Gelato, You Will Be The Death of Me

It has been two weeks already! Living in Siena is amazing and I really don't think this "honeymoon" period (all the study abroad advisors call it that) will ever end for me. I am constantly learning new things about, not only the Italian language, but the culture and people as well. I even feel relieved when I'm heading back to Siena after a long day of excursions to other Italian towns. I just like it here. Plain and simple.

I have done so much in the past two weeks that I'll try to sum it all up in a few categories:

School--- The first three weeks of class have been Intensive Italian class only. We got divided into levels and I'm in the advanced group (stir the soup!). We have class everyday from 10am to 3pm with an hour break for lunch where we generally go to Piazza del Campo (the main plaza in Siena) to eat and people watch. We've had a test at the end of each week and after this week we have a final exam! After the final exam we go on a 4-day group excursion (more on that later) and then when we return, Italian language class continues but we start new classes as well! I will be taking Italian Cinema, Italian Emigration to the Americas, and History of Italian Cooking (tasting sessions, bring it on). The intensive italian hasn't been bad, but we're reviewing lots of verb tenses and conjugations that are verbally not necessary because Italians don't actually use the complicated ones ever. All the Italians I have spoken with say that I will be able to speak better than them haha.

Free Time/Excursions--- When we're not in class, we're usually either drinking cappuccinos or eating gelato in the Piazza. And by "the Piazza" I mean Piazza del Campo. As previously mentioned, this is Siena's main plaza and touristy hotspot. Shaped like a shell and divided into 9 sections (representing Siena's ancient "government of the nine"), Il Campo is hoppin' at any time of the day. My favorite Campo activity is taking pictures of adorable kiddies chasing pigeons, or just feeding the pigeons myself (my friends here hate me for that bahaha). Many afternoons/evenings the program has activities planned for us. One night we had pizza and a city walking tour, another night we had a picnic at the program director's beautiful garden. This past week we got to swim in the local hot springs and this week coming up we get to go to an Italian cooking class! We've visited two museums in Siena and later this semester we're visiting the Uffizi in Florence. I've taken two spontaneous excursions aside from the group with my friend Sophia the past two weekends. Last Sunday we took a bus to the small town of San Gimignano and yesterday we spent the day in Arezzo (where La Vita È Bella was filmed!). It is very easy to just head to the bus station and buy tickets on the spot to visit little Tuscan towns! Next Sunday we leave for our group excursion to Pisa, Lucca, and the Ligurian Coast!

Night Life--- Siena is a pretty chill town compared to Rome or Florence... but there are still some cool bars and fun things to do at night. Generally we all just come back into the center around 9:30pm. This is due to the fact that we all eat dinner with our host families around 8pm and because almost everyone's last bus into town is at 9:30. Drinks here are pretty expensive so we usually just buy some bottles of wine to split and we sit in Il Campo to hang out for a while. There are usually other groups of American students from other study abroad programs or other international students so we usually end up meeting new people or getting serenaded by some German guy who loves playing Backstreet Boys on his guitar (true story). Later we usually end up going to a bar called Caffe del Corso (they have these realllly long neon colored straws that are absolutely useless but really fun anyways) and then if it's before 12:20 we go to the bus stop to catch the 12:20 bus and if it's after, we have to take taxis. Which brings me to the public transportation section...

Public Transportation--- Inconsistent. Frustrating. Bogus. Funny. All words to describe the Siena bus system. They mostly stop running around 9:30pm but there's one line (the #10) that sometimes runs at 11:20pm and 12:20am. Key word = sometimes. These late night buses are called the "phantom buses" because they are never posted and they only sometimes show up. Or they show up but at the complete opposite time they were supposed to (slash not supposed to). Or they just don't. And then you sat there waiting for it for an hour only to finally decide as a group to split a taxi even though they're super expensive but no one can actually walk home because it's about a 45 minute walk and it's night time. You would think that the bus system would be a little better during the day but oh noooo. Don't even bother to plan ahead because even if you do, the bus driver probably just didn't want to go down your street that morning, it's Wednesday (market day) so naturally everyone is 30 minutes late everywhere, or some old man's cane got lodged in the doors so they couldn't close and the driver had to stop the bus to get out and dislodge the cane (again, true story). Speaking of canes, did you know that Siena is home to more old people than any other city Italy?

The Elderly--- Ok so I made that fact up, but there is a fact that resembles that one that our program directors told us and I just can't remember it exactly. But let me just say that there are SOOOOO many grannies and gramps here. everywhere. all the time. They're generally cute although sometimes pushy on the bus but that's usually just the nonnas and not the nonnos. There is this one old man that is at my bus stop a lot. We talk but he is really hard to understand so I typically just end up smiling and nodding and saying si si si even though I don't know what's going on. Last time we spoke I think he said something about equinoxes. Maybe?

Gelato and Coffee--- Two very delicious things. Want to have them every single day. So many flavors of gelato to try and getting espressos and cappuccinos is just the Italian way of life. Luckily, the two bars next to our two different school locations give us a discount on caffè. I don't even think I like gelato all that much. I mean, I do, but I also just get it because it's something to do and because I'm in Italy. I'm trying to reduce my spending-money-on-gelato tendencies by thinking in terms of "If I buy this item, I can't buy gelato for at least two days!" It is semi working.

Ok I could probably continue on and on with more categories like 1. cheap Asian stores, 2. Q tip translates to Cotton FIOC, and 3. Italian males are highly aggressive yet highly intriguing, butttt maybe next time.

Here is the link to my first photo album of Italia photos! Take a gander.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037054&id=1120590434&l=b40523d390

Ciao for now!

Baci,

Bella Gabriella

Long Time No Blog!

Well it has been over a month since I've posted.......some of you may have not even noticed haha! But alas, I'm back, and ready to share share share what's been going on. If you're not ready to read read read all of this, don't. Or feel free to skip around. Or grab a friend and popcorn read (!). Ready, GO :)

So, to start off I'm just going to briefly recap the end of my time in Spain. Considering the fact that my last post was in complaint of the (bogus) Spanish health standards, things definitely ended better than they started. But I'm not going to go into too much detail (won't go into the funny stories or bratty backtalk...) because I've mentally moved on from España. and it's better that way. Gotta compartmentalize things these days.

1. I got to go to the Atletico de Madrid futbol team training session, hang out by their really nice cars, and take pictures with all the players once they came out from the locker room after practice. This was all courtesy of my host dad who's client is actually one of the members of the team (a very good looking 20 year old professional soccer player... victory). I got to meet Kun Agüero from Argentina and Diego Forlàn who won the Golden Ball in the World Cup this year! It was really cool.

2. Maria came to visit me in Madrid for a whole week! So my host family left for vacation and since there wasn't enough room for me in the first place they went, they told me I could just stay home for a week alone. Which would kind of be cool if I weren't in the middle of nowhere. Anyways, I convinced Ria to fly down from Vienna to stay with me for the week. We got to do all the touristy things I hadn't gotten to do yet in Madrid and it was a great time. We took the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus around Madrid (quick! change the language of the commentator without the other person noticing!) and also took a day trip out to Toledo. We also got to relax by the pool by my house and I finally was able to prove to someone that yes indeed I was living in Africa-looking boonies.

3. After Maria left, I took a train down to the south of Spain to meet up with my host family. It was nice because I got to go to the beach, but most of the time I was having to deal with the baby who wouldn't stop running to and from the water, try to eat sand (typical.), all while his grandma and grandpa say obnoxious things about what I'm doing right or wrong (or how obscene it is that some women were topless, etc. etc.) to the other retired people who own condos there. This was all going down while my host mom was further down the beach away from the family because she didn't feel comfortable tanning topless around her mother and father in law. hah.

Anyways, I got to go to Aguadulce Beach (by Almeria) for about 5 days and then we drove further down the coast closer to Cartagena and stayed at La Azohia Beach for 3 days. Close quarters + too much family that's not even my family = ready to gooo. At each place we were meeting up with some part of their extended family. So basically I was at another family's family reunion. Talk about awkward. I felt like the whole time I was either a- invisible or b- in the way. Not a good feeling. But hey, BEACH. and it was pretttty blue/green water. So suck on that.

Kiddie/I'm a Demon Child Quote of the Trip: I play high-five with the baby all the time and I also say high five to Ivan a lot. This one time though I did the whole "Up high, down low, in the middle... Too Slow!" thing and to my surprise, his face went stone cold and he proceeded to say "I don't want to be friends with anyone who does that." Then he walked away.

CLASSIC.

When I got back from the beach I had one day to pack up everything and say my goodbyes...to my two friends...? hahahaha i sound like a loser (but you would be a loser too if you lived in Las Matas, just sayin').

THEN I FLEW TO ITALY. (after paying easyJet around 60 euros because they are the DEVIL.)

So the first night I was in Italy I wrote a journal entry on the computer because I knew I wouldn't have internet for days and I was just going to use that as my blog post, but since that was over a week ago I'll include it (just for kicks, it'll be funny to go back and read my reactions from the first day with the study abroad group) and then tell you more about being here in Siena! (Disclaimer: I was still really annoyed with easyjet so please disregard, or laugh at, my ranting.)

Arrival to Siena Italian Studies Program- Sunday, September 5, 2010

So the morning started off pretty terribly after Roberto (host dad) dropped me off at the airport at around 5:30am. I had to pay easyJet for all this stupid baggage crap because they’re huge losers. First of all, my main checked bag was 3 kg over weight… I knew it was going to be a little overweight but sometimes they let it slide. Not easyJet. They just want to steal your money left and right. So I had to pay 36 euros. Then after going through security and getting a quick coffee and croissant. I stood in the ridiculous boarding line since there are no seat assignments and everyone freaks out and wants to be first. I was pretty close to the front but once they started checking tickets the ticket lady would make every single person with a carry-on suitcase fit it into their stupid little measuring holder thing. Mine fit of course but I had stuck my camera case on top of it and covered it with my jacket and it almost passed but she busted me and then I had to get out of line and pay them 22 more euros to send my carryon under the plane even though my little tiny camera bag can fit under the seat in front of me perfectly fine and doesn’t bother anyone or take up any overhead compartment space! I was so extremely pissed off by the time I got on the plane I just wanted to get to Rome. And then, homegirl in the row behind me starts painting her nails. Really. Really?! You didn’t think about the toxic fumes that are currently permeating the entire enclosed aircraft? Rude. Anyways, the flight was fine. Got to Rome and got my bags and headed to the Siena Italian Studies meeting point. There were already lots of students and bags sitting in the middle of the hallway. I arrived there around 10:30am and we had to wait until the entire group arrived before heading to Siena so we had to wait around till 2pm. Not that fun and certainly uncomfortable (airplane floor bruised my butt) but we all started talking a little and getting to know each other. There is no one from the South (well except for Rebekah who’s the other girl from UGA). There are 32 students total and about half the group is from Siena College in New York. They all basically know each other because that school is baby size and some of them are even good friends. They were friendly though. Then there are some other people from around New York, then some randomers from Montana State University who seemed cool and outdoorsy and the rest I haven’t really met yet. Once everyone arrived we boarded a charter bus and drove three hours north to Siena. I sat with Sophia who is really nice and we talked a lot and slept some too (at least I don’t have jetlag…). Everything was going great until the anticipation of meeting our host families arrived. As we pulled into some parking lot, we spotted all the host families waiting in a big clump. Roni and Mike (staff from SIS) would call us out one by one (or in twos if you have a roommate) and you would get off the bus to meet your family! Really nerve-wracking! I got picked up by my “family” who is an older widow named Giovanna. We packed my suitcases into her little car and drove to a gelato place (where I got to pick out the flavors I wanted---Nutella and Peach first!) and took some home to eat. Pros of my living situation= I don’t have to share a room. I don’t have to share a family. The apartment is close to/within walking distance to the city walls. Cons= It’s just her, Giovanna. Not exactly the loud, big dinner table full of people I was thinking in my head. She smokes. I don’t think a lot, but she smokes in the house therefore it is smelly…ughhhh. She told me she’s a vegetarian? Which is so bizarre because I didn’t mark veggie on my application and there are lots of people who did and who might not be with families who are veggies. And I’m pretty sure I marked that I didn’t smoke either. And I also wrote in my app that I am close to my family and like to be around lots of people and blah blah blah… so much for them “perfectly matching” us to what we wrote in our apps. This is basically the exact opposite of what I wanted lol. But looking on the bright side, this is verrry different from my last new family experience and I think if I had been placed with a family that had little kids I would have compared it a lot to Madrid and to the De Frutos family. This way I’m having a totally different experience and keeping a widow company while her daughter is studying/living in Pisa. Plus, I’ll be gone most of the days in classes and stuff. And it is very nice that she lives close to the city doors. I’m curious to find out where other people live in relation to me. Tomorrow we start the real orientation!

Ok so even reading through that now is funny to me. I've only been here in Siena for a week and I feel like I've been here for weekS. It really is incredible how much you can learn and do in such a short period of time. I already know the entire bus system (more on the public transport later), can walk to and from school from outside the city walls, and successfully informed 4 different sets of American tourists who, while trying not to get soaking wet in the rain, needed to know which bus to take to get to the train station today! dominationnn.

I'm tired. just got reallllly tired. plus this post is already long enough. that's what i get for letting everything run together! but of course i'll post again in a few days with actual information about what i've been doing here in italia and how things are going with the program. oh and pictures too (although pictures don't do Tuscany justice...).

Baci from Italia,

Bella Gabriella