The Week I fell in Love

They say that studying abroad has many different stages, at first it is total bliss and a sort of honeymoon phase. That is followed by culture shock and impending homesickness. Soon after, you recover and start to feel a sense of calm about where you are and what you are doing. I think I have finally reached the last stage. Not to say that I don't miss home, and dryers, and sushi and starbucks, and tostitos, and turbo and all the comforts of being in somewhere familiar, but today was good.

On Wednesday this week I went on an afternoon walk and discovered some new parts of Siena. Gorgeous, as expected.

I also attended a local modern dance performance in a beautiful theater, inside the main building of the Campo.

Besides being St. Patricks Day, Thursday was the 150th anniversary of Italian Unification so there were many celebrations going on. During the day all the contrada museums were open and free to the public so I was fortunate to see a couple of them. That night, we enjoyed some wine and margaritas. It was a great day.

On Friday, a small group of us made a day trip up to Pisa. The weather was so beautiful, and it finally started to feel like Spring. We took cheesy pictures, of course. Ate some gelato and enjoyed the sunshine. It was such a great trip, totally stress free and fun.

Today I went on a Photography field trip, and came home in love with Italy. It was so nice to be in a car, and see things off the main path. We made many stops along the way, and ended our trip at the photo teachers house/studio/showroom. Our teacher does amazing metal work, has been featured in home decorating magazines and lives in such a magnificent place. The entire day was spent shooting gorgeous photos, I had such a blast, especially with the characters from Clue.

Tomorrow will be spent catching up on my Italian articles and attempting to edit some more of the million photos I took. This is our last full week of class before midterms( AND PARIS!!!) :)  and Friday we are making a trip to Florence with the Art History Class.

Sorry my blog entries lack any sort of creativity at the moment, my brain is fried and I should get rest. I hope all of you are well.
Enjoy your dyers.
Miss you tons.


Love from Italia,

Liz