Day Fifty Five.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! I just realized I write a lot in CAPS, sorry if that bugs you! I just have a lot of excitement for where I am and everything that I am doing here! I LOVE ITALY! Today confirmed that even more. When I woke up I got ready for the day while listening to some music on the tv in my OWN hotel room! I was dancing around and takin my own time getting ready! Then I met with Fabiola and Francesco on the main floor (the first floor is called the zero floor here, which still confuses me sometimes) for breakfast! I ate so much, and I am not ashamed at all. I ate 4 mini briosce with chocolate, a croissant, hot chocolate (american style), caramel pudding with a chocolate cookie, eggs, bacon, and bread. Yeah. I am fat, I won't even deny it. They kept giving me food though! I DON'T WANT TO BE RUDE (that is always my excuse). Also everything here is so delicious, how could you not even some thing when you get the chance (am I right?)? After breakfast we went back up to our rooms to grab our things and then met back downstairs, and then went to the car. Francesco then drove Fabiola and I to Venice, and then he had to go to work until about 4:00 pm. I WAS FASCINATED BY HOW BEAUTIFUL VENICE WAS. During the night it was gorgeous, but during the day... wow. Also the weather wasn't really even that nice and it was still amazing! When we first got there it was sunny, but as the day went on it got freezing cold and rained constantly. Anyways, the first thing we did was drink some coffee! I obviously got a cappuccino with cocoa and a beignet! SO YUMMY. Then we went SHOPPING! There is an area with all the high end fashion stores, and then there are the cute little venetian stores. That is where I shopped haha. I like seeing the fashion stores though. It is fun to look at things I would never buy! I bought some earrings, a mask for carnivale (I will take a picture with it), and some italian shoes which I am IN LOVE with! I also bought some things for my family, but they read this so I can't say what I got them (: LOVE YOU GUYS! After that we walked aroung Piazza San Marco, and it was completely flooded! The whole thing was filled with probably a foot or so of water! They had the little bridges set up though, so we walked on those! I had so much fun walking on them. It was also so interesting for me to see a town where this was completely normal. It happens a lot! They all have rain boots and just walk right through the water. All the tourists walked on the bridges haha. They even have the police out there saying in english "no stopping for photos, keep walking" haha. I took photos WHILE I was walking, so you could say I am a super good multi tasker. We then ate lunch at a little restaurant. I had pizza and hot chocolate. I love those two things, if you haven't noticed a trend yet with what I eat A TON. Then we went to the Basilica! It is absolutely beautiful. Fabiola told me there is a lot of Turkish influence in Piazza San Marco with the Basilica because they once resided there. I couldn't take any photos though out of respect for the church. They also couldn't give tour guides because it was seen as disrespectful. I wish I would have sneaked in a photo though (that is the rebel side of me talking... oh wait, I don't have a rebel side). Then we say Hotel Danieli! It is the hotel where Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie stayed in to film "The Tourist" and I can't believe I went inside it! Fabiola didn't though because you can't just "go in" to see it. You have to be getting a room, and they would know she wasn't because she is italian haha. She told me if anyone says anything to me, that I should just start speaking english ad say "Oh I am American, can I have some information pamphlets?!" HAHA I love her so much. So I didn't get any photos, but it is absolutely fantastic. I want to stay there someday (but it is ridiculously expensive). Then we just walked around Venice! I was so cold though, it was terrible. I was wearing like 3 coats, a scarf, gloves, and a hat. Everything was wet though because it was raining so hard that it would come up inside my umbrella! I wasn't going to let that ruin my time though. I was in Venice gosh darnit! Around 4:00 we met Francesco at this nice little bar, and Fabiola got me chamomile because I had a stomache ache. Yeah, I hate that stuff. She made me drink it though or else I couldn't go to the Halloween Party! Haha they were laughing the whole time. Francesco kept saying "Karrin, how come those people are drinking hot chocolate and you are drinking chamomile?" haha, I was giving him such an evil glare. Of course he was laughing so hard! I finally told them I couldn't do it though! It was way too sweet for me, I could barely get it down. So they added a ton of water to it, and then I was able to finish it. Once I was done they clapped for me! HAHA. Then we headed back to the car. It was about a 40 minute walk because we were temporarily lost (there are so many tiny streets, and since Venice is like hundreds of little islands connected by bridges, it takes longer to get from one place to another). When we made it back to the car, I changed into some warm clothing, and then fell asleep the entire way back. We stopped to eat at a rest stop though (autogrill), and I got fried chicken and mashed potatoes (typical american girl I know) and so did Francesco! After we ate we  got back in the car for La Spezia. I fell asleep again though. When they woke me up we were AT the expo center for Halloween! The only problem was that I was in my pajamas and I looked like shhhhcrap! They got out of the car though and I had to change in the parking lot, brush my hair, and then put my shoes on! That was two times in one day I changed in the car. I was pretty proud of myself because I was so sly, no one would even know that I was changing! It was raining (of course), so I took my umbrella and Francesco walked to the center with me because my phone was dead and I didn't know if Mie was inside or not! Luckily, Francesco had her number so when he called she answered! I then had to wait in the line by myself for about 40 minutes, but once I made it inside they were waiting for me there! I left my umbrella outside too because I didn't bring my wallet so I couldn't pay to have them hold it for me, but hundreds of other peoples' umbrellas were outside too, so I felt better about it! When we got inside we danced and hung out, and Mie and I stayed together the entire time! We also saw a ton of people from school! They all said hello to us which was really nice. It was fun to see familiar faces! Then we went to the middle of the dance floor. It got annoying at one point for us though because ALL THE GUYS were like pushing everyone around, and I got punched in my side.... YEAH. Not cool, drunk immature guys.  After that Mie and I were kind of done for the night haha. I went to grab my jacket at around 1:30 because Francesco was there to get me, and then I said goodbye to Mie! When I got outside to get my umbrella, of course, someone took it. I definitely saw that one coming. Oh well, I guess it is kind of cool to say someone stole something from me.... in Italy (yeah not really)? Now I am home, and I am going to crash. DEUCES.