Week 3: Cooking Class at Trattoria Fonte Giusta

All 12 CET Siena students, Italian roommate Giusy and Resident Director Anna Di Biase participated in a cooking class hosted by the Trattoria Fonte Giusta on Thursday, September 17th and Thursday, September 24th. The menu for both evenings featured an array of handmade pasta dishes, including hand rolled gnocchi with bolognese sauce, two different kinds of homemade tortelloni - ricotta e melanzane con salso di pomodoro e basilico (ricotta cheese and eggplant with tomato basil sauce) and ricotta e spinaci con salsa di zucca (ricotta cheese and spianch with pumpkin sauce - pici con cacio e pepe (pici pasta is a Sienese specialty and resembles thick, crooked spaghetti, we ate it topped with cheese and black pepper), and pasta carbonara. The students also helped to make homemade, Tuscan style bread and cantunccini biscotti. The cooking class was followed each evening by a generous tasting of each of the dishes we had helped prepare, which left students stuffed to the brim. All in all, the class was a huge success! Above, Siena students Frances, Carey and Emily show off their hand rolled pasta making skills! To the right, students Kaitlyn, Margaret and Italian roommate Giusy (who was quickly promoted to sous chef of the kitchen, given her gentically predetermined cooking abilities), prepare tortelloni with ricotta and eggplant filling.

A toast: to learning things the hard way

Note to readers: When airport security asks what the holes in the soles of your shoes are for, do not say "the detonators." The intricacies of sarcasm are beyond them...

Alas! My airport exploits were a means to an end, and that end is the subject of this journal. Here I am in Siena, Italy! The city's beauty seems surreal - Siena's authenticity is pervasive. Ancient is commonplace, beauty banal. One can guage the time any given passerby has resided in Siena by the time they spend craning their neck to try and take in every inch of the city streets. Each corner sports an epic sculpture, fountain, or monument; I'm already beginning to share the Italian numbness to Siena's beauty. Pray I never fully do!

Following the advice of a friend, I elected to participate in a home stay with an Italian family rather than live in an apartment during my study abroad semester. My family (Maria and Ilio Cresti, both 79 years old) lives in Acqua Calda, a residential area a few kilometers outside the city center. The season's first adventure, therefore, constituted getting hopelessly lost in the Siena bus system. A combination of explanations given in Italian to one who speaks no Italian (oh yes, my family speaks no English) and a disparity between bus paths on the program board and on each bus left me riding in circles for two hours and eventually walking home. Have no fear, lessons learned such are most frequently learned best, and I am proud to boast that not only am I now a bus pro, but I also managed to get a lost oriental couple to the train station today. :)

September's first weeks were full of such adventures, often following the same formula of miscommunication, mistake, and lots of walking. Rest assured that although I have enjoyed my share of misfortunes, so far I am still having the time of my life. Anna, our resident director, coped with my episodes brilliantly - any other student will be a piece of cake after this master of disaster. A program trip to a local palio (competition between contradas, or subcommunities within a city. This one featured a donkey race!) in beautiful Asciano went off without a hitch. I should ask her how she does it...I guess speaking Italian helps!

Thankfully the advent of classes limited my opportunities for mishap this past week. While most of our classes are taught by English speaking teachers employed by CET, out Italian language classes are taken at the University of Siena for Foreigners. This means that not only are our classmates not American, but our teacher does not speak English. Needless to say, they have been interesting. Experiences with my new European friends include a party in an old monastery, discussions of politics and philosophy, and getting Jan kicked out of his apartment by having an impromptu rave in his staircase. Siena's aesthetic qualities certainly enrich the study abroad experience, but it is the people that inhabit it that truly constitute its essence. Therefore, the students I have met in Italy are the highlight of my trip so far, and I look forward to more of the same.

ex amino,

Westley Taylor
CET Siena Student Correspondent

Feelin' froggy? Check out my blog at: http://www.mysesquipedalian.wordpress.com/

Week 1: Picnic in Orto dei Pecci and Contrada Caccia al Tesoro

Students and CET Siena staff gathered on Saturday, September 5th for a picnic in Siena's Orto dei Pecci as part of their program orientation activities. After two days packed with orientation meetings, the picnic gave students and staff the chance to relax and get to know one another in a much more relaxed setting.

L'Orto dei Pecci is a true Sienese treasure; located within the city walls, this "Orto" or "garden" is open to the public and offers a small restaurant, as well as a covered pavillion and picnic tables for public use, all of which are situated on a large open field. The property also features vineyards, a small farm, organic gardens, a walking path and ample space for lounging and enjoying a bit of fresh air - all at a mere 5 minutes walking distance from Piazza del Campo.

Following the group picnic, the students participated in a Contrada Scavenger Hunt. In groups of four the students made their way from one end of the city to the other in search of the official headquarters of the city's 17 contradas. The first group to photograph themselves in front of the fountain or horse stall of each of their assigned contradas and send the pictures to the Resident Director won! (Bonus points were given if students imitated the animal/symbol representing the contrada; check out CET Siena students Carey, Kaitlyn and Margaret as they imitate they imitate the "Onda" or "Wave" contrada; below, Chahni, Westley and Michelle imitate la "Pantera" or "Panther").

As newfound Siena residents, the students are quickly catching on to the importance of the contradas in local Sienese cultures. The original contradas were born between the 12th and 13th centuries and they initially served a military function. At the heart of the contrada culture is the annual Palio festival and horse race, which takes place each July and August in Piazza del Campo, Siena's famed central piazza. One horse and rider represents each of the 17 Contradas, and the winning contradas of these two, minute and a half long races around the Piazza bear the honor of their victories throughout the following year. Each of the contradas is represented by a symbolic animal or object, which gives the contrada its name and is depicted in the unique contrada flag. Today, the contrads no longer serve any military or administrative functions, however, Siena residents have a deeply rooted sense of local identity and patriotism that is based in the contrada into which they were born.