't such a bad idea. Half the bottle was to keep you warm, and the other half was to "get the people goin"!!

1 Italian DJ playing music in a Piazza, 16 Americans, WHITE PANTS, and 16 bottles of wine = PIAZZA PARTY IN VENICE

PANTALONI BIANCI DANCE!!!

The piazza party that we started!

On the downside, parties like this one stopped just after midnight because everyone in Venice is old and wants to go to bed!

Ellie and I walking around (not photoed Marcus and Erica)

Because everything was closed around 1am at the latest in Venice we spent our nights just walking around the city and checking everything out. It was honestly my favorite part of our trip to Venice. We were able to see a lot of the city without all of the tourists around.

I enjoyed just having that Italian style of life for a little bit of each day; walk around slowly, enjoying the people you are with, the place you are, and the fact that you are privileged enough to be there.



Because it was the beginning weekend of Carnevale in Venice it was absolutely packed with people. When we arrived on Saturday we took a walking tour of the city and then had the night to ourselves. The walking tour was really cool! We saw some really cool buildings in Venice, learned about all of the specifications and regulations that comes with living in Venice, and also some history of the city itself.

Sunday was the official start to Carnevale and we went to Piazza San Marco and watched "The Angel of Carnevale" fly from the tower to the main stage for the start of Carnevale. Piazza San Marco was absolutely packed with people the whole weekend and was THE place to be during the afternoon to experience everything that was Carnevale.

Piazza San Marco

Angel of Carnevale

I am very pleased because I was able to get some really cool photos of some of the people dressed up in complete costume while at the piazza and also while walking around the city!

All of these costumes were absolutely awesome, but I must say there was one group of costumes that beat all of those! Ok, I might be a bit impartial, but as we say in Italian; NON IMPORTANTE!!

AWESOME PANTS PARTY CREW!

My roommate Marcus and I

Tomorrow we are all going to Milan to celebrate Sara's 21st birthday, and Saturday we will be headed out here in Torino for Cierra's birthday. It is going to be a busy weekend, but I am really excited. Cierra's boyfriend Chris is coming into town (he is studying in Spain) and I am excited to meet him as well as help these girls celebrate there birthdays! PS - Sara if you are reading this DON'T FORGET YOUR ID!! We decided that because it is her 21st birthday, even though in Italy, she needs to be carded for her first couple drinks! After this weekend (next Tuesday) we are headed to Ivrea for Carnevale there for a fun day trip! O and next weekend Joe, Sage, and myself are going to go to Budapest for the weekend. As you can tell we have been super busy with all kinds of random, fun things going on here in Italy, but I will try and do a better job at staying up on my blog and keeping it up to date and current.