What a Weekend!

Welcome to the "Padirty"

How do Saturday classes sound? Yeah, they are AWFUL, but we have to have them before we can start a normal  M,T,W,TH,F school week. Naturally, I wore Red and White on Saturday to support my Wolfpack in their big game despite the time difference!  Luckily after class was over I had the liberty of leaving campus and walking to the next town over! It's called Crespano Del Grappa and it is just as cute as can be! I went with my friend Mary Clare and we hunted down some coffee and a pastry. Needless to say it was so nice to get off campus and go on a stroll through the country side. We made it back in time for dinner, which was...pasta. I think I am getting tired of it.

After dinner the 24 hour marathon began. All the girls decided to ditch the jeans and put on skirts and dresses to our trip to a night club outside of Bassano Del Grappa. At 23:45 quarantacinque studenti pilled onto a charter bus that drove us trenta minuti away from the good old "Padirty." We ended up at this swanky night club called La Casa Dei Gelsi. Look it up. Seriously. This place was massive but within no time it was packed. I'm not much into the club scene but for the first two hours that we were there it was pretty fun. I kept a good distance from the Italians and it was still pretty easy to find the Americans despite us being the minority. After a good while of non-stop dancing I was ready to sleep. We are so used to going out at 20:00 and being back in by 24:00. We were stuck at this club until 4 because that's when the bus driver was scheduled to come back to pick us up. Eventually a couple of us found a lounge area inside that was pretty empty and quite so we hung out there until it was time to go. However, when we all left at 4, the club showed no signs of slowing down. Italians know how to party. When we got back to campus it was 4:30 and I was not in bed until 5 am of what is now Sunday morning. By the time I had gotten home the Wolfpack had pulled out a major win against UNC which helped me to sleep easy.

The club!

Juliet!

7 am Sunday morning: I wake up, the marathon begins again because it was Verona time! The bus left at 9 with 25 of us and it was an 1 hour and 45 minute bus ride to Verona. I slept most of the way. Once we got there we headed straight for the Piazza Bra' and had brunch at Bar Liston 12. I got a much needed prosciutto and formaggio omelet and a good cappuccino. Dogs are no strangers to large crowds and they are welcome everywhere, even inside the cafes! I basically had brunch with a Greyhound. After spending some time in the Piazza and around the Roman Arena a smaller group of 6 girls made our way around the city. Every once in a while we would catch up with some other groups but for the most part it was just us. We saw some of the major land marks such as the Porta Borsari, the famed House of Juliet, Piazza dei Signori, Tombs of the Scaligeri Family, Church of Sant'Anastasia (magnificent!) Ponte Pietra, Roman Bridge, Castello San Pietro and the Duomo...just to name a few. The whole city was truly magnificent, the city is preserved in time. The House of Juliet on the other hand was just about as touristy as could be but I totally took pictures with the Statue of Juliet and "rubbed her breast" for future luck with love, we'll see how that goes.

Vino time with Mary Clare!

Toward the end of our adventure in Verona we decided to do as the Italians do and take a vino and gelato break at one of the cafes in the Palazzo Ragione. We just sat and people watched for a little over an hour which was really neat. Oh yeah, and we also went shopping. I got a really cute new sweater and the United Colors of Benetton was having a 70% off sale in the whole store. I could honest go on for days about an adventure that ended when the bus left at 5 pm. Italy is simply stunning! The history and the culture are so well preserved and I cannot wait to get out and see what else this country has to offer!!!

Part of the crew!