The Rest of the Sotry Bit by Bit Part II:

So, the weekend after Venice I spent doing something exceptionally cool (or dorky, depending onwho you ask), but either way not doing anything particularly Italian. So I will take this edition of the rest of the story to tell you my thoughts about Cortona, the town. This is for the information of anyone who wants to know what life is really like in Cortona.

The food:
First off, the hostel, where I ate four out of seven times a week (though I hear that next year the students may be living somewhere else). The food was good, great, delicious, depending on who you asked. Some people were impressed, others found something to be desired. As for me, myself, personally, I rather liked it. It was good. In general, you'd get a pasta plate for a first course, which would consist of one or more types of pasta every evening. The pastas included tomato (tomato), carbonara (egg, cheese and bacon), pesto (this green stuff made from basil or something), creamy tomato, zucchini, ragu (meat sauce), garlic and oil and, not a pasta but sometimes still a first course, soup. Personally, there were some pastas that were absolutely delicious, and others that I would rather pass on. But generally, if you don't like what you're having one night, then at the very least, you can be assured of not having it the next day. Every night we'd get also a jug of table wine for the table. And, though it's nothing special as far as wine goes, it's not completely undrinkable. As a matter of fact, I enjoyed taking wine with my meals, and intend to continue doing so once I get home. Anyway, there is also water available for drinking for you non drinkers out there. For our second course, we'd get, in general, a meat dish with a salad. This includes things like roast chicken breast, pork, and quarter roast chickens. If the pasta we had for a first course had meat in it, however, we'd have caprese salad, which is tomato, mozarella/gorgonzolla and lettuce. We were fans of the roast chicken (especially since this is when Mama did her chicken dance) and a little iffy on the caprese, though I personally liked it. And for dessert, we would have tiramisu, puddings, or ice cream. And there was always a bowl of fruit at each meal. I liked the food. I like Italian food. It was good. It was by no means gourmet, so if that's what you want, go to a restraunt, you silly person.
Breakfasts at the hostel were ... well, they left a bit to be desired by North American standards. They included two types of cereals, various cakes, breads with various jams and spreads, coffee, tea and hot chocolate. A lot of students would just go out and buy either fruit or yoghurt to have at breakfast.

Ok, I'm tired, I'll continue this later.
Good night!

The Rest of the Sotry Bit by Bit Part I:

Ok. I'm really really sorry. But I'm sure that at least 90% of you are (or were) university students. And thus you should know, that being a student equals a lot of homework. Now don't get me wrong, the profs didn't all go and bog me down to no end, but when you're doing weekend trips every weekend, there tends to be less time to do actual homework.

So. Last thing I told you about was Cinque Terre. So, the weekend after that was kind of a big deal in these parts. A little thing was going on called Carnivale. Do you know what Carnevale is? It's pretty much this great big party everyone has (supposedly it's a Christian thing, but everyone's allowed to join in the fun) ... a big party before the sombre occasion of Lent, that period that comes before Easter. Now, if you don't know what Easter is, I will have to point you in the direction of the nearest church, Bible, or wikipedia entry (the latter is probably the most accessible to you right now, considering you are on the internet to read this). Anyway, the point is, that for quite a few days people will party it up, right up until Fat Tuesday/ Martedi Grasso / Mardi Gras (pick a language), the last day before Lent begins with Ash Wednesday.

So, the point of that long schpiel (it could be longer), is that, if you can, you should one day tromp out to Venice, where you buy a mask from a vendor on the street if you're cheap, or a nice once from a store if you're not, and wear it every night, when the ... ahem. "celebrations" take place.
Venice is pretty much the place to celebrate Carnevale. So when you're there, you will see (as I did), strolling down the confetti-strewn streets a great deal of people dressed to the nines (and I'd daresay tens). They have these elaborate, elegant but somehow comical gowns, getups and costumes. And they just walk around and let you take their pictures. It was, to say the least, very cool.

And then, at night, everyone would stick on their masks and troop down to Piazza San Marco for a light show and acrobats and just general good times.

Now, the generalizations covered most of my trip, but, in general, Carnivale celebrations do not involve having a beer bottle chucked at your head whilst you are getting a ride with a somewhat shady gondolier in the dark, backwater canals of Venice. I think it is fair to say that that was a unique experience.

Obviously, this is all of what I did that weekend I went to Venice to celebrate Carnivale. It was highly fun, and I very much reccomend it if ever you get the oppertunity.
That's all I will say, since my last post was to the point of unforgivably long, and since now, school being done, I will possibly have time to add more posts. As long as the hotels I'm at have internet. Which, of course, is not at all likely. But in any event, it will get done.