It was Enchanting to Meet You...Except that it wasn't.

There are two stories in this post, the first of which relates to the title and the second of which is about food. So if you prefer to read about food, skip to part two.

Today, I set out from my house about 11:45 with the intention of hanging out on the Campo reading and people watching until about 12:45. I had 30 wonderful minutes of reading my Italian translation of the Hobbit happily before I was again disturbed by a "ciao" said somewhere near me. Yet again, I though that this person perhaps knew me. We met a lot of Italian people living with some of the students in the first few days here, and one time I accidentaly walked past one of them without saying hello despite that fact that he recognized me, so I now I am paranoid of unintentionally ignoring one of them.

This was not one of them though. It was another person. A guy, who decided my looking up and smiling a little instinctively (American habit) was an invitation to come and sit next to me. And ask me to come get a drink with him. Over and over and over again. It was a funny conversation and went something like this:

Him: what are you doing here?

Me: Reading a book. So you are a student?

Him: Yes, of medicine. Do you have something to drink?

Me: Yes, I have water because it is hot.

Him: Do you want to come get something to drink?

Me: No. I am reading my book. And I have water.

Him: Oh. Leave that and come get something to drink with me.

Me: No. After I read my book I have to go to school and meet my friends for lunch.

Him: Skip School and come have something to drink with me!

Me: No.

Him: Please? You can go to school tomorrow.

Me: No. I can't.

Him: Please?

Me: No.

And on.

Positive of the experience: I learned that I can fight off persistent Italian men such as him in their own language. I spoke only Italian. I also learned that the stereotype does in fact come from somewhere, although most of the men I have come across here have not been that way- the Italian roommates in the program are all very nice and I have had very little interaction with other people but for the most part we have all been left alone. I left as soon as I realized he wasn't going to leave. A bit of advice for the young Italian man: ask questions other than "do you want to get a drink with me" for a while. And don't beg like a five year-old. That's just pathetic.

This afternoon we want to the Tuscan Wine School for a wine tasting. That was really fun! We got to try five different types of Tuscan wines, learn how they are made, how you properly taste them, what they are typically paired with, how to describe the taste, and what makes them taste particular ways. It was very interesting! I liked all of the kinds I got to try except one, a dessert wine. It was so sweet! And, it was called Vinsanto. This is Italian for Wine Saint, or Saint of Wine. Other than this, we tried two red wines, and two white wines. And we got to eat Pecorino cheese. Pecorino cheese! If you want to be my best friend forever and ever, find me Pecorino cheese in the United States. This is the kind of cheese I fell in love with last week or the week before. And the olive oil and bread even was delicious, the oil was so good. And of course, after we finished this we had dinner with my family which was delicious as well. Tomatoes stuffed with seasoned rice and roasted, followed by salad and tuna with a homemade sauce...kind of? I don't quite know what to call it. It was a topping, I guess. And then, we ate the simple dessert which seems so obvious and yet which I have never thought of before.

We ate Ricotta cheese with marmalade or Nutella on it. They don't put ricotta in lasagne here, they eat it as dessert or on a few other things, but not with lasagna.

It was very delicious, and something I can easily bring back to the States!

Americans Everywhere! And Sidewalks...

I have been to and returned safely from Florence! We had a wonderful time. My legs hurt and I am terribly tired, but my head is filled with beautiful artwork and architecture so I am quite happy.

Florence is a beautiful city in many ways. It seems to be primarily Renaissance, unlike Siena. This makes sense since I believe Florence became more powerful as Siena became less powerful, which was during the Renaissance with the rise of the Medici family in Florence (Firenze here, pronounced fear-in-zay, roughly. If you have never heard it called that before, I refer to it as both and you may see or hear me do so). The roads are wider and the buildings are newer. Slightly newer, anyway. And the city is just so big! Think of Siena as Charlottesville and Florence as Washington, D.C, Renaissance style.

Another reason for the Washington, D.C. comparison? There are Americans EVERYWHERE! I knew there would be a lot, but they were literally everywhere we went. People speaking in English this way and that way in line at museums, looking at maps, trying to find books at museums in English. I have not heard so much English since I left the states! Signs on stores were in English too, and there were actually shops labeled "Souvenirs" all over the place. I saw two McDonalds. And I have to admit, at some point I thought to myself in a somewhat haughty way, "Why are all of these Americans here?" Of course I am one. But I love Siena so much because it is small and personal and so not Americanized or tourist influenced. Florence caters to tourists and has adapted itself for them. Siena lets tourists come and helps them but does not try to be anything other than itself.

I did love Florence, though, even if I am very happy that I decided to study in Siena. We stayed in a small hotel that took up one floor of an apartment building a few blocks from the Duomo. The owners did everything themselves, and spoke English but not as much as the other people around Florence, or at least they learned that we spoke Italian and then let us speak it with them. Four of my friends and I set out Saturday morning to go to the Uffizi, perhaps Florence's most famous art museum. At the height of tourist season, people will wait for hours to get in! We waited only one, and then we spent perhaps five hours in the museum moving slowly from one work the next until we had seen everything and couldn't stand to look closely anymore! I saw two of Botticelli's most famous paintings, the Birth of Venus and Spring. They were absolutely beautiful, and much larger than I realized! I could have sat and looked at them for hours. We saw many things too from the 13th and 14th century which we were able to put in context from our art and art history class. There were two paintings by Da Vinci which I found absolutely beautiful as well- his Adoration of the Magi, and several other paintings and artists. I may be able to post them.

We went out to dinner as a group for one of the other student's birthdays and had a very good time! The family sitting behind us was, of course, American, and I learned that they are from Atlantic Beach, very near Jacksonville, and have connections to my high school. That was quite a place to meet a family from my area! a small Trattoria on a back road in the middle of Firenze.

Today we walked and we walked and we walked, just like yesterday. We walked on sidewalks, because they actually do exist in Florence, unlike in Siena. And we went to the Academia museum and saw many beautiful sculptures from the early 19th century as well as the David. again, I could have sat and looked at it for hours, it was so beautiful.

And now, I am so tired that I have to stop writing. But I will post pictures from the trip very soon!

My favorite Italian commercial.

FOUND IT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4LDI87LZIM

I FORGOT! Yes, you may call me Anna

One more story! This one's good!

Gianfranco always calls me Annice, except he pronounces it Ah-neece. (sort of raise the last syllable, if that makes sense, emphasis equally on both). I know that this is difficult for them to say, because in the Sienese accent Cs are pronounces like an h, but far back in the throat, or like sh. (Nicola is Nihola and dinner, cena, is shena). Today I told them about how my Italian teacher used to call me Anna, and a few minutes later Gianfranco asked me if they could call me that too! So, for my Italian family and friends, I am now Anna. Annie could work as well, but it is spelled oddly for Italian pronunciation and sounds like the word for year. It is easier for them to say!

Che cose hai fatto questi giorni?

What have you done these days? is basically what this means, assuming I used the correct grammar. This is the question my Italian teacher asked me today, and the question which I will attempt to answer for you now assuming I can recall all of it (that you will be interested in) in a reasonable amount of time and space!

When she asked me I paused and looked up at the ceiling, and said "molte cose, molte cose, che cose direi?" Or I would have said that if I spoke half as well as I write, which I don't, but whatever I did say I can assure you was supposed to mean this in English. And the English translation is: many things, many things, what things should I tell?

Gianfranco sums up the weather of the last few days quite well. Every time the news comes on and shows the map of Italy and little raining clouds all over it, he says, "Pioggia. Pioggia, Pioggia. Sempre Pioggia." (Rain. Rain, Rain. Always rain). And so it has, except for today, rained without fail every afternoon, and usually at times when I am far from cover and without an umbrella. Yesterday I tried to study at the park on the fort. I even told Nicola that I was going there (he understood me, too) but then I got almost all the way there and the rain started, so I dived into CET instead and sat there awhile. Later my art history class got caught in the rain while walking around looking at architecture.

That was still a very interesting trip though. We saw how you can see the history of Siena just in the buildings. When Siena started to grow, it was because the Francigena road, a road for religous pilgrims, ran through Siena. Otherwise, there would be no city of Siena today, or it would be insignificant. Siena grew rich off the travelers on this road and off of the traveling Sienese merchants were able to do using the road. You can see buildings from the time when the most powerful people in Siena were soldiers and crusaders and the system was feudal. These oldest buildings, which people still live in, are closed off. They did not want outsiders coming in and wanted to be able to defend themselves. The second group that held power was the merchants. Their houses were open, with stores on the bottom and apartments on higher floors. The taller the building, the wealthier the merchant. And on. You can see places where renovations have happened, changed in styles of the windows (small in medieval times, pointed arch in gothic era, and rectangular in the Renaissance). You can see how Siena has grown and changed over hundreds of years.

That was art history! Ah, and then there was the market. That was before the rain came.

I don't have class before three at all until July. So, I have all morning free, every day. Everyone else is in class too. It actually (and maybe not surprisingly) gets a little lonely, and I just talked to our resident director today about maybe doing activities occasionally with the 3000 level students so that I am not alone every day from when I get up until 5:30 except for my professor and an hour when I am able to meet up with the other students for lunch. That is a tangent though. The market!

Every Wednesday morning there is a market at La Lizza, the park around la fortezza. I thought little arts market flea market type thing, maybe thirty or so small tents with the things people have made, maybe more, and not taking up much space. I was wrong.

This market is a mall. People bring out vans and tents and set up shops on the roads around la fortezza. The wares are not just little handmade crafts and food. Clothes, shoes, hardware, umbrellas (buying one next wednesday per la pioggia), anything you can think of set up along several full streets on two sides of the fort. I didn't really stop to look at anything for long and it took me an hour to see all of the stands. I will be back.

When I got home that evening, I was sitting at dinner with my family here and watching the news, and a small segment came on about a bear running around people's backyards in Florida. I learned after talking to my mom yesterday that this bear was actually only about five or ten minutes away from my house, and making news across the ocean. A connection to home! And a rather odd one.

Today there was more! But it does not take as much to describe, so I will be quick. I had the entire morning free, so I wrote my composition for my Italian class, and then went out and found a book store and an art store, both of which I am sure I will be visiting very soon. I then bought a book at a store I had already found. I got the Italian version of the Hobbit. It is called...Lo Hobbit (pronounced Lo Obeet. Drop the h and pronounce the I like the e's in meet). You can probably guess what this is a translation of. I have wanted the Italian version for a while, so that was very exciting! I am still looking at Italian books and trying to decide what I want to buy. Fortunately I have seven more weeks to make that decision.

I went today with the 3000 level class to work on a project and someone realized that one of the guys on the program and I had inadvertently worn the exact same colors: light yellow shirts and red. We then had other students realize at two different times and make us take pictures twice.

And one last thing, just because I am quite proud of myself...at least I admit it. My teacher confirmed that my grammar in Italian is just fine, and very good. I just need to get my spoken grammar to match my written grammar. That was very exciting to hear!

A little scattered today I guess, but there were many things to tell!

All sorts of discoveries...

Today, I have made several important discoveries:

1. Sunscreen is very expensive in Italy. The higher the SPF, the more it costs, which is unfortunate since I need higher SPF as a fair-skin blonde hair green eyes very not Italian person.

2. I found a coffee shop with very nice people where I can sit and work and it seems you don't have to stand at the bar. Especially if you put your stuff down first so they know that you are going to sit. I observed an Italian man who walked in to see what he did. Most people in Italy don't do work in coffee shops, but I am and will continue to be American and a follower of the literary culture of coffee shop socializing (started in 18th century England!).

3. Romulus and Remus were real people. They were not raised by a wolf, though.

4. Legend says that Siena was founded by a son of Remus. This is a legend.

5. I found an Italian bookstore! YES! Now I just need to figure out what to buy.

6. I learned how to say discount card and that I did not have or want one while standing at a cash register communicating only in Italian. And she either did not know English or trusted my Italian skills enough to decide I could figure it out. Maybe she saw me reading the back of the Italian sun screen bottle...

That's about it for today! It was raining this morning so I stayed inside, although yesterday I sat in the park on the fort and read a book for an hour while everyone else was in class. I plan to do that more often.

The picture at the top is one I took at la fortezza yesterday!

Dinner with La Contrada Della Selva, and Arezzo

Two more days have passed of wandering, exploring, getting lost and finding my way again.

All of the pictures which I posted yesterday I took while exploring Siena with my roommate. We left our house with our cameras and a map in case we got lost, and set out to find out way around Siena and familiarize ourselves with the city. It was a huge success. We found all kinds of beautiful places and things which I plan to revisit later either to look closer at or just to sit and read a book.

We wandered for over two hours, eventually making our way to a market where I learned two things. The first is that Italian cash registers do not have scales built into them. You have to weigh the fruit yourself. The second is that you have to buy grocery bags. I was informed of both of these things by a rather impatient Italian woman. I guess I have to learn somehow.

Later in the day we had the opportunity to visit the Museum of the Contrada Della Selva (Forest). Siena is divided into seventeen different contrade by neighborhood. In the Palio, the horse race held in Piazza del Campo in July and again in August, ten of these contrade are represented (the ones that do not race in July will race in August. Sadly, I will not be here for my contrada's race!) Every contrada has a private museum and chapel, and a sort of club for the members of the contrada, which as far as I know is anyone who lives in the contrada. It was a very special opportunity to be able to eat at the contrada's headquarters with the members of the contrada and to be able to see the contrada's museum.

Many of the contrade have rivals and friends. We were all fortunate that none of us are living in a contrada which is enemies with Contrada della Selva! I learned today that my Contrada, Giraffa (Giraffe) has no enemies, only friends. One of the other members of my group is part of a contrada which is allies with the Contrada della Selva. The jockeys in the Palio will work with allies and can bribe each other to get what they want.

Today we traveled an hour and a half by bus to the town of Arezzo, another small town in Tuscany. We weren't able to stay for very long, but we went to see a market that we heard is held there on Sundays, and we certainly were not disappointed. It was an antique market, mostly, and it was huge! Usually in the States such markets are held in one large open space, but this one was held over multiple roads spread across the city center. All of it was blocked to traffic and packed with people. I heard more people outside of my program speaking English there than I have heard since I arrived in Siena. Italians and tourists alike seemed to be at this market though. The city itself was very old, like Siena. There was a beautiful park at the top of the hill in the city, and a fort. This one, unlike la Fortezza in Siena, I don't believe you can go into. The Duomo, the cities cathedral, was at the bottom of this park, and surrounded by ancient public buildings. It was not so ornate as the public buildings and the Duomo of Siena, but it was still very beautiful. I will post pictures soon.

We had to leave after just two hours because of the bus schedule and dinner time, but it was a very nice city, and I will perhaps go back before the end of my time here to explore more.

When we arrived home, it was pouring rain! So much that even if I had an umbrella with me, it would not have helped. A few of us dived into a local pizzeria where pizza is sold for one euro a slice, and waited out the weather. When we did finally get home though, I got to meet my homestay family's daughter and grandson, who were here watching Palio videos because today was supposed to be a holiday for la Contrada della Giraffa but the party got rained out! I showed Nicola, the grandson, a picture of the giraffe my sister saw on safari in South Africa. He then pointed out that I have blonde hair. (Sei bionda!) He has blonde hair too, so I guess that means we have something in common and so must be friends!

Another good day. It was a great conclusion to orientation, and tomorrow I am ready to start class.