By Matt, Matt, and Jared
Our journey started with a flight to Paris. Although some check-in difficulties made for a rough start, we landed soundly and safely. Then we made a quick turn around to a flight to Milan, which also went soundly, and finally, our group arrived to our final destination. Then, we claimed our bags and got warmly greeted by our tour guide Massimo. Our group headed to Verona for our first experience with Italian culture. On a quick walking tour, Massimo informed us about the history of the city – specifically, some of the structures are over 1000 years old.
Then we split up for free time and got to indulge in the environment around us. A couple friends and I initially decided we wanted to eat as the first activity, but soon realized we had so much to explore. We visited candy shops, toured Juliet’s balcony, the Arena di Verona, and even the Piazza delle Erbe. After walking up and down many flights of stairs we were famished, so we sat down at Tenuta Chiccheri and ordered some delicious margarita pizzas for ourselves. Since we were absolutely stuffed, we headed towards the Arena di Verona and met back up with the group.
After having free roam, we also had the opportunity to join some locals in kicking a soccer ball around the square. We all participated and had a lot of fun despite not knowing Italian and them not knowing complete English. These kids were from Naples and not originally from this area. After a while numerous more individuals began to catch on and continue to play with Matt Will, Matt S, Jared, Richard and the locals. Kids from England and Ireland joined and the final group size ended up being around 25 kids playfully kicking the ball around on the street. After leaving the square and getting back on the bus, we headed towards Venice and our hotel to finally rest and rejuvenate for the next day.