A City on Water

June 23, 2014 (And I'm already falling behind...)

It has officially been 24 hours since the last time that I have slept. We started our voyage at 5:30 in the afternoon on June 22nd out of Boston Logan International Airport. Why we thought we needed to be 3 hours early to our flight is beyond me, but hey at least we didn't miss it! Our flight was a 6 hour ride from hell that brought us from Boston to Zurich where we experienced a whirlwind of emotions. On the 6 hour flight we endured coughing Swiss men who sat directly behind us, seats that when reclined gave you no personal space, and once we crossed the United States border English was officially removed as the first language spoken. (Spoken like a true American, am I right? Once we landed in Zurich all 20 (yes, I said 20) of us settled down in front of our gate (on the floor, true college style) and waited for our next flight. Twenty minutes before boarding we were informed that our flight switched gates which left us dashing across the airport in search of our new terminal with minutes to spare to catch our flight. Once on the flight it was smooth sailing (no pun intended) all the way to Venice.

Arriving in Venice was definitely a culture shock since I've never been anywhere where English was not the chosen language. After circling the airport a few times and huddling around each other in confusion creating mass chaos, we were able to find the building where we were supposed to drop off our luggage that we would then retrieve in a few days when we make our way to the Alps. First thing first, let me describe to you what this luggage "building" looked like. It was maybe the size of my college dorm room and all it had was this conveyer belt that we were supposed to drop our luggage on and have it fall in to the deep unknown. So obviously all 20 of us dropped our luggage down the shoot and didn't bother to ask any other questions. Next we ventured off to the water taxis that took us to our hotel. The water taxis were a blast and we definitely felt like we were riding in style.

Water Taxi View and Driver

Upon arriving in Venice, we all settled in to our hotel with all of our luggage and quickly set out to explore the city. We walked around for about an hour and then met with our professors who gave us a quick tour and took us out for pizza for our first night. The restaurant expected us each to order our own individual pizzas (not a problem for me) which was a bit different for a few other people. I ordered the Basilica pizza which is a marinara and mozzarella cheese base with a pesto topping. Pretty basic for my first meal, but hey, you have to start somewhere. The rest of the night we spent walking around Venice and went to bed early to get a good night's rest for the next day's activities.

Basilico Pizza

Stay tuned for adventures of Venice, Burano and Murano! (Sneak peek below)

Burano!