I remember hearing about how Venice was sinking due to rising sea levels when I was about 11 and I said to my friends that I wanted to go to Venice before it was impossible to visit, but I didn’t know when that would be. A lot of times we make big plans for things we want to do in the future but they often don’t happen. When I set foot in Venice on Friday, it was surreal. I made it. In middle school my friend Kaitlin and I did a presentation on Venice and when she heard that I was in Venice she said, “imagine telling your middle school self making the Venice presentation that you would be studying at a university in Italy.” My younger self could never have guessed that I would be studying abroad in Rome and traveling around Italy. It’s been easy to become complacent and just go through the motions of living in Italy. I’ve gotten so used to it that I forget that I have a limited amount of time here and that this is an incredible opportunity I was fortunate enough to experience.
My roommates Ruby and Lydia were here in Venice with their class and I decided to tag along, so for a lot of the time here, I was on my own. I enjoyed this opportunity to experience the city on my own. I had very little planned and I figured I would spend a lot of time wandering around. Once we dropped our bags off at our Airbnb, I went and got a 48 hour vaporetto (water bus) pass and got on a vaporetto to Burano, one of the Islands off of Venice. It took about 30-45 minutes. It was absolutely gorgeous. All of the houses are painted in bright colors so it’s easier to navigate the canals at night. It was so quiet and empty, it felt like a fairytale.
The following day, I went to Piazza San Marco and several parks in Venice. There was a lot more green space than I expected. There was a large park on the edge of the island that looked out into the ocean that I actually went back to the next day as well.
This weekend was probably my favorite so far because I just got to spend time appreciating the city for what it is. I wasn’t stressing about what museums I was going to visit or what activities I was going to do.
A Message from the Office of Global Engagement:
The safety and security of Drexel students is a priority for the University. As part of the efforts to support Drexel students that are studying abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Global Engagement has conducted a rigorous review of programming and provided additional support to participating students with customized pre-departure orientations and regular check-ins during the required self-isolation period and the term.
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