Feb
20
Ciao,
This weekend was awesome! Myself and 6 other girls from OUA went to Venice this weekend for Carnevale. It was so much fun. I’ll give you a short run down of all of the things we got to do and see while we were there!
We left on Thursday February 16th after everyone was finished with their classes, and we got to Venice at about 9. We checked into our hotel and went to sleep so we could be rested for exploring Venice on Friday.
On Friday we left the hotel at about 9 and got the main part of Venice shortly after that. It was everything I imagined it would be. The sky was blue, the houses were gorgeous, and the canals were stunning.
Our first destination was the Rialto Bridge, which is the main bridge in Venice. On our way to the bridge we stopped and took a gondola ride!
Me, Katie, Elisandra, and Amanda on the Gondola
After our gondola ride we crossed the bridge and headed over to San Marcos. San Marcos is the major piazza in Venice. In San Marcos there were tourists, people in costume, live music, vendors, and amazing buildings to look at.
Elaborate costumes for Carnevale
Katie and I representing OU in San Marcos!
We wondered around (using the buddy system of course) and took lots of pictures. After that we went to the Doge’s palace, which was elaborate and spectacular. Then we did some shopping and walked around some more, had dinner and went back to the hotel.
Saturday, we got up early again and headed back to Venice. We started off with a tour of the Ca’Rezzinico which is a famous Venetian house.
Then we bought a ticket for the water bus, and headed over to the island of Murano. Murano is famous for it’s glass production. On Murano we had lunch, took a tour of the glass museum and did a lot of shopping.
Amazing glass sculpture on Murano
After Murano, we went to Burano. Burano is an even smaller island where fishermen live. What is unique about Burano is that all of the houses are different colors, and the island is also famous for it’s lace production. By the time we left Burano it was getting dark so we went back to the hotel to change and get ready for the evenings festivities. We all got dressed up and put on our Venetian masks. Once were back in Venice we wondered around and admired everyone’s costumes. It was a lot of fun.
On Sunday we came back to Arezzo. It’s funny how much Arezzo feels like home now, and how we were all a little home sick. It was an amazing weekend, and I’m so glad I got to experience it.
Feb
16
Hello,
My name is Tyler and I am studying in Arezzo, Italy for the spring 2012 semester. I am going to try and post once a week about all of the fun and exciting things going on here at the OUA campus.
Yesterday, February 15th, Kirk Duclaux’s Art History class and Dr. Stephenson’s music class took a trip to Florence. It was cold, but really wonderful. We went to Santa Croce and saw the tombs of Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo. We also saw some beautiful art.
Art History Class
We did a lot of walking around Florence, and we got to admire all of the stunning architecture. After class was over we had some free time, so of course some of the girls and I went and did a little shopping. We bought masks for Carnevale and some beautiful scarves. After our trip to Florence we came back to OUA and had a Getting to Know Arezzo class. We discussed religion in Italian culture, and we heard the story of the Madonna Del Conforto. The Madonna Del Conforto is what the Aretini (people from Arezzo) believe saved them from an earthquake back in the 1700′s and ever since then they line up at the Duomo and pay respects on February 15th.
The crowd of people viewing the Madonna Del Conforto inside the Duomo di Arezzo
So after we heard the story we went to the Duomo to see the Madonna. It was a very unique and special experience.
This weekend almost all of the students here are going to Venice for Carnevale! For more information about the history and customs of Carnevale check out this website – http://www.venetianmasksshop.com/history.htm
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