Those Blasted Austrians!

Apparently when Austria took control of Venice in the 19th century and modernized it, they decided that all the fancy European courts had pigeons in their squares, so of course Venice needed some too. So next time you get pooped on in San Marco Square, you know to blame the Austrians.


This is just a quick post to say that 1) I bought prosciutto today and so I am ecstatic that I don't have to live on peas, potatoes, and salad anymore (that was dinner tonight), 2) tomorrow I'm going to spend the day in Murano, and if we have more time, Margaret, Jenn, Keshia, and I will be stopping in Burano also, and 3) I have some pictures posted up on facebook of Venice and San Servolo. The link is here:

http://williams.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013858&l=334ae&id=3901306

I'm not exactly positive that it'll work, so let me know whether it lets you see the pictures without having to log in to facebook (it should be set up so that all you have to do is click on it and it'll take you to the album whether you have a facebook account or not). I've decided that posting pictures to facebook is the easiest and least troublesome way of letting everyone else see my pictures, since the sites that want you to pay for them mess up your albums after a while if you don't pay. Anyway, I'm going to hope it works.

On other news, Margaret, Jenn, Keshia, and I have tentatively made plans to do a 4-day whirlwind tour of Switzerland during our small Easter vacation. It should be fairly simple and cheap to do all of it by train, or at least, that's what we're hoping. We've also got a small weekend trip to Salzburg and Munich penciled in sometime in May. We'd like to do Milan next weekend. I think some of the other American girls are going to Padua and Verona this weekend as daytrips, but I'm not sure I'm going to join them because I have two papers due next week already! I'd really like to schedule a weekend in Croatia at some point too, because I've heard from tons of people that it's beautiful. Ahhh the joys of being a student-- by the end of this semester I'll have done more travelling in this school year than I've probably ever done in my whole life, and I can guarantee you that it'll be a lot cheaper than our family vacations too (don't have a heart attack Dad, I'm still studying when I need to!). Honestly though, the point of studying abroad isn't the actual schoolwork you do-- it's the experiences you have, the places you see, the people you meet. I learned so much about life and different cultures last semester, and I wouldn't have had I stayed at Williams. Well, I'd have learned a lot about life there too, but in a different way-- let's just say those life forms are substantial evidence for the theory of evolution from primordial ooze. Anyway, my point is that studying away was the best decision I have made (well, after that of buying prosciutto, naturally), and if you're reading this and you're not yet a junior in college you should go abroad too. It's really a good time to learn how to be independent and responsible. Because if you're not, you'll end up like an American here named Tom-- drunk in a canal. Or asleep in a car in Venice. That kid will never cease to amaze me. Do you know how far you have to go to find a car in Europe's pedestrian city???! You have to go all the way to the mainland (to say nothing of breaking into said car to nap in it). Oh well, I guess some people never learn.

Anyway, I've got to be up early to make sure I go to Murano, and if by some chance I don't hear my alarm and get up, the cleaning ladies will kick me out at 9AM. Whoever's idea it was to have the cleaning ladies come on a day when no one has classes is not very popular among the students, to say the least.