Submitted by Aly Markley on the 2024 Winter LLCU/LANG program in Siena, Italy…
For my final days in Italy I spent the weekend in Venice. It was definitely my favorite place I visited throughout the whole trip. The day started with a 10 minute train ride on an extremely foggy day to the main island. After exploring for a couple of hours we took a boat to Murano. There we saw the most beautiful blown glass stores. There were cups, plates, bowls, statues, bracelets, anything you can think of. After lunch we headed back to the boat and just spent the rest of the afternoon in aw. We went into a little bookstore called “Alta Acqua Libreria” which had an area in the back where people could take photos inside a gondola. We wandered around the entire day with no plans just going into places as we saw them. This was by far the most peaceful I have felt since being here. It is easy to over plan and try to see everything when in actuality the most beautiful things and moments present themselves when unprompted. I am sad to go but I am extremely grateful for this experience and I hope to return someday. (Submitted on January 29, 2024)