CARNEVALE DI VENEZIA

Venice is the hot spot for Carnevale celebrations in Italy so I went this weekend with a group of people from Tennessee.

Our trip lasted about 32 hours- consisting of a night train leaving from Rome at 10:30 p.m. and arriving in Venice at 5:30 a.m. We spent the entire day exploring Venice before catching the 11:30 p.m. night train to bring us back to Rome by Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m.

The day in Venice started at Piazza San Marco at 6 a.m. where we watched the sunrise and there were already tons of people dressed in elaborate costumes.

Basilica di San Marco

This is outside the museum of modern art.  It was really awesome but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside.

Apparently this big bull is going to be lit on fire and burned on Tuesday.

After lunch 6 of us went on a gondola ride!

After the gondola ride we had dinner and then the festivities began...bands, dance performances, and lots of CONFETTI!

Happy Carnevale everyone! I would highly recommend buying as many bags of confetti as you can fit in your purse and dumping them on yourself and everyone within a 100 feet radius. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!!!

Fulbright Meeting & Birthday Weekend

Last Friday I had a Fulbright meeting at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. We met in the India room (everything in the room was donated by India).

All the Fulbright scholars in Italy came to Rome for the weekend and gave a presentation about their project.

Someone also came from the Global Crop Diversity Trust and gave a presentation about the global food security situation and possible solutions.

"To the millions who have to go without two meals a day- God can only appear as bread" -Gandhi

That night we found ourselves in the greatest snow fight known to mankind after being ambushed by several small children and their parents. HA.

Below is a picture of a friend I made at dinner... :)

Fulbright girls- now I have friends I can visit in Florence, Bologna, Naples, Turin, Milan, and Sicily.

View from the hotel in the morning. It hasn't snowed this much in Rome in 25 years. Lucky me that I could be here for it.

TWO birthday cakes from friends I just met about 36 hours before.

Gelato cake!

Brunch and cupcakes at Bakery House Roma with my roommate Federica on the morning of my birthday.

Dinner that evening with Feda.