Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we had an American Thanksgiving in Italy! It was a lot of fun, and the food was so good. We were all talking about how we were so happy to have soft bread, butter, and all of our different courses piled on one plate. The pie was amazing, and it was fun to celebrate our American holiday with the Italian school. They really enjoyed it, and even pushed us out of line to grab the food. We invited the two Italian professors, the chefs of the cooking class and the president of the Dante Aligheri University. We all got to help a little bit to make the meal, and I contributed by chopping the carrots, making the stuffing and taking the pictures for the day. There was so much food, and we did our best to make it the most American that we could. We had Turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes, carrots, beans and onions, stuffing, gravy, oreo chocolate pie, pumpkin pie and apple. I tried not to eat too much because I knew I would get a big dinner tonight, but I am still full! We had a lot of fun talking together and being "one big family". It's nice to feel like you are part of something when your family is so far away. I'm glad to have gotten close to the girls and to have made some really good friends. We wanted to give something to the professors that helped us this whole time, so we gave them some gifts. We got Enzo(the Italian Professor) a scarf because he wears the same one, the Chef a bYU 2011 apron and we got our personal professor a decorated plate with the contradas on them. She was happy i think. Anyways, we are all stuffed and don't know what else to do with our day. I already packed so I want to take as many pictures as I can and to maybe go dancing tonight for the last time. I finally realized that I'm leaving this place today and I was so sad about it. It's sad to know that I won't be back, wont be around these people ever again and that this experiance has reached its end! I'm glad I got to be part of the Siena Study Abroad program :)

View of Tuscany from Castle

Goodbye to Siena :(

Today we were swamped with Finals. This morning we woke up to have Italian class ( which we spent studying for our other finals) and then 30 minutes later we took our Humanities 201 exam. The professor was not there for the class, so the Italian teacher did he best to help us with the Exam. He ended up telling us a couple of the answers. In about another hour I will be taking my 2nd exam for the day. It is my Humanities 280 exam given by the Professor over the program. I have heard that her finals are difficult, so everyone is studying as hard as they can so we don't fail. After that exam, I will be going home to pack my suitcase and to see how much room I will have left in my bag. I told a girl on the program I could take some of her clothes in my bags so she would have extra room. I have to make sure everything will fit and that I can get to Utah with enough room in my suitcase. I am so sad that this is my last week here in Italy! I had my last taste of gelato yesterday and tonight we are going to the Tea Room for the last time. We leave Siena Friday morning at 8 in the morning and will be on our 4 hour private bus to Venice. When we get to venice we are going to art museums( modern art this time) and then we get the rest of the day to do whatever we want. Some students are leaving that Saturday, so we get Saturday to spend in Venice to do whatever we would like. I leave Venice Sunday morning at 11:30. My flight to the JFK airport is 10 hours, but I will be arriving there at 3:30. So in reality...I'm only flying for 5 hours. Time change is so strange. I am so sad that I'm leaving. It is getting stressful the closer it is getting to leaving. I need to make sure I have everything worked out. Tomorrow for our last day in Siena we have our Italian exam, and then we are making Thanksgiving dinner with the school. After Thanksgiving dinner we are going home to pack and to get ready for our trip the next morning. AA! It came too soon!

The Last Week

Its my last week here in Italy... Every day I get closer to leaving, the more I realize how much I am going to miss this place. It's so beautiful and I wish I could bring everyone from home here with me. Last Sunday was our last time at the branch here in Siena. We had our branch president talk to us about how happy he was that we came to the ward and how he was glad to have known us. The people there are so sweet and I am going to miss them so much. We had the Primary Program for our Sunday meeting and there are only 2 kids in the ward. One of the boys wouldn't go up there, so the other boy did everything by himself. He did such a good job, and I was embarrassed that he did a better job speaking in church than I did. We also decided to have a Sunday lunch with the missionaries because they did so much with us, and we got to know them really well. We went to our Professor's apartment down the street and we made grilled cheese sandwiches with tomatoe basil soup. It was so good! The school payed for the lunch I guess, so we went all out. We ate 5 packages of bread and had Italian motzerela in the middle. It was also nice to eat butter for the first time in 3 months. My host mom uses Oil on everything and it tastes just as good, or better. I decided Im going to try to cook more things with oil than with butter. It is better that way. At the lunch we had, we just played card games and had fun together. We made the most amazing cookies and then had Bueno bars for dessert. They are little candies that are really popular. We eat too many. After lunch we all went home. At dinner we were trying to tell our Host Mom that we leave this week! She's so old and I dont think she knew what we meant. She thinks we are just going to Florence and will be back soon. I am going to miss the home-cooked meals here they are good. Mom's are even beter though! Today we have our Italian class and our last class in HUM201. I am glad to be done with this class, it is really long. Anyways, It is sad to think that I am leaving soon. I get really nervous thinking about coming home, but I am excited just as much.

Clubbing at the Cambio!

So I obeyed Dad, and went clubbing last night. It was so much fun. Usually on Tuesday and Thursday nights, the girls in the Study Abroad program go to Cambio, a dance club to dance and have fun. I never went. One night when all of the girls were dancing, I was skyping Mom and Dad. Dad told me he really wanted me to go and would pay for my taxi if i wanted to stay out late. So....I decided I would go! haha thanks Dad! We wanted to get there early because we knew that all of the gross guys came out after midnight. So we decided to head over there when it opened at 11 so we could have some good Mormon fun! Brittany and I were already really tired and were so cold. We started to get ready an hour before so we could be ready when the bus came. I was already really cold, so I decided I would layer up. It took me about 20 minutes to get my clothes on and this is what I wore. I had on 4 shirts, 2 jackets, pants, shorts, leggings, 2 socks and a scarf. I looked huge but I was really warm. Brittany and I got to the Compo at 9:45 to wait for the girls to come. At 10 a couple of the girls showed up and we just started to goof off and have fun. Natalyia had almost about the same amount of layers I had on, so we took pictures and then tied our jackets together and ran around. I'm sure we looked drunk. When more girls showed up, we headed over to Cambio and waited for the DJ to show up. Me and Natalyia get a long really well so we started talking about boys and what not, and started to goof around. We wanted to see who had the most layers on, so we started to take off each layer and to count who had the most. We thought it was pretty funny, so we started to make a game of it. All the other girls noticed and started getting in on it to see how far we would actually go. I only got down to my tanktop but I won! I had on more layers. After about a half an hour the music started to play and the DJ turned on a strobe light. It was so much fun. We just danced to all these American songs that none of the Italians could sing to. It was actually really funny to hear them try to sing to Katy Perry or other American songs because they didn't know what they were singing, and only sang the sounds. We had a blast! It was starting to get late though, and we wanted to make our bus and not be there out too late, so we went home at 12:30. I came home and took a shower cuz I was sweating so much and then went to bed at 2:30. I am so tired! It was a lot of fun, and today we have no school. All of us are all druggy at the school trying to figure out travel plans and last minute homework. Anyways, that was my CRAZY Italian night! Attached are just random pictures of the girls in our group.

Florence

Last weekend we went on our last trip to Florence. It was really warm and it felt good to be out of Siena. Florence is by far my favorite city I have been to. It's big, has a lot of shopping and famous sites and is fairly cheap. It feels a lot like Rome, but its not as scary. We went to visit a couple of churches we havn't been to yet and walked around a bit. Some of the people in our group are sick of seeing churches(a lot of them look the same) and wanted to go do some shopping. They ran away while the teacher was busy, so they could do their own thing. At one of the small churches we went to, we were able to see some more of Michelangelo's work. A wealthy family in Florence wanted to build their own church to worship and they asked Michelangelo to make them pieces of artwork to decorate the area. We got to see some unfinished works by Michelangelo while he was working for the family. He used to find Cadavers while he was an artist and he would cut them up so he could see the anatomy of a human body. He did this in secrecy and everyone wondered how he could make a statue look so realistic with all of the muscles and bones in the right places. He was horrible at making women though. Looking at the statues of women was actually really funny. It was just a man with....added parts. The women looked really ugly. While we were sitting there laughing at the artwork our professor came by and told us we needed to be quiet. One of the girls under her breath said, "Yeah, like that is ever gonna happen." The professor then clasped her hands together, tilted her head and in a high pitched voice goes, "Well if not, I'm going to have to drowned you all in that little fountain." It was so creepy. She then went off talking to herself about how their might not be enough water and how she would have to position us under the fountain so that it would drown us correctly. She is evil.

Then for lunch we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. I didn't want to tell them I had enough money, so I just went with them telling them I wasn't gonna eat, I wasn't that hungry. They ended up paying for me, which I was mad about, so now I have to pay them back. Ugh. I also have this bus fine I have to get out of. It's been a stressful couple of days, expecially since I have finals next week. Crazy. Anyways, I love you. Ciao

Fun with a Stalker

So you remember when I told you about that boy that followed me home? He came by again! This time it was just funny and not scary at all. All the neighbors got in on it and I have never laughed so hard in such a long time.

So that Sunday when he followed me home, I told him I would meet him at the bar later the next day just so I would get him to go away. The next day I obviously never showed up, and I locked my window and put a chair in front of it. I was pretty nervous. The next day during dinner, someone started to knock on the kitchen window. It was him! My host mom walked over to the window and asked him what he was doing knocking on her window. He asked if I was home, and she knew that I didn't want him to come over and I didn't know who he was. She played along and told him that she didn't know who Abby was. She told him he should try the lady next door and that she didn't know who he was talking about. But the window was pretty big and he could see me sitting at the dinner table. He pointed at me and told her that he could see me and he knew that I was home. Pierina told me to come over to the window and asked me if this boy went to my school. i told her he didnt and that he wasnt my friend. He told her he was and Pierina started to get frustrated. She told me I needed to go talk to him and make him go away. I went to the door and had my whole body inside except for my head. I said hi...that I went to the bar and didnt see him...and that I didn't have a facebook or a phone number and everything like that. He was nt buying it but he left. When I got back inside Pierina laughed at told me that that was my boyfriend. I told him I didn't know who he was, I promise! I don't think she understood. Then later the neighbors came by and Perina told them about the boy. They were like, "Oh thats your boyfriend!" I told them no and that he wasn't my boyfriend from America either. When they finally go it they laughed and was like, "Tell them you don't talk and get him to go away. If he doesn't go away, cut off his arm." It was funny. Pierina later was like, "Well, if he doesnt go away, he's cute no?" It was hilarious.

Anyways, the next day we met as a group to go to the tea house to watch live jazz and to drink. (hot chocolate). When Brittany and I were in the compo he was sitting there waiting! It was so creepy. I told her where he was and we walked really far away. He saw me though and kept watching us. In about 5 minutes, 2 other girls from our group showed up and started to walk towards us. As soon as we were about to join them, the boy stood up and started to walk towards us again. Brittany and I got scared and we didn't want to tell the girls, so we just started walking away, FAST. We walked down a random street and walked as fast as we could. I turned around to look behind us and he was walking just as fast behind us. As soon as there was a corner, we started to run down the steps and hide behind a car. After laughing and being scared, the 2 girls came over asking us what was going on. They told us a man was waiting on the top of the steps and he was acting creepy. We told them what was going on, and we walked together back to the compo. When we got there he was waiting in the same spot again. He saw us, but didn't come over. Soon everyone came over and we all walked to the tea room together. It was scary.

But the Tea Room was a lot of fun. We wore ties and ordered hot chocolate and played chess. The jazz music was loud but it was fun to be there. When we went to the bus station he was not there and I think I will never see him again. If not, I have 20 girls who can beat the crap out of him for me, so I am good. Anyways, that was my crazy story!

Grosseto Beaches

This weekend we had it free! We were allowed to do whatever we wanted and we didn't have to do any homework or go to any school trips. A couple of the girls including my roommate went to Lake Como and Milan, and the rest of us stayed in Siena. Thursday we all relaxed and went home and planned on meeting at the bus station at the next morning at 9:30 to go to Grosseto. Grosseto is about an hour and a half away and is a little town next to the coast. We were planning on going to the Italian Hot Springs nearby, but there were no buses that could take us there, so we decided to take a different bus to take us closer to the beaches. It ended up being a really long bus and we had no idea where the bus was taking us! After a long drive we ended up at this deserted beach. It was beautiful and we had it all to ourselves! It was really windy and there was a lot of fog covering the water but it was so pretty! We ran up and down the beaches and took a ton of pictures. It was really fun to be away from the city and to enjoy being at the beach all alone. After a while a bunch of old men came by and were sailsurfing. They were really good and it was fun to watch them. After a couple of hours we started to get cold, and wanted to get some food. Because the beaches were deserted, there were no places to get food around that area, and had to take the bus back to Grosseto to eat. We waited an hour and a half for a bus and when it came, it almost missed us! We had to run to catch up to it. When we got to Grosseto we found this little pizza place that had huge 5 euro pizzas. We were so hungry that we all ordered our own pizza and ate all of it in 10 minutes. The owner could tell we were a bunch of little american students, so he started speaking in gibberish with his tounge sticking out pretending like he was mentally ill. He thought it was really funny and kept messing with us. After our food, we were so tired, so we came back to Siena. That night my host mom had made pizza and I was already sick from eating an entire 14" pizza by myself. I ate it though and we got to talk a little bit more than we usually do. It was a fun day, and the next day I stayed in Siena and me and two girls studied for school, watched an American Movie and got lunch together. It was really nice. I also got to skype with mom and Dad! Love you :)

Seriously??

OH MY GOSH! You are never going to believe what just happened to me today. A man followed me all the way into my bedroom. Not even joking. It was scariest thing that has ever happened to me, and I'm still freaking out about it.

So, I got on the bus this morning to get to church, and I guess a guy came and sat behind me but I didn't notice. I pushed the button for the bus driver to stop at my stop, and the guy came off a couple of minutes behind me, which is normal. But I walked across the street, and around the corner to walk towards the church, and he was right behind me. I got a little weirded out, so I took the small street to the church. He stopped me and asked me some questions, but I didn't know what he was saying. I told him I didn't speak Italian, and he started to ask questions like, where do you study, where are you going, are you meeting up with friends. I told him I was meeting up with friends right now and would just be taking the bus home after. After I told him I didn't have a phone, he said ok, and then told me goodbye. I went to the church, and didn't think much about it.

After church, I walked to the bus station, and he was there. I had just been in the OVS store, and he had an OVS bag. I walked past him and sat on a seat that was surrounded by a ton of people. When my bus got there, I got on at the front and then sat down. He had gotten on the same bus as me. I acted like I didn't see him, and decided that I would take a stop earlier than the one I usually take just to see if he really was following me. When I stood up to push the button, he stood up too and told me this was his stop too. He got off at the same time as me, and told me that he lived in Via Columbini too. I said ok, and he walked the same way as I did. He seriously followed me down the street...up the road..and to my front door. I looked at him, and told him that I was tired and I was going to go to sleep and that i would see him later. He said, "Io?...." which means "and me?".... but I didn't know that. He seriously came inside my house and then followed me into my bedroom. I was freaking out. Pierina was there, and I made sure she saw that there was someone there. I tried to look at her, like i didn't know who this was, but she had no idea. He came into my bedroom, and put his stuff down and then just stood there. I got really creeped out, so I asked him if he wanted to go on a walk with me to get him out of there. He said ok, and I asked him if he was going home. He said that there were too many people there and so he didn't. He kept talking to me and asking me questions. i guess he studys here too..or maybe he doesnt. I don't even know. He's from Egypt and 25. I finally told him I would meet him at the bar tomorrow because I had to go home. I am not planning on going, it was just the only way to get him to go away. Everytime I told him I was going somewhere, he told me he was going to the same place. I'm so freaked out right now. Now this guy knows where I live, and even came into my room! I told Pierina that he followed me home and that I didn't know who he was. She laughed and told me I did a good job for getting him to go away. She doesn't seem to worried, so I feel like I will be fine. It was just really scary. I'm only nervous that if i don't know up at the bar, he will come to my door. Oh my gosh. ... Only in Italy right? Scary

Holidays!

Well its November 2nd!! The past two days have just been fun and festivals! Obviously October 31st was Halloween, and then Italy celebrates All Saints Day on November 1st. It has been a lot of fun, and then today we have FHE. So it has been good to have been really busy.

On Halloween, we decided that we would have a mini party because all the other parties Italy was having...was not the best. We invited the missionaries to party with us, and we rented out the church building. We all got to dress up, and we made caramel apples, played musical chairs, games, ate candy and played a mummy game. I think the missionaries had a lot of fun, and it was good just to all be together and to laugh. I forgot to bring something to dress up, so Michelle wrote on my arm and everyone thought I was trying to be a pirate... I guess that worked. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad that I got to do something to celebrate the holiday. One of the girls in the group Natalia and me have gotten pretty close. She's super nice. I told her I didn't have a Halloween costume, so she told me that we would go to the party without costumes and be adam and eve. It was hilarious. she put a soccer ball under her shirt, and she told everyone she was pregnant with Cain and Able. It was pretty fun.

For All Saints Day, I didn't notice that Italy did anything, but they do have Christmas decorations up already all over the streets. It's really pretty and I can't wait for them to turn on the lights! Anyways, I am just once again letting everyone know I love them. This picture is for mom :) I took one with the teddy bear that sits by my mirror every single day. Love you Mom

10/27/2011

I'm just sitting in the student lounge right now with nothing to do..... Everyone has class, and I only had one class today in the morning. Tonight we are having family night at our Professors apartment to make pumpkin seeds, banana bread and to get together. I am really missing the Halloween decorations and candy corn! Save some Halloween Candy for me! They already have Christmas decorations hung up all over the city. It looks really pretty. I was just talking to my professor and she told me that after this week, we only have four more weeks of school. Four more weeks? I just got here! This went by way too fast!

Well, I will add some more pictures, just for fun. The first one is the Cathedral of Florence, the next one is me and the polo players and the last one is of one of the best pizza's I have had! Love y'all :)

Camping in Florence??

This last weekend was one of the craziest weekends I have had here in Italy. On most weekends, we have scheduled activities planned out by our professors. We were scheduled to travel to Florence by bus to spend the weekend in the beautiful city. Our plan was to go to a museum to visit artwork by Michelangelo, go explore on our own then go to a local opera. It sounded like it was going to be a really fun trip! We took the 8:00 bus that morning and sat on the 2 hour long bus ride to arrive at the Train station in Florence. It was windy and cold but we were all excited. We met up with the Humanities 201 professor, Professor Giorgi to have her show us all the famous artwork. She is from Florence, so she knew all the amazing places to show us, and where all the good places to eat was. We first went to a large museum that was full of bronze and marble statues made by Michelangelo and other famous artists. We got to see Michelangelo's first piece of artwork made when he was a young boy. I am not sure what the name of the peice was, but it was depicting Cupid. Back in Michelangelo's day, if you found Truscan antiques or exevated something, you could make a ton of money. Michelangelo was needing some money, so he made a marble statue of Cupid, buried it in the dirt and then pretended that he found it the next day. He sold it to a buyer and got a "billion" dollars for it. That buyer then had an art show where he was showing off all of the artwork that he had found. Someone noticed that the Cupid that Michelangelo made was not an antique and the buyer was embarrassed and wanted to kill Michelangelo. He found Michelangelo and Michelangelo begged him to let him see his other work before he killed him. Michelangelo made him another piece of marble art, and the artist was more impressed and then started to show Michelangelo off instead of killing him. I have learned that Michelangelo was an amazing sculpture, but he knew it and was kind of a snot. He knew that he was better than anyone else, and he would break the rules and he would do things differently just because he knew he could.

After the artwork, we were given a break, so me and some girls went to go get some Kebab's for lunch and then we walked around the markets, went to H&M and Zara's. When it started to get dark and cold, we crossed Old Bridge and met in a little church chapel to see a local Opera. It was the Marriage of Figaro. It was so good! They explained the scenes to us in English, so it made sense, and it was cool to see an actual Italian Opera. After the Opera was over, it was dark, colder and 11:30 at night. We had to run to the bus station to get our bus before the station closed down. We ran there and found our bus right before it left. The bus was long, and was supposed to take us to our hostel to spend the night. When the bus got to our stop, we got off and realized there was nothing there. There was no hostel and the gate that we were in front of was locked and it was dark. By now it was past midnight and we were freezing in our thin jackets, and just wanted to get warm and sleep. The gates were opened by someone at the front desk and brought us in. Instead of getting to a warm hostel....we had ended up in a Camping Spot. Our professor didn't do enough research I guess, and we had ended up in a camping ground and we were not prepared! We were given one blanket and were taken to a tent. We were all so cold and just slept in what we were wearing that day. It was pretty miserable, but a good memory.

The next morning we went to Stake Conference and then were given the day to spend in Florence or to go home. We stayed in Florence until 3 and then I traveled home to get warm and to eat dinner. It was a funny weekend.

Contrada info...

It's another cold day here in Italy! Every wednesday they have a huge market that wraps around the city wall. Today I am going to go to the market and see if they have any cheap jackets or sweaters. You can get anything at the markets, and they are actually really cool to see. It's a really big deal, and it closes in one hour so I have to hurry fast!

Yesterday we went to a Contrada dinner. ( yeah, I know I talk about it alot). But they wanted us to know the real reason why they have them, and the purposes. Each contrada is split up for different purposes. It was first started in 1460, and there were over 60 contradas that now have merged into 17. Back then, the city was split up by professions. The blacksmiths would all be on one side of the city, the judges on the other, the bakers and so on. It has just stuck and now the people still do the same thing. The purpose of the

contrada is to unify the people, to clean that part of the city, protection of the fountains and of the neighbors. Each Contrada also has an enemy. Because they have been fighting for such a long time, they know their strengths and their weaknesses. Owl's enemy is the Unicorn. ( lame... ). The animal also symbolizes a virtue or a belief. Because the people could not read or write back then, they would use animals to portray a certain feeling. The owl is intellegence obviously. Anyways yesterday we went to the a Contrada dinner with the people of the "Tower" Contrada. They won the palio back in 2004 and they are still celebrating that win.

When you win the Palio, you don't win money or riches. You win a flag portraying the Virgin Mary. Back in the 1400's Siena was involved in a war with another city close by. They were praying to the Virgin Mary that she would protect them, and that day, the sky turned bright blue. They won the war, and from that moment on, the virgin mary has become the symbol of the city. The Palio is a symbolism of that battle. The Palio is held 2 times each year and EVERYONE goes. Seats sell for over 300 euro. They also hire jockeys to race for their team, and they are usually brought in from another city. Each jockey is paid 2 million euro to race, and even more for the horse. When the horses prepare for the contrada, they are blessed by a bishop and told to "come back and win". Each horse is pulled out of a hat, and you are lucky if you get a better horse. The jockey is not the winner of the contrada, it is the horse. They celebrate the horses win.

Anyways, I'm sorry I talk so much about it, its just so interesting to me and im catching on to the Siena spirit here. I just don't want to forget anything I have learned. Today marks one week of no gelato, and I am celebrating by....having gelato. I am so excited. Love you all! BY THE WAY...the picture attached is for dad. I got the email about dad talking about how he was concerned I was looking at too many naked men, or that I was "looking" at them or whatever. SO this is me showing my love for naked men statues, haha. Just kidding dad, I actually can't stand them!! Love you Dad :)

Wheres Waldo!

This past weekend we went as a group to visit Torin! Torin is part of Northern Italy, and it is where Lorenzo Snow and Joseph Torino came as missionaries to share the gosple! We went on a little "LDS History Tour" and got to see where the Church had an impact on the country of Italy. It was actually really interesting. Back in the day, everyone was Catholic, and you could ONLY be Catholic by law. There were a couple of people who did not like the Roman Catholic belief system, so they ran away to the alps! The man who started this Revolt was named Waldo. He said that when he was reading the scriptures one day, he came across a passage that said, " Abandon all of your money and follow me." He took that literally, and gave up all his possessions and went to preach the gospel. Because it was against the law, they hid themselves in the alps of Italy and started to make their own city. They call themselves Waldensians and are a Prodestant Religion. When Brigham Young was deciding where to send missionaries on the first International Mission areas, an idea of Italy came into his head, and he knew to send the missionaries, Lorenzo Snow and Joseph Torino to preach to the Waldensians. Because they were in poverty and had bad living conditions, they knew they would get the most success of missionary work. When they got there, they were welcomed by the people, but they had very little success. One night, they were told by the villagers that a little girl was sick and dying. They prayed to use opportunity as a way to get into the people's hearts. They gave the little girl a blessing and the next day she was healed. Word spread all around the area, and then they had better success. I think in the first 10 years in Italy they only baptised 172 people, but work here is getting better and the wards here are very big! Suprizingly, the religion we have the most success baptising is Catholic! I don't know why. Oh, I also saw Christopher Columbus house!

After we were able to see all of that, we got to stay in that city and spend the night. It was really cold ( because we are in the alps) and all I had was an Aeropostale Jacket. I was so cold. The next day we climbed the alps and got to see where the Waldensians had school and where they hid. It would have been a horrible place to live because of the weather. RANDOM COOL FACT! The people back then were not allowed to read or write. Only the priests or the pope could, because having the people be "ignorant" made them more humble. The waldensians would teach them reading and writing in the schools, which was Illegal. Back then all you could write was a circle to sign your name if you were a woman, and a cross if you were male. 150 years later, and now more than 90% of all Italians can read or write. Crazy.

Anyways, after the AMAZING hike, we took a trip to another city. We came to this HUGE monestary,( which is the picture attached to this). We got to learn all about the building and the popes that live there, and then we got to stay the night there. Isn't that crazy? We stayed in the pilgrimage building and it was so cold. I slept with 2 wool blankets on. At night, we were scheduled to have dinner, so we were trying to find the third floor. We ended up on a random floor and it was the creepiest thing of my life, I'm still scared. The elevator randomly opened on this floor to a room that had flickering lights. There were old paintings on the walls which candlesticks and a set table. We walked into the room, and I got scared so I ran back to the elevator. On our way back there was this old man just standing in the dark pointing at us telling us we needed to get off this floor. He was drooling and shaking. ( And then he tried to get in the elevator and it started to shut on his head. haha, it was funny, but scary) . I am still scared of that building, it was really weird. Not a holy place at all.

On sunday we spent most of the day driving home. It was a 7 hour bus drive. We went to Sacrament meeting and now I am getting ready for bed. Anyways, it was a crazy weekend!

Michelangelo's David.

Today was a really amazing day! Today we woke up early as a group around 7:00 and traveled by bus to Florence. Florence is only a little more than an hour away, so we got to spend the entire day there. The city was huge and reminded me a lot of Rome. It was crowded, dirty and had a lot of old buildings everywhere. There was also a lot of beggars which was really scary. They get really close to you and don't leave you alone. We went to Florence for my HUM201 class, and we got to go to an archaeological museum that had a lot of the egyptian statues and things that we have been studying in class. I got to see the famous portrait of Nephratiti and lots of mummies. I learned that the coffins you see that are shaped close to the body and covered in paint is only for the rich, or upper class. I got to see a lot of coffins that were made out of cheap wood or something like that. It was really cool to see how life was like for the people who lived in that era. It was really interesting. We also got to see an old Renascence Baby Hospital. I guess what they would do, is have the women come in to have their babies, and then take them away from them to clean them and stuff like that. They would leave a coin with the baby and then give a matching coin to the mother so that they would know who's baby was who's. A lot of the times, the mothers would just leave their children there. If they had a baby with a man they were not married to, they would get in a lot of trouble, so they would leave their babies with the hospital. They could come back years later and bring the coin to see if they could see their children they left. I guess it turned into an orphanage after a while. It was pretty sad to hear about.

After that we had lunch, and then we got to see Michelangelo's David. It was one of the coolest things I have never seen. I have never appreciated it before, but I was suprised how amazing it was. It is 15 feet tall of pure marble. I guess marble is really hard to carve out of. We think it is hard, but I guess marble is really soft. It was amazing to see. It is against the law to take a picture of the David....but I took like 5. You can get kicked out of the area for it. I felt sneaky. Recently the country cleaned the David statue and they found 3 letters on the left calf of David. The letters are MNL. We believe that those letters are the signature of Michelangelo. It is weird because he never signs any of his artwork. He believed he was famous and a good enough artist that people would just recognize his work and he wouldn't have to sign it. I guess he was a snot. But he was really good.

Anyways, Today was really cool!

Feelin like Christmas is comin!

I'm supposed to be doing homework right now, but I am having a hard time concentrating. I figured I should probably take a break. Today is really cold! I only brought one jacket and it is so cold. The TV only tells the weather in Celsius so all I know is that it is 8 degrees outside. My host mom brought me out another blanket and I still had the hardest time sleeping. I am hoping that it doesnt get too cold, and that it doesnt snow over here. ( I am pretty sure it doesn't)

So I have been missing America pretty bad. I miss just knowing what a bottle of Shampoo is ( or if it even is shampoo), having things actually cost what they say, and being able to have a normal conversation with someone. I was on the bus the other day and heard people speaking English, so I came up to them and told them thankyou for speaking English and that I was so happy to see someone else from America. I think they thought I was crazy. Speaking of Crazy...there are a lot of really crazy people here. Its hard to tell who is drunk and who is mentally insane. There is this one guy here that runs up and down the bus station everyday. I never see him anywhere else. He wears these huge bell bottoms and he just walks up and down the area with his cigarette looking at everyone. There is this other guy that I think is schizophrenic. He just starts mumbling and then will point at things telling the "person" that he doesnt want what they are offering him. I feel really bad for him, but I tried smiling at him once and he stared at me with this really creepy face the entire bus ride. I decided its a better idea just not to talk to him. Other than the drunk/mentally insane people, everyone is pretty nice. They either like you, or hate you. I've noticed that. If they know you are american they either treat you nicer than everyone else or treat you really badly. Most of the time I don't think people can tell im American except when I start talking. What I have noticed about the families here are really interesting. A family of 3 is huge. You never see the parents taking care of their kids. The kids are always with really older people. I think that the grandparents take care of the kids for the parents. I am not sure. I also have noticed that there aren't a lot of "kids" here. Once they turn like 6 or something, they act like adults. They dress the same and act really old. There are a lot of younger girls in some skimpy outfits, smoke and wear a ton of makeup. Its really sad. It's the same with the boys. They dress older and you can tell that they drink. Being a teen is the time to go crazy. I think people just expect that here. I'm so glad that I don't believe that. Phew, it is such a relief. It's sad to watch people here. I think my host mom thinks I am really religious. She laughs that we go to church every sunday, and she doesnt get why we don't go out at nights, or why we don't drink. Whenever we meet someone, the first thing she tells them is that we don't have coffee or tea, and she will start laughing. She thinks we are pretty weird I can tell. She must have had some pretty crazy host kids before us. There are a TON of students here. Some from Asia, Britian, Scotland, or America or Italy. They pretty much come from anywhere. There are a million colleges up here. The main one is the University of Siena, but then they have a bunch of little ones. There are a lot of younger kids, like in their 17s or 18s and they are everywhere. It's crazy. I wonder what it would be like to grow up in an area that had so many tourists. I don't think i would like it.

Anyways,I better get back to work. Ciao

THE COMPO

ISNT IT BEAUTIFUL

MY CONTRADA

Getting to know Siena

Well because I missed the train to go to the weekend trip, I decided I would spend the weekend getting to know Siena as best as I could! Its starting to feel like fall here and Siena looked so beautiful. I woke up this morning to Peirina and her daughtor yelling, and I knew it was time to wake up! I got dressed in a sweater, boots and wore my Italian scarf from Rome. I felt pretty European, and I decided I would get a Kebab for lunch. The Kebabs are an indian meat covered in whatever you want on it. It was the best thing I have had here by far. It was the closest thing I could find to Mexican. This means I have lost my love for Gelato and will now be eating Kebabs everyday.

After lunch, I went to the train station and went to the mall. It was tiny, and pretty useless, so I took a train back and came to Piazza Gramsci. As I was looking through the stoors, I started to here drums going off in the compo. I went over there, and noticed there were little boys dressed up and marching through the streets. It was a Contrada game today!

The city of Siena is split up into 17 different districts, each named a Contrada. 2 times a year they compete against eachother to the Polio. It is a small horse race only 3 laps in the compo. It is a fast race but means everything to them! Everyone goes. Only one rider and horse can compete for their contrada. The contradas all have different names and mascots like, the Elephant, Owl, Snake, Dragon, Duck, Snail, Giraffe and so on. Some times during the year they have other competitions and they like to battle against eachother. Today it was the boy's turn, and the little boys were playing the drums and flags to represent their contrada. Because I live outside the city walls, I don't have a contrada, but I decided that if I am going to be here, I need to have one! Everyone picks a Contrada and they are loyal to it. I did my research around the city and decided that my Contrada would be the Owl. They have not won recently, but they did 2 years ago. Giraffe won the Polio in August and Duck has the most wins overall. I am excited to finally have a contrada.

But today has been really nice. Really relaxed and it feels really good. Arriverderchi!

Fun times in Siena

So I decided to have a crazy night last night. My roommate and I live around 15 minutes away from the city walls, so because of that reason, we live in a neighborhood of old Italians, where no cars are. The buses that leave our neighborhood stop at 9 so we never get to go out at night and enjoy the night with the rest of our group. Last night, we just didnt care and we took the last bus to take us into the city knowing that we had no way home.

We met a couple of the girls in the Compo and we went to the Tea Room. The tea room is exactly what it sounds like! It is a room that is covered in Tea Sets, musical instraments and ties. You can order any drinks or cakes that you would like and you can stay as long as you want to. A couple of the girls ordered some Tea and they give you an entire pot. I didn't order anything, but it was a really cute place. Because I am sick, I got really tired, and wanted to go home at midnight. Luckly for us, there is a bus that leaves Piazza Gramcshi at 12:20. I finally got home and went I got back, my "mom" was already asleep.

That next morning I was having a bad day and sick, so I slept in until around 12. My other roommate had already left for school. At twelve I got out of my room swollen, drugged and tired. My host mom looked at me and started busting out laughing. ( This lady is like 80 years old). She wouldnt say anything to me and was laughing as hard as she could. I gave her this look and told her that I wasn't feeling good. She laughed even harder and then looked at me and went "Discotecca!!". So apparently she thought I got drunk last night at a party and woke up in the morning with a hangover. She still doesnt believe me. She even was gonna bring out alcohol at dinner the next night.

For dinner we were able to spend it with Peirina and her son! ( Don't worry he is like 50). He was a really nice guy and was explaining to me that he owns a winery. He told me I could come whenever I wanted and help make the wine and see how it is done. I was really excited. He also brought out something to eat that was a little strange.... He offered us his favorite meal which is a cows stomach. I told him I would try it, so for that night for dinner I had the lining of a cows stomach. It wasnt that bad, just rubbery like eating a vein in a piece of meat.

Anyways thats the end of my fun!

Bleh

I'm officially sick. It finally happened. I think it's because I have been running off of 4 hours of sleep and gelato. I'm getting more today... I can't help it. I tried a flavor yesterday called Biscocrok and it was one of the best things I have ever done for myself. It was yellow creme flavored with huge chunks of fudge. I was so happy that I ate that. Today I am going to treat myself to 3 scoops and I'm just going to do it. There is no turning back now!

So I have realized that I am missing out on a lot of Italy. I mean hey, I might as well have some fun right? I'll never be here ever again! I decided that sometime this week I am going to go out with the girls instead of going to bed. Maybe I will get an Italian kiss eh? Just kidding Mom. Anyways, not much to share for today! Just enjoying the day!

The pictures are of Porta? I think is what its called. It was ment to be "The perfect city". But after the pope died, they gave up making it. The town is really small. i am standing next to a sign that says Love! They have a kiss one and a luck one. We all walked down Kiss street. We are definatly girls.