Siena...it is COLD!!!

Ok, ok...yes, I have been very slack with giving you an update since arriving in Siena, my new home!! IM SORRY!!! Grovel, grovel...

BUT, I do think that I have done VERY well so far keeping you all updated!! Agree?!?

I last left you all with me having just arrived in Siena on the Sunday afternoon and being "stanchissima" as they say here!!

The early morning action at Rome station...

Monday was obviously my first day of school, and rudely, I had to be there at 8am!! Yes, not very happy but I had to be there early to sit my placement test and do all the new student stuff...

All of this was fine...I passed with flying colours of course!! haha....but spent my first day, 3 hours, in a class that was too easy. Not a massive problem as the dirctor had said to me when she placed me that if it was too easy to let her know and she would change me. So day 2 I moved class to where I am now.

My class is quite big in comparison to that in Taormina, there are 10 of us this week (2 newies to last week) and there is quite a mix of ages and nationalities. I would guess that the age range is 23 to 55 and there are 3 Swedes, 1 Norwegian, 1 German, 2 Swiss, 1 Scot and...ONE Australian, the only Australian in the whole school at the moment...in fact there is only one other student who is remotely close in proximity to Oz, there is also a Kiwi girl. So this mix keeps things interesting in class with group discussions and comparisons of cultures and countries.

Here is the class mid-week 2...guess the nationalities!! haha...and the teacher!!

Then on Day 3, the director also informed me that I actually had a fourth hour that no one had told me about...there was a bit of confusion with this as I didnt know and was a bit annoyed I hadnt been informed earlier, but the following day I went along to this and it was great as it was with different students and a different teacher and also was more focused on communication.

So I have school every day here from 9am til 1.30pm with a half hour break in the middle...usually a coffee break for all (and a smoko for some)!!

As in Taormina, this school also has afternoon activities most days and in the first week I went to a seminar on the artist Pietra della Francesca (I hope that is how you spell it cos it has taken me a while to even remember this name)...this was very interesting in particular because of the excursion I then took part in Saturday, which you will hear about shortly.

Another afternoon I watched an old and famous italian film 'L'onerevole Angelina', from the 40's I think...in italian of course!! And then after a group of us went for a wine and local produce tasting session organised by the school which was great!!

We tried 3 beautiful Tuscan wines, each with a different type of food to taste.

First it was crostate:

Second was salamies and third was cheese (sorry I got a bit excited about the cheese and salami and forgot to take a photo when it first came out!! haha):

And you dont need to worry about if I have been eating well or not...I have also been having some great lunches and other chances to taste typical Tuscan food!!

Lunch one day...typical tuscan antipasto...and this is just a starter...haha. And of course the obligatory bread and red wine!! haha

AND, of course...my host Mum has been cooking up amazing Tuscan delicacies from further north where she is orginally from, every night for dinner. I am very happy that here I am eating a lot less pasta and more variety of meat and veg and lots of soups too...ooh, I love soup!! Paritcularly in winter!!

Then Thursday night was "Happy Hour"...notice something odd with this?!? Yep, in english!! They call it happy hour too and this is another outing organised by the school but later in the evening for an aperitivo, a little bit of dinner and then to another bar and the "discoteca"...haha

It was a good chance to get to know some of the other students in a less formal setting but still practicing my italian. First stop this night was a bar that also provides a bit of food free of charge when you have a drink...and this was dinner!! ha...yeah, not quite enough but anyway...

After there we went to "Bella Vista" bar...yep, same as 'Beuna Vista Social Club' in spanish. It was really nice and quite different to what I expected of the bars in Siena, but then again it is a bit of a university town. And after there, a few of us paid our 5 euros to go into the 'discoteca', which I had been warned was an experience to be had, at least once!! But luckily, for our 5 euro entry we also got a free drink...so we had our free drink and LEFT!!

It was a fun night and great to get out and socialise with the other students my age and to see some of the social scene. But it was also funny as to start with at the first bar, I was the only girl in the group!!

Then on the weekend:

Saturday, as I said earlier, I headed off on the usual Saturday excursion with a group from school to a town north-east of Siena called Arezzo, which is very quaint.

The reason that the seminar on the artist was so important for this was that we went to the famous church there to see many frescos done by Peitra della Francesa way back when, depicting many religious tales. The reason these are so famous is that Francesa was the first to use oil for a fresco and this made the colours very vibrant...and still to this day, hundreds or even thousands of years on!!

We also had a look at some other churches and parts of the town...and OF COURSE, had to look in the shops..."fare un'po di shopping" as they say!! haha

The main street closed to traffic like Bourke St in Melbourne, was all decorated for christmas already and at certain times, before lunch and then much later after when all the shops reopened, there were lots of italians out looking in the shops, wandering up and down and generally parading!! haha

But we had glorious weather in the morning...well sun anway, not that warm!!...which turned horridle in the afternoon with the clouds circling and a very cold wind.

We had a beatiful traditional lunch in a small Trattoria...pasta made in-house, bread, wine, coffe and even a bit of tiramisu!!

Here is the gang...with the teacher Andrea on the far left.

Then Sunday I headed off by myself to try to make it to some clothing factory outlets I had heard about just outside of Florence. My teacher had told us about them and that they were accessable by bus from Florence and were quite close, and it is all Italian brands for MUCH less!!

Unfortunately for me, I was unsuccessful in making it out there due to bad bus connections on a Sunday and I would have gotten back to Siena VERY late Sunday night. I did however acheive my mission for this trip, in Florence. In relation to the title of this post, I bought a NEW COAT!!! haha

Yes, I didnt bring a warm coat with me and now that the weather is freezing...and not even winter yet...I needed a warm warm warm coat, AND I found one!!! YAY!!! It is duck feather and down!!

I also found the Florence market and did a bit of shopping there too which was lots of fun...

But once I was done and my tummy was rumbling and my fingers had well and truely turned white, I headed to a locally recommended trattoria for a beautiful lunch...and a wine of course!! The best thing for warming up...haha!!

I returned to Siena Sunday evening feeling very happy with myself...new coat and all!!

My host Mum was very pleased to see that I had found something warm too...

Ci vediamo

Jo xox