I just got back yesterday from the best weekend that I have had in Italy so far or for even for awhile since being away from Penn State. Alyssa, Nicole and myself left Thursday right after our class to go visit her family. They live in a small town outside of Venice called Noventa di Piave.
The whole trip was about 2/3 hours long, we took a train from Florence to Venice and then a smaller train that only took like 20 minutes to the train station in their town. When we arrived at the train station Alyssa's cousins were there to pick us up.
Now to explain the family situation is a little complicated and I don't want to confuse anyone. There are 2 houses right next to each other that is the whole family. There is a "grandma" which is really Alyssa's mother's sister, so Alyssa's mom's aunt or Alyssa's great aunt. And then there are her 2 children- Anna and Franchesco they are the two who own the houses, so they are her mom's cousins, but more like Aunts and Uncles to Alyssa and us. And then they both have 2 children who are like the "cousins." Technically they are all her cousins and then a great aunt but that's confusing.
So the cousins came and got us at the train station, Marco and Paolo who are 27 and 21. They took us back to the house where we met Anna and her husband, which was the house that we stayed at. They greeted us with wine, and cookies, and very warm welcomes. I could tell right from the beginning that it was going to be a great weekend. Then the rest of the family came over for us to meet and we were then taken by Marco and Paolo to a beach called Jesolo which is a built up shore town kind of like Point Pleasant or Seaside. There are a bunch of hotels and stores and bars. So they took us onto the beach where they have a little bar on the beach and the bartender is friends of Marco so we sat there and got to know each other. Then we went back to the house and had a WONDERFUL dinner that Anna made with the whole family. It was sooo fresh and it was so delicious I had to hold back from taking more. Then we went out with Marco and Paolo again to Jesolo and met up with some of his friends. They were all so nice to us and the boys (Marco and Paolo) would not let any of us pay for anything! They were so nice the whole weekend to us, treating us to everything, and then getting mad if we tried to pay for anything! We even tried several times to trick them, sneak it in their pockets, and sneak it into a tissue bag and be like oh you forgot this! But no, they would not take the money and proceeded to get pissed off by our actions. Opps!
Anyway we had a great first night and woke up the next morning to go to the beach. It was not so nice in the morning so we weren't in a complete rush to leave the house, and Anna set up a cute little breakfast. (In Italy they don't really eat breakfast, their breakfast consists of a croissant and coffee.) So we then were shown their land/animals. They have a ton of cherry trees (the cherries were sooo good), they have chickens, roosters, rabbits, bees (they make their own honey), a vineyard, and a small corn field. So then we were off to the beach, it was pretty cloudy when we first got there but then by the afternoon the sun started to shine through and the clouds went away. When we got back the other "aunt" made us dinner. This dinner was even MORE delicious then the first one. This one we had a couple slices of meat like cold cuts to start with and bread. Then they came out with pasta, then chicken and pork that both were wrapped/stuffed with salami/prosciutto. And then we had salad and really cool desserts that looked like cookies but it was ice cream. After dinner we went out again with Marco and Paolo, we hopped from place to place and eventually ended up going to this Marina Club that was gorgeous! It was a really big club with a bunch of bars and areas to sit and chat and then dancing, and the best part of all was that it was pretty much all outside. It was so fancy and almost I want to say elegant, it was fashionable just like how all the Italians dress here. We ended up dancing the night away til 5 in the morning, we didn't even realize how the time had flied until Marco got a phone call from his mom asking where we were! Opps! The club was still bumping when we left around 5 and the sky was beautiful because the sun was coming up. We got back to the house and immediately fell asleep because we had promised Anna that we would go to the outlet shopping with her tomorrow at 10!
I don't know how we did it but we got up and dressed and ready (and we did not look like slobs or zombies) and were ready for Anna to go shopping. We were told that Italy only has like 3 other outlet malls and it was special that we were able to go to this one because it literally is 3 minutes away from their house. They had all of the designers; Burberry, Prada, Versace, etc. It was a lot of fun looking in the stores, I did not get anything so don't worry Dad =). So after shopping it was a beautiful sunny day so we went back to the house and Marco and Paolo took us to what we thought was going to be the beach again. But they had surprised us and we went to a marina where their uncle and aunt were waiting for us to have a little lunch and go on their boat. I had the best pizza for lunch that day since being here it was soo good and then we took out the boat. They have a good/normal size boat that fit the 6 of us. Nicole, Alyssa, and myself layed on the front of the boat the whole time and we drove out along the coast and then we stopped in the middle of the ocean to go swimming. It was so much fun and then we got back on the boat and they took us to a little restaurant on the water to get some ice cream. Then we again got on the boat and went back to the dock, so that we would be back in time for dinner.
Dinner on Saturday night was at Anna's house, her husband Graziano cooked and they invited several couples over for a BBQ. We sat outside on their front "porch" and it was yet again another delicious dinner. After mingling and dessert we again went out with Marco and Paolo for our last night there. We went back to Jesolo to meet up with some of their friends, and then party hopped again til we got back to the Marina Club. We danced all night long again til the morning hours and had a blast! The club/bars here were so different then in Florence. We were the only Americans at these places, instead of it being the other way around and the Americans outshining the Italians. Here the men were not as "creepy" because of the fact that they aren't expecting for there to be American girls to hit on. It was a totally different experience and Nicole, Alyssa, and I loved every moment of it.
On Sunday we had our last breakfast together and it was very very sad saying goodbye to her family. Nobody wanted to say bye, we didn't want to leave, and they didn't want us to either. We reluctantly said our goodbyes and thank yous and Marco and Paolo drove us to the train station to send us on our way home.
It was such a good weekend for so many reasons. Being there I for the first time really felt like I was on vacation. It is not that Florence is so stressful, it is just that I feel like I am just living day by day and time is just passing by. This past weekend I was truly relaxing and enjoying myself. I was in the company of wonderful people and I did not want it to end. We had such a good time just laying on the beach, being on the boat, eating their delicious and such fresh meals, and of course dancing til all hours of the night. It was so nice to be around a big family, but it is sweet and sour experience. It makes you feel comfortable, and feel like you are at home with them. But then you realize that you aren't, it makes you think of your own family and how much you miss them. Alyssa had a really tough time saying goodbye and I understand why. She not only was feeling the way that Nicole and I did by not wanting to leave this wonderful vacation, but she was with her extended family that she only gets to see every once in awhile. Being with her mom's cousins, makes her think of her own cousins, and uncles, and parents. She was so excited to get to see them but it is so hard to have to leave them and the feelings that you get when you have to say goodbye and be on your own again.
I cannot wait for my family to get in Italy. It is again bitter/sweet that I want to count down the days til I get to see them because then that means that I am done with my studying abroad, it means that Nicole and Alyssa and everyone are going home or going to travel somewhere else. But then again, I cant wait to see my family and show them Florence and explore Venice and Rome with them. I also at times think about my friends at home and wish that I could be there and here at the same time. I wish that I could hug Ned and sleep in my own bed in my house. I wish that I could give my Grandma her daily hug and kiss. But I don't want to count down the days because I am not done exploring here, I am not ready to go home and have people ask me about my experience, I still need to make more memories and stories of my time over here.
So here it is .. I have about only 24 more days til I see my parents and I have about 32 more long days to make my memories and stories that I will treasure for the rest of my life.
It wont let me upload pictures in this one right now so I will have to make another post for them.
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