I've been known to come up with some pretty clever costumes for my sorority's house parties, but being in Rome threw quite the spin into my costume creativity. Halloween is only celebrated a little in Rome. I'd say it's currently at 1/3 of the American celebration. I saw kids dressed up as witches and devils but nothing too extensive. On Halloween defeat set in with no Hobby Lobby to run to to create a costume; I opted to go out that night as a cowgirl to the American bars. A mere 3 hours before the time we were going to head out an idea popped into my head to be pasta for Halloween! A hot glue gun was immediately pulled out and I grabbed noodles from the kitchen to create my costume. I stringed pasta noodles together to create a belt, bracelets, and a necklace. Additionally, I sewed tomatoes, onions, and garlic onto my necklace. For my headpiece, I cooked some spaghetti noodles. As those were cooking, I glued some noncooked spaghetti noodles onto a base. After the ball of noodles I cooked were cool and dry, I was able to glue them onto the base. My headpiece didn't last all night, but it was cute when it did!
Our first stop on the North Field Trip was to Milan. There I had the chance to see an opera, see showrooms, window shop, tour the Triennale, and tour some famous designers' studios! I loved seeing Castiglioni's studio. His daughter gave us a tour of it, and it seemed like he fun light hearted guy. I would have loved to meet him. Another highlight of my time in Milan was finding FALL! I've missed seeing the trees turn into their pretty fall colors; I don't see that in Rome because there aren't many trees near where I live, nor parks. Plus there is a lot of pollution in Rome. Blah. I managed to not buy anything in Milan. I figured it'd be best to return one day when I'd really be able to take advantage of the shopping around. :-)
The next stop was Venice. It didn't take long before I was in love with this town. Everything is so quiant, and it was nice to not see one car or bus. Sure, there are boats but it's easy to find yourself in an area without any. Here we learned the process of glass blowing and visited the Biennale. I also took a gondola ride with 5 other gals. It was SO peaceful! On the last night in town our class had a group dinner filled with Venitian food. That means I ate crawfish, squid, snails, scallops, and shrimp among many others. I've been working on my transition into liking seafood, and I think this dinner really helped! Infact, tonight I was craving some seafood. Here are two fansinating facts about Venice:
- There are 495 gondolas in Venice. And I rode on one of them!
- About 90% of the jobs in Venice are tourist related.
Our field trip officially ended in Venice, but Katie and I went continued our travels in Verona for another day. I was already quite tired from our adventures and could have easily been done without seeing Verona. My excitement for Verona stemmed from wanting to see Juliet's balcony. Katie and I recently watched Letters to Juliet prepare ourselves. Watching the movie before going led to disappoint, though, because they've recently renovated the brick walls where letters were once placed. Now, if they catch you trying to leave a letter you're fined 1,000 Euro! In a mere 10 minutes, my purpose for my visit in Verona was over. We spent the rest of the day touring the city-- churches, bridges, towers, etc. At this point in my European journey, a lot of these things look the same. We did manage to spend a lot of time in Castelvecchio. It's pretty nifty to say that I've toured a castle! All in all, after some hotel and transportation problems (to our hotel and to Rome), I was happy to return to Rome.
Now, I'm trying to focus on completing a lot of projects before Thanksgiving rolls around. My parents are coming to visit on the 20th. We're going to Prague on the 25th! I'm very excited to see them and for that trip, too!
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