I really enjoyed the weekend (the weekend before last) in Venice. We arrived there Friday night. This time, we stayed at a hotel. It was not expensive, but still nice. The hotel was a fair ways from the island of Venice, so we had to take a shuttle bus or the city bus to get to the island. It took about 25 minutes. My friends and I went to the island to party on both nights, Friday and Saturday. It was great. There were outdoor parties in some of the main squares, with DJs. People were decked out in costumes, masks, and painted faces. On Saturday during the day, we visited the island then too, but there were so many people, so it was very difficult to see much, because it took so long to get from one place to the next. Anyway, I managed to see the Piazza San Marco, the one that floods in the mornings (high tide). On our way back to the hotel, I got my face painted as a lion. We got back to Cortona Sunday night. Last week went well. I ate like a pig on Mardi Gras, and went to mass on Wednesday. On the weekend, I had a field trip to Herculaneum (on Friday) and Pompeii (on Saturday). We stayed at a hotel in Vico Equense, which is farther down the coast from Naples. The University paid for our accomodation and the bus rides. Both of the archaeological sites were buried following the eruption of Vesuvius in 79. The difference is that Herculaneum was covered by hot mud, whereas Pompeii was covered by ashes. the people of Pompeii had more time than did those of Herculaneum. Besides the fun, I had some bad luck this weekend. I lost my little money pouch, the one that Memere and Pepere gave to me for Christmas. It contained my 2 credit cards, 2 bank cards, driver's licence, an unsigned cheque, 50 euros, my first aid certificate, and my ASEBP insurance information. Usually when I'm travelling, I wear the pouch around my neck. But what may have happened is I had put it in my inner coat pocket, much does not have a zipper. On Friday, because it was so warm (and it was so nice, maybe as high as 15 degrees), I took off my jacket and was carrying it over my shoulder). Maybe the pounch fell out of my pocket somehow. And of course, there's the possiblity that it was stolen. In retrospect, I don't know why I had decided to carry all of those things in one pouch. It would have been wiser to keep one credit card and one debit card stored in my room at the hostel. And I had no need to be carrying my driver's licence. Anyway, fortunately, I kept my passport somewhere else, so I still have that. I realised the pouch was missing Saturday morning, so after the field trip I rewalked my steps in Vico from Friday. Finally, I reported the loss to the local Carabinieri (similar to police), and phoned my credit card companies. My Mastercard is being replaced, and there's a hold on my Visa. Since I ran out of cash, I've been borrowing money from my friends. I'm now trying to find out how to get money transferred to me from my parents. After phoning the companies on Saturday night, I joined my friends, and we went in the water of the beach close to the hotel. It was so cold! Then, Sunday morning, we climbed Mount Vesuvius. Actually, a taxi-bus took us up most of the way, and we walked the final 860 meters to the top. It was cool, figuratively and literally. I could see the steam rising inside the crater. They say that another eruption like the one of AD 79 could happen any time within the next 500 years. After Vesuvius, we went to Naples, from where we would take the train back to Arezzo, then a bus to Cortona. I explored a bit before leaving. Naples is pretty dirty, and the Mafia is very powerful there. I have got back my 2 midterms of history and anthroplogy. I aced the former, and got 82% (about average) on the latter. I have an Italian quize tomorrow.
Ciao
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