Venice and Verona

After a long week of class and exams, I headed to Venice and Verona for another weekend with the girls. Upon arrival in Venice, we did some shopping on the walk to the hostel and I made my first purchase- a pink Italian leather briefcase, perfect for work next summer :). It was difficult to find the hostel through the curvy back roads, but eventually we arrived. Our hostel was called the Venice Museum, it was a bit rustic but definitely a great place for meeting other young people. We went out for a nice dinner and I had delicious minestrone and salad. After wards, we went back to the hostel and the young people that worked there took the girls and I out to a popular bar with some others that were also staying in the hostel.

Right outside of the main train station

The girls at dinner

New friends from the hostel

The next morning we went to a cafe for breakfast and then spent the whole day shopping. Venice is known for it's beautiful Murano glass, so of course I had to get some for myself and friends. We found a shop selling genuine Italian leather gloves and I got a pair for mom and I.  Even corner you turned had a shop selling Venetian masks in any color or design you could possibly want. Let's just say I went a little over budget on this trip because I couldn't pass up the fantastic shopping opportunities.

The next morning we headed to Verona for a few hours before returning to Riva. Verona was much more built up than I thought it would be, the streets were filled with stores and street vendors. We visited The House of Juliet, it was really neat but the overcrowding of tourists took away from it a little bit. It reminded me a bit of the Via Dell'Amore in Cinque Terre was the graffiti on the walls of the tunnel leading to the house.

We arrived in Riva later that night and it was back to work already. We began our international management unit and had an exam just a few days later. We had a research project that required us to choose either an industry or a institution in the EU. Our group decided to look at EU-Turkey relations and debate whether or not Turkey should become a member of the EU. Today we have our presentation and turn in the final paper, then I'm officially done with 3 out of the 6 business classes, YAY!