Pasta Pasta Pasta

Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Siena
September 3rd 2008

Published: September 3rd 2008

Ciao a tutti! Here is the long awaited update on my life that I hereby dedicate to Sarah, Leslie, and Steph for urging me to write. I hope that everyone is doing well and enjoying the end of the summer. After arriving in Italy last Tuesday evening, I really have not stopped moving at all and this is the first chance I’ve had to write. As a result, I cannot promise how coherent this entry will be. I think that after the students get adjusted and the weeks of orientation are over, I will definitely have more free time.
Although it has been a busy and somewhat confusing (details to come) week, it’s really incredible to be back in Siena and I’ve enjoyed just walking around and re-familiarizing myself with the city. Ok, let me go back a week and start from the beginning of the trip…..

Well, I cannot say that my departure from home really went too smoothly. In fact, it is possible that it can only be described as somewhat hysterical. I think that I remained fairly calm in the days approaching my trip, but when I spilled water on my laptop the night before I left and discovered that I could no longer type, this must have triggered an explosion of nerves….. and tears. Tears, in fact that seemed not to end. But with the help and support of my parents, I calmed down and made it to the airport. I first flew from Philadelphia to Toronto. I was a little nervous because of the diminutive nature of the airplane, but I settled in my window seat and prepared for takeoff. I thought I was acting pretty calm and not too chatty (I tend to get a little chatty when I’m nervous), but this may not have been the case because when they asked for a volunteer to change seats from the front to the back of the plane for reasons of balance, the guy sitting next to me jumped up immediately, practically begging to be chosen. I tried not to take it personally.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, besides my nausea at the fact that the guy in front of me was continuously downing cans of clamato juice. My flight connected from Toronto to Rome and I was glad to find that I also had a window seat for this flight. Air Canada seemed a little more makeshift than planes I had been on before, but overall it was pretty comfortable. I sat next to a really nice guy from Canada who helped me get my luggage situated, also informing me not to expect any of my baggage in Rome because in four out of the five times he has flown Air Canada, they lost his baggage. The food on the plane was, as expected, absolutely awful. I sort of picked at some of it, leaving some of the unidentified goo in plastic containers untouched. Even the dessert was an unrecognizable chocolate mush with a strange bulbous mound in the middle. I was still feeling a little edgy, which I think the guy beside me picked up on because he ordered us both a few shots of vodka…. He said it always calms him when he flies. As the plane hit some turbulence and my knuckles turned white from gripping the seat, he just looked over at me laughing and said, ‘Well, I guess you’d better drink up.’ We finally landed in Rome and after struggling endlessly with my own weight in luggage and taking both a train and a bus, I arrived safely in Siena, where I was met by huge hugs from Miriam and Donatella, the program directors. Even though my apartment was supposed to be ready, there was some confusion between the roommates and the landlord, and the apartment actually wasn’t ready for me until Saturday, so I stayed with Miriam at her house (she has two of the mangiest cats I have ever seen, and I don’t even like non-mangy cats). They made me dinner and I went to sleep.

Whew. On Wednesday, I went in the morning to meet Ben and his friends at their hostel in Siena. It was wonderful to see him and I had a great time showing them around Siena. I had to be at school a little during the day for some meetings, but we also had a lot of time to walk around (and eat gelato). It also happened that my friend Sarah from Austria whom I had met before in Siena was visiting the city that day with her cousin, so we all hung out and had dinner together that evening. I was happy to have everyone there for my first day in Siena and I was sorry to see them go.

Thursday morning we left early to pick the students up from the airport in Pisa and then we headed to a small farm near a town called Volterra where we stayed for orientation until Saturday. The farm which was surrounded by arid hills produces its own organic cheese, and we were lucky to be served cheese at every meal until we left. It was amazing. We also visited an adorable little town called Lucca, which is fairly close to Pisa.
The eleven students for the program arrived without any problems and I’ve been enjoying spending time with them, answering their questions and listening to any problems they’re having. I’m basically serving as an advisor in any facet that they may need. So far this has involved answering questions about language, about money and about host families (and many other things), showing them around Siena, taking them to my favorite places for gelato, showing them where to get the bus….and basically just being at school during the day to facilitate their arrival. For example, I spent a few hours today helping one girl who lost her wallet. My other ‘official’ title is ‘Development Coordinator’- I will write more about this, but this basically involves being in touch with colleges and universities in the states to publicize the program.

I sort of moved into my apartment on Saturday evening. I say sort of because the girl I was supposed to replace had not left yet, so I essentially just dumped all of my things in the kitchen and slept on the couch until Monday evening, when I finally could move into the room that I share with a sweet and hilarious Italian girl named Olinda. We’ve had a great time just hanging out in our room talking and watching TV, which is great because I adore Italian television. We’ve watched everything from Pretty Woman and Grey’s Anatomy, of course dubbed in Italian, to what appeared to be an Italian version of COPS that involved watching the police pull over and interrogate inebriated rich Italians driving Ferrari’s. The apartment is very clean, although they do smoke in the kitchen, which really bothers me considering that on a list called Things That I Hate the MOST, cigarettes make it pretty close to the top (I can provide a more complete list for anyone interested). But I’ve had a really great time just hanging out with my roommates, who are very patient and always take time to explain things to me, everything from Italian slang to how to light the stove….and also how to cook pasta. So I honestly know absolutely nothing about cooking. And my first cooking experience in Italy seriously reflected this small fact. It was kind of ridiculous and gave my roommates a pretty good laugh (and made them offer to help teach me). Ok, so I went to the grocery store. I thought that this was a pretty good start. Here’s a list of the spoils from my first trip to the grocery store: 1 bunch of bananas, one loaf of bread, one package of proscuitto, two bags of pasta, one jar of pasta sauce, one bag of biscotti, and one carton of blood orange juice. It seemed pretty simple and I felt very satisfied with myself. I took it all home and decided to make the pasta. It was all going smoothly except that I had no idea how much pasta to put in the pot, and I suppose I way overestimated. Or, maybe I didn’t really take the time to estimate at all, but without really thinking just dumped a huge bag of spaghetti into a small pot of boiling water…….. and ended up making enough pasta for about 20 people, which barely fit in the pot and besides making quite a mess, just looked generally ridiculous. Olinda came in and just stood there with her mouth open, laughing and, gasping for air, exclaiming about how much pasta I had made. Then she proceeded to give me a few lessons about cooking. She was very encouraging. Then she and the other roommate told me to leave the kitchen so that they could clean up. All in all, it was a terrible dinner, but I figure that it can only get better. Luckily, we’re going out to eat with the program this evening, so I don’t have to worry until tomorrow……
It’s also really busy now because I’m trying both to get everything set up with the students and also for myself. I am going to be teaching English and babysitting for a family in Siena, and I’ll also hopefully soon begin playing the piano for a choir here.
I miss everyone!
Number of times I’ve eaten gelato:7
Number of plates of pasta eaten: 9

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