Cleaning and groceries and the opera

hello everyone!

Again, been a while, I know. But without my computer (which should get here in the next day or so!!!) it's tough.

We've just kind of been hanging out. I've been doing a lot of cleaning lately. Whether it be laundry or bathrooms (yes, i cleaned the bathroom. try not to die of shock) or my bedroom (again, don't die) or the common rooms cause we don't really have a TV, so there's nothing for me to do except cook and clean and do my homework. Interesting life, huh? I have been trying to get out into Venice a little more. This weekend we (kelly and i) are going to the Biennale, an art festival here in venice.

We also have been doing a lot of grocery shopping. If any of you were to come now, I could give you a SWEET tour of the Venetian food stores. I know them like the back of my hand.

This past weekend we all took a trip to Verona, which is a 2 hour train ride from here. We arrived in Verona and wandered around the city for a while. We saw Juliet's balcony (!!) and walked through these BEAUTIFUL gardens, where there was a labyrinth. We dominated it. All 4 of us made it to the middle. Tee hee.

Then we saw the opera "il barbiere di seviglia" (the barber of seville) in the ancient roman arena. It was really cool to see and it was fun to watch, but the seats were SUPER hard. tee hee. But it was good nonetheless. the next day we went to two beautiful churches and the castello vecchio (old castle, literally). there was TONS of art and it was all amazing. We took the train back and collapsed! we were exhausted.

We had our midterm last week. I did well. I can't believe we've been here 3 weeks already! and we've learned A TON of italian! we all try to speak it with each other and with real italian people, but the sad thing is that often, people will respond in english cause our accents are bad and we look american - especially my friend kelly who has red hair and pale skin. tee hee.

i guess that's it for now! this friday night we are making dinner for our professors and speaking all in italian. wish us luck...

all right, lots and lots of love from venice!

xoxo,

ally