kill the tourist!
Carnivale was simultaneously amazing and the most draining event I have been to lately. I will just start with a play by play of this craziness.
So on Friday I wake up when my roommate starts bustling around for NO real reason, watching sex and the city on headphones, and in general being a nuisance as I think I have described in a previous entry. Anyway, this results in not enough sleep. I spent the rest of the day lounging around, packing, and eating gelato. Meanwhile, my friend Ian is lying on the futon in the fetal position, with horrible stomach pains. I take note, but there isn't much we could do except make him eat bland food and hope he doesn't vom on the floor of the living room. He decides to come to Venice anyway, hoping that his pain will let up and thinking maybe it was food poisoning.
SO we get on the bus and I am sitting with my friend Angie and we start guzzling beers. we immediately have to pee so badly i threaten everyone around me on the bus that I am going to pee on them. It might be worth mentioning that the entire bus was kids from SACI, so I wasn't threatning to urinate on strangers. Ian still obviously feels like shit. WE get to the Leon d'Oro, which is like 30 minutes outside of Venice. THat kind of sucked, but the bus would take us to and from so i guess it was ok. We ate some werid dinner and then went into the city. I was walking around Campo Santa Margherita, drinking a huge heineken, when this girl in a cat mask like stops in her tracks and looks at me. It freaked me out until I saw curly brown hair poking out and realized....it was MARIA MOLTENI! what a bizzarro coincidence. I was running to catch the bus so we didn't exchange numbers. We got back to the hotel at 2:30 and Ian's brother had arrived by rental car from Germany, where he is a Lt. in the army. THey were both sleeping so Angie and I threw ourselves into our excessively ENORMOUS bed and slept for like 5 hours until we had to get up and start our 14 hour straight day of monstering in Venezia. The bus dropped us off there at 10 am and was to pick us up at 12:15 am. I was delirious.
I tromped around alllllll day and bought two awesome carnivale masks, basked in the sun by the grand canal, went to San Marco and saw a traditional VEnetian mask parage amdist oh, 30 million people, drank some coronas, ate mint chocolate chip gelato, and got so irritated by two of the girls I was with I almost had a heart attack. It was ok, though, bc the other two are my favorites and we had a good time despite how enraged we became. THere were so many fabulous costumes, I was so jealous. NExt time i am seriously investing in a velvet ballgown and an Eyes Wide Shut caliber mask. In fact I saw the shop that made those masks and they were INCREDIBLE. Needless to say, i was lusting for one but they were ultra expensive.
Around 5 pm we met the bus to drop off purchases, etc. Angie then got a call from Ian's brother that he was so sick they were calling a doctore to the hotel. Angie and I and CEcily, a TA, took the bust back to the hotel. Everyone was writing it off as flu, but this was preeeetty intense. Eventually we went to the hospital were they confirmed that Ian had appendicitis! Angie and I and Jim the army brother and Cecily the TA and Roberta the italian Interpreter sat around the emergency room waiting area for hours until the doc came out and told us why the surgery took 2 hours instead of one. Ian's appendix has ruptured and the infectrion had spread all over his organs, so they had to clean them all. Those docs were manhandling his orgs! He was fine, but he has to stay in Venice for 5 more days to recover! Angie stayed with him. So no night of carnivale for me. just as well bc i was so tired and hungry I thought i was gonna pass out.
SUnday, we took a gondola ride that we haggle down to cheapness. Our gondolier man Angelo was a total flirt, but we dodged his offers of free kisses and had a totally enjoyable ride around the canals of Venice. THen we went to the PEggy Guggenheim Collection, which was amazing. All in all, the trip was a success despite emergency surgical procedures, fatigue, and annoying roommates and co.
Now i must run to il Centro and get a bottle of wine and some fresh pesto to put on my fresh gnocchi!
Ciao, bitches!
So on Friday I wake up when my roommate starts bustling around for NO real reason, watching sex and the city on headphones, and in general being a nuisance as I think I have described in a previous entry. Anyway, this results in not enough sleep. I spent the rest of the day lounging around, packing, and eating gelato. Meanwhile, my friend Ian is lying on the futon in the fetal position, with horrible stomach pains. I take note, but there isn't much we could do except make him eat bland food and hope he doesn't vom on the floor of the living room. He decides to come to Venice anyway, hoping that his pain will let up and thinking maybe it was food poisoning.
SO we get on the bus and I am sitting with my friend Angie and we start guzzling beers. we immediately have to pee so badly i threaten everyone around me on the bus that I am going to pee on them. It might be worth mentioning that the entire bus was kids from SACI, so I wasn't threatning to urinate on strangers. Ian still obviously feels like shit. WE get to the Leon d'Oro, which is like 30 minutes outside of Venice. THat kind of sucked, but the bus would take us to and from so i guess it was ok. We ate some werid dinner and then went into the city. I was walking around Campo Santa Margherita, drinking a huge heineken, when this girl in a cat mask like stops in her tracks and looks at me. It freaked me out until I saw curly brown hair poking out and realized....it was MARIA MOLTENI! what a bizzarro coincidence. I was running to catch the bus so we didn't exchange numbers. We got back to the hotel at 2:30 and Ian's brother had arrived by rental car from Germany, where he is a Lt. in the army. THey were both sleeping so Angie and I threw ourselves into our excessively ENORMOUS bed and slept for like 5 hours until we had to get up and start our 14 hour straight day of monstering in Venezia. The bus dropped us off there at 10 am and was to pick us up at 12:15 am. I was delirious.
I tromped around alllllll day and bought two awesome carnivale masks, basked in the sun by the grand canal, went to San Marco and saw a traditional VEnetian mask parage amdist oh, 30 million people, drank some coronas, ate mint chocolate chip gelato, and got so irritated by two of the girls I was with I almost had a heart attack. It was ok, though, bc the other two are my favorites and we had a good time despite how enraged we became. THere were so many fabulous costumes, I was so jealous. NExt time i am seriously investing in a velvet ballgown and an Eyes Wide Shut caliber mask. In fact I saw the shop that made those masks and they were INCREDIBLE. Needless to say, i was lusting for one but they were ultra expensive.
Around 5 pm we met the bus to drop off purchases, etc. Angie then got a call from Ian's brother that he was so sick they were calling a doctore to the hotel. Angie and I and CEcily, a TA, took the bust back to the hotel. Everyone was writing it off as flu, but this was preeeetty intense. Eventually we went to the hospital were they confirmed that Ian had appendicitis! Angie and I and Jim the army brother and Cecily the TA and Roberta the italian Interpreter sat around the emergency room waiting area for hours until the doc came out and told us why the surgery took 2 hours instead of one. Ian's appendix has ruptured and the infectrion had spread all over his organs, so they had to clean them all. Those docs were manhandling his orgs! He was fine, but he has to stay in Venice for 5 more days to recover! Angie stayed with him. So no night of carnivale for me. just as well bc i was so tired and hungry I thought i was gonna pass out.
SUnday, we took a gondola ride that we haggle down to cheapness. Our gondolier man Angelo was a total flirt, but we dodged his offers of free kisses and had a totally enjoyable ride around the canals of Venice. THen we went to the PEggy Guggenheim Collection, which was amazing. All in all, the trip was a success despite emergency surgical procedures, fatigue, and annoying roommates and co.
Now i must run to il Centro and get a bottle of wine and some fresh pesto to put on my fresh gnocchi!
Ciao, bitches!