Let me start out by saying this: IT SNOWED IN ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know, it snows often but I haven't seen snow in a REALLY long time so I was extremely excited. Chelsea was too J what can I say…were southern. We got to Venice on Friday after a 5 hour bus ride and a 20 minute ferry trip across the water to the city.For one beautiful day, we had blue skies and warm temperatures. I automatically fell in love with Venice. Alaina and I stayed in the hotel closest to the water so we had a nice view from our window.Venice is a really quiet city….mainly because the percentage of residents under the age of 40 is very low. There are no college aged kids to make noise. Haha We toured a lot of the places in the city like Doges Palace, St. Marks Square and basilica (Where Mark from the gospel is entombed right under the altar….yes, I got a pictures) We went to a few of the museums as well as saw a lot of interesting art.Venice is built on water so canals run throughout the whole city. There are about a million bridges to walk over but they were all beautiful and made for great pictures. When we woke up on Saturday, it was cold….very cold….but we set out in our tour groups to see the rest of the city. We went to a bunch of the shops that sell the traditional Venetian masks that are made for Carnival and I bought 2 to bring home as souvenirs. After a little shopping, we managed to bargain with a gondolier for a 40 minute ride through the canals for 60euro….not the 100 euro he was suggesting. We told him he was crazy and we eventually got him down to a price we could handle. 4 of us climbed in and got comfortable for the tour. The ride was a lot of fun….but I was convinced that he was going to tip the boat when he kept walking up and down the side of it. I did NOT want to fall into the freezing water. He took us through the most scenic parts of the canals, the ones people would recognize from postcards of Venice. He also took us through the place where they filmed the movie The Italian Job that was made a few years ago. I'm not going to lie…the gondolier was kinda creepy but whatever. It was a neat experience and completely worth the 15 euro I paid.

After our ride, it was time for dinner so we stopped at a café near the hotel where we encountered the creepiest waiters of all time. Really. It was so weird.They were the kind of Italian men that everyone warns you about….so I was glad to get out of there and back safely in our hotel. We woke up Sunday to the snowJ Of course, all the northerners were pitching a fit because they have to shovel this stuff back home in the states but I was excited! It started out as slow flurries but picked up as the day went on but never really stuck. Of course, in the middle of watching the snow fall from the windows in the stairwell, I sprained my ankle. Is anyone surprised? No? I didn't think so… As soon as we left Venice, the snow started to pick up even more and was piling up in mounds lining the sides of the roads and mountains while we traveled back to Florence. I was really excited about this until we entered the city of Florence…..where it hadn't snowed at all. Such a disappointment. All the more reason for me to NOT be in love with Florence like I am with Venice.The weather hates us here!!!!My ankle was feeling better yesterday (Monday) until I twisted it again….and now I can barely walk. I went the pharmacy today and got an ace bandage for it and I'm trying to keep it iced by the nice long walk to school tomorrow for my final exam is definitely not going to be enjoyable. It's puffy and black and feels awful. I'll probably have to call another cab to come and get me. Yay.Cabs are funny here. A lot of them are Mercedes. HahaI rode in my first Mercedes the other day! It was our charter bus that took us to Venice! I think it's hilarious that even the work trucks here in Italy are made by Mercedes. It seems odd to me.

Because CNN is the only channel we get in English, I've been hearing nothing but the story of Michael Phelps smoking pot at the University of South Carolina…at a frat house of all places. I'm so proud to be a Gamecock right now. Not to mention Greek. Everyone keeps asking me "Hey! Isn't that your school?" Yea…that's great publicity Carolina. Good job. Pot smoking athletes or not, I do miss USC and the long walks across campus to class. With a sprained ankle, I mainly miss the shuttles. Haha On the list of things I miss:

-Home with the family

-Monterrey's

- Salads

-Mac and cheese

-Kappa

-Not having to explain to people why I'm from the south but don't have a heavy southern accident and that no….slavery does not still exist in South Carolina nor do we all participate in rallies with the KKK. I'm not kidding….people are seriously under the impression that this is what we do in our spare time down south.

-American Bookstores

-Wal-mart (You have NO idea how hard it was to find this ACE bandage and a new flat iron…)

-The washer and dryer

-Lifetime Movie Network

-My blackberry (I'm having serious withdrawals)

-Free internet whenever I want it (Thanks mom and dad)

-Being able to call anyone I want whenever I want to call them

-Being in the same time zone as everyone else

And the list could go on forever and forever but I'll stop there before I get extremely home sick again….I hope everything is going well back home. I hate that I don't get to talk to everyone but with school schedules and all, it makes it kinda hard to reach you guys. I missed Tricia's candle blow and I'm still EXTREMELY upset but I'll live… Send me emails!! They make me happy! In return, I'll send you fabulous gifts from the beautiful country of Italy and where ever else my travels take me. We're leaving for Paris on the 20th so I should have a million beautiful pictures to share by then. Pictures from Venice will be up later tonight so check them out. I miss everyone more than you can imagine!

Lots of love and hugs from Italy,

Michelle