Palio!

I just finished one final, a presentation and a paper and now I just have one more test until I am finished with school. It was a fun and interesting experience, but none-the-less it is still school- and I am READY to be done!

Yesterday was the first day of the Palio festival. The Palio is a festival that goes on twice a year here. It is a bareback horse race between 10 out of 17 Contradas. I was wrong-- in an earlier blog I said that my school's contrada was racing this year but turns out that they won the last one and therefore are not competeing in this one. I am not really sure who I am going to root for because my school and host family are not competeing but I will have to find someone to root for. Yesterday the jockies got assigned their horses. It is interesting because the Contrada's do not choose the horses, they are randomly assigned. That means that the jockeys only have 3 days before the race to practice with the horse that they will be racing with. The Contrada's do however choose the jockeys and they are often professionals. Last night I had to write a paper so I couldn't attend the first trial run but it was on TV. It was fun to watch! There is another trial tonight and tomorrow that I will hopefully be able to watch but I am not sure. Yesterday, the entire city was decorated with flags of the different contradas. The people of the contradas also were wearing wraps worn around their necks to represent. Our teacher actually told us that during these four days, you should be careful wearing particular colors because you could walk into the enemy contrada wearing the wrong colors!! All week there has also been singing, drumming, and marching coming from all the different contradas. Everything about the Palio so far has been really interesting to learn about- people take it very seriously here. I am so excited to be part of such a huge tradition!
This is a picture of where the lucky people get to sit!! So jealous!

























The first part of this was done yesterday. But now I am all finished with school and waiting for the Gulden's to get here to have fun!!!

Cinque Terre

Hello!!

Well this weekend I made it to a place called Cinque Terre- it means the 5 cities. I made it there but man did I have to fight for it. As I put in my last post, it was very difficult to find a hostel. So after that didn't work, I tried to look for a hostel and finally found one!!! So our trip was booked :) We were all excited and then Thursday evening came around and we found out that there was going to be a bus and train strike on Friday (apparently this happens fairly often). So our original plan was to train from Siena to a nearby city called La Spezia. Well, after we found out about the strike we were forced to bus to Florence, on one of the only buses running that day, and then train to La Spezia. It was a pain in the butt but we finally made it there!! Brianne, Megan and Beth were my three friends coming with me this weekend. We all dropped off our stuff and then went out around La Spezia for Friday night. It was a really cute town with a lot of shops and restaurants!! For dessert we found this crepe place that made all different kinds. I got a Nutella and Marscapone cheese crepe- Giada would be so proud! It was absolutely delicious!!













Then we called it an early night to get some rest! Saturday morning we woke up and Brianne and I met Megan and Beth at their hotel to eat breakfast. They had a great breakfast buffet! They had crossiants, pastires, yougurt and they even had eggs you could hard boil- well I thought it was hard boil... turns out I think they eat them soft boiled, which I was not into. But it was still cool!









After our yummy breakfast we went to get on a ferry to cinque terre. This was the best idea of the day!! Our first sight of the beautiful cities from the water made them even more beautiful!! I loved every minute of that ferry ride! We went all the way up to the 5th city first and then worked our way down from there.





































The 5th city was called Monterosso. It was all of our favorite city. There was a gorgeous beach and it was relatively flat so it was easy walking. My friend Beth, who I decided to call Auntie Beth for the weekend is 42 years old and cannot do a lot of walking so the other cities were much harder for her to explore. We just walked around this city for a while and decided to buy a weekend pass for a train that takes you back and forth between the cities as much as you want. So we were ready to move on to the next one...













The next city was called Vernazza. I really enjoyed this city as well. There were many shops here as well. In one of the shops- I bought some pretty purple earrings made of glass from Venice!!












Then, Brianne and I really wanted to go to the beach. The third city, Corniglia which is on top of a bunch of rocks, and go to the 2nd city, Manarola. This city was pretty too-- basically more of the same in the actual city. The beach turned out to be more like a rock beach and was kind of dirty so we decided to maybe just skip the beach for Saturday and go back to the top city on Sunday because it was much nicer!













Another option of traveling between the cities, besides the train, is hiking. Although the hike from the bottom to the top takes about 5 hours. Instead of hiking to all of them, we decided to be lazy between cities 2-5 and hike the easy one between 1 and 2. It was gorgeous! It was called Via dell'Amore-- the Lover's Walk. There were a whole bunch of pad locks along the way, we never could figure out exactly what they were for other than something about couples. But it was on the mountain, looking out over the water and it was just gorgeous! The water there was so blue, it was beautiful!! During the walk there was a vineyard on the mountain-- can you even imagine having to pick those grapes!


















After our walk we explored a little bit in Riomaggiore but this city was on a steep incline and after walking up about half way and there not being too much to look at, we decided to climb back down. Brianne and I went down to the beach and sat for a while and Beth and Maggie went to have dinner on the ocean. That was my original plan- to eat fresh seafood on the water- but after eating a HUGE pizza for lunch I was not hungry until way later that night! So instead, we all finished up and went back to La Spezia. We were all exhausted anyway so it was good to go to sleep semi-early.













Then on Sunday we all got up, did the breakfast buffet again and then went to the best city to spend the afternoon. Brianne and I got to sit on the beach for a few hours and Maggie and Beth went around the city again. It was a very wonderful relaxing day. We then went to have lunch on the water and yes, I had fresh seafood!! I had shimp cocktail- which was nothing like at home. It was warm with this thick dressing on it and actually pretty good. I ate 3!! Then I ate fresh almond encrusted salmon!! It was really, really good! I really enjoyed it! Brianne got this seafood pasta and I tried a clam which was probably one of the worst things I have ever eaten- I hated it. It tasted like I just took a huge gulp of seawater! Ugh- good thing I ate that before mine because I think it made mine even more enjoyable! :)



















After lunch it was time to go back home to Siena and get ready for another week. We only have 2 days of classes left and then a presentation and paper due Wednesday and two tests to take. Then I am done with classes!! I know- already right?? It feels like I just got here!! I am sad for Siena to end but I am also so so so so excited for my family to arrive! Wish me good luck on my finals, I am not excited for them! Ciao!

Potato Chips

Friday was a short day of classes and then we all went to the Piazza del Campo (the main plaza in Siena) to learn about the history of Siena. It was interesting for a while but after about an hour I started to get bored. History has never really been my thing and I was starving for lunch! We went inside a museum to learn more and it was beautiful, like everything else has been, but I still was ready to go spend my afternoon elsewhere.
























After the museum was a wine tasting with a few people from school. It was located at a restaurant in the city. It was very enjoyable. We first toured the old cellar and then went out on the patio for our tasting. The first wine we tried was a 2008 white Vernaccia from San Gimignano. I am usually a red girl but out of the three that we tried, this one was my favorite.





















Then we tried a red 2006 Piemonte Nebbiola d' Alba. It was a little to sweet for my preference, and also not as dry as I would have liked. For nibbles, they gave us potato chips- thats right like you would put on the side of a sandwich. Why, in Italy, did they give us POTATO CHIPS to try wine with???? I could not answer this question, and was simply not having it and therefore was forced to order my own cheese plate with bread. And, it was simply lovely alongside my vino!















Lastly, we tried a 2009 Rose from Pulia called Negroamaro. This was refreshing while sitting outside in the sun!! While tasting yummy wine, the man we were with helped educate us a little bit about wine. It was very interesting!













On Saturday, me and 3 friends got up and went to the beach!! This time we went to a place called Riva de Sole. We were put on the wrong bus from Siena and ended up at the city near Riva de Sole. At first, all of us were a little frustrated with the situation but once we made it to the beach, we were happy again! And it was a cinch to find our correct bus home once we got there- so that was good!! Last time I went to the beach I went to buy sunscreen and the cheapest one was 50, so I got it, and I did not get ANY color! This time I wanted a little bit so I decided I would just use it on my face-- and what you are thinking now is exactly right, I got sunburned. Of course I did, and I knew I would but last night I got home and I looked like a lobster!! Luckily, with just a little bit of lotion it is much better and almost gone today, so my plan worked! I got some color :) The beach was absolutely beautiful, the water was a gorgeous blue and there were some mountains in the distance. We found a good spot and stayed there for about 6 hours. Brianne and my friend Megan found some rocks to climb while I- like a chicken- watched our things.

























After a long day of traveling and beaching, we all just went home and got a good nights rest. Today we woke up and went to a Catholic church service at the HUGE church on the hill. It was gorgeous but unfortunately,we were not allowed to take any pictures. But the inside of the church was magnificent. The service was beautiful and tourist friendly. It had the whole service written in a packet for us to follow along and also the songs written so that we were able to sing along. It was really nice. Sorry if this offends anyone, but I did take communion just cause I wanted to-- I know you are supposed to do confession first and all that, but I really wanted to do it so I did! I mean, its the only time I am going to get to do communion in Italy so I had to!













After church, the plan was to go to a Chianti vineyard outside of the city but it was pouring rain. I called them to ask if it was raining there too and they said yes, so that was cancelled. I was really sad, but oh well. Instead we went to a bar to watch Italy play futbol! The bar was packed so that was a lot of fun! Too bad they let people tie in soccer, that is really unsatisfying!










After the game was over, I decided to go home to do some homework and by the time I got home it was pouring down rain. I had an umbrella, luckily, but my bottom half was drenched! I did not realize there would be this much rain- I am not equipped with the shoes necessary for rain! I may have to invest if this keeps up. And tomorrow starts another week of schooling. No plans for during the week quite yet but I will try and come up with some- there is talk about going to see a glass blower.. I guess we will both see :) Arrivederci for now!

P.S. I wanna give a shout out to the best Daddy in the world on Father's Day, sorry again you have to work!! Thanks for everything you do for me and helping get where I am today (both literally and figuratively). Love you so much, happy father's day Daddy!!