free time?

So it's our first full free day since classes started Wednesday, and some of the guys went to a vineyard in Verona, but most of us stuck around to explore Venice since we'll start traveling on the weekends soon. I think my roommate, Allie, and I are going to go out to Lido and/or Murano today and I have to go back to the grocery because I keep forgetting things, plus I really feel guilty not contributing in any productive way to the dinners the boys have been cooking. I tried to do some work this morning, but I still can't concentrate, so what can you do? Mom told me specifically on the phone yesterday not to worry too much about grades, so I'm taking that advice.

Yesterday afternoon Allie, Trevor, Tristan, Robert and I went on a 2 1/2 hour jaunt around Venice to try to complete a scavanger hunt our Italian professor assigned us. We got lost-ish, pretty cold, and only found 2 (maybe 3) of the places. But, it was good to explore a little bit and to have to find our way back from pretty far away...I think I could probably do it again if I was alone and lost. I love Venice, but I just wish it'd warm up a little, because it's hard to enjoy it when it's really foggy and in the low 40s all the time.

Last night, the majority of the group went to Campo Santa Margherita, which is where the student population of Venice hangs out (as Tristan, Brendan and I discovered when we went there on a marathon--and fruitless--gelato search Thursday night). We met some fellow Americans, who are here studying art through BU, which was nice. Again, it was so, so cold, and most of us ended up hanging out outside, so I think I would've enjoyed it more had I not been concerned about losing the use of my feet! The house is now full of roses, since some of the guys kept buying dozens of roses (then handing them out) from a street vendor who happened to be walking around the Campo. Always an adventure...

We're starting to plan our weekend trips, which is more stressful than I thought it'd be, just becuase airfares are expensive if you don't plan well in advance, but it's hard to coordinate where a large-ish group of people want to travel each weekend for the next 4 months, so we might get stuck paying higher fares or not going all the places we want to go. I think we're going to Barcelona the first weekend in February and I'm meeting Will and Sarah in Paris March 8-11, but those are my only solid plans so far. Some people have talked about using next weekend as a time for 3 separate day trips to nearby places in Italy (via train) since we've been having so much trouble finding reasonable plane tickets (Venice is great, but not exactly the hub of travel in Italy).

Other than that, I've just been really lazy, poking around the city whenever anyone happens to be venturing out (I'm still a little scared of going myself) and it's nice (but wholly unfamiliar) to have so much free time!