Pisa: A Tower, A Church, and . . . Not Much Else

Thursday, May 15th

Skipped a day again. Oops. Yesterday was busy and last night, when I might have had time to blog, I was busy reading and studying for the midterm.

But now it is done! I am free!

Yesterday (Wednesday) we went to Pisa. We got there around 11:30am and walked around a bit before going to the Leaning Tower and climbing up it. (Note for future tourists: a ticket to climb the tower is 18 euro, be prepared. (side note: it's probably only worth doing once)).


The tower is leaning about 5 degrees, 15 feet off the vertical. It's actually smaller than I was expecting based on pictures I've seen all my life. It's only about 200-something steps to the top, but most of them are crooked so it's still a somewhat difficult climb. My calves are sore, in case you were wondering.

The view from the top is great. You can see the tops of buildings and stuff. So there's that.

the baptistry (ECHO!)

After climbing the tower, we all took the classic tourist picture and then just walked around Pisa, looking in shops and sitting down wherever we could (seriously, Italy requires a lot of walking; you learn to see every seat-like object as an opportunity).

it's required.

We also went into the baptistry that is in the Piazza dei Miracoli, where the Leaning Tower and a cathedral are also situated. What's great about this baptistry is the acoustics of the domed building: apparently the echo of a voice lasts 8 seconds, so if you sing long enough notes you can harmonize with yourself. Every half hour they have demonstrations where a guy does just that, so that was pretty cool to witness.

So here's the gist of it: the Leaning Tower is pretty neat (it is fun to climb to the top once) and the Piazza dei Miracoli has a lot of grass for sitting in both sun and shade—something for everyone. And that is what Pisa has to offer, besides shop-lined streets and fanny-packed Americans.

So I made it home from Pisa, had some dinner (no snails!), and then studied studied studied. That's what happens when you don't do the readings when you are supposed to because you're too busy actually looking at the famous thing that the readings are talking about—i.e. the readings are boring.

That was the rest of my Wednesday. Today (Thursday) Shauna and I got up early (7am should not exist) and studied some more then took our midterms. Then at 11am we headed to the Dante Alighieri School where we will be attending classes next week to take a language placement exam (so we are placed in the right language course . . . don't want to be with all the returned missionaries, you know?). I was stressing before we went in, but turns out the placement exam is just multiple choice grammar questions, and since it doesn't get "graded," there was nothing to worry about. Except this question: cancel out the word that does not belong—telephone, cellphone, fax, radio, computer.

I mean, really. I know what those words mean, so that's not the problem. The problem is (like Amy said) why can't the list be telephone, cellphone, fax, radio, and cheese? That would be helpful. So what doesn't belong: radio or computer? I STILL DON'T KNOW.

At the end of our test the instructors quickly graded it then told us when to report for class on Monday morning. So I guess I passed? I might be with the elementary school kids, but I'm in! Hoorah!

After the placement test we learned a bit about Florence (tomorrow!) and then had the rest of the day free. After dinner most of us met in the Piazza del Campo (the usual) and did a Siena Walk. Before the end of the "study" part of our study abroad we have to complete five Siena Walks, in which we follow a guidebook and tour a certain section of the city. They're actually quite interesting and fun, a relaxing way to do a post-dinner stroll. So our group completed one tonight and then took a quick detour to a carnival that is here for the week on top of the Fortezza (fortress). We just looked around (it is exactly like a carnival in the States) and then headed home for the night.

Tomorrow I expect to take a lot of photos and spend lots of money, because in the morning we head to Florence! Che bellissimo.

A domani,

Ciao!