A Snow Day, Siena Style

Yesterday morning, my roommate Rachel and I woke up to find ourselves transported into a wonderful world of magic, where happiness reigned supreme and life was always wonderful… in other words, the snow that had been falling steadily for the entire afternoon of the previous day had apparently kept on falling throughout the night, covering the ground in about six inches of snow. Like any good college students, the first thing we did after ooh-ing and aah-ing over the pretty snow was check our email to see if class was cancelled.

Nothing. Eternal sadness. However, my phone soon rang and I picked up to hear the dulcet tones of Christina, our Resident Director, telling me that the buses weren’t working and class was cancelled. Glory hallelujah – snow day in Siena! Rachel and I ran to tell Stella, our host mother, that we didn’t have class, and we promptly bundled up to go play in the Piazza del Campo.

We found the Campo turned into a winter wonderland: since we were there so early in the day, the snow was largely untouched and perfect. Rachel and I marveled at the beauty for a few minutes, but our inner children soon took over and we made a snowman, and, after our friend Evan joined us, snow angels and even a snow fort!

As we returned home, wet, cold, and tired, with enormously fat snowflakes still drifting from the sky, I reflected on the fact that I was in Tuscany during a rare snowstorm. How much more magical can life get? I can still hardly wrap my head around the fact that I currently live in Italy, and the snowstorm made my life here seem that much more like a fairytale.

P.S. Italian snow is prettier than American snow!

Faith Bradham

Student Correspondent

Siena, Spring 2012