Orientation Days

The last two days we have all been learning our way around Siena! The whole town is beautiful and old. So old. All of the roads are cobblestone and very narrow, and the buildings very close together. The number of cars is restricted in the city center, so there are pedestrians everywhere. People walk in the middle of the road- except on the big roads, there is no sidewalk. Everyone simply moves aside when cars come. I can walk everywhere I need to go in fifteen minutes or less, and if I wanted to walk across all of Siena, it would take me maybe 30 minutes.

Yesterday I met everyone in the program, first for a tour of Siena in the morning, followed by lunch and meetings in the afternoon. We explored some on the way back to our house in the afternoon, and on the way, a man who did not seem to actually speak Italian stopped us to ask for directions in Italian! I guess we looked very self-assured, but we had to tell him (in Italian, which I think we spoke better than he did) that we did not know and were new to the city!

We were then free until the evening, when we met back at the school. This time the Italian roommates of those living in apartments came as well. We all went to dinner at a nearby restaurant with them. It was a beautiful little place, with long tables and curved brick ceilings. We ate delicious foods, and so many types! We had at least four different types of antipasti, and three different types of pasta, accompanied by both white and red wines.

One of the pasta dishes was a dish that is local to Siena. It is called Pici- it's a lot like spaghetti, but thicker and I believe made by hand. There was a type of meat in it that our Resident director said she was pretty sure was wild boar! One of the Italians students likes it so much that one of the other students kept telling the waiter to put more on his plate, so much that he had a whole pile of it - and this was our last dish, so we had already eaten so much!

It's surprising in some ways how much American music and media has permeated Italian culture. Right now at a local bar or club near my house, they are playing the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song (a dance version...it's interesting). Earlier they were playing Black Eyed Peas, and yesterday they played Spice Girls. This evening, my roommate and my homestay mother and I all watched NCIS. The American NCIS, voiced over in Italian.

wait...they just played something that sounded like Cotton Eye Joe-but in Italian. I think it was supposed to be Cotton Eye Joe. wow... and now they are playing I'm Blue.

Anyway, that hits the major points of the last two days! There have been so many little things, too, though! learning how to get coffee in an Italian bar (a bar is any place with a counter that you stand at), sitting on the piazza eating pizza or panini, and especially ordering in Italian and not having them speak back in English. I was able to answer a question on the Italian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire! And I am learning so quickly. I keep a journal of words I learn in a day, but I almost don't have too, because I hear the words and phrases so often.

Tomorrow we are going to explore the whole city. We have the whole day free until dinner time. And I will take and post pictures!

Arrival in Siena: My House and Airport Adventures...Continued

I will admit upfront that I currently have been awake basically thirty-four hours straight now, so I am a little loopy. But I think I have enough adrenaline left to finish describing the rest of m y airport adventures (and adventures they were).

I just now published the last post just a few hours ago because I had to get ready to board the plane.

My flight from Jacksonville to Atlanta was mostly uneventful. Atlanta to Amsterdam was a bit of a different story. I had a child behind my either screaming or kicking my chair the entire flight except for the few wonderful hours between maybe 11 and 1 when the kid actually fell asleep. Although at one point his foot must have been up on his tray table, because I turned to my left and there it was poking through between the chairs!

When I got on my flight from Amsterdam to Florence, a Dutch family was assigned to sit next to me on the plane. They apparently mistook me for being Dutch, because the mother tried to say something to me in Dutch. The Italian airlines safety video then played, and it was the best safety video I have ever seen . It was sort of animated, and included a part that said when you were using the emergency exit slides, you should first remove your high heels (The Dutch family probably thought I was crazy, laughing at the safety video. But the please remove your high heels (tacchi alti) was just really funny to me, and especially to me running on low energy!).

When I arrived in Florence, I was to meet a person from our program at the bus station. I found my way to the bus station, but saw no person from CET. I looked. And I looked. I walked past the same two or three Italian people probably five times, and if they didn't think I was crazy they no doubt had me pinned as a tourist. After half an hour or so of this, I resolved to figure everything out on my own, speak to the ticket people and get my ticket. I did successfully purchase my ticket using Italian and I made it to Siena, along with I found out later one other CET in Siena student who, it turns out, speaks no Italian beyond basically please and thank you. I know a few other people on the program are in the same or a very similar situation. I think it was very brave of them to come! I wanted at least two years before coming, but they will learn so much, and very quickly.

So now I am safely in Siena. I could not have possibly been placed in a better homestay location. When I look out my window, on the right there is a field and Siena's wall. Beyond that, the Tuscan countryside- hills covered in trees and fields and vineyards overlooked by old stone villas.

On the left, Siena's historic center spreads out beneath my window. A huge church which is around the corner from my house dominates the scene. Every half hour or so during the day, its bells ring and fill my room with music. I sat this afternoon with the window opened and just let the sounds from the streets come into my room.

Tomorrow I start orientation and I will meet everyone on the program. I will also keep pressing forward with my Italian. Today was difficult. It was day one and done on very low levels of sleep. I know I will need perseverance, though. I think meeting everyone else and finding more people to practice with and who are in similar situations will help.

A Long Time Coming

In four days I take off from Jacksonville to start my eight week study abroad program in Siena, Italy. My bag is half way packed and currently taking up most of the floor in my room with clothes I am either still wearing and washing or still deciding if they are truly Italy-worthy. My euros are sitting on my dresser waiting to be useful, and all of the US dollars I earned working and babysitting in the last few weeks are sitting in my wallet waiting to be spent in some (productive?) manner before I cross the ocean and they become useless.
My mood during the last few weeks has fluctuated back and forth between complete excitement and something approaching terror at the idea of speaking mostly in Italian for eight weeks straight when I still hardly speak the language in class. After three years of Italian courses, I understand most of what I hear as long as its not too fast, and understand most of what I read as long as I know the vocabulary, but my speaking continues to linger around the skill level of an advanced five year old. Upon the completion of my final oral exam this semester, my teacher said to me, "You will be much better when you come back from Italy." Even if this was true, it was hardly confidence inspiring.
The program that I am participating in is an eight week, 9 credit program covering art history and Italian studies. I will take six credits of Italian language, and the other three on Sienese art history. Everyone on the program is taking this class, and so it will be taught in English (a much needed break for my brain, I am sure). I will be living with a host family and one other American student the entire time I am in Siena. I received an email from my host family while I was still taking exams, and they sound absolutely wonderful. They don't speak English, though, so I am going to be excerising my Italian skills full time from day one.
My fascination with Italy and Italian culture started when I was in tenth grade. I had been taking Latin since seventh grade. I love ancient history and languages, so Latin (although my parents chose it for me) was actually a perfect fit. In tenth grade, our teachers were finally able to arrange a trip to Rome over spring break. My sister and friends and I were all able to spend a week exploring Rome, Naples, and Assisi, learning about the history first hand, and getting a small glimpse of the modern culture.
That small glimpse of modern Italy made me want to learn more. I started my first year of college so determined to learn Italian that I took it 1) despite the fact that I had already been exempt from the foreign language requirement with my AP Latin score and 2) At 8 AM. Every day. Three years later I am still taking Italian.
Finally, after eight years of Latin and Italian, and five eagerly waiting for my next opportunity to return to Italy, I am going back. Armed with these courses and my new Italian dictionary which just arrived yesterday becuase my old one vanished, I will depart for Siena on Tuesday.
I am going to learn and use the language, and to better understand the people who speak it. I don't know what exactly is waiting for me there, but I cannot wait to find out.