"If you read a lot...

nothing is as great as you've imagined. Venice is--Venice is better." --Fran Lebowitz

I haven't seen much of it so far so I can't agree or disagree with that yet, but we are finally in Venezia! after a ten-hour journey from Florence. Which should not have happened but apperently we bought tickets for a four-in-the-morning train that does not exist. Five different trains and much stress later, here we are; I will spare you the details.

The minute we walked out of the station we ran into three people from Capernwray! They weren't people I had known especially well but once we started talking it made no difference at all. After hearing some of what they've seen the last few weeks I can assure my small army of concerned friends and family that you have absolutely NOTHING to be worried about for me, compared to some people's wild stories...haha. Favourite part of the day. The thought of being back at Capernwray in less than two weeks seriously makes me SO happy, no matter how much I've loved every place I've been to so far. Spring school is going to be fantastic.

So now we're at our hostel. Craziest place I've stayed at yet. Everyone is super friendly and the place is run so casually that all I can do is laugh. The rooms are lit by chandeliers but the floor is made of crumbling cement and the paint is coming off the walls. The staff are determined to memorise everyone's names, the girl in the bed next to mine has been living here for next to forever, there are only two showers for the entire hostel, and apparently the staff takes whoever wants to out at night to experience Venice's nightlife. I learned this from a girl I met in Rome who stayed here, who told elabourate stories involving drunkeness and falling into canals (somehow I do not find this tempting).

I'm sitting on the balcony overlooking the canal right now and a mad thunderstorm is going on outside. In between typing this I'm talking to a girl from Hong Kong, with a bunch of people swapping travel stories in the room behind me, and wind blowing through the wide open doors but nobody cares.

I think I like this place :)