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Today we had our first day of Italian class. Due to the fact that I've never studied Italian before and only know a few choice words, the instructors placed me into Beginning Italian. We met up late this morning with the Intermediate Italian students and our two instructors at the fountain in Piazza del Campo and they took us first to buy our Italian textbooks at a really cool bookstore. The textbook is called "Italian Espresso: Italian course for English speakers" and we have two books; a textbook and a workbook. I also bought a cheap journal. The cover is just plain black (all the pretty journals were quite expensive), but I've decided to give it some pizzaz by covering it with stickers and such that I find in and around Siena. I already put a sticker on from the bookstore, and I intend to add many more. After the bookstore, they took us inside of the Basilica San Francesco which is a relatively plain yet beautiful church in Siena (below, click on photo for bigger view).
There are some very beautiful stained glass windows there, especially the rose window. You can pay 2 or 3 euros to light a candle there. Also, they have a lit-up nativity scene that they keep up all year round. We then visitied a location of the University delgi Studi Siena, which is spread out in individual facilities all over Siena. It was right next to the Basilica San Francesco, and the building that it is housed in was aparently used by monks in past years. I also believe that the library there is located in a crypt of the church. After that, we ventured to the Basilica San Domenico where the head of Saint Catherine of Siena is housed. When we saw it, it was from at least 15 feet away, and it was small because it was mummified, so it was hard to see and hard to tell whether or not it was a real head. They have preserved several official documents that vouch for the authenticity of the head, but who knows if it's real or not. After Basilica San Domenico we walked a short distance to the IES abroad center and then had a formal class where we learned a few basic expressions, such as "Come ti chiami?" (What's your name?) and "Di che Nazionalita sei?" (Where are you from?/What is your nationality?) Later that day we met up at the IES abroad center to meet with representatives of the Erasmus Student Network (ESN), which we can join for free. They are a network of students all over Europe (although we would be a part of the Siena ESN), including students studying abroad and local students. ESN Siena plans weekly events, parties, and trips every month. In February, they are going to Venice for the Carnivale, and although the trip is full, they are considering getting another bus if demand rises. They give you the most discounted prices for each trip, so it's really affordable, and if there's room in the Venice trip, I really want to go. Even if I don't get to go to Venice with ESN Siena, a bunch of my fellow students in my program are interested in going together; how can we resist Carnivale?!?! As far as travel, there's been much talk and planning about going somewhere as early as our 2nd weekend here. Since Florence is only 75 minutes away on a direct bus service, and quite affordable if we know where to stay and where to get all the deals, it looks promising. I'm really looking forward to traveling around Italy and maybe even a little around Europe or even to Morocco!! There's been talk of Rome/The Vatican (maybe even for Easter!), Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre, the Amalfi Coast, and a few other places in Italy. I've also signed up for the optional cultural trips that IES puts together and heavily subsidizes to Milano (for 3 days) and then to Perugia, Umbria, and Assisi (for 2 days). So far, the other IES students seem really friendly, open to new experiences, and enthusiastic. Since our apartment has wireless internet and most people in homestays don't have internet at all, people have been coming over periodically to use the internet and hang out. This evening after the meeting with ESN one of our friends came over and me and 2 of my roommates cooked antipasti (appetizers), breaded chicken, and pasta. It was all pretty good for our first attempt at using our Italian stove and oven to cook. Hopefully, cooking dinner together will become a common theme of this semester, and we'll all get better and better at cooking for each other!!
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