An Update from Siena

Almost a week has passed since the Palio with no blog update from me! Mi dispiace! I guess its just a testament to how extremely busy I have been here in Siena.

Let me begin with the Palio- WOW! An absolutely amazing experience! Thousands of people of all nationalities, speaking all kinds of languages arrived all kinds of early on a scorching Friday to reserve their spot in the campo to watch the event. Our group took a more humane route and only arrived 4 hours early for the supposedly 7pm event – (the race began around 7:45ish, typical Italian time!) We stood in the Piazza del Campo, watching as people poured in, crowding closer and closer as the time for the event neared. A parade began where each Contrada strutted their stuff all the way around the campo with drumming, flag throwing, soldiers marching and the works. Finally, it seemed like the never ending parade (featuring all 17 Contradas) was coming to a close and the horses were brought out. (I was busy scoping out the people sitting in the expensive balconies above the Piazza- I had heard Tom Hanks and President Sarkozy were in attendance last year, and I was hoping to glimpse a celebrity in the stands J) While I saw no celebrities at the Palio itself – I did see Stanley Tucci in the Museo dell’ Opera- Awesome!!)

ANYWAY- The Palio! The horses were all lined up and the names were read out over a loudspeaker (the incredible silence described before in the blog about La Tratta (the horse lottery) occurred once again here. It was as close to absolutely, pin drop silent as one can get outside in a piazza with thousands of people standing in the sun waiting for a horse race to begin. Such an amazing experience to hear such silence in a huge crowd of people- even adults around me were being “shhhed”!)

Before actually beginning the race, the horses made a bunch of false starts. (I was told that last year it was almost dark outside before the horses finally stopped false starting and ran the dang race!) Finally- this I could not see due to heads much higher than mine blocking the way, but the race began! It caught me, and everyone around me by surprise, but they were off! Enormous cheering began when certain horses took the lead and each Palio watcher essentially twirled slowly around to keep their eyes on the horses as they galloped in circles around the Piazza. 3 times around, jockeys fell off, (I had to briefly look away) and horses fell on the track. Certain horses took the lead for a lap, and then fell totally behind, allowing other horses to gain speed. Finally, (also not seen by me!) a horse finished! An eruption from the crowd let me and other vertically challenged viewers know that the race had finished, and the Contrada Selva emerged victorious! (The CET students had each picked a Contrada out of a hat at random, and my Contrada was Leocorno, so I did not win the lottery)

The race left us all breathless! After 2 weeks in Siena, with nonstop talk of the Palio, we had witnessed it, and it was incredible. We are lucky though, because the pageantry and excitement of the Palio will not cease, as there is another race in August. Unfortunately for me, the winning Contrada, (who after winning the Palio will parade around the city with flags and drumming and singing and carrying on) lives very close to my apartment J Extra constant drumming for this ragazza!

Other notable events:

When I go shopping, which I do way too frequently….I speak in Italian now! It’s really exciting, (even though the sales person usually answers me in English) but I love being able to communicate, even just a bit!

I have a language partner named Alessandro! We meet once a week and walk around the city. He usually orders a beer in a bar, and we speak in my limited Italian, or his fantastic English. He works for an international company and is very keen to better his English (he knows words like unique, bizarre, and exponentially, whereas I still do not know the word for chair…) But it’s really nice to be able to use my Italian and help someone learn more English.

I had a really off day in Italian class this week- I showed up like 5 minutes late because I wanted to finish eating an omelet I had made- so sue me!- which displeased my teacher a little bit to begin with. Then, in class I was bitten 3 times by mosquito! I was completely distracted and in the middle of his longwinded explanation of something or other, I found the little sucker and “SMACK” killed it out of the air! Not only did I startle him, I tried to play it cool and wipe the mosquito away and resume paying (very little) attention, but the blood the mosquito had stolen from me ended up all over my hands! It was so gross! And I was totally unable to play it off like it hadn’t happened. I literally had blood on my hands J So I had to excuse myself – lets remember Teach is already a little perturbed at me. After washing my hands in the bathroom, a wave of sleepiness came over me, and I literally fell asleep (in a class with two students, there is no such thing as hiding sleep) Luckily, My teacher doesn’t hate me too much, and I was much better the next day to make up for my off day.

And finally, a story I must include. There is a little bakery next to where we take Italian classes, and I go in very often, just to look at all the delicious treats and breads, never to actually buy. The other day when I went in, the guy behind the counter was really sweet and gave me a batch of free cookies, per niente! For nothing! I was thrilled J It is little charms like this that make me fall even more in love with Italy than I already am J

Finally! Last Little story! We threw a 4^th of July party in my apartment! It was really fun and everyone contributed an American dish, or drink to the party. We invited some Americans we had met a couple days earlier, and my Italian roommate invited some of his Italian friends- an international party! I created a USA play list complete with DMB, Frank Sinatra, Tom Petty, the Boss, etc and everyone wore red, white, and blue J

OKAY! Wow, I just wrote an essay! Ciao!

Elena Korn

CET Siena Student Correspondent, Summer '10