Who needs a beach when we have Piazza del Campo?

I’m not lying. If you are a beach person, consider studying in Siena. Now that April is here, the warm weather has arrived. What that means is that by day the Piazza del Campo is packed with locals, university students, school groups and tour groups, napping, chatting, people watching and, most importantly, soaking up the sun. In fact, I’m not ashamed to say that on Tuesdays, my day off from classes, I happily spend my day away sitting in the sun reading, sketching, and even photographing some of the characters I often spot, only getting up for my afternoon gelato.

Spring break was two weeks ago and everyone returned from successful trips—to London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Madrid, Seville, Barcelona and Lisbon. I, however, stayed in Italy because my mom came to visit! We spent the first half of the break in Rome, which, in short, is a spectacular city. Indeed, Rome has all the trappings of a modern metropolis; yet, around every corner is some crumbling reminder of the ancient world or some elegant marble fountain. Of course, the food is unreal: don’t go to Rome without trying the Gnocchi and the Carbonara. But most of all, you absolutely must get some Roman gelato, especially at Gelateria Giolitti near the Pantheon. You won’t be disappointed.

Other Rome highlights? Obviously the Colosseum, the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill, and the Pantheon are all unreal. But I also really enjoyed the Bernini sculptures and Caravaggio paintings at Galleria Borghese (reservations needed), the street performers and artists in La Piazza Navona, the shopping in Trastavere, and the delicious food in Rome’s Jewish Ghetto.

After getting our fill of the city, my mom and I retreated to the Tuscan countryside, first making a two day stop at home in Siena. No trip to Siena is complete without being blown away by the sheer beauty, elegance, and wealth displayed by Siena’s medieval cathedral or without spending a couple hours people-watching in the Campo—so we did both. We also had (excuse me for returning to the topic of food) the most fantastic dinner at Siena’s Taverna di San Giuseppe. We sampled some hearty Tuscan classics like Ribolitta Soup as well as out-of-this-world homemade tiramisu. This restaurant is a must.

Last stop: Cortona. Yes, yes, the town from the famed Under the Tuscan Sun. But, it turns out, Cortona is deserving of its reputation: literally built on a mountainside, Cortona, a tiny city of 2,000 (and very welcoming) people, offers the best views of stereotypical Tuscan countryside. We topped off the Tuscan experience by getting a tour guide to take us to a nearby vineyard to taste some Nobile di Montepulciano (the famous wine of the Montepulciano region.) After, we took a drive through the country to the equally picturesque town of Montepulciano (where Twilight was filmed…cool, eh?)

Last weekend everyone opted to stay in Siena to recover from our weeks spent traveling. But the great thing about Siena is, though a small city, the main streets in the historical center are always packed and buzzing with tourists and locals alike. And if you need to get a break from the crowds, in just a few minutes, it’s easy to stumble across one of Siena’s quiet and quaint residential neighborhoods. What’s more is that Siena has lots of hidden treasures that day-trippers rarely see, such as botanical gardens, the Medici fortress, the Orto de' Pecci park, and a swanky tearoom.

The highlight of the weekend, however, was a birthday bash for one of the girls. We had a potluck dinner and the whole group attended. I am proud to say I successfully made Pici con Cacio e Pepe (a Sienese favorite.) It was great to the have the whole program together and, what’s more, we had some complimentary music from a practicing Lupa Contrada (“Wolf Contrada”—one of Siena’s neighborhoods that participates in the annual Palio) drummer outside. Only in Siena.

I think that wraps things up for now. Tomorrow I am going to Florence for the entire day on a field trip with my Imagery and Public Space class. And then on Saturday we are all very excited for our program-run bike tour in the countryside! It should be a blast.

Hannah Zweifler, Bates College

CET Siena Student Correspondent, Spring ‘11

Montepulciano: Great Place to Visit, If You Can Figure Out How to Get There

A few weeks ago before Spring Break, I took a day-trip with some friends to see Montepulciano, the picturesque Italian town located at the top of a hill about an hour from Siena. Here’s what went wrong: we decided to go in the middle of a holiday weekend celebrating the 150^th Anniversary of Italy’s Unification and while there didn’t appear to be transportation problems in Siena, we got off the train in Montepulciano to find the station itself closed, taxi drivers on their break and the bus on a very limited schedule. It’s here that I should probably mention that the Montepulciano train station is 9km away, or about 5.5 miles from the actual city, which is again located at the top of a hill. We wandered around the little residential area near the station looking for something to be open so we might find out how to get up the hill, but after nearly an hour, our knight in shining blue amour arrived in the form of a SITA bus which took us to the station just outside the city’s walls.

The views on the ride up the winding streets and hillside toward Montepulciano are simply breathtaking. The town, now popular with teenage girls for being one of the filming locations for the movie Twilight: New Moon, is very tiny, with only one main commercial road and square. We stopped for a leisurely lunch upon arriving at the main square and we were treated to this unbelievable view while eating what were quite possibly the best tomatoes I’ve ever had in my life and sharing a bottle of the town’s world-renowned Vino Nobile wine.

Following lunch, it was time to do some exploring, which included a visit to the Santa Maria delle Grazie church and then over to see this palace not far from the church, which was sadly closed, but had this little playground in its semi-formal garden. There, we returned to our youths and went swinging for about twenty minutes.

Returning to the age of now, we slowly meandered our way down the hill toward the SITA station, popping in and out of little shops and gelaterias. Since this was after all the 150^th anniversary of Italy’s Unification, there were Italian-flag themed items everywhere. My personal favorites were the green, white and red pairs of shoes and the green, white and red painted bottles of wine that were arranged to look like they were arranged to look as if they made up one half of a double helix. I thought it was wonderful.

By the time we reached the main gate into Montepulciano, the sun was beginning to set and it was time for us to start making our way back to Siena. A quick stop off at the Conad to pick up snacks and then a short walk to the SITA station later, we were on our bus and all dozing off to sleep or reading after a long day. Fortunately, a kind lady on the bus who had heard us talking about getting back to Siena helped us realize that we were not actually changing buses at a station, but instead at a stop on the side of the road. Those were an interesting twenty minutes as we all stood there in the growing cold wondering if our bus would ever show up.

Montepulciano is one of those places you imagine all of Tuscany looks like; it has the views you see in movies, read about in books and about which you daydream. As with all picturesque places, getting there is never easy, but the payoff is more than well worth it.

John David Quate

CET Siena Student Correspondent, Spring '11

Living in a Postcard

I can’t believe it’s already March! It still seems like yesterday that all fourteen of us pulled into the Piazza Gramsci, embarking on a new experience that we’re told will change our lives. Now, amidst midterms and making plans for spring break, I thought it would be nice to look back on the past six weeks with a different perspective.

For starters, our intensive Italian classes have ended and our language classes have moved to the Università per Stranieri di Siena’s outpost inside the walls of the city making my commute only ten minutes long! Sadly, we did have to say farewell to our professors, which was sad because I really liked my professor, Simonetta, who was so patient with our questions and always went out of her way to show us her love for not only the Italian language, but also her love of Siena. Not to worry, her replacement, Vincenza, is just nice and has even sent us on little activities in Siena that have us interacting with Italians.

Life in Siena took some adjusting, but not much. The city’s little streets are filled with dozens of little shops and trattorias. The market each Wednesday brings out people of every age, but it is quite funny to see all the little old ladies wearing their fur coats and strolling from vendor to vendor with their friends. I’ve bought the most amazing rosemary honey and cheese there. The market is located around the fortezza, which besides offering some of the most spectacular views of Siena, is a great place to go running, which I do twice a week. My only problem with the fortezza is that the Sienese people move very slowly, which makes running on narrow paths a bit difficult, but then you look out at one of the most beautiful views on earth and you realize that having to wait for the Sienese people to leisurely stroll until you reach a point where you can pass them is the price you have to pay.

Outside of Siena, I’ve tried to do mostly day trips, my favorite of which so far has been to Montalcino, the makers of the best wine in all of Italy, or as my Italian roommate, Andrea, corrected me, the best wine in the world. I went with my fellow Wahoo, Sydney, on what would turn out to be a rainy day for a tasting inside the fortezza there. While much smaller than Siena, the drive up the mountain with the vineyards, the little homes and that picturesque view are no wonder that the first thing that greets you when you start walking around the town toward the fortezza is a real estate office. Montalcino was hosting a wine conference of some sort that day so it was buzzing with activity with people walking around with lanyards holding wine glasses. The wine, by the way, was so delicious that I couldn’t resist buying some.

Last week, we joined the CET students in Florence taking Italian Cultural History for a trip to Catania on the island of Sicily. It was a trip I’ll probably never forget. I went with the stereotype of Sicily that was formed thanks to watching movies like The Godfather. However, the city of Catania, despite not being as beautiful and well kept as Siena, has a brand of magic that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to properly describe. The CET in Catania students greeted us our first night in town and served as wonderful hosts until we departed Sunday. In addition to our discussions about the mafia on Friday, we were able to visit the fish market, a World War II museum focusing on the war’s Sicily campaign, try new foods like horse meat, eat the first of many true canolis, and go up to see the view from the top of Mount Etna as well as lava from previous eruptions. It was a bit colder than I had originally expected it to be up at the top of the volcano, but it didn’t matter because the world looks so different when standing among the clouds. It struck a bit odd, but also fascinating, that it is possible to ski down the side of Mount Etna. Part of me says I have to go back and try it, while another part reminds me that I’ll never ski fast enough in case there’s an eruption! The visit changed whatever weak opinion I once had Sicily and it’s definitely going to be a place to which I plan to return in the future.

As next week brings the start of midterms, I know nearly everyone is staying in town for the weekend following some day trips today. It’s still a bit cold out, but at least we haven’t had to face blizzard-like conditions! The narrow streets here in Siena block the sun a bit and make them a bit cooler, but as it continues to get warmer, I’ll look forward to that five-degree difference.

John David Quate, UVa

CET Siena Student Correspondent, Spring '11

Exploring l'Italia

After spending the first few weekends in or close to Siena, I decided to branch out and take an entire weekend trip to Rome! I immediately fell in love with the city, it's so much bigger than my little Siena and has such an excitingly ancient vibe. Last semester, I took a wonderful class about the art and archaeology of Ancient Rome, and I had such a grand time walking through and touching the ruins of the buildings I learned so much about but had only seen in PowerPoint presentations. I loved how ruins are just juxtaposed against medieval and modern buildings! I must admit, I walked up to so many crumbling archways and walls and ran my hands over the pocked facade because I was so in awe. Romans touched and built those same structures with their own hands two thousand years ago, and it was an extraordinary experience to see the remains of their magnificent empire. I arrived Friday the 18th and spent the evening walking around and locating my hostel - a friend and I stayed at a bed and breakfast called Mamma Mia, which was clean, secure, and affordable, but a bit out of the way.. I would recommend looking at a map of where your hostel is located before choosing, just because the buses and metro stopped running before midnight and it was a long walk back after going out at night. It's also terrible to be standing in the middle of a dark piazza at 2 am trying to figure out which of the four surrounding roads leads you the right way!

The next day I got to explore the Colosseum - going inside blew my mind, it's such an epic structure and it was really cool seeing the series of tunnels where the gladiators waited beneath what would have been the stadium's floor. I waited in line for about 40 minutes before finally getting my ticket, but a friend later told me that since the ticket includes admission to the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill/Forum area, you can go to the Forum first and save a lot of time since the line over there tends to be much shorter. Next time I'll know :) After the Colosseum, I spend a lot of time wandering the gorgeous ruins of the Palatine Hill, where there were tons of ancient palace ruins as well as a sunny park area (I wanted so badly to lie there in the sun!), then headed over to the Forum. This was super exciting to me, the archaeology nerd, and I ran around snapping photos of the Basilica Aemilia and the Temple of Saturn. It's unfortunate it's become such a touristy area (says I, the tourist) because it feels as if it should be a peaceful, quiet place to contemplate the ancientness of the location. However, it was still fantastic, albeit less charming than I had originally hoped thanks to the creepy gladiator actors that perused the streets outside asking to a)take a picture with you for only 5 euro, and b)meet up for evening drinks. I got out of there, fast.

We made the mistake of going to this awful American 50s diner-esque restaurant for lunch because I was craving a burger (to be fair, I've had only Italian food for the past 5 weeks! I know, what a travesty, right?). Sadly, it turned out to be one of the worst meals of all time, with nasty bright yellow fries, greasy buns, and a tiny piece of meat. Sad times. Luckily, Rome redeemed itself when we ran into a fantastic gelateria near the Pantheon - hundreds of flavors and cute Roman Holiday decor. Viewed the outside of the Pantheon and wandered around pretty Piazza Navona, then went "home" to change for dinner. We took the bus to Trastevere on the other side of the Tiber and ate at the delightful Osteria Pucci, where I had a bowl of pasta with ricotta, zucchini, and bacon. We searched for a good club, since Trastevere is apparently the place to be as far as nightlife goes, but weren't successful - no good discotecas in sight! Across the river we found some American student bars that were ok, but the true nightlife of Rome remains a mystery to me.

The next morning we got up to see the Vatican - unfortunately, it was Sunday so mass was going on inside and I couldn't see the Sistine Chapel, etc, but it was pretty cool to see the outside of it. A screen was projecting the words from the mass (in Italian, of course). After having some amazing pizza for lunch, and exhausted after lugging our bags across the city, my friend and I got on a bus and decided to just relax on it and let it take us to wherever it was going. We got off at the Circus Maximus, a bizarre sight - just a massive dirt oval edged with ruins. It was the largest chariot-racing stadium of Rome back in the day. I hated leaving Rome after just two days, I feel like it would take several weeks to adequately explore! Didn't mind too much though, I do love my scenic bus rides.

Then this past weekend, I had a gorgeous time traveling to Pisa for a photo shoot with that famous tower. Pisa is only an hour or so away from Siena by train, and was a really pretty little town. People say that there's nothing to do in Pisa besides go to the tower, but I would have liked to wander the streets a little longer to see for myself. The bridge over the Arno River had some really pretty views, and there were plenty of pretty mountains in the distance. The area surrounding the Tower was extremely touristy, there was an entire block of souvenir tents with little model towers and t-shirts, etc.! Seeing the leaning tower was pretty amazing, though, in all honesty. And it was right next to the beautiful Duomo of Pisa and the Baptistery.

An hour and a half later, we were on a train to Lucca, a lovely little oval-shaped walled medieval town that was originally founded by Etruscans. We rented bicycles and went for a leisurely ride around the walls - it was such a sunny, beautiful day which made Lucca seem especially idyllic, and the Alps were visible far, far in the distance. Families, joggers, and elderly people were all enjoying the outdoors and walking along the path lined with trees and little alcoves where you could sit by the ancient walls. It was truly one of the best days I've had in Italy. Later, we browsed some of the shops and a little craft market that was set up in a piazza. Also saw the Roman amphitheater, which had been built over by Renaissance townspeople and now only retains the shape of an amphitheater. It's a circle of pretty colorful Renaissance houses that contain cafes and apartments. For dinner, we found a great family-owned restaurant called Da Leo - cheap, amazing food! We had a delicious meal, and I tried the torta di verdure for dessert, a Luccan specialty (it's a surprisingly sweet vegetable cake topped with pine nuts). Our hostel, Ostello San Frediano, was clean and spacious, and fit all eight of us in our own dorm room.

Unfortunately, the next morning we woke up to rain, but continued on to the Duomo. Next we climbed the Torre Guinigi, a beautiful old tower originally belonging to the Guinigi Family. Even though I'm terrified of heights, I climbed all the way up (wind was whipping through the open windows, and the top staircase was wet because of the rain!) and was rewarded with a grand view and also a rooftop garden! It's one of the more bizarre things I've seen here - full-size trees were planted atop this huge tower! After inching my way down the hundreds of steps, gripping the railings and walls all the way, we visited the Basilica di San Giovanni. This site was once occupied by Roman baths, since Lucca used to be a major Roman colony, and the best part was, we got to descend beneath the church and walk through the excavated site, which contained ruins of the bathhouse, the medieval church remains, and a number of old tombs. It was amazing!! Roman mosaics were still intact, and there was ancient graffiti on the walls.

We left Lucca and finished our weekend in Viareggio, an Italian resort town that hosts a huge Carnivale celebration every year. This parade was craziness; the crowd got right in the street along with the massive, wild floats that were a couple stories high, filled with costumed dancers, and blasted music as they meandered by. Tons of people were dressed up - we saw everything from weird colorful monsters to cowgirls wearing tiny shorts in the freezing, damp weather. A lot of the floats had political connotations, but it was still fun for us Statiunitensi to watch and dance in the streets along with all the characters. And I saw the Mediterranean Sea for the first time! When we finally got back on the train to Siena, I was exhausted but thoroughly satisfied. Italians do everything right: fantastic landmarks, beautiful landscapes and towns, delicious food, and a great party. Perfect weekend.

Jaimie Cordier, Brandeis University

CET Siena Student Correspondent, Spring '11

Once Upon a Time, in a Medieval City Far Away…

Well, here I am in Siena, Italia!! I’ve been waiting to study abroad for so long, and suddenly my everyday life consists of walking down winding medieval streets eating gelato, even though it’s February. It’s been almost four weeks, and I still feel like I see something different every day! I take a daily walk beyond the bus station to explore my very favorite place, the Fortezza and adjacent park because I always see something different – the old ladies in their long fur coats taking their afternoon stroll, the masses of children that have just gotten out of school and are playing tag – it’s a beautiful place to walk or jog, and has a great view of the city and the countryside, where distant mountains are sheathed in fog and Tuscan houses on hilltops stoically keep watch over this walled city. It feels like springtime even though it's still winter - it's been sunny and there still seems to be lots of green in the park.
And the food...My favorite restaurant so far is right near the CET building, called Fonte Guista – we went here on one of our first outings with the program. The food at this restaurant was INCREDIBLE. Plate after plate of salami and prosciutto came, fresh bread, big pitchers of the red house wine, bruschetta, then three pasta dishes. The third pasta dish was pici (a thick, fresh spaghetti-like pasta) with wild boar sauce. Dessert was a plate of three tiramisu samples. To me, food is one of the great delights in life, and Siena is not disappointing so far whatsoever. Prosciutto is swiftly becoming one of my new favorite snacks, definitely going to keep the fridge continuously stocked with it for these few months, plus probably back in the states, too. I also keep buying nocciola (hazelnut) gelato on my way home because I can’t resist the temptation. Hazelnut. If you ever get the chance, please try this. I literally died and went to heaven.
Classes started with an intensive three weeks of Italian - three hours a day, five days a week. Hopefully I'll be much more comfortable with speaking after this!! So far I love “Sienese Art and Architecture” the best, I'm a history fanatic so I was in heaven learning about the origins of the city today and also finding out that my apartment on the Via del Poggio is right in the most ancient area of the city, dating back to the 5th century BC. I sleep in the same spot an Etruscan did 2500 years ago! This is the area surrounding the Duomo, next to the famous Piazza del Campo. Anyway, I get to spend the next few months walking around and observing ancient and medieval structures, so I'm excited.
It’s taken some time to adjust to my new surroundings, which means something new each day. The past couple weeks have been full of CET outings, including a cooking class at Fonte Giusta. I got to see the kitchen from which all the gorgeous ravioli and cinghiale and pane, etc. are born, and the owner of the restaurant was enthusiastic about having us get our hands dirty and mix ingredients with our fingers to create batches of almond biscotti, homemade pasta, and eggplant/spinach/ricotta-filled tortellini. He didn't speak a word of English. Unfortunately, this meant that I am not much closer to achieving my goal of becoming a master Italian chef by the time I return home, but I did get to see some pretty cool stuff. Eggs yolks here are vibrant shades of red-orange, and I learned how to fold up a square of pasta around some filling into a fancy napkin-shaped tortellini. Afterwards, the real chefs topped our wobbly creations with fantastic sauces and kept the food coming until I thought I was literally going to explode. We got a doggie-bag of biscotti to bring home, too!
Another highlight was a visit to the Onda Contrada museum near San Agostino, several blocks behind the Piazza del Campo. A unique little church houses the memorabilia of this contrada's Palio wins, and serves as a neighborhood stronghold for baptisms and other blessings. The space within Siena's walls is divided into 17 contradas, or neighborhoods, and people are very, very loyal to their communities. If you are born in one contrada, you remain a member of it for life even if you move to a different one. This unique kind of society makes for strong internal bonds among the people of the city, but also makes it difficult for outsiders to truly integrate. The Onda (Wave) contrada museum and crypt were full of ornate religious decorations, tons of hand-painted silk banners, and historical Palio costumes. These banners are the prize for winning the famed Palio, or contrada horse race, that takes place in the Piazza del Campo every July.
The weekends are reserved for traveling, so at the beginning of February some of us left Siena to take a day-trip to Arezzo, where they were having their monthly antique market. This occurs the first weekend of each month, and was so much more widespread than I expected: tables and furniture stacked with treasures covered every street of the city. After browsing, I also saw the inside of the Duomo, the famous frescoes of San Francesco, and Giorgio Vasari's house. It was remarkable to see the difference in style between the two cities, Arezzo was much airier and open than Siena. However, I find myself loving the ancient stone palazzi of Siena and the feeling of medieval history and authenticity that radiates from every brick of every towering building.
The rest of that weekend, I wandered the streets of Siena intending to visit all 17 contradas, but I only made it to the end of my own (L'Aquila - Eagle) before I came across a pretty park behind San Agostino near Porta Tufi that overlooks the Tuscan countryside. I ended up spending the entire afternoon lying in the grass bathed in sunshine and reading a book. La vita è perfetta.

And the Countdown Begins...

I came back to Siena from home last Tuesday night, where I was pleasantly surprised at the train station by all my friends here. :) We then stopped in at the grocery store and bought a few goodies to enjoy back at my apartment, since the next day was a national holiday, the Immaculate Conception, and we had no class. I was so glad to get back into my routine for a little bit and get my mind off what was going on at home.

Since it was a holiday, the resident director thought that it would be fun for us to take a leisurely trip to Florence to experience the Christmas markets there. Unfortunately for us, it was pouring cats and dogs that day and we all got soaking wet, especially me. I decided at the beginning of the semester I didn't want to buy an umbrella for whatever reason, though it would have served me well because of all the rain Tuscany gets during the fall. But anyway, despite the rain, we had a great time checking out the stands. People were selling fresh baked cookies, handmade ornaments and candles, spices, mulled wine, German sausages, beer, and pretzels, clothing and scarves, and almost anything else you could think of. We walked from the Santa Croce market to another, smaller one in a different piazza, where most people sold handmade pottery, olive oil, honey, wine, and leather and wood items. Afterwards, to get out of the rain, we stopped in at the tiny handmade jewelry store I once told you about (I think I did, at least) again and of course, purchased a few more items: two bracelets for my aunts and a pair of stud earrings for myself. We quickly made it over to a cafe near the bus station, again to get out of the rain, and attempted to dry off for a bit before heading home, all the while enjoying ourselves a cup of coffee or a cappuccino. Thus concluded my last visit to Florence for a while. :(

The rest of the week I just studied, began work on a paper assignment and a few other things. But this past Saturday my apartment hosted a Christmas party for the entire program! It was 100% a success. We spent the entire day doing a full cleaning of the apartment and decorated it with garland and paper snowflakes - thoroughly cheesy. All of the students came, plus most of the Italian roommates, plus our resident director and her boyfriend! We asked each apartment to bring something to share (a dessert or drink) and we provided gingerbread, eggnog (made by hand), red wine, and bread and cheese/cheese dip. We played Christmas carols in the background and had a Yankee swap for those that wanted to participate. All in all it was a great night and we hope that everyone had as much fun as we did.

Finally, this week is my last week here in Siena. I'm sitting here writing this right now because I want to procrastinate a bit more before taking my Sienese art exam. I don't think cramming right before an exam helps much, so I'd rather write a little to you guys. I just took my Italian exam this morning and have my oral tomorrow, plus another art history exam. In the midst of studying for exams, I've been packing, purchasing last minute gifts, and just spending time with everyone. I cannot believe that time is up. Even though I'm sad that I have to leave Siena and my friends here, I'll always keep this place close at heart. It's such a wonderful small city, and I really hope to make it back here some day in the future. I'm really going to miss this place!!

Time to go finishi this last paper and study a bit before I'm home free tomorrow and headin' out Frday! It's been great being able to write this blog and keep you up to date with everything going on here in Siena. I strongly recommend coming to see it!

Ciao a tutti!

Melanie Bianco

CET Siena, Student Correspondent

Fall 2010

About three weeks ago was the last time I wrote. Sorry for the delay! A lot has been going on around here since then. After we went to Florence, we had a few days of class and then came Thanksgiving break! When I first got to Siena, I didn’t think we would have any type of break for Thanksgiving because it is a very American holiday. I was thrilled to find out that we had four days off (including the weekend). We began planning an out of town trip a few weeks beforehand. We decided to get away to Spain for those days, to Valencia. We got there Thursday midday and left Saturday evening. We finally got ourselves to a beach, ate traditional Spanish dishes full of seafood (paella, tapas, etc) and drank sangria. The night we got there, we went on a pub-crawl too and went to a bunch of bars and clubs that we never would have found without it. We got some Starbucks (oh how we missed that place!), walked around the city, picked oranges from the trees that lined the entire city, and went to the Central Market where we bought a lot of food for lunch, which ended up only costing about thirteen Euro altogether. We sat in front of a large fountain in the center of the city and ate everything before getting to the airport for our flight. Needless to say, we had a great time wandering around and didn’t spend too much money. This trip was mostly to be relaxing and cheap, since there weren’t very many museums or anything. Let’s face it: we were already getting down to the last of our savings so it needed to be fairly inexpensive. We definitely succeeded. Oh, one more thing. While we were searching for a place for lunch on the beach, one had a parrot in a cage outside (not sure why). BUT, we were staring at it because it was actually a really pretty parrot. Then it said “ciao!” How crazy is that? It’s as if it knew that we spoke Italian.

For the not so great part, on November 29, in the early hours of the morning, my mother passed away. I got the news from my dad later that day, after class. My first thought was “How am I going to get home?” Since it’s nearly the end of the semester, I definitely did not have the eight hundred dollars for a flight. Thankfully, my mom’s aunt saw on Facebook that I was not able to get home and bought my ticket for me. I got back into Washington, DC last Wednesday night and returned to Siena this Tuesday evening. I was able to see my family, including many relatives that I have not seen in years. I just wish it were under better circumstances. Nevertheless, it was great to see my family again, all ten of us siblings, and lay my mother to rest with her mother and grandparents. I was even given the opportunity to finish out the semester at home, through email, but I had already bought the ticket to come back plus the ticket to leave Italy for good. I would not have had time to pack or say goodbye to my friends here, so I think it was a good idea to come back to Siena and sort of get my mind off things. I will never be “over” my mother’s death, but it will become easier with time. The people involved with this program – my resident director, the Italy director, my professors, my friends, and the CET people in Washington – were so wonderful in accommodating me and trying to get me home. I was and am so grateful that I did not have to worry about everything I was missing (a final exam, presentations, papers, classes) and could go home. These are just a few reasons why I would recommend this program to anyone thinking about studying abroad. J

Anyway, on a lighter note, the night before I left, we visited the Tea Room behind the Campo. A few of us went a few weeks ago and it was really fun. This time it was the entire group of us, sponsored by CET. The first time I went, I ordered some kind of chamomile tea. This time, I ordered “Giamaica” (pronounced like the country Jamaica); I can’t remember what exactly was in it but it was calming and tasted like vanilla. Yum. In addition to the teas, we ordered delicious desserts that had flaming sugar on them! Yeah, it was pretty sweet. A few of us stayed a little later to study, read, do crossword puzzles, etc. If you’ve ever been to a hookah bar, it had that sort of feel, but nicer and minus the hookah smoke. I really, really enjoy the atmosphere there and if any of you decide to go to Siena in the future, try to make it out to the Tea Room.

Check back next week for my FINAL blog! I can’t believe we’re leaving in a week. This semester has absolutely flown by. I’ll have updates on the Christmas markets in Florence, our Christmas party we’re throwing at our apartment, and my last days here! L

CET Siena Student Correspondent, Fall 2010

Melanie Bianco