Duomo

Well, I have officially spent my first weekend in Siena, Italy. It has all been a bit of a whirlwind experience and I am still exhausted, but so grateful.

Saturday was spent with Anya, touring the city and becoming a little more familiar with our city. Followed by time spent at the school discussing our hopes, dreams and all the other things you talk about on your first day. At night we went to dinner and had, Italian, weird. It was amazing, and about 11 euro. It is not common to tip in Italy, if at all, there is a "service charge" per person. You also do not get water in a glass, but rather a bottle of water to share. As always, a learning experience.
This morning, a small group of us attended Mass in the local Duomo. Each Italian city has their own Duomo, Siena's is extremely beautiful. The mass was about an hour long, and though I did not understand anything but two words, I appreciated the experience.

Today we also attempted to do some shopping as my straightener is not liking life over here in Italy. There is also only 1 more day left of "saldi" or sales going on. The sales in Italy are controlled by the government, and only allowed to occur in January and August. Since everything over here is fairly expensive, I'll take all the discounts I can get!


We then did a scavenger hunt during which we had to find the stables of the Contrada horses. The Palio in Siena is a HUGE event that takes place in July. The city is divided up into 17 regions that all compete. We had to wind through the city streets to find the hidden stables. My group was the first one completed so we rewarded ourselves with some fritelli, which is uh-mazing. It is made of flour, rice, orange flavor, and sugar. The rice and flour is fried into balls and then the top is covered with sugar. Hard to explain, easy to eat.


The night finished off with the Tea Room. We all got a pot of tea for about 4 euros. No sharing is allowed between pots, which leaves one person to A LOT of tea. Delicious of course. A couple people had white hot chocolate which in Italy, is more like pudding again, delicious.


We start Italian language classes tomorrow at 9 AM, or 1 AM for most of you. These classes last for three weeks. In the afternoon we have culture labs, where we do different activities in dealing with and relating to the Italian culture.


Here are some pictures I took on our Scavenger hunt today and 1 of the Duomo

Ciao Ciao!

Liz