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.

The Monastery

Yesterday we went as a group to visit a Monastery. It was actually pretty cool. It was out in the middle of no where and we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. I took some notes, so this is what I learned about Monks and the Monastery.

things I learned at the monestary

women wore one dress for their whole lives, only changed the sleeves

monks were seperated from the world. only prayed and

worked. friars work in the city. it is rare to see a monk

make their own beer ( I bought a bottle to bring home)

they have the right arm of st. john. only show it on the 24th of july

the artist for the church worked for lianardo di vinci. loved animals. in all his pictures he added random animals

Mary Magdaline never died. Was lifed in heaven in her sleep, while she was going up to heaven she dropped her belt which john the beloved kept

back in the day. small talk/jokes and laughter was banned from the monestary. teacher seemed to like that idea

st. benidict started the monk way of life

the artist for the church was good, but was not considered a famous artist because the monks did not like him. they said his brush "moved to the sound of money". if he did not get paid well, he did a bad job. was switched out for another artist later

monks are called to one mission their whole lives

different colored sacks for different missions. blue/black/white/brown

isolated from the world

if the people in the city do a sin, they can be forgiven by building buildings for the monks

my teacher has a pet snake named lady marmaduke- snakes are depicted as satan in art....hmm...This is starting to make sense