Venezia

We are all sitting around a long square table in the restaurant’s back patio occupying a small space outside. Surrounded by the bustle of this popular Venetian spot, there is the hum of Italian and the scent of the giant lilac tree above us. After a long day of getting lost, visiting museums, and walking the narrow streets of Venice we’re all hungry for a good seafood dinner and a celebration of Tiernan’s 21st birthday!

As the bread, olive oil, vino bianco and water begin to arrive we recount the highlights of the trip so far. We first headed to the Peggy Guggenheim museum, which has a wonderful collection of contemporary art. The beautiful white house, overlooking one of Venice’s many charming canals, has rooms filled with names worthy of any top museum. Don’t we all have a room dedicated to our Jackson Pollock’s? It was definitely a welcome change in the art scene - sometimes its nice to see some paint splatters when you have been looking at medieval Madonna and Child frescoes for months. However, we made sure to get out Venetian Renaissance fix at the Academia-complete with Titian, Giorgione, Tintoretto, and Veronese.

In between our museum visits, we happily sat by the water and ate our paninis. Somehow, your everyday basic panini is always just as satisfying and delicious as that first real Italian sandwich we had back in January. It also didn’t hurt that we were sitting outside in such a beautiful city, feet dangling over the canal, with (almost) the whole Siena group. It seems that the best stories about my time abroad have centered around food and meals, and so that brings this back to our dinner on Saturday night.

I can’t even remember what it was about - but at one point we were all in tears because we were laughing so hard. I think it had to do with a picture, someone’s teeth, and the black squid ink dish that most ordered. Anyway, it was the perfect evening and a great way to end our last abroad adventure as a group. “Team CET Siena”, as I like to refer to our program, has been through a lot this semester. We have dealt with the transitions that come with living in a new country, the steep hills, the seemingly endless rain, the challenges of a new language and even a volcano (in Iceland of all places…). It seems surreal that we won’t all be together in just a week's time but I can’t think of a better group of people or a more wonderful city to have spent my Spring with!

Ciao,

Alex Johnson

CET Siena Student Correspondent

Spring 2010