School and the Market

Wednesday morning before school we went to the open market in Siena. There were people selling everything from purses, to clothes, to flowers.  I bought some nice scarves for a very decent price.

This is me in front of our little school--which is held in a beautiful building that must be at least a couple hundred years old.

 The common area

A hallway in the building--I love the arched French doors and the courtyard.  So beautiful.

A prosciutto sandwich in the piazza --delizioso!

In the piazza:

Palazzo del Popolo from San Domenico

Sono arrivata

I finally arrived in Siena after two very long days of travel in four different modes of transportation: airplane, train, bus, and car.  

I live with a cute little Italian lady whom we call "Nonna" (grandmother in English).  She lives in a beautiful little house in the countryside ten minutes outside Siena that has a garden filled with fresh vegetables and herbs, and a terrace where she keeps honeybees. She has a cat named Topi ("Mouse") and makes amazing food.

The first day here we took the bus into the city of Siena where we walked around and visited the various piazzas and cathedrals, window shopped, and ate lunch--amazing panini with prosciutto and local cheeses.  It started to rain and we found cover under some scaffolding while we ate our gelati.

Today we had our first day of school at the Institute of Dante Alighieri, in a beautiful beautiful building that must be at least a couple hundred years old.  There are people here studying Italian from all over the world: Israel, Japan, France, Australia, Switzerland...  The other students in my class had to guess where I was from and I loved that not one of them guessed America--they said Switzerland, France, and Spain.  It made me happy to know that I don't stick out as an American tourist.

We had school all morning and into the early afternoon, and after we walked around the city some more, found the where we will be attending church, and bought some things at the supermercato.  We took the bus and walked home and ate another delicious dinner: this time gnocchi, a caprese salad, and fresh fruit.  After dinner we watched an Italian game show with nonna's grandson, Tomas, who is 16 and adorable and very funny to listen to. Tomorrow we have school again, but not before we visit the local farmer's market in Piazza Gramschi.

I already love it here--it's by far the most beautiful place in the world and I can't wait to see more.

A piu' tardi!

-Alexa

Waiting for the bus in Roma

Outskirts of Roma from the bus

Siena-Piazza del Campo from San Domenico

Santa Maria della Scala

San Domenico

Mini-monsoon 

Courtyard of a palazzo

"Cattivissimo Me"

Yeah, I live here.  NBD.

About 50 yards from our casa--bellissima

La Musica Italiana

One of the ways I fell in love with the Italian language is through it's music.

This first song by Giorgia is so beautiful sometimes it makes me want to cry.  She's like an Italian Celine Dion or Mariah Carey.  Probably my favorite Italian artist.



On a less serious note, this next song just makes me laugh and reminds me of my Italian 101 class back in the day with my friends Monica, Anastasia, Michelle, and Fernanda.  Italian rap is the greatest (skip the first minute to get straight to the good stuff).

Come si dice "hard core"?



This last one is just goofy, but who doesn't love a song about a guy who wants to spend his days in a bathtub?




p.s.- only six more days!

Italy vs. Europe

(The "Coffee" one is my favorite)