[Travel Recap] Venice, Italy

…. She took even longer than 4 months ._.

APOLOGIES. In my inaccurate recollection, I thought I posted in February 😓😭😭

But I still haven't given this up so here begins a series of travel recaps!
(interspersed with some reflection posts)

Veniceeeeeeeee.

I went in November with a fellow exchange friend for 4 days. How could I have gone in November, you ask?
Well, like how UBC has departments of majors within faculties, Bristol Uni has different schools within their faculties. Because I wasn't able to enroll in all the sociology courses I wanted, I was in both the School for Policy Studies and School of Sociology, Politics, and International Studies.
But the beauty of it was that each school got to set their own timetable (within the Uni's overall timeline, of course)
My schools set Reading Break for weeks 6 and 12 :')

Basically this is a brag that we got a week break in the middle of the term and got to finish the course one week earlier than other people.

So of course, our first instinct as exchange students was to try and find cheap flight tickets! 3 hours later, we were set to leave for Venice in 3 days :')
We weren't even fazed that Venice had their worst flood in a decade the week before 😂 (and all the news reports said it stopped sooooo)

Let me recap some of the highlights:
1. Living away from the island, and on the mainland.

Practically speaking, it was cheaper. We were able to spring for a private ensuite room in a hostel (that was an RV camp! with a pool! ok we didn't swim in it cause november but it was much cool)
But also, it dispelled the glitz and glamour of my expectation of Venice.
Yes, the island part of Venice is beautiful, but I feel like I got to see another side of Italy.
A quiet residential side, an industrial side (we walked past strip malls and I seriously felt like I was back in Richmond - we even found a huge Chinese-run store selling everything from clothes to home ware! Like the stores on Fraser but bigger), and while walking to the bus stop on Saturday, we stumbled onto the biggest outdoor market I've ever seen :')
What an experience to see locals buying produce by the bagful and asking the stall owner to sell you two units of fruit - not kilos.

2. Eating.

Having a travel buddy who also loves good food was great. It's a blessing to have someone be just as excited as you to explore a supermarket :') (rows and rows of cheeeeeeese)
Despite my love of food, I've never really developed a sense of critique so thank goodness there was Alia to help me figure out what restaurants or dishes might be good or (especially in a tourist-trap like Venice) worth.
Overall just thankful for the opportunity to try new noms!

Antipasti Smorgasbord

Pastries from a local bakery in Burano

Trying squid ink pasta for the first time!
Was really surprised by how buttery and soft squid and octopus were in Venice. 

Apologies for the Snapchat crossover but I dream to eat a persimmon like that again one day 😭

I would put touristing as a highlight but that's a cop-out haha

Honestly though, getting lost in the streets, riding the boats, being in awe of the amazing architecture. Yes there were tons of crowds but I didn't think Venice was overrated. 

But I mean, this was my first trip even into Europe so can't be jaded yet haha. 

Cheers to Burano for being so lovely and for making short people feel great

Doge's Palace

(yes we did pronounce it like the meme)

As we went about the city, another thing that really struck me was the sea level rise. I knew that Venice has been slowly sinking (land subsidence + sea level rising) but seeing ground level doors and windows boarded up and submerged in the water was something else. Climate Change Is Real

People lining up on risers in front of St. Mark's Basilica

By the afternoon, the water retreated from St. Mark's Square

All in all, for a first time travel experience it wasn't so bad :')

Did have some rookie moments like not realizing my phone plan extended to countries like Italy, or seeing a mysteriously opened (and empty) pocket on my bag and thinking nothing of it - until I needed the portable charger from that open-and-empty pocket 8 hours later.

But learning experiences all arounddddd 😎

Thanks for reading this far, friends! 

Catch y'all in my next travel recap ;)