Classtime

Today was the first day of classes here at CET Siena. We're starting with an intensive three weeks of Italian - three hours a day, five days a week. Eventually we switch to three hours a day, two days a week. Hopefully I'll be much more comfortable with speaking after this!! My Italian pen pal from the Torino area is coming to visit in a couple weeks, so I promised I'd try to communicate in Italian :) Also went to another one of my classes entitled "Sienese Art and Architecture" which seems like it will be really interesting. I'm a history fanatic, so I was in heaven learning about the origins of the city today and also finding out that my apartment on the Via del Poggio is right in the most ancient area of the city, dating back to the 5th century BC. I sleep in the same spot an Etruscan did 2500 years ago! This is the area surrounding the Duomo, next to the Piazza del Campo if any of you are familiar with Siena's layout. Anyway, I get to spend the next few months walking around and observing ancient and medieval structures, so I'm excited. After class, I stopped by Conad, the chain grocery store here, then wandered around for a while. I stopped by the Medici Fortezza, which has quickly become one of my favorite spots. A popular place for runners, I strolled around admiring the many views of Siena and beyond. This was the last of the important buildings constructed in Siena by the Medici family in the mid 1500s. Almost everything else in the city dates to the centuries before the Fortezza went up. From here, you can gaze into spaces within the city gates, and outside. Mountains sheathed with fog loom in the distance, and pretty villas sit atop the hills all around. After walking the steep city streets a little more, and buying some office supplies (a word of warning - if studying abroad, make sure you bring notebooks, Scotch tape, pens, etc. with you! It costs a mint here! I paid the equivalent of about $6.50 for one role of tape, ugh), I bought a nocciola (hazelnut) gelato for the quick hike back to Via del Poggio. Hazelnut. If you ever get the chance, please try this. I literally died and went to heaven.

Firenze

Yesterday our whole group traveled to Florence, known as Firenze in Italian. I adore the 1.5 hour bus ride north from Siena, the public buses are comfy and relaxing and take you through the countryside. I have not seen a stranger landscape than Tuscany in my life, and never one so breathtakingly beautiful. Everything is truly golden, even yesterday on a rainy day, and the architecture in Tuscany mimics the colors of the land, everything a thousand shades of golden, pink, and green. I love how you'll just be driving along on the level, winding road, but you look out the window and the countryside around you will suddenly swoop into epic hills and valleys lined with the ever-mysterious looking cypress trees. Once we got to the city, we attended a lecture about the history and culture of Italy, and mingled with students that attend the Florence branch of the CET study abroad program. Then we wandered the streets (it was sadly chilly and cloudy!) past the iconic Duomo and visited the Galleria dell'Accademia, which houses THE David statue along with some medieval/Renaissance paintings, 18th century statues and busts, and whatever was on the second floor which was closed. David was extraordinary to see is person, it is so large and grand. His hands and feet seem massive! I also tried my first Italian pizza, topped with prosciutto (of course!) and a caffe latte, which was served nicely in a glass. I think I prefer it to cappuccino, which I've been buying multiple times a day. Glad to be back in Siena, because while Florence was fantastic there were a ton of tourists. Siena feels much cozier and authentically Italian.

Prosciutto

Day 3, and it keeps getting better. I've now met everyone in the CET Siena 2011 spring program, and they're all amazing! We've been going through orientation meetings and touring the city. I've also begun my true love affair with Italian food. I mean, I knew I loved Italian food - I like my spaghetti as much as the next girl - but this is no Olive Garden, guys. Yesterday, after our morning meeting, we took a walk beyond the bus station and explored the Fortezza and adjacent park. The Fortezza is a beautiful place to walk or jog, and has a great view of the city. It feels like springtime even though it's still January - it's been sunny and there still seems to be lots of green in the park. After wandering, we ate at a little greenhouse-esque restaurant close to the supermarket, where we got delicious pasta, panini, and salad for 4 to 5 Euro each. Later, after taking a much-needed nap, we had dinner with our entire group plus the Italian roommates (we live in apartments throughout the city, each with a few CET students along with Italian roommates). The food at this restaurant was INCREDIBLE. Plate after plate of salami and prosciutto came, fresh bread, big pitchers of the red house wine, bruschetta, then three pasta dishes. The third pasta dish was pici (a thick, fresh spaghetti-like pasta) with wild boar sauce. Heaven. Dessert was a plate of three tiramisu samples. To me, food is one of the great delights in life, and Siena is not disappointing so far whatsoever. After checking out the nightlife at a little bar and then finally returning (via the massive double hill to get to the apartment! ahh!) and blessedly passing out, we got up today for our rounds of paperwork and registration with the city to be allowed to live here for the semester. I am pleased to say that my breakfast was my first Italian gelato. I chose pera, or pear, and it was truly like eating a real pear in ice cream form. Squisito! Lunch was a simple panino with thick slices of fresh tomato, mozzarella, prosciutto, and lettuce sandwiched between crusty slices of warm bread. Prosciutto is swiftly becoming one of my new favorite foods, definitely going to keep the fridge continuously stocked with it for these few months, plus probably back in the states, too.

Jet Lagged

Well, here I am in Siena, Italy. After a 7 hour flight, a layover in Frankfurt, another 1.5 hour flight, an accidental landing in Bologna instead of Florence due to fog, a 2 hour bus ride from Bologna to Florence, a taxi ride to the bus terminal, and another 2 hour bus ride to Siena, I am here at last in my lovely apartment on Via del Poggio. It's actually huge in size and off of a winding medieval street, and we have a legit Italian balcony. Roommates are so lovely as well, and I'm looking forward to meeting the others in the group tomorrow during orientation. Our Italian roommate cooked us delicious gnocchi tonight for dinner too! My life will most likely revolve around food for the next four months. We tackled the grocery store today and bought all fresh food to stock the fridge with. Need to get used to some things, like the cashier asking how many bags I think I'll need, or how to use the shower with a handheld shower head in the apartment, but so far, this country is like living in a dream.

Preparation

Sitting on the floor of my room surrounded by suitcases, piles of clothes, and a million other things. In case anyone is interested in advice for packing for this kind of trip, I'm taking two suitcases (decided to pay for the second - there's no way I can make it four months with one bag). I have four or five sweaters, about 15 long-sleeve shirts, 15ish t-shirts, four pairs of jeans, three skirts, a few dresses, some clothes for going out, a raincoat, a winter peacoat, boots, a couple pairs of sneakers, some dressy heels, and flip flops. Now that I write this out, this seems like a bit much! Probably overpacked. We shall see if it's true that you should only take half of what you initially pack because you won't actually need it all.

I fly out at 4:15 tomorrow afternoon, see ya on the other side of the pond !!!

Formalities

Well, my journey begins in typical Jaimie fashion: lost my passport, found my passport, made an appointment with the Italian consulate in Boston to get my visa, missed my appointment thanks to a nor'easter, made it to the consulate two days later, got yelled at by the consulate guy because my home state of Connecticut is not technically within the Boston office's jurisdiction, and now my name is in "the book" so that I cannot do business with them anymore unless I'm actually enrolled in classes at my Massachusetts university or have a Massachusetts home address. Ha! Moral of the story: don't leave the visa process until last minute - there's a lot of paperwork, and a layover of at least a week IF you show up in person and IF the consulate (narrowly) approves you. Second moral of the story: don't put your passport in a safe and secret place, then forget what that safe and secret place is.

Anyway, now my life revolves around the conundrum of stuffing just 50 lbs. of clothing and necessities that must span January to May into a couple bags before I make the haul back up to Boston at the end of the week to actually obtain my visa (and get my passport back) and then leave the U.S. on the 25th!! :)