Siena and further exploring Firenze!

Salve!

First, thanks everyone for reading my blog and commenting, I feel so popular. Only a couple of days have past since I last wrote but I’ve done a lot!

On Friday we left for a class trip to Siena at 8am. We had breakfast at 7:30 and while at breakfast they had cold cuts, bread, cheese, and fruit our for us to pack a lunch. So we did not look at tourist at all- traveling in a large pack, holding a sack lunch and wearing amplifiers around our neck with headphones in so we could listen to our teacher- nope, I’d dare to say we fit right in. Anyways, the drive from the Villa to Siena was only about an hour and a half, and I don’t think anyone minded traveling through the Tuscan hills. It was a little different then let’s say the drive to Michigan City or Madison, it was slightly more scenic.

The first place we went to was St. Dominic Basilica. It was definitely a different style than what we’ve seen so far in Florence. Florence and Siena were very competitive during the Renaissance, so they had some what similar styles but definitely different. Florence definitely won. The Basilica was interesting none the less. It felt, in my humble opinion, a little bit more scattered and less cohesive than other places we’ve seen so far. What most people go to St. Dominic’s to see is the mummified head of St. Catherine, who is the patron saint of Siena. St. Catherine is a very interesting character. She claimed to have a very intense relationship with Jesus. She was stigmatic (which I believe is the proper way to say that) so she felt pain that corresponded to the pain Jesus felt during the crucifixion (in her hands and feet where the nails were). She said she had really intense conversations with Jesus and he would tell her about the future and tell her what the government of Siena should do. I don’t know, I usually prefer my saints to be a little bit more humble but whatever floats your boat. I am fully prepared for St. Catherine to be waiting for me at the gates of heaven to give me a nice slap of the wrist for what I just said.

However I may feel about the influence of St. Catherine on Siena I am very intrigued by the religious influence here on everything, literally everything. I feel like I am living the history of my religion, so I am anxious to see more.

Then we saw the Cathedral in Siena, a museum that holds archived pieces from the Cathedral, and the Siena governmental building. It was all interesting, and I’ll post a link at some point for pictures once I figure that out…

Then we went to a wine tasting, which is officially my new favorite thing to do. I was really excited to learn new things about wine, but I couldn’t really hear the guide and his English wasn’t that great so I did not get to learn too much. However, I did learn that different wine is all based on the time between picking the grape and fermenting the wine and how long the wine ferments for. This particular vineyard also produced olive oil and vodka, and although we did get to try to the olive oil there was no vodka tasting haha!

We tried three different types of wine: Le Corti, Cortevecchia, and Don Tommaso. I listed them in order of price Le Corti being the cheapest at 10 euro, then 13, and 20. Not too bad but would cost a lot more than that in the states, that’s for sure. I don’t know how many people my age would claim to be a fan of red wine, but now I think it is solely because we tend to drink cheap, American wine. After drinking this wine I am completely a red wine fan. The wine was just so pure, everything feels perfectly blended and smooth. Everyone here is not sure how they will be able to return to American/Italian food, I’m not sure how I’ll able to go back to American wine (especially cheap, American wine). At the vineyard (which also had incredibly scenic views of the Tuscan hills, pictures to come) I bought the Don Tommaso as a gift for my parents (no I’m not a sweet child, I was peer pressured I was just going to buy it for myself but everyone else was buying theirs as a gift). Anyways, don’t worry I bought myself a box of wine, slightly for the humor and also because it seemed like a good deal (the lady that runs the Villa an older, experienced Italian told me it was the best deal around). It cost me 14 euro and it was the same quantity as four bottles of wine, and it was great red wine, so well worth it. Some of you may be familiar with Franzia (a cheap boxed wine, popular amongst college kids), trust me the comparison between Franzia and this wine ends at the box.

Obviously, wine tasting was a fantastic experience. I think most of us were pretty enthralled by the fact that this was a school sponsored event and we drank wine with our professors. Life is great.

Friday night everyone in the program hung out in the basement of the Villa, which is “our place”, as they’ve told us many times. Then I went out with a group of people to a bar in Sesto. Night life in Sesto (the town I actually live in) is pretty chill but I had a great time. We went to a bar called Isolde. There was a group of local Italians around our age who knew about as much English as we did Italian so we had some great conversations and cultural emersion. They were very interested in MTV (particularly the shows Next and The Hills), McDonalds, and Michael Jackson. They also think that if you are from America you are from New York or California, although they did know Chicago. I was able to use some of the few phrases I’ve learned so far in Italian 101 (which have actually really come in handy) and we mostly asked them where their favorite places to go were (in Florence and Sesto) and what they do. We also tried to ask them where we could go and get some late night food and they were very confused. Apparently late night, post-bar food is a VERY American thing. We even passed some vending machines that were turned off from Midnight to 6 am, when in America is a vending machine EVER closed? Although it was a slight disappointment at the time, it will probably be best for my diet that there is no where to get a cannoli at 3 am.

Then Saturday we took a noon train into Florence (Firenze) and roamed around. We are all still getting used to the city, aka we are all still getting lost. I truly do not mind getting lost in Florence though. Eventually we found the market we had been looking for and had lunch. What we did was walk past all the street vendors (who mainly sold leather goods, jewelry, and scarves) and we went to the indoor market (more of a food market). First we just wondered completely entranced by the food. Everything was so fresh and so many different types of things. We tried some dried strawberries and dried kiwi. I plan on going back often and always trying something new. Then at all the deli counters you can get just meat or they will make fresh sandwiches. So I got a salami panini with provolone cheese (with no mayo, mustard or anything- very un-American) and a Fanta to drink. Then we took our sandwiches and ate them on the steps of a church. It was the most perfectly cliché thing I have ever done. The panini was so fresh and wonderful, minus the birds, it was complete bliss!

Then we had dinner in Florence at Acqua al Duo. There is only two of these restaurants one in Florence and the other in San Diego, ya a little strange. Our RA recommended it and one of my guidebooks written by previous abroad students highly recommended it. The thing to get here is the pasta sampler. 10 of us got the pasta sampler and Hayley got the olive oil chicken which looked amazing. So they brought out five different types of pasta and we ate them family style: spinach pasta, pumpkin bowtie, artichoke risotto, gnoochi, and eggplant pasta. Every single one was absolutely delicious and they serve the perfect amount so you don’t feel overwhelmingly full but perfectly content. The spinach was so different and delicious and the gnoochi was by far and long the best gnoochi I’ve ever had. Five of us also shared a bottle of white wine which of course was supreme. All together the meal was 15 euro (for those of us who go wine) which I thought was pretty reasonable. AND then some guy that works there asked us if we were American students and such and said if we hadn’t already paid he would have given us a discount so instead gave each of us 10% off our next meal! AND he owns a restaurant across the street where they serve American breakfast ALL DAY, only place in Florence to get American breakfast. Good to know because some of us are starting to crave a good old fashion American breakfast. So needless to say we will be back there. The guys name is Valentino and he was so nice, he even knew the guy who was running the bar crawl we were going to. It seems that everyone in my program has had a some what similar story with a local reaching out to them because they are American students studying (and not in a taking advantage kind of way) so that is really refreshing.

Then Saturday night we went on a bar crawl in Florence, organized by a student travel organization. There was a lot of American students there and almost everyone in our program went. It was nice to see a lot of different bars in Florence, but it was not the most authentic thing I’ve done. Regardless, it was a lot of fun!

Sunday was a pretty chill, catch up on life kind of day. Although I did go with a big group for a hike in the Tuscan hills. This ended up being a far more serious hike than I intended (I’m pretty sore today haha!). The hills are super steep! But the view was surreal and it felt great to get some exercise. And don’t worry Mom on the way there we passed some tennis courts.

Right now I’m only worried about two things: school and money. I often forget that I’m here for school (oops!), so homework has been kind of on the wayside. It’s so hard to bring myself to do it when I’d much rather be exploring or hanging out with my new friends, o well guess I’m going to have to get better at that. And then there is money. It’s really not that expensive here it’s purely the conversion that is absolutely going to kill me. I don’t even think I’ve spent frivolously at all, yet when I checked my account my bank did not agree. YIKES! It’s very difficult for me to let money get in the way of my life, maybe not the best idea, but I think given this circumstance it’s okay. I’ll figure it out…

Today we had an orientation for an internship opportunity my program has. I am going to work at an Italian middle school and elementary school, I’m so excited! At the middle school we will really be working with students on their English skills (especially unique American phrases) and at the elementary school it is more about emersion of culture (so playing child games and singing classic American children songs). I think it is going to be fabulous, and a wonderful way to give back to the community that is hosting me. The teachers seem wonderful and that they really enjoy and appreciate us being involved at their school. They also said the children love it! I am also probably going to get a conversation partner so that will be really cool. Plus, they said that in their experience 3 people have ended up marrying their language partner, so ya just never know!

This weekend I think I might go to Pisa and Luca for either the wknd or a day trip. OR Tricia and I might have to go to London (she had an unfortunate fainting incident and when she fainted she fell into the wall and messed up her mouth really bad- stitches in lip, xrays on nose and jaw) so we might have to go to London because she has a cousin there who is a dentist and he says he badly needs to go to the dentist and the language barrier here is making the dentist slightly difficult—anyways, the point is I might also be going to London this weekend. So look for more tales soon!

Sorry this was ridiculously long again, like I said I make no promises on length! Hope everything and everyone is well at home, I miss you all! Look forward to postcards soon (ish, mail is slow)!