Carnevale!

Ciao tutti! Today marks the one month here in Italy! Hard to believe. On Friday, we finally finished the intensive Italian month with the program! I think the final exam went fairly well. We got to celebrate with our professors on Friday night with some spritz and appetizers. On Monday we begin our new classes. I will be taking History of the Venetian Republic, Topics in Italian Music, and a class at the University of Padova called the Sociology of Religion. I’m looking forward to all of them!

Yesterday, I spent the day in Venice to celebrate the beginning of Carnevale! It was amazing to be there for it. I bought a mask to wear around:

We basically spent the day wandering around and looking at all the costumes, mask stores, and shops. There were some incredible places with hundreds of handmade masks:

The guy smiling is the mask-maker!

After all this walking, we had to get a gelato of course. We made our way to Piazza San Marco, which was absolutely mobbed. We looked around for a bit, then headed home. It was a pretty simple day, but amazing nonetheless. We’ll probably be back next week (the celebration continues!), fully decked in Carnevale costumes.

(Okay, so my costume won't look just like this, but you get the idea!)

Random side note: If you would like to send me mail (I love getting mail, hint, hint), here is my mailing address:

Mary Ridley

c/o Boston University Padova Program

Galleria Santa Lucia, 1

35139 Padova, Italy

Miss you all!

Learn Italian

maschera – mask

giuramento – oath

tovagliolo - napkin