Carnevale di Venezia

Saturday was crazy.

Carnevale is happening in Venice, right now, and that’s where I spent a very long, cold, wonderful Saturday with friends. We left at 9am Saturday morning on a bus with a bunch of other college students who were headed to the same place. After three hours of driving through more snow than I have ever seen in my life (no sarcasm there), we hopped off the bus and onto a waterbus to Venice! Kim, Kristen, Jeanne, Alex, Madison and I spent a good hour hopping from waterbus to water bus to get to Murano, one of the Venetian islands that’s famous for its beautiful glass. Of course, I bought some glass. Nothing too crazy…just a pair of earrings and a glass ring. The woman who I bought my ring from was so beautiful! She was telling us about her shop and how her family has lived in Murano, making glass pieces for over a hundred years [at least I think that’s what she said]. Their work was incredible.

We ate lunch while we were at Murano—it was honestly such a blessing to be able to just sit down inside and eat something warm. I don’t remember ever feeling as cold as I felt before we had that lunch. After Murano, we went back to the main island and found the Carnevale! The costumes we saw were amazing and I, of course, bought a mask so I could join the fun! We walked around the city for a few hours, just stopping in little shops to look at glass and masks and grabbing warm drinks. We found a place that had vino caldo [hot, mulled wine], which was so good! Everywhere we went, there were little bands playing on the corners [singing in Italian, just like you would imagine] and people dancing in their costumes.

In San Marco Square, there was actually a lot of American music playing. We’re talking Michael Jackson and The Beatles. Everyone, including the six of us, was dancing and singing and laughing with each other. Such a great time! Can I go back now?

One of my favorite parts of the day, though, was the waterbus ride back to our bus at the end of the night. Even though it was freezing, the six of us girls and a few other people sat out on the back of the boat and just took in the city. The lights on the water at night were beautiful and we could see inside all of the little buildings and apartments we passed. We actually went past a Carnivale Ball that was going on at one of the palaces. There were fire dancers out by the docks, where people were getting out of their boats in huge dresses, beautiful suits, and masks. I would love to go to one of those balls before I die.

After a good twenty minutes of sitting on the back of the boat, everyone got cold and went inside the boat. I sat out there by myself, though, and just enjoyed the silence. I thought about my buddy Nicholas, who I knew was in the middle of the second baseball game of his college career, and sent him all my good thoughts and prayers. Then I just told God how grateful I was for those quiet minutes and the beautiful canals and the amazing things he has equipped his people to build—in that city and everywhere. People are incredible. We may be sinful and dirty and make tons of mistakes, but if I’ve learned anything from this country, it’s that people can also do incredible things. We are capable of so much, both good and bad.

Thank you to my family for supporting me financially, emotionally, and spiritually. I’m so thankful to be here and to have been raised by such amazing people. Love you all. Mean it.

I’m off to an open drawing session! Happy Monday, everyone!