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Published: September 6th 2006
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I have to try to remember some of the interesting things that I have done since the last time I updated this...apologies for the disrupted temporality of my thoughts....
Yesterday was my first day of school! For the first three weeks of the semester, we only have intensive language classes, so I go to school every day from 9:30 until between 4 and 5 (with a pretty hefty Itlalian-style lunch break) and only learn Italian...I think it's going to be pretty intense, but my professor is this really fun young woman and the class is very small, so I really enjoyed myself a lot. My Italian is improving very quickly and, although I still obviously make tons of mistakes and still don't understand many things (the other day, I was in a taxi and the driver asked me something, but all I heard was 'up or down' because I couldn't hear him very well, and although I really should have been quick enough to understand that he was asking whether I wanted the windows up or down, especially because the reason I coulndn't hear him was because I was getting bombarded with air from all four windows, I just smiled and
Concert in the Piazza
Listening to a concert in the piazza with classmates said 'yes,') I'm speaking more confidently every day. I think the most important thing for me has been just to not get embarrassed about anything really-things I say or do incorrectly. One night last week, I was in the city getting ready to go home with my host brother, and I was talking to him and a few of his friends. I had only had a very small amount to drink, so I was mildly tipsy, but I was having some trouble following their conversation. I wanted to excuse myself for being just a little drunk, so I thought I would be fancy and use the word that I thought was Italian for 'inebriated,' but after I said it, all of them looked at me and then lost it laughing so hard. I think I turned bright red and just looked at my host brother like 'what did I just say??' After they recovered from their fit of laughter, they explained to me that I had just excused myself for being just a little bit of a mut.
On Wednesday of last week, I drove to Rome with the two women who run my program to pick up all of
the other students from the airport. We then drove to a town near the coast called Maremma and spent Wednesday to Friday having orienation in this beautiful hotel in the countryside. It was strange to be back where my trip began a month later....I had some stressful flashbacks to myself dragging my intensely large luggage trying to find the way to my hotel (I don't think I mentioned before that when I arrived, I couldn't find the supposed shuttle service to my hotel, and I ended up getting on a random bus because the driver told me he was stopping at my hotel...which he drove by but didn't stop at...I basically ended up getting off the bus with everyone else at some random parking lot and I just stood there, quite exhausted and forlorn and ready to curl up and sleep on top of my luggage, until an amazing Italian woman and her husband picked me up and drove me to my hotel....good memories..). I was very excited to meet the other students in my program (there are 24 total, four guys, and 20 girls). I had everyone asking me lots of questions about Siena and living with a host
Nick, my fellow American in the class
The saxophonist played a note he didn't quite like... family, and it's been fun to make some new friends. We stayed at what is called an agriturismo, which they have a lot of in Tuscany. It's like a picturesque bed and breakfast on a farm where they make all of their own food. We all quickly had to bond, as we were divided into groups of three to share rooms. We had the most amazing and overwhelmingly bountiful meals (we all just kind of stared in amazement as they just kept bringing platter after platter...we eventually thought it was just a joke to try to see how much the Americans would eat). On Thursday we took a trip to a park where we hiked with a tour group down to the beach. We had a beautiful day on the beach, but we then had to return to our hotel for a language placement test. On Friday, before heading back to Siena, we stopped and visited this outdoor sculpture garden in Maremma. When we got back to Siena on Friday, it was so nice to see my host family and the friends in Siena that I hadn't seen for a few days.
Last Tuesday, I decided to take a day
trip to a small town about an hour from Siena called San Gimignano. As I was trying to find the correct bus to get on, I noticed another woman doing the same thing, and I went over and asked her if she was also going to San Gimignano. As she was also alone, we ended up sitting together on the bus and spending the whole afternoon sightseeing and exploring the town (I was lucky that I had her on the bus because I fell completely asleep and I was very confused and disoriented when she woke me up and told me that we had arrived). Delphine was a woman from Paris and she was spending her vacation travelling around Italy alone because her husband had to work. We planned out together the things we both definitely wanted to see (I had my little Tuscany guide book so I could read about the main attractions), and we had a great day together. Before we caught the bus back to Siena, we stopped at the most wonderful little pastry shop and stocked up for the return trip with all of these amazing pastries and chocolates (Mom, don't worry, it doesn't even come
close to our Pepperidge Farm- gorging car ride).
I really love my host family and I'm getting to know them more and more every day, especially as my language improves and I can express more and more of what I think. Last night, after I brushed my teeth and put in my retainer, I went to say goodnight to Carlo, Lucia, and Alessio. They hadn't seen me wearing my retainer before, and I gave them all a big metallic smile. Basically, my Italian sounds hilarious with my retainer, and I had them all laughing so hard as I stood there slurring together lots of s words in Italian. Lucia fell over laughing on the bed.
Mom, for this section, I recommend that you take a brief break from the journal, as you won't like what you are about to read (may I perhaps suggest some Pepperidge Farm cookies? I hear they are fantastic...). So, the last bus back to my house from the city is at 10:30, which is pretty early. After that, I can either walk, which I do often, take a cab, which is expensive and not preferable, or get a ride. Luckily, my host brother, whom
I often see when we are out at night, has a motorbike! Although I know it is quite hypocritical, because I was always very against this kind of transportation for safety reasons, I really can't lie....it's so much fun! We meet up when we're both ready to go home, usually pretty late, and he brings an extra helmet for me to wear and we ride together through the hilly streets of Siena. It's really exhilarating. Leo has abbreviated my name to 'Eli' which he pronounces 'AY-LEE' and I think it's hilarious.
I'm at my lunch break now at school before I have a two hour language workshop this afternoon...Ciao a tutti!
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Syd
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You ride motorbikes now?! What have they done to you? I like it! Forget Borders - the Harley store will be our new place to congregate. We'll get some hogs of our own and try them out on those sweet speed humps. I'm glad to know that everything is going well, you mut, you.