bureaucracy

Today the majority of the students didn't have class until 1:30, so Kayla and I went for coffee around 8:30, then I walked on to the gardens (maybe 1 1/2 miles?) while it was still cool outside. I had hoped the gardens would be really beautiful this time of year since they were kind of paltry when I was here in the spring, but unfortunately there still wasn't a ton to see. I ended up taking the vaporetto back instead of walking because it looked like it might rain.

Even though the gardens were a bit of a disappointment, it was a total waste of time because I really love walking around Venice in the "early" morning (early by Venetian standards more so than my own). Especially in Dorsoduro (my "neighborhood"), things are just barely gearing up at 8:30 or 9...Bar da Gino isn't too crowed, but everyone there is a regular and knows all the other patrons. People are just opening up their window shutters and calling down to people on the street as they get ready to go open their shops for the day. As I got closer to San Marco, the crowd got thicker, but not nearly as overwhelming as usual. Once I got past the Bridge of Sighs, there were only a few people walking near me at any given time and I had the gardens practically to myself. I got home with plenty of time for another trip to Bar da Gino with Rhianna and Megan on our way to the other grocery store that's near the house (where I of course went a little overboard...I just can't help myself in grocery stores and Target...).

Yesterday I also started the day at Bar da Gino with Kayla (they already know us by sight and by drink order, which is cute), then we walked to Rialto. Kayla was going to buy a cell phone while I tried to convince the post office to process all 20 required Italian insurance forms for the group, but she forgot her passport, so she just came to the post office with me. The lady at the window didn't seem all that thrilled, but accepted all 20 applications anyways, which was a relief, because each application is accompanied by 50 Euro, meaning I was carrying around 1000 Euro. Then we got fruit near the Rialto market and decided to head back home because it was drizzling. The kids had class literally all day, but I was allowed to escape at lunchtime, so I got postcards and walked to the bank with Megan and Tom, just for something to do. I also got some really not good gelato, which was disappointing, but it just means I have to keep trying new places. Later the majority of the group went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant near Rialto, then we stopped for more gelato on the way home and played a hilarious game of dictionary when we got back. (Dictionary is a game where 1 person picks an obscure word & everyone tries to make up a funny/outrageous definition, then the word-picker reads all the fake definitions and the group tries to guess who wrote which definition).

Monday and Tuesday afternoons, the students and I had to fill out a ton of paperwork to be legal in Italy (hence the title of the post) and it got a little heated at points because of some confusion and the ridiculous amount of money that had to accompany the forms. Somehow we survived without any major issues and ended up having a house dinner of pizza with money provided by Casa Artom. Tom, Jaimie, Chris, Eugene, Caroline and I went to order the pizzas to bring back home...and then somehow 20 people ate 6 huge pizzas. I'm constantly impressed by how much food we can put away here. Speaking of which, we have our official house dinner tonight, which I already look forward to each week given my lack of culinary talent

Now I'm just waiting for people to get out of class so we can make some solid plans for upcoming weekend trips!