Day 12: School, Siena, San Gimignano, Bar.

Ciao! 

Oh. My. Holy. Cheese. Biscuits. 
I haven't written a post in FOUR days. What is this world coming too???


It's been an interesting four days. So, lets see where to begin...


Thursday: 
Thursday was my last day of school for the week. I had a quiz in my Italian class. There were parts where I felt GREAT on and other parts where I was like: CRAP...

I couldn't think of a single veggie in Italian... until after class of course. Zucchini anyone??? Argggghhhh! 
But we're learning here. No one's perfect, ESPECIALLY me. 
Afterwards I had Italian Life and Culture with my awesome German teacher. Again, I love how she snorts when she laughs. Cracks me up. We were all rather tired by the end of the day, so I am sort of sad to tell you that that class--although was fascinating--made me want to take a nap. 

Some interesting facts for you. The Lion and the Lily are symbols of Florence. (I thought that was neat.) Also Florence in the 14th century (I hope I am right about this) was the 2nd biggest city in Europe next to Paris, France. Oh yes! I also learned the banking language is basically derived from the Italians. 


For example: 

1. banca 
2. debito 

Very cool, right?

You: Si!

Later that day, my friends and I went across the river and up this REALLY high hill that overlooked the entire city of Florence. One of the most beautiful sights I have EVER seen. It was SO peaceful up there. We literally just leaned over this wall and stared--in silence--for over an hour. I can't explain how calming the experience felt. It was amazing. It's really nice to get away from the clamorous chaos the city poses and come to a--not so far away--peaceful spot. Sooooooooo nice. I can't emphasize enough how much I absolutely love this spot. I plan to go there at least once a week to get some quiet time. 

My roommate Becca and another AIFS student from Oregon, Casey, enjoying the view. 

Later that night. I crossed the street to buy myself another Nutella infused crepe with strawberries. YUM! Good lord these are amazing. Rich hot hazelnut chocolate goo in a crepe with strawberries. I love when it oozes into my mouth. Goodness... soooo good!!! Understatement. 

Friday was an INSANELY busy day. We woke up an hour earlier than normal and meet at the train station where our AIFS group boarded two buses for Siena and San Gimignano. These two trips were an all day sort of thing. Afterwards I went to a social event, but--laughs sarcastically--we will get to that later. 

Siena: 

Instead of just explaining the whole thing to you about Siena and then post pictures afterwards, I will post pictures first and then explain various things you will need to know (I'm so articulate...)

Don't hate me when I tell you that I can't tell you what the names of these churches are called. I SUCK in that department. Please just enjoy the pictures I took. I know I did. I took a gazillion... or close to that amount. Haha. 

Our Tour Guide. :)

The drive to Siena took about an hour and a half. Once we got there, we broke off into four groups and each had a tour guide to lead us around. Our tour guide was amazing. Super nice and very knowledgable as well. 

Medieval Road

Something to note about Siena is that there are some ginormous hills! I am not exaggerating. These hills are steeper than those in San Francisco AND they are built with medieval stones, so... kind of rough... 

Stupid escalator. 

It was sort of funny (only for like a millisecond) to find an escalator at the top of the hill after we just hiked up the steepest and longest road that ever existed. Like my dad always says: Whiskey tango foxtrot! It's ok. Exercise is good for you right?

A goose symbolizes this district. 

Did you know that Siena is broken up into... uh oh... I think I forgot the number. You know when you know something, but then when you need to call up that something you loose it. Yep... that's what just happened. Well, anyhow, I think Siena is broken up into about 17 districts--which made me smile because my all-time favorite book EVER was a country broken up into 13 districts--and each of these districts have their own flag. It was very cool. 

After hiking around we ended our tour at the Piazza (Something) where there was this incredible clock tower that sort of reminded me of Twilight: New Moon. Yep... haha. 

What's unique about Siena is that they have these crazy horse races. (I think it's once a year) These horses will run around the Piazza (not sure how many times) and the weird thing is that the rider does not need to stay on for the horse to win. The riders also race bareback. I've raced my thoroughbred up in the vineyards behind my house bareback and it is by no means an easy feat. I can't even imagine what that would be like with other riders around you. Yikes. Scary stuff. Something interesting to note is how serious the town takes this horse race. They will actually bring the horses into the church's and bless them with holy water. I found that to be absolutely fascinating. Also, their tower's bell will only toll on a special holiday or during these horse races. It is a BIG deal.

Crazy horse race!!! 

Later I got some absolutely delicious pizza and some crazy delicious gelato. Oh, by the way, it was insanely hot on this trip. I was sweating like crazy! 

San Gimignano: 

So, I fell asleep on the bus ride to San Gimignano and quite honestly did not want to get off. My feet were killing me from the trip to Siena where we walked up the world's steepest roads. But the view here was absolutely phenomenal. I'm not going to say much here because that's all I want to say... oh yeah, there was also this crazy TORTURE museum where they have these wax models of people being tortured in the medieval times. I didn't want to go in there. Also when we climbed up this tower that I will show you we heard this monk chanting in Italian. My friend, Cynthia, who speaks a little Italian, told me that he was saying something about pregnant women. I CRACKED up. Ok... picture time. 

Crazy pregnant speaking monk. 

Stairs to tower of awesome viewness. 

So this last photo... hahahaha. I am not showing you the best view of it. Remember how I told you about that postcard I found at the Santa Croce with a close up on David's rocky mountain oysters??? Well, look at these boxers and this is all I will say. 


Social Event:
So the social event was held in a bar, starting at 21:00. I was lethargic at this point. I climbed millions of stairs and climbed super steep hills. I did not want to go, but I dragged myself anyways. See, I am the kind of person who would rather sit in bed with a book in hand for the night, not go to a bar. 
So I went to this bar and we got a little ticket that meant we got one free drink. I'll tell you something... I was such a party animal with my orange soda in hand. 
This is the part where you throw your head back and laugh uncontrollably. 
Well, I was not even close to being a party animal. My two friends and I sat in the back of the club on our stools, while everyone mingled. 
We were SO tired. 
If you've seen "The Wedding Singer" the three of us were basically the mutants at table seven who no one wanted to talk to... ;)
But the people watching was quite entertaining. Especially since a lot of these kids were drunk. Great story ideas. 
Then I went home and went to bed. 
Goodness I still have lots to tell you about today, which is Sunday, but I will do that tomorrow. 
Time for me to go to bed. :)


Arriderci!