Buongiorno questo weekend

It has been a week since I updated and this week was long. Luckily Italian 1 is over, we took our test on Friday and I am excited to start our new classes. This weekend (yes Italians use the word weekend) was a lot of fun. Saturday the group helped out with UNICEF where we have been volunteering.
 

This weekend was a festival in Verona called "Tocati" in Veneto dialect it literally means "tag you're it." Tocati is a games festival. Games from northern italian history are showcased in booths and performances. Additionally, another country was invited and this year it was Switzerland. While volunteering with UNICEF our main job was to blow up balloons and hand them out to children. My favorite part of this was hearing parents saying "cosa dice" (what do you say) and the children going "grazie" so cute! Lunch was also very exciting. In the U.S. if you are working at some sort of festival etc. and receive a lunch voucher you assume you get a sandwich or burger chips and a pop, well that is not how they do it in Italy. We waited in line, but got an amazing hot meal on actual plates which included pasta with a choice of two types of sauces, veal, potatoes, other veggies, caprese salad, a choice of red or white wine and of course fizzy water (yay!). After volunteering we got to explore a bit. (see menu below) The festival was definitely geared toward children but it was cool to see.

After a relaxing night Karissa and I set out for Milan. The major goal was to find her a coat-fail, sad :(  ,but also to just see the city and get a general idea. Milan was very weird to me. It felt odd to see the Duomo (gorgeous, see picture below) but then a second later be riding the subway and feel like I was in a large city (which I was) There were a bunch of stages set up for fashion shows which was really cool. The shopping was also a lot of fun. We ended going to a lot stores that are in Verona, but they are much bigger in Milan. I ended up with a pair of jeans and a black high-waisted skirt, both practical but good items never the less. My new obsession as a result of this trip is the store "Mango" which is based out of Barcelona but apparently also has locations in the U.S.- need to find that soon.  We ended up leaving Milan earlier than expected just because we were exhausted but overall a great experience.

Today we start our normal course schedule (aka today only Italian conversation class from 4-6). I am excited to start photography and art history as well this week. Major goal of this week, not spend money, we'll see how that goes. In case you were wondering, the month of October is insane but amazing here is my schedule of weekend travels as of now:

Oct. 2 Venice with Claudio and the group
Oct. 3 Cologna and Motagna with Claudio and the Group

Oct. 8-11 Brussels to see my cousins

Oct.  15-17 Asiago (yes like the cheese) with Claudio and the Group

Oct.  21-24 Prague!

Oct. 29-Nov 2 Travel with Mom and Dad to Florence, Venice and then back here.

Can't wait!