When we have exams in Edinburgh, I am not usually to be found 5 days before randomly deciding to go on a weekend away. Instead I am usually to be found holed up in the library/elephants and bagels/a dark corner of my flat in various stages of panic, trying to get everything done in time.
In Italy though, especially for erasmus students, it's an entirely different kettle of fish. The week before my exam was the end of the Carnevale in Venice, ie. the biggest party all year. I was unsure as to whether or not I should go, seeing as I was already pretty stressed with work, but when my flatmate reminded me there are two chances to do the exam, but only one carnevale, I felt I had to go. So on the friday lunchtime my flatmate and I got the train up to Venice, armed with several kilos of pasta, several litres of wine and masks each. Some friends had found a wee apartment on the internet which we were renting for two nights - it was great, although obviously as we are cheapskate students we kept prices down by having 9 of us staying in what was advertised as a 4-person flat. Oops! It was a very international affair - me, 2 Belgians, 2 French, 3 Spaniards and an Italian. Our flat was right in the centre, so when we arrived we dumped our stuff then headed straight for San Marco. Friday was great because it was busy, without being ridiculously so. There was a very cool show going on in San Marco called the Heliosphere, which basically involved a girl hanging off a giant balloon doing acrobatics over the crowd to music. I guess it has to be seen to be believed...
We went for a walk around town and saw some very cool costumes. At first it was very surreal, but it soon became completely normal to see people dressed up in very odd costumes. My favourite of all was this wee boy, very nonchalantly dressed as a dinosaur as if it was the most normal thing in the world!...
That night we went out, all masked up to look for a festa. We'd been told to head to the Rialto bridge, where there were people playing music. I expected "one man+his guitar"...instead we found hundreds of people all over/under the bridge dancing away, with a DJ with portable decks playing electro and reggae. It just got weirder and weirder. At one point we were dancing when an enormous conga line started - conga-ing down the Rialto bridge with a load of randoms dressed as gnomes is definately a once in a lifetime experience. Later we found another piazza where an impromptu rave was going on - it was completely dominated by students from all over Italy and Europe, and was just fab. There was a live band there, and everyone was in fancy dress... good times.
The next day we wandered around the city, enjoying the glorious sunshine. I met up with a friend from Edinburgh who was on an erasmus trip from Siena, and had a great time catching up over lunch with her. Later when I rejoined our group we headed to Campo Santa Margherita, which is near the Uni in Venice and is where all the students hang out. This was FAB. There was a show first, involving lots of fire and pyrotechnics; apparently there was some sort of storyline but it was a bit difficult to follow. Nevertheless, it was very pretty! After the show a DJ appeared and they created a huge outdoor dancefloor. The music was fab - very much like a cross between Liquid Rooms and Big Cheese, which when you consider it was mid-February and we were dancing outside in a random piazza in Venice, was very odd, but absolutely ace. At the other side of the piazza there was another DJ playing 50s/60s music, again - A LOT of fun. One of the main things you will see during carnevale is the sheer abundance of confetti everywhere - I'm not entirely sure of the reason behind this but basically everyone grabs bags and throws it over everyone else as you go around town. Of course we joined in, so grabbed ourselves a few sacks and skipped (literally) from the Uni district back to the Rialto, showering everyone with confetti. Again, there was a live band at the Rialto and lots of cheap spritz, so yet another great night. It's one thing I'd definately recommend - if you ever go to the Carnevale (which you MUST!) try and stay during the night, as it's so completely different to the Carnevale during the day. Apart from the amazing masks I found the daytime Carnevale a bit dull after a while - the crowds are so huge you can't move, you end up trapped down wee alleyways, lose all your friends and frequently almost get pushed into the canals by over enthusiastic tourists with their enormous cameras. By night though, there's much more space to move, even though there are still thousands of people out, but generally the atmosphere is much more chilled. It's completely driven by the students, and is generally pretty mental but amazing. At one point we found ourselves dancing under the rialto, right on the jettys where the gondolas usually go from, to random brazilian music being played by a load of guys with bongo drums!
Sunday involved trying to escape the crowds as much as possible, so we just kept on walking until we got to the far end of the lagoon, and sunbathed in a nice quiet park! We had plans to meet other friends, but as always in Carnevale it just wasn't possible, we physically couldn't get to our meeting point due to the volume of people! That was a bit gutting, but nevermind. Then it was time to dash back to the apartment, grab our stuff and then battle (literally) to the train station to attempt to get home! We arrived back in Bologna bruised, battered and shattered, but having had a fantastic time. Here's just a few more of the pics...
