I forgot to blog yesterday. I will combine yesterday and today and will be very quick because I am really tired and we have to get up at 6:30 (!!) because we have to catch a train to Pisa at 8am. Lovely.
Yesterday was quite a whirlwind, just like the day before. We didn't have to meet up with our class until 3pm, so Shauna and I had the morning to do whatever we wanted! We chose to sleep in until 8:45. It was amazing.
We got up and had breakfast (toast, ham, cheese, bread, nutella, red orange juice, fruits, hard boiled eggs, everything you could imagine). Anna (our host mom) just spread it all over the table and told us over and over to eat whatever we wanted. Yum.
Then Shauna and I got ready for the day and did some walking around Siena, trying to get to know the streets and find our school that we will be attending next week. Around noon we met up with other study abroaders in the Piazza del Campo, the main piazza at the center of Siena. The group of us walked around some more, found a place to have a slice of pizza, and looked in different shops. Overall it was a very relaxing day.
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| la Piazza del Campo |
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| view of Il Duomo |
At 3pm we met up with our whole group at Il Duomo, the church topped with a dome at the center of Siena (close to the piazza). We did a tour inside the church (there's a museum in there) and then climbed a tower(ish-thing) opposite the dome. Again, a very beautiful view.
After this we went to the Dante Alighieri school (where we have school next week) and they fed us dinner! Hooray! It was a traditional Italian meal, with an appetizer (bruschetta! mmm), a pasta (pesto), a main dish (turkey and peas), and a dessert (strawberries and cream). It was great to be with the big group again!
Shauna and I went home after dinner. We got to the front door and I tried to use my key to open the door, but I just couldn't figure it out. Was it turn to the right or to the left? Neither way worked. Pull first then push? Nope, that didn't work either. Wrong side of the key? That could be it. Nope, door won't budge. I finally asked Shauna to help me. She tried over and over but still couldn't get the door open. After a couple of minutes (literally, it was taking this long), I knocked loudly several times, because we knew Anna and her husband were inside. Shauna and I stood there quietly for a bit waiting for someone to come to the door, but nothing happened. We could hear Anna talking, but she obviously didn't hear the knocking.
So, instead of just ringing the bell, we decided to try the key again. Meanwhile, I started to worry (for no reason, it just happens) that Anna might think someone was trying to break in, since she was speaking loudly and I didn't understand a word. For all I know she could be purposely ignoring the knocking and calling for help on the phone. So as I quietly worried, Shauna was still trying every which way to get the door open with the key, and nothing was happening. Finally, it was time to give up and ring the doorbell.
Immediately both Anna and her husband (Marcello? I should probably learn his name) came to the door . . . and they couldn't open it from the inside. So Anna went to the window right next to the front door and opened it, calling, "Ragazze? Ragazze?" ("Girls?") And, with sighs of enormous relief, we said, Si! And she told us to remove the key from the door so they could open it. It still took a few tries, but eventually the door opened and we got inside.
Anna just laughed at us. She thought it was hilarious. Once inside, she showed us how to unlock the door (turn to the left and push). Turns out when she told us earlier that day to turn the key "in dietro" in order to unlock it, we didn't fully understand that that meant "backwards," or to the left; instead we took it to mean something along the lines of "destra," or to the right. Mamma mia. I think we've got the hang of it now. And we learned new vocabulary!
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| view from the Torre di Mangia |
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| the bell at the very top! |
Il Torre di Mangia (so-called because the man who operated the bells in the tower would spend all the money he made on food to eat—"mangia") is extremely tall. I don't know exactly how tall, but I think by the word extremely you can kind of get the scope of it. It's really tall.
So we climbed all the way to the very top of the tower, by the bell. Lots of stairs, but an incredible view. I've realized that Italy has the best landscapes and places to view them from. Truly stunning.
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| crazy windy up there |
After that climb we had a free day, and it was only 12:30! Some of us went and got sandwiches then sat in the piazza (fun fact: Piazza del Campo is the only piazza in Italy where people will sit directly on the ground, and most people do) and did some reading. Because guess what? We have a midterm. And guess who hasn't done most of the readings because we were too busy exploring the sites? The majority of us. Sooo excited to take this test.
After "studying" (really, how can you study when you're sitting in a piazza in Italy?), we walked around a bit more, got some gelato, and when to check out the grocery store and buy some snack foods (apples!!). (Not so fun fact: fruit is expensive!) Then Shauna and I went home to "study" some more.
We sat down at dinner a little while later and had our first course of pasta, then Anna got up and put a pot on the stove and turned it on. Then she turned to Shauna and I and told us that for the main course we were having something that "you girls will not like." Then she pulls out a tupperware container full of snails.
Full. Of. Them.
Then she dumps the whole container in the the pot and starts stirring. Ho paura. Luckily, after further discussion we were able to understand that by "we" she meant her husband and herself, and that actually there was chicken simmering in a different pan that was meant for us. PHEW. It would have been an interesting experience, though, I'm sure.
Now I'm caught up and I need to sleep. So that's all for today.
A domani,
Ciao!
Forgot to tell you when I saw you that snails aren't that bad. I had them at an authentic french restaurant with my aunt in Asheville, NC. They kind of have the same texture as clams in clam chowder, kind of chewy, and the taste was pretty much only butter because they were dipped in it.
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