Exchange Week in Venice

For my own exchange week I got to go to Venice! It was so beautfil and again lots of fun with the other AFS students. We went to see all the famous spots in Venice like Saint Mark's Square, the Rialto Bridge, Bridge of Sighs, a million churchs, and lots more. The sunday and Monday of that week it rained but the rest of the week the weather was really spectacular! I was so thankful. One evening we took a gondola ride, which was really cool. The gondalier was pretty funny, though he wouldn't sing. However, instead the finnish guy sang in Finnish!
Another day, we went to two of the islands of the Ventian lagoon, Murano and Burano. Murano is famous for their glass-making and while we were there we got to see them blowing the glass. In Burano, it was much quieter but there was a street (more like a canal) where all the houses were in bright colors and every one was in a different color.
Another day we spent half the day in Venice and the other half in Padova. In Venice we alkwed to this huge church that was across the water from Saint Mark's Square. It was so beautiful! The church from the outside was really spectacular. In Padova we took a walk around the city, went to this nice park, and saw St Anthony's Church. The church was quite huge and beautiful!
The next day we went to Verona (the city of Romeo and Juliet). In Verona there was this Castle/museum (also connected to a Bridge). At a certain point in the castle you could see the area around Verona including this pleasant river. After that we saw the Arena (which is something similar to the Colesseum) and Juliet's house. Also, during that day we encountered some Americans. However, they were quite airheaded.....hopefully from the long trip, hah!
On the last night we had another dinner party with everyone which was lots of fun. The guy from Finland and another American played the guitar and we sang and of course ate (we're always eating in Italy).
I also forgot to mention the host family in Venice. There was a brother my age and a younger sister and two dogs. There were all so nice and the dogs were really amazing. One was even named Emily...she is trained in agility and knows how to do jumping, racing, and even a bit of basketball. The other dog, Nana awould ring a bell to go outside and knew how to press the button to open the gate. The host brother has decided to go to Brazil next year with AFS and last year they hosted a student from Chile.
The week in Venice was quite great and I learned a lot about Italy as a country. The North was a lot different from Southern Italy: how they talk, the houses, the surroundings, and the way the people interact with one another. In the North the people are more closed, still nice, but just more closed and more similar to the rest of Europe. It was a really great time in Venice and an unforgettable experience.