6th day!

On the bus to school (the #10= now I know what I'm doing pretty much) I saw a gate that had a sign:

"ATTENTI AI CANI" or
BEWARE OF DOGS

I thought that was nice.

Also, people here really like fur- rimmed hoods on their jackets ( I think I counted 12 just standing in one spot) and the color purple w/ black.

Last night we all got invited out with Miriam (the program director) to go to the bar and a group dinner. The bar was called something like Buena Vista Club and it was awesome. There were movie, both Italian and American (Harry Potter), posters plastering the brick walls haphazardly and crazy string lights/ lit up things/ flashing lights in an old hollowed-out tv. We all got ginger beer which is the "l'aperitivo della casa" or house drink which was super strong (both in ginger and alcohol) yet completely wonderful. If you had two of them you'd probably be out for the night. AND to make it even better, there was a bar dog that just hangs out in the bar and plays with people. His name was Ottimo, or The Last, I think he just sleeps in the bar when every one goes home. SuPeR CutE. Haha, i'm just kidding but he was really cute. The dinner was good too: beer, huge pizzas (w/anchovy) and tiramisu (ahhhhh) for 15euro.

And when I got back to Fulvia's place she was sitting in the dark watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are popular with Italians?)

Tomorrow after Italian class all of us are going to a nearby town, San Gimignano, by bus where they apparently have fantastic gelato. At night we're going to a disco called Vanilla (actually hahahaha). Saturday I want to just spend the day getting my bearings in Siena and Sunday I think the whole group is getting lunch/ Fulvia is going to Florence to see the opera, her favorite. Talk to you on Monday perhaps

5th day!

It was the third day of Italian intensive but I already feel a lot better about speaking Italian. It's become a lot easier to talk to Fulvia and we can have conversation during dinner. 20% more than usual hahahaha. I'm about to go get a 15 euro price fix dinner with the rest of the school group so it BETTER BE WORTH MY MONEY.

For the next three weeks we have Italian from 9am until 12 for lunch and then a lab again after lunch. For lab today we did this kind of "scavenger hunt" Some of the classes have involved asking random italians questions about vocabulary and where things are. by the end we will all be GO GETTERS. Surprisingly it's really fun, not at all like college language classes, and we play a lot of vocab games.

Every Wednesday, there is a market in Siena that is outside the Fortezza and near Piazza Gramsci, which is the bus stop that I get off at from Fulvia's place. It is huge and wonderful. They have such a crazy assortment of objects from gloves to buttons, hammers to leather boots. And the prices are really low also. If you visit we will go. I got two scarves and a pin for 10 euro (eh-ooo-row).

EEEH OOOO ROWWWWWW

2nd day! 3rd day!

Hi all,

Yesterday I got up kind of late and then felt bad about it but I don't think that Fulvia minded because I pretended that it was jetlag. I got to have lunch with Fulvia's son and daughter as well as her daughter's husband. Possibly the most awkward 45 min of my life. Not really. But possibly up there. On a scale of 1-10: 8. They did speak more English than Fulvia though but mostly it was them just once in a while asking me questions about JFK airport etc, why I would go to school in Massachusetts when I live close to NYC, etc. That said, we ate some kind of artichoke wrapped in flank steak on toothpicks, gnocchi with gorgonzola (too strong for me), and these fried dough things they said were popular at carnival. All the meals here have at least two courses. I think they are called primo piatti and secondi piatti.

In the afternoon Fulvia showed me how to get to the school by bus which I was freaking out about a little since I’m really bad at transportation systems but it wasn’t horrible since she was there too. Then she showed me how to walk to the school from the bus stop. The whole trip only takes about 20 minutes.

Also, I noticed that the showers in Italy are a lot smaller than the US. I barely have room to turn around without knocking into the water nozzle.

Today was the first day of the three week Italian language intensive. It wasn’t too bad and was actually kind of fun although I don’t know if I’ll still be saying that next week. I’m really glad I’m learning Italian though because right now I don’t really have a way of communicating with Fulvia or have the skills to get around Siena by myself. WE WILL SEE. If you were wondering, the school is really small and in one building with two floors but it's pretty.

Also, it's raining again today and I don't have an umbrella.

Saturday night

First of all, I must say that the food here is fantastic but I think you would have already guessed that. Italy is beautiful and if you can visit, you should.

This is the first time I've had wireless internet for days and it is stolen from the apartment next door so this may be brief because I think it's fickle. I just got to my homestay which is with an older woman named Fulvia. I thought there were going to be other american students staying at her place but I guess it's just the two of us. She seems pretty nice when I can understand what she's saying.

These past three days I've spent with the other 10 girls in the program (it's not as weird as I thought it would be to not have boys in the program). So far, everyone seems friendly and there are no weirdos (besides me). They're from many different colleges like Oberlin, Wheaton, Williams and Swarthmore and live in many different parts of the country(not just the east coast like I thought).

For orientation we all went to a agriculture turismo near Pisa/ Lucca, a sort of retreat complete with rolling hills and sheep. The food at the turista is amazing. They make all their own cheeses, meats etc. Everything tastes super fresh and far better than any Italian food I've eaten previously. There were also three amazing dogs that were free to roam around where ever they like. One looked kind of like a corgi (but not) and two were the shaggy type. All three of them made me miss Henry.

Today we went to the Fortezzi di Montecarlo near Lucca and although it was rainy and a bit foggy, the view was still amazing. I'll post some pictures soon. I think it dates way back to around 1400.

Also, they keep the indoor temperatures a lot cooler here so I'm a bit huddled over my laptop but it's generally a lot warmer than NY. I can't wait to start classes on Monday. Where I live is about 10 minutes away from Siena walls and I have to take the bus over. Hope I don't get lost/ probably I will/it's okay.



Hope you're all well and I miss everyone

ps: my skype name is amandajhu if you want to skype
if you want to call, contact me for my italian cell #