Venice! Party party Carnivali!

Woo! What a weekend!
So this weekend consisted of Parma and Venice. And it started on Midnight on thursday night (technically friday morning). We took a night train and awaited for our train in probably the seedest train station I have ever been too. Im talking homeless people out the ass, dirty people who had homes all over the place, trash, graffiti, etc. It was just not ok. Add to it the fact that it's four girls (my whole house went) just sitting, at night, waiting for a train. It was not the most comfortable situation I've ever been in, to say the least.
So we get on the train and we are in little sectioned off rooms and Erika and I get the cart with the two old people in it. The old man was lovely, but his wifey, was a douche. There were six seats total, and homegirl was under the impression that she had the right to all of them! But I was like ummm no, and spread myself out as well. Her husband gave me this look like "Im sorry I married a dbag" and I gave him an apologetic head nod. Erika and I ended up twisting our bodies so that we looked like poorly constructed Jenga. And it wasnt the most comfortable sleep I've ever gotten, but it was sleep none the less. Five and a half hours later, we arrive in Parma. Well...Parma is ummmm small. First of all, we get off the train, and there is fog everywhere, it's raining, and there is nothing anywhere. And our ticket for Venice isnt for another 12 hours. So we all kind of look at each other like "ummm bump this, lets leave asap". So, in all italian, I managed to get us the earliest train to venice for free! Get at me.
But while we were in Parma, we made the best of our time. We had researched things ahead of time, so that we would know what to look for. Some how, with out a map, we managed to find the center of Parma, with all of its churches and sites to see, which were only like four.
We also went to Cioccolate Infinito. If you ever find yourself in Parma, go there! It was the most incredible chocolate I have ever tasted. Just so amazing, I recommend it to anyone. I also was chatting it up with the store owner (again, in italian) and just trying to make friends where ever we went. I basically just wanted to speak italian to anyone who would listen. Im trying so hard to get faster and more fluent so that when I get back I can start taking french or Portuguese. It would just also be helpful to get perfectly fluent before I leave the country ha
But we killed all the time we had to kill and two trains later, we were in mestre, a town in the main land close to venice. We stayed at one of the nicest Hiltons (thank you Mr. Johnson) and rested for a second, then grabbed the bus to Venice.
Parma was literally BLOWN out of the water by Venice. Venice is the prettiest place I've ever seen. You cant take a bad picture of Venice. It is exactly what you think it's going to be. There are 400 bridges in the teeny tiny city of Venice. No cars. And so many boats. It's beautiful. And we got there as the sun was setting, so it was at it's height of perfection. Also, the crappy weather in Parma didnt follow us to Venice, there wasnt a cloud in the sky.
So we went for Carnivale. Which is basically like a cooler version of Mardi Gras. We started out just by walking around and getting a feeling for the city, and just fell completely in love. We got dinner by the water, sat outside and watched all of the crazy ornate costumes walk by.
After dinner, we put on our masks, and blended in with the crowd.
Masks get rid of you inhibitions, let me tell you. People just do the strangest things. Including myself, there was a mini rave in the middle of the street and I just hopped right in and started dancing like a fool. Usually I dont dance like a white person and jump around, I just kind of keep to myself if I dont think I can properly dance. But the mask made me a fool! I just jumped around and got buck wild to whatever music came on. New, old, techno, disco, whatever, I just wanted to have as much fun as everyone around me (I had to work a little harder just because everyone around me was shitfaced) but I think towards the end we were all on the same level, because I was so exhausted I was getting delusional.
But around 11, we all started to fade, our eyes were getting a little too heavy, and even a street dance party couldnt keep us going. So we headed back to our lovely hotel and proceeded to crash, hardcore.

Flash forward to 10am when we head back to the island, and I am shocked. The day time is 100 times more bumpin than the night time. Literally you are touching someone at all times because there are so many people crammed into this little city. Everyone is decked out in something, whether it's a mask, or face paint, or both, or a full blown head-to-toe costume, everyone is doing something. Naturally, because I'm five, I got my face painted (we all did, I wasnt the only dork) and I loved it! I love getting my face painted though, because I'm really not that cool of a person, and I like any reason to be covered in glitter. Strangely enough though, this german tourist took about 100 pictures of me while I got my face painted. No lie. And every time I smiled he would lose his shit and take 100 more. And then some random broad just started filming me. And I was so confused...I had no idea why they were enjoying watching me so much ahaha whatever makes you happy I guess.
It took forever to get through the city because its made up of little allies everywhere, and hundreds on people squeezing through just doesnt work out as well as you would want it too. So dont go to Venice during carnivale if you're afraid of crowds or any kind of claustrophobic, it's not going to work out for you, sorry. But it is totally worth it. Maybe you should just get over that fear.
It's almost hard to write down everything we did because a lot of the excitement consisted of walking around eating my body weight in candy, throwing confetti on strangers, and looking at all the decked out people. Because that is literally all we did. And it was awesome in every way.
We also went on a gondola ride! My gondola guy wore a stripped shit and little hat and everything. Stefano was his name actually. He wasnt a very jolly fellow, until I asked him to take a picture with me, and then he cheered right up hahaha
The night time was kind of a pain in the ass though because all of our things were at the hotel on the main land, while the train we were taking home (again a night train) was on the island. So we had to go get our things and then come back and walk around with our huge lumpy backpacks, that were both heavy and not space-efficient, which made walking around a crowded city less appealing. So we spent our last two hours sitting at a cafe, people watching all of the absurdly drunk people getting off the trains.  It was actually extremely entertaining. Until I saw a man dressed in a KKK outfit, and I wanted to junk punch him. No one should find that kind of ignorance funny or amusing. I couldnt believe it, I couldnt believe anyone would ever have the balls to do that. In that moment I wished I had to ability to teleport people. I would've dropped that piece of shit in Springfield's Six Corners, see how funny everyone there found it. It was just a healthy reminder that people really are very ignorant still. Kind of a buzz kill.
But aside from that asshole, the whole trip was absolutely perfect. Seriously, drama free, fun-filled, and awesome. All of us got a lot closer as roommates, which was really nice. And it was cool to have a girls weekend and gush over shoes and jewelry together. I did most of the gushing, but that is irrelevant.
I'm becoming addicted to traveling. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I get home and cant go anywhere I want all the time. Im probably going to go a little stir crazy.... I mean, I did that before I left, so it's probably going to be heightened now.
This week will be pretty busy as well just because John's sister and her friend are here and we're both kind of playing tour guide, trying to show them everything we can before we leave for Palermo.
Time is now speeding up, which is weird. I'm trying to not let myself get too too attached to my life here, because I'm always consciously aware of how temporary it is. And I'm logical to the point of ridiculousness, so I dont want to be sad when I get home. Because that's my real life you know? I want to bring all of this happiness with me. I want to love my real life with as much enthusiasm as I love my fake life. Because I've never been so happy or stress free in my entire life. And I cant lose that. I feel so alive, so healthy, so full of passion for everything. And I want it forever. And I know that if I try hard enough, I can make my world at home this happy too. Sounds weird and naively optimistic, but I know Im right. Im becoming who I've always wanted to be, and coming into my own. And I think thats 90% of the happiness.