Roma

So by the time finals got over, I did not want to go to Rome. I just wanted to go home because it was so close. But, we went and took all of our luggage with. We got a hotel close to the Termini so we wouldn't have to walk around with big heavy bags, but ended up going to the wrong station on our bus so we had no idea where we where. This was not a good start, especially when feeling like I just wanted to be home. So, Michelle and I splurged and got a taxi to our hotel, since we had no idea where we were. Then we get there and notice it is on the 3rd floor of the building (that's the 4th floor in the US). There was no way we were about to get our bags up them, so we try to use this really old fashioned elevator, and after probably a half hour of figuring everything out we finally got up to our place. Our next mission was to find the real Roma Termini Station. According to the map it was a couple blocks away. So we start walking....In the wrong direction. haha. Thankfully we run into a couple people from Kansas who tell us to turn around. Turns out if we just looked in the other direction, from our hotel you can see the train station. We felt really stupid. And by this time the frustration is just adding up, and it starts to thunderstorm. Oh great. We did not love Rome. Oh and I drank the water, which made me sick. The next morning, the last Sunday of the month, we went to the Trevi Fountain super early so no one would be there. It was amazing. I immediately started to love Rome. We threw 3 coins in each and then headed to the Vatican. The last Sunday of every month admission is free so of course we were taking advantage of that. And the pope comes out and talks to everyone. The line to get into the museums is massive, so we just got in and didn't see the pope. After two hours we finally got in. We really just wanted to see the Sistine Chapel, which of course was at the very end of a million different rooms and hallways. All the art was so amazing! But the Sistine Chapel was kind of a disappointment to me. I thought it would be this big massive room and massive paintings, but it was just like everything else in the museum. It was like it looked better in pictures to me. But don't get me wrong, it was still really cool! Monday, our last day, we went to the Roman Forum and the Coleseum. It was so amazing! Even better than I thought. But after looking at so many ruins we were just too exhausted to want to do anything else the rest of the day. Then, Tuesday morning we finally got to leave! I was so excited to be done with school and finally getting to take a break. But once we got into Chicago, I was wishing it could have lasted longer. My month there was so much fun and definitely unforgettable. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. In fact I think I will, only to a country that speaks English haha.

Last Day in Siena

Today was so surreal. I cannot believe it's all over. Time seriously goes by too fast. I wish I could do this all over again. Today were our finals, which were not as bad as I imagined them to be. Then we had 8 hours to waste before our final dinner with everyone from school. Michelle and I went around Siena and did a little shopping and took some last minute photos. The Campo is being transformed because of the Palio coming up next week so it is cool. I got to meet Michelle's host family and see where she lives today, and she as well got to see where I lived. We got gelato, but neither of us really cared for it, because the flavors were so gross! It is pretty much hit or miss because we dont know what the flavors are, just if they look good we will try them haha. My all time favorite has to be fragola (strawberry) followed by Menta (mint). I'm going to miss everyone here and my host family. They treat me so well. I'm all packed and ready to head out for Roma tomorrow, but because it is so close to returning home to the States, a part of me just wants to go home already. I won't be able to continue my Italian in the fall due to schedule conflicts, so I hope I don't loose too much of what Italian I've learned here and find a way to continue with it. Pictures and how Roma goes will be up next week! So sad to leave Siena...such a perfect little city. I will miss it. =(

Pictures of Verona and Venice

Scary clouds!

Pretty with all the buildings. They look like they are in the water, which they are I guess, and the water rises at night and floods

Guy making glass in Murano

Oh, pretty Venice.

Our hotel in Venice!

The Rialto Bridge!

Juliet's house

One of the walls filled with letters. Layers and layers of letters.

The Colosseum in Verona. Second biggest, after the one in Rome of course.

Michelle in front of Romeo's house

Verona and Venice

After class on Friday, Michelle and I headed for Verona and Venice (just the 2 of us). When we got to Florence to take a train to Verona, we found out all the trains were full, and no bus goes to Verona. We thought our weekend plans were crushed. So we got in line for the ticket counter and after waiting forever, the guy managed to find us a ticket for 12.60 euro! Which is realllly cheap. So we were in luck. The next problem: how to get to our B&B. It was outside of the city and we knew we could get there by bus, but which one and where it stops was was got us...Until we ran into a lady who was going on the same bus as us! She spoke no English what so ever, and thankfully Claudia tought us anch'io (me as well) so out of everything the lady was rambling about we knew we were in luck to find the bus. Our luck kept getting better and better when a guy who spoke English and Italian got on the bus, called our B&B, gave the bus driver directions, and told us he will tell us when to get off. How lucky is that? And here we thought our weekend would be ruined. Verona was amazing. We got up early to avoid the crowd as long as we could. Saw Romeo and Juliet's houses, and the wall where everyone writes Juliet letters. After a beautiful few hours exploring Verona on Saturday, we headed for Venice. Oh, but what do we run into??? RAIN. Back to having bad luck. We decided Michelle was the one giving us bad luck, and then my luck would pull through and make the good outweigh the bad, because just as we got off the ferry (you have to take those to get around Venice) the sun came out! Okay for maybe 2 minutes tops and never came out again the whole time we were there. But none the less, Venice was fun. We explored by foot the rest of Saturday when the rain calmed down and Sunday we spent at Murano Island, home of the Murano glass factory. We got a free demonstration of how they make it and did a little shopping! Thanks to Michelle's bad luck it was freezing and raining very hard and not to mention super windy. But thanks to my luck, we found amazing rain jackets that sheilded us from the rain and wind both! So we stayed semi-dry and got our glass. Our hotel was right off of the Academia stop, so it was right in the heart of Venice. So worth the extra money. Thanks to my luck we had a hair dryer, towel warmer and endless hot showers! (AND tv!!) So even though it was rainy we still were comfortable. All in all it was a really fun trip and I would love to see Venice when the sun will actually be out. I thought it was just thunderstorming really bad but when we got back to school they told us there was a tornado! It was nice traveling just me and Michelle, but being back at school is a reality check for finals and projects due this week. Last week of classes =)

Cooking Class

The inside of the restaurant was really nice! We got to go inside when it was closed, but when we left all these tables were completely full of people

Part of the kitchen

Me and Michelle with our cute little aprons on

That is the owner and head chef teaching us how to fill the sheets of pastas before we rolled them up

Mixing the biscotti! mmm

Me and Michelle at dinner =)

So we all go to a local restaurant in Siena, where the owner and head chef let us into his kitchen and cook for 4 hrs! We make the pasta from scratch, and he puts it through the machine that stretches it out and makes it thin and flat. We all think oh yay stuffed pasta! Immediately we start learning how to make tortellini, big tortellini, and ravioli in norman and green pasta. Then we realize we are making gnocchi as well! I love gnocchi!! The mix for inside the pasta was already prepared, it was a spinich and cheese, and also eggplant and cheese. We did not get to make the sauces for the dishes, but I figured it could be a secret or what really makes the restaurant popular ? So he did not show us. But with the gnocchi was wild boar! They eat the most strange meat here. (The last I heard of wild boar was researching for a project about Great Danes, learning that wild boar was the animal they used to hunt back in the day.) And of course we learned how to make dessert! We made biscotti! Oh it looked so good with the fresh almonds. After at least 2 hours of cooking we finally all got to go sit down. He gave us the entire upstairs of the restaurant all to ourselves. Immediately they started bringing us the food we all helped to prepare. First tortelinni, then the ravioli and small tortelini, which I think they called carmellos or something in Italian (they looked like pasta shaped as hard candies wrapped in plastic). Finally we had spaghetti with zuchinni and some other stuff in it, I don't really know. And even after that they brought more green pasta!! AHHHHH so much food!!!! And of course there was fresh bread and red/white wine.. But everyone ate it all of course haha. The biscotti we made was so good I just had to take some home with me. When we were all leaving we got a surprise container full of fresh made pasta. The kind that Siena is known for. I can't wait to take it home to Indiana and cook for my family!

This first picture is of one of the contradas (nieghborhoods) marching around Siena, banging drums and basically showing their pride for the Palio.

This second picture is the Duomo in Siena.

This is a picture taken from inside the city walls looking down at the street. You can see the wall is pretty big!

And then this is one of the entrances to the city. They are really cool!

And finally, this is of course the sign made at the world cup party. I thought it was funny whoever made it, Paraguay is really little with a -_- face haha

Sunday I ended up exploring Siena with some of my classmates. We first went to mass at the Duomo, followed by of course a day of shopping!! It was a perfect lazy Sunday. Yesterday was the World Cup match between Italia and Paraguay! We had a party for it at our school and watched the game on a big projector screen on the wall. It was really fun. Also, there were lots of students from the other programs there so it was the first time we got to meet everyone. The game was really good and someone was always screaming at the game haha. They get so into it! Italia and Paraguay ended up tying, but at least it is not a loss. I come home in exactly two weeks. I can't believe how fast time is flying here!

Pictures

Al Mare

Yesterday we went to the beach for the day to see the coast, and of course get some lovely tuscan sun. The bus dropped us off at Riva del Sole, which happened to be a really nice resort! The beach was pretty interesting to say the least. The coast line was so pretty. The old ladies in particular found the need to take their tops off, but it was not a nude beach (thank goodness). The guys, all ages, wore speedos which was kind of funny, because no one does back at home. Another thing that was different was that lots of people walk around trying to sell you random things. Furthermore, they have private and public beaches. You can either rent a chair and umbrella for as much as 30 euro, where you cannot lay on your towels anywhere; or you can go to the public beach and lay on your towel and bring your own umbrellas, etc. for free! So that's what we decided to do. It was very, very relaxing and fun to people watch. All the kids were playing soccer. When we got hungry, we realized the little store at the resort closes for most of the early afternoon (as most stores do in Italy). Overall it was a really fun trip and good to see more of beautiful Tuscany.

Wine Tasting

Today we had an easy day at school. Just listened to some Italian music and attempted to use the right pronunciation. The fun part was after school, we took a trip to a castle outside Siena called Monteriggioni. We had to hike in the heat, which seemed so torturous! but once we got to the castle, inside were little wine shops, a gelateria (filled with many people watching the world cup). By the way, you think people are excited about the world cup in America????? YEAH RIGHT. Come to Italy. Everyone is so obsessed. And everyone gets so into it. There are sticker books and parties and clothes. Anything you can think of related to the world cup, and of course Italia! Watching the locals watch the game is entertaining in itself. Anyways, back to the wine tasting. We went to two different stores. Each one had wine from a differnet local winery. One was very good, and each wine label had a story behind it about Monteriggioni. But I enjoyed each wine, and with it were different kinds of honey and oil with bread. I bought one white wine, and one Chianti, which is the specialty here. I'm starting to enjoy the different wines. As my mother might say, I'm expanding my palette. And it is kinda fun! I decided to spend this weekend around tuscany, under the tuscan sun. Pictures to come!

This week has been pretty uneventful, but good because it has been full of gelato and pesto. haha. Today, though, moved in two people who are starting at my school tomorrow in Italian sign language. They remind me of myself when I first got here. It is nice having people who speak English to live with and I am sure I can learn a lot from them and signing. For dinner we had an American meal! Well, chicken curry. I thought it was going to be some spicy thai food dish, but it was actually not at all. Just chicken with sliced almonds in a yummy broth. They find it wierd that rosotto is served with the meat, instead of before it. The time here is passing by so fast. I can't believe it. In Italian culture classes we are learning about the 4 elements (well 5) : earth, air, water and fire. Once a week we watch movies relating to them. Last week was fire and this week we started water. It is very interesting! The new students who are coming are taking many classes, not just 2 like we are. I do not know how they are going to do it, because I can't imagine being any more busy than I already am. I find myself being so tired all the time from the heat or walking everywhere, yet I get a lot of sleep still! But it is worth it. I love going to school in the morning and the teachers make it fun to learn. I can't believe how much Italian I have learned in a little over a week!

Florence/Pisa

Florence is definitely not my kind of city. It is cool because of all the sites and museums, yet it is pricey and full of tourists. It was a fun weekend though, because we took our time exploring and just kind of hung out. Burt managed to get a pigeon to eat out of his hand! The Duomo and Gates to Paradise? were really really pretty. Furthermore, Michaelangelo's David was an amazing site and the Argo River with the many bridges are so pretty at night. We managed to find a hotel for 50 euro each for the entire weekend in Florence. We had dinner at a nice place and wine called Remole Frescobaldi. It is the only wine I have ever liked thus far. In addition, I tried brains, yes BRAINS. The waiter said it was from beef so I'm guessing cow? I will never, ever, ever eat them again. hahah. Sunday we got up early and went to Pisa, to see the leaning Tower of Pisa. It is so much better in real life than in the pictures. Going to Florence and Pisa made me so thankful I am studying in Siena, where it is much cheaper and not a lot of tourists.

gelato!

The gelato here is so amazing! This picture shows just how great it is. They always have it fresh along with fresh fruit of the flavor on top! Today I also had pesto, which apparently was born here. It was amazing! and the olives are soooo good! I love how everything is sold fresh in little hole in the wall markets. Another cultural difference I noticed was that they still use skeleton keys for locking/unlocking doors. In addition, the beds and pillows are hard as a rock! I think my family keeps up to date because one of the girl's boyfriends was playing the wii hahaha. So far the only stores here from home are Game Stop, Blockbuster, FootLocker, and McDonalds. There is also a brand new sushi and mexican place here which the locals say are good. But you never know, they don't probably know what REAL mexican food is like haha. Tomorrow we leave for a school trip to Florence, but we have decided to stay all weekend and also go Pisa. I'm so excited to finally start traveling!

So, it is the third day of class and we are a movin and a groovin in my Italiano class. We are starting to do our culture classes as well. The only thing I don't like about the culture classes is the homework. haha. After our normal classes there was an optional ASL class. 4 of us took it and it was really fun! Next week the Italian sign language classes start, so there will be many kids who are deaf or hearing who will be learning. It is so much fun to try and figure out what the hand motions mean. We are learning the basics so that we can interact and try and converse with them when they arrive. It is a really neat culture to learn about, and nothing like what you would think. The teacher did not talk to us at all, only used sign language and wrote things on the board. It is easier to pick up on than I thought it would be! I would not mind making sign language my fourth language.

P.s. I officially do not want to come home. The food is so good I just canNOT imagine eating American food ever again. ahhhh. Really nothing compares to the food here. There is nothing to complain about Italy. They even have dog parks!!

mi casa!

These pictures are of my bedroom, the kitchen and the front of my home stay house.

The photos I have added are from outside the windows of the Siena School. It is near the edge of the city, so you can see the landscape in the distance. It is very very very beautiful in real life. I cannot believe my eyes. So today was the first day of classes/orientation. The bus system and finding the ways through the many streets in the city makes it so confusing and frustrating. I've tried to distinguish which way to go by different monuments. So far, so good. Finding the bus to come home was very difficult. But in the end it worked out. Today we learned how to introduce ourselves and say where we were from. In addition, we learned the alphebet and how to pronounce the letters. It is very fast paced, so I hope I can keep up with a lot of memorization at home. We then had a lunch break, where I learned pesto is amazing here; was born here. For breakfast I had yogurt with carrot/lime/grapefruit juice(which was not so yummy). I was also given lots of cake and cookies because their breakfast is usually something sweet. Furthermore, I had my first gelato experience today! It was so good, and cheap! I got 2 flavors, strawberry and strawberry cheesecake. It was so fresh tasting and I will probably not like ice cream anymore haha. Michelle, the other student who I came with from NAU, got chocolate chip and some wierd flavor which we could not decide what it was. But probably will never get again, haha it was very odd, maybe some type of nut flavor? For dinner Tiziana and her boyfriend Lorenzo (Yes, his name really is Lorenzo!) made me ziti with tuna and tomatos. SO GOOD. followed by baked eggplant with cheese and marinera sauce on top. AMAZING. Then they offered bread, fruit and coffee. When I said no I was full, they were amazed and said I do not eat a lot. I then explained how back home we do not have 3 course meals. With each course they fill their plates, I do not know how they can handle all of that food. But food here is a big part of their culture. Everyone enjoys eating and can never get enough.

First Day!

Today I arrived in Siena and met my host family. I'm staying outside the city with two sisters, Rita (18) and Tiziana (24). Right away they informed me they did not know a lot of English (and I do not know a lot of Italian). But after trying to communicate, I realized it is not too difficult to understand. I gave them chocolates and soaps which they adored. Also, I brought with me a photo album of my family and friends. After awhile of talking and translating (thanks to google) we took Rita's boyfriend to the train station and then went into the city. Walking around, the streets are very crowded and dirty. A lot of people were eating gelato or sitting at an outside cafe. Almost immediately I noticed how different our cultures were. They dress very modest, yet fashionable here. Although, they do smell quite bad at the same time. The streets were full of little shops and wine tasting. Because the Palio is coming up there were parties in the streets with loud drums and people wearing flags. I canNOT understand a word anyone was saying. The architecture and scenery is absolutely beautiful. I feel myself wanting to take pictures every 5 feet. Tonight Rita and Tiziana made me dinner. It was something along the lines of french fries, vegetables (which tasted like no vegetable I have ever eaten before) and some sort of meat on a stick. They say it was chicken/white meat, but it most definately was not. And I decided it was probably best I did not ask what type of meat they used. I have orientation followed by class tomorrow so hopefully I will be learning Italian quickly and be able to have a conversation with my host family!