Bon Giorno! (I'm here! AHHHH)

Hello! As you have probably guessed from the title, I have arrived! I was planning on posting much sooner (like maybe Wednesday or Thursday), but it took until now to get the internet semi functional. So this will be a pretty long post... but hopefully an interesting one. (I've starred some terms, there's a glossary of sorts at the bottom of the page)

So: to begin. I arrived at the IES center on Wednesday, and was immediately taxied off to my apartment.

Oh my goodness... the apartment. It's amazing.

I'm living with 6 other girls (it's the largest apartment in the program), and we live just outside the city walls (so sadly no contrada* for us. On the other hand, the streets out here are much more spacious, and the coffee appears to be cheaper). Also, the space is absolutely gorgeous. We have three bedrooms, two bathrooms, two balconies, a decent kitchen, and the most amazing living/dining room. It's gorgeous. I'm really really excited to be living here.

That night we had a bit of a meet and greet dinner on the piazza* (at the piazza? not sure which is the correct grammar), and wandered around looking for gelato. Thursday was orientation, so we talked about program expectations and Siena (apparently the university of Siena is the oldest in the western world: started in 1240), registered for classes, and went on a giant walking tour of the city. We also toured the contrada headquarters for the istrice(porcupine) contrada, and learned about the Palio: a huge horse race between the contrade that takes place every summer (we're going to watch the first one!). My flat mates and I decided to adopt the istrice, since we don't have a contrada, and it's closest to us.

Yesterday was the first cultural trip (there are three). We went to the coast, where we spent the morning looking at an Etruscan necropolis that dates back to the 7th century BC, and the afternoon at the beach. The ocean was lovely, the seafood lunch astounding, and all in all it was a pretty fantastic day. After returning, we spent most of the evening fighting with the internet, and exploring our immediate neighborhood in search of some dinner. We found an excellent restaurant, that from the front looks like a tiny hole in the wall, but has a hidden lower floor and outdoor seating, and really excellent pasta. Bonding ensued.

Today, Saturday, was spent grocery shopping and wandering the city. We found the Duomo, which... wow. I don't really have words, and I didn't bring my camera, so I'll have to go back later to take pictures for you all. In the evening, after an enjoyable dinner at home, we went out bar hopping in the city. It was fun but not, I think, nearly as fun as drinking at Whitman. While I'm having a great time, I still miss everyone from home like crazy.

Since this is sort of a food blog, a few notes on the things I've eaten so far:

Italians don't really eat breakfast, which I was rather apprehensive about, but am now adjusting to. Instead, they have a cappuccino and a "pasta", which is essentially a doughnut. All though I'm still a little skeptical about this from a nutritional standpoint, I'm being swayed by the absolute excellence of the cappuccino, which is foamy, rich, and just the right amount of bitter.

The pizza is fabulous, as expected. The sauce is a little sweeter, I think, than it is at home, and the whole thing is much thinner and lighter than American pizza.

Probably the most impressive thing I've had so far was lunch on the coast on Friday. Since the program was paying, we went to a very nice restaurant on the beach, where we had an amazing octopus salad, and crab pasta. The octopus salad was

nice: delicately flavored with a little lemon, but mostly tasting about half way between chicken and fish. I can't really describe it but it was lovely. Crab pasta was delicious but kind of frustrating. The crabs were really small, and arrived on top of the pasta still in their shells, so getting the meat out proved very difficult. The pasta was deliciously satisfying though, with a wonderfully subtle seafood tomato sauce.

Dinner on friday was also fantastic: Cheese ravioli with meat sauce. Exactly what it sounds like, and extremely satisfying. Everyone ordered something different, all of which were lovely. Probably my favorite (after my own), was a wonderfully delicate pesto gnocchi, with the gnocchi probably fresh made and incredibly tender.

wow... this post is... long. Future ones will hopefully be more frequent and almost certainly shorter.

Words:

Contrada: The contrada are the neighborhoods in the city of Siena. During the Medieval period they were military groupings, with each being expected to provide it's own soldiers to protect the city. They no longer do that, but are still very active in the lives of their residents, who still have a great deal of civic pride. They race in the Palio: a horse-race in the Piazza del Campo on July 2nd and August 16th. There are 17 contrada, each of whom has their own mascot and colors. The picture is of the istrice contrada flag.

Piazza del Campo: The square at the heart of the city. Meeting and hangout point. Also the location of the Palio.