Class & Beyond

It is hard to believe we have been in the beautiful mountains of the Veneto region for a week now! I am beyond grateful to be here. Paderno is a very small town, but so far the locals have been very tolerant of the 135 Americans that have moved into the Instituti Filippin, the catholic school that the program runs out of.  An example of the local Italian’s kindness was displayed on our second day when we visited a “Pasticceria” to have a famous Italian espresso. The owner made our drinks and when we were finished one of the girls asked him if we should bring our cups to the counter or leave them on the table and his response was, “Leave them, Italians are lazy. I’ll get them for you!” That small gesture and light-heartedness made us feel much more comfortable!

Tabacchi market across from campus

The first three weeks of class are an abnormal schedule due to added immersion activities meant to help the students get to know the area and each other better.  I have only had two classes so far because of this schedule, Intercultural Communication and Introduction to Management. Intercultural Communication is already one of my favorite classes. There are only 7 of us in the class, and our professor seems more interested in hearing about our travels than grilling us with quizzes.  My Introduction to Management professor is British and very entertaining. The coursework here is different than at Arkansas in that it is majority written assignments and class discussions or presentations. The professors also emphasized that we should be learning just as much outside of the classroom and we are inside, I love that!

Since our school is only a little over an hour away from Venice by train, most people in the program decided that this should be the first travel destination for a quick weekend trip. Hannah, myself, and 4 other girls decided to leave Saturday morning so that we didn’t have to try to find our hostel at night, which turned out to be an excellent idea. Friday night was spent at the local pizzeria “Al Sole” with a few other people from the program who also decided to wait. We ate like Italians and made dinner a 3 hour event, and had a good laugh at a long table of young Italian men chanting “U-S-A!” to our group.

The adventure in Venice started in the train station on the island. We were speechless when we exited the building and were greeted by the Grand Canal. We felt as though we had stepped into a postcard. Everyone told us that it is impossible to use a map in Venice, and the best thing to do is just wander through the various alleys and canals, so that’s exactly what we did. The city is breathtaking and unique in every way. We decided to keep in mind our hostel’s name, A Venice Museum, and what we thought it was by in case we came across it, but our main goal was to follow the signs to the Rialto and St. Mark’s square.  Our journey took us to the square, which was an incredible artistic display as well as an entertaining atmosphere filled with people from all over the world ducking as pigeons dove for bread crumbs. At this point we had been walking around for about 2 hours, and we were beginning to feel the weight of our backpacks. Two and a half hours after THAT, we decided it was time to call our hostel and ask them to help us find the way.

Stumbled upon St. Mark's square

An Australian that couldn’t have been older than 25 met us in front of a museum and began to chat our ears off as he lead us through the maze of walkways that make up the island toward the place we were meant to stay. We arrived at an unmarked door where he led us up to check in. Long story short, after looking at our dark room and having a group meeting outside we all agreed that we would much rather sleep in our beds at school rather than sleep in a room where the door doesn’t lock and the bathrooms are nowhere to be found. It was only 4 o’clock at this point, so we walked around Venice a bit more as we made our way to the train station, hopped on the 6:30 train to Bassano del Grappa, and we were back in Paderno by 9. Sunday morning was spent walking to the market in the neighboring town Crespano, which was a farmer’s market on steroids. You can find anything from scarves to mice!

The picture gives our room more credit than it deserves...

Our first weekend may not have gone exactly as we planned, but that was the best part! We have already started saying “Remember that time…. (fill in with something bizarre that happened in Venice)” and we were all laughing the entire trip. It was a great reminder that some of the best memories will be the result of unplanned adventures.

Proverbs 16:9 “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”

-Megan