Freedom beyond class activities

Not only do we have an abundant amount of places and events planned out for us by the Summer in Italy program, we also have the freedom to do as we wish during our free time. Regularly, many of us use this time to visit the local beach, eat at the best restaurants or find the best party on the island (and off of it depending on how ambitious we feel for the night, or if we have an exam the next day). When given the whole weekend off however, many of us chose to travel on our own this past weekend. A group of four of my friends and I decided to visit Venice this weekend. I must say it wasn't what I expected, but it was such a blast anyways. I definitely appreciate the natural beauty and comfort that Grado provides more so than Venice. Grado feels more homely and cultural, compared to a packed and tight city environment of Venice. Not to say that Venice wasn't amazing however. We explored and walked for hours without feeling the physical repercussions until we took the time to sit down. This was probably the case due to our amazement in the city canals, alleyways and tourist attractions, such as the many shops and restaurants we had the chance to visit. I personally loved this time that we took, being able to buy many gifts for my family members back home, such as hand blown glass bracelets and necklaces. The trip was essentially perfect. Everything that we planned such as the traveling arrangements to the hotel room fell right into place, and just as we had hoped for. I definitely will be doing this more often with the other weekends we have, finding the most affordable ways to have the most fun in different places of Italy.

~Well done guys, we had a blast and did so flawlessly!