Saturday: Out and About
September 10, 2005
The last two days I haven't done too much. Just a lot, a lot of walking. A group of us went out yesterday afternoon with the intention of reaching the outskirts of town but got separated and sidetracked many times so that never happened. We did go to the Basilica of San Domenica, the big Church where they have St. Catherine's (the patron saint of Siena) head and finger on display (kinda strange I know.) It's a beautiful place, full of light and beautiful artwork. The candles that you could buy and light for the Virgin, Jesus, etc. were around like last time I was in Italy. I gave a little money for St. Catherine. I keep thinking a lot about what I learned in Humanities Core and with Chiampi and the Divine Comedy this summer. I think it makes me appreciate the Church's so much more. I think I'll probably go there a lot.
After that I returned home for dinner! (I look forward to dinner way too much for me own good!) Last night as a whole was pretty good though. After I talked to Mom on
phone I went in the living room and hung around a little until we had dinner. Then I went back to the city center. I was trying to find people I knew but couldn't for an hour or so. I just wandered around the streets looking at things and sat in the Campo
for a long time. Then I happened upon this group of girls I sort of knew who were trying to find a bar. After an hour of looking for the bar we finally realized that it was closed. They went up to drink in their apartment (oh fun, I'm surprised how many people are here mainly to drink and party) while I left and ran into a different group of UC students. I walked partway back to my house with two other home stay girls. They were really nice and more my style, not into drinking and partying and are having a lot of the same thoughts about the home stay that I am. So that was really nice. (They're from UCLA too, go figure.)
This morning I wandered around a lot, went down a few dead end streets... I pretty much had an idea of what I was doing though and eventually made my way into the city. I went back to the Basilica, I really liked it yesterday, and just sat staring at the stain glass windows thinking. I've been hanging out with people I randomly met since then.
As Mom suggested, I should hang around the kitchen some more. Everything Laura makes
is so good I wish I could always eat like that (try squash with olive oil, I'm not sure what else she did to it but that at least made it a lot better tasting!) And I want to go to the grocery store when they go, I think I’ll ask about it tonight. I slept really well last night though; I think I'm so tired every night that I can sleep even with the loud noise from outside on the street. That's good I guess! I was ok last night actually, I was really glad to have been able to talk to Mom and Dad earlier. It made me happy for the rest of the night. I get a little sad in the late night and early morning but I'm ok.
September 8, 2006
I'm not sure I've really had any adventures yet... I'm kinda like in a
daze and don't really know what to do yet. I thought I would be more
excited than I am to see everything but I'm sure I'll become more and
more so as things go on. I've got to start going in Church's and
stuff, that should be fun. I need to make some more friends though. A
lot of people have already formed cliques, which is pretty strange,
but once we get separated into classes I think things will be better.
I just have a hard time making friends as well. Right now I'm using
Amy's computer though. She's from Irvine and is pretty good to hang
out with. Totally free with her computer use. Bao is fun to hang with
too. I'm still going to try and see if I can register my computer at
the MinRes or have someone do so in their name. Then I could try the
video chat! And I need to find out what kind of internet my host
family has. Apparently Mario is very into technology (although Laura
is clueless) so maybe its some kind of good connection. I'll have to
show him my Mac, he might be impressed.
I've only eaten out one night so far, the first night we came to Siena, the waiters were very rude to us
and we had a hard time ordering. Otherwise I've eaten very good
dinners in my home stay. Laura feeds me a lot for dinner though!
Yesterday we had orientation, sounds like we have a lot of cool stuff
to do. Language class from 9-12 everyday and then culture class Mon
and Wed afternoon. We learn about art history, opera and food and
wine, as well as modern Italian topics in history, etc. We also have
the option to join a painting class, horse back ride or be involved in
an Italian theater production put on by us UC students. I signed up
for the later yesterday but now am thinking it might not be such a
great thing... I think I may drop it. I feel really stretched and like
I've pushed myself a lot already so I'm not sure I want to do too much
more. Also we have excursions on weekends and weekdays to other
cities, museums, even hot springs! I'm glad school is starting
Monday, I need a little routine and school is the same everywhere!
it's very late...
September 7, 2006
It's 3:30 in the morning right now and I can't sleep. I haven't been able to sleep for around the last three hours. It's really strange to think that everyone back home isn't even tired yet or getting ready for bed. I like to think maybe my body just isn't used to the time change yet and that soon I will be able to sleep when I'm supposed to. Is this what they mean by jetlag? Yesterday I was tired for most of the day and feel like I was just walking around in a daze... I want to really start enjoying things but need to wake up first! I really wish my phone worked... that I was able to add time to it before my family showed up yesterday but I wasn't. Tomorrow I will definitely be able to call! I am really nervous about everything that is to come and I think that's part of why I can't sleep. Also, I just wish I could have talked to someone from home today! I've got the really ancy feeling, where I
just need to cry a little and get things off my chest but I can't. I'm really worried that I'm going to be too cut off from the other UC students by living in a home stay. The idea of an apartment right next to everything in the city and being able to live in the same room as other English speakers is very appealing. And the wireless internet they have/are close to is very appealing as well. I realize now a computer wasn't completely necessary... but it is nice to have right now.
I might as well tell you all a little more about my host family while I'm awake. Around 3:45 yesterday Laura arrived at the Jolly Hotel where all us EAP students had met earlier that day. There were only a few of us home stayers waiting by that time and I was actually the last to be picked up (go figure!) Laura is a very petite woman; she's short and very thin with black curly hair. She looks really good for her age, I'm not sure I would have known she as over 60. She said ciao and kissed me on both cheeks (an Italian tradition I had only heard about but never experienced until now) and talked to the translator. When I said I missed home she laughed a little and asked how long I'd been gone. When I said only two days she laughed a little more. But it wasn't a mean laugh, just an amused one. When we stepped outside I wasn't sure if she had a car waiting or if we were taking a taxi. But she took my hand, which she said was cold, and led me across the street where her husband Mario was waiting with the car. At first I thought she was pointing to this other man, who was pretty big, had black sunglasses on and had a huge, unkept white beard. I was thinking wow, he looks like a beach bum, not quite what I expected when I realized Mario was the other guy with the car waving at us. Mario looks really fit, very good for over 60 as well, and has an almost baldhead. He said hello and helped me put my luggage in the back of
the car (my luggage was TINY compared to EVERYONE else's, I could have brought more!) Then we started on our way, winding down the streets of Siena. We passed outside the walls and turned into a tiny driveway on one of the streets. Mario had to back the car all the way down the driveway into their garage, which was rather large. I can't imagine everyone in the apartment building gets a garage, perhaps they do though. They pointed out the many things they had around for their grandchildren, there were quite a few strollers and such. Then we went up the five flights of stairs to reach their apartment. I think only two families live on each floor and have large apartments. So when you see a building although they look large with lots of windows, most likely there are only 2 or so different families per floor.
The house is nice, older of course. It kind of reminds me of somewhere I've been before but I can't place it. Lots of old furniture. Nothing looks particularly new. Quite a change from America, especially with all the design shows I've been watching lately and of course the design for the porch that Mom is working on. My room is small, shorter than my room at home but wider. The bed is a single bed and I also have a chest of drawers that doubles as a desk. It's one of the fold down kind! The closet is plenty big and there is a mirror in it. The floor isn't carpet; it’s a painted title, so maybe I should buy a cheap rug to put down or something.
After a tour of the house I settled in a little, stood on the balcony watching cars and people walking on the street with Laura, watched some Italian local news with Mario and La Nonna and then ate dinner. Last night when Laura made dinner she looked so cute! She had a little apron on and everything! Mario is cute too; he's already imitated pinching my cheek and nose. They told me my letter to them was very beautiful. I'm glad they liked it.
I might as well try to get some more sleep now... although I'm still not sure if I will be able too. Plus my battery is almost dead and the computer needs to charge.
Buon notte!
First Official day in Siena: Meetiing the family
September 6, 2005
Well I am here is Siena! I'm writing this blog on my computer in my new room. No, they don't have wireless internet, but I think the easiest way to blog is going to be to right the entry before hand and post it to the internet later. My host family does have a computer, and internet, but its not wireless. I need to find out how it works, if its dial up or not and if I can use it or maybe even hook it up to my computer. Wouldn't that be awesome! But, probably won't happen.
Speaking of host family, I just met them today! They seem really, really nice. Mario can speak a little English but Laura doesn’t speak any at all. He keeps breaking into English when I can’t understand him, which is both good and bad. I guess its ok for the first few days but after that I want to start communicating only in Italian. That’s one of the biggest perks about a home stay, I get to practice my Italian everyday! I also met the grandma, or la nonna as they call here. She seems very old! I think she’s 83 if I remember correctly. She’s kinda short and plump and seems to shuffle about the house in something like a moomoo type dress. She is friendly as well though, always smiling whenever I come in the room.
Siena is an interesting city. Its beautiful, but I'm not used to it. Everything looks the same and all the streets are so windy, you could easily get lost. I can't believe people actually live here either! It's so different. The buildings are so old and the streets are so narrow. The apartment my host family lives in is right on the street and on the 5th floor! Lots of stairs to work out on! I can hear cars constantly going by and although I could leave the window open it would be ever louder than it already is.
So far they seem like really nice people. And I'm not having that hard of a time communicating. Although my sentences are very broken and most likely don't make much sense, they somehow understand what I say. It's easier to understand them although it can be confusing as well. Some times i just kinda stare at them and if I try to pretend to understand something but really don't, they can tell. Dinner tonight was wonderful! I mean really, really great. I told Laura I liked fruit and turkey and so that's what we had! First she made some pea soup, with cheese on top. I thought that was the whole meal but I was wrong! Then came the turkey and green beans. They both tasted wonderful, I've NEVER tasted such good green beans! And the turkey was tender and soaked in olive oil. The apartment is cute too. Just like a house actually, with four bedrooms and one and a half baths. Plus, dining room0 kitchen, living room and family room.
I only wish I could have talked to someone tonight. Since Mom's at work it would have been Andy. But my phone already ran out of time and I didn't have time today to go buy another card nor internet access to do so online. *sign* I'll have to buy more time tomorrow. I wish I could call at night and have it be night at home too. Alas, I will have to learn to deal with it. I miss home. I can't imagine staying here for four months. A couple weeks or a month would be alright, but four... that's so long. I counted the weeks and its 10 weeks until Thanksgiving, the amount of time a whole quarter is! But, last fall I did only go home twice and probably only saw Andy every couple weeks. So, I guess when I think of it like that the time doesn't seem so long. Things will hopefully go quicker and easier here than they did last fall with classes and new roommates.
Well, off to bed. I will write more later. I'm still trying to settle in and figure out how I want to do the blog thing, etc. I'd like to venture into the heart of the city more, where everyone else is living (I do envy them for that - it would be pretty cool to be right next to it all) but I've got to figure out what is safe, how late I should stay out, if the buses are ok to take back late, etc.
Flying Around the World
September 4, 2006
Well I’m here on the airplane to Ohio writing my first blog post. I don't really know what to say yet. I'm kind of excited, but at the same time terrified! Nothing has really hit me yet and I wonder if it will when we land in Rome. I keep thinking about how everybody looked when I walked through the security gate at LAX. I kind of want to cry but am holding it back. I think I'm going to miss everybody a lot. I wish everyone where here to enjoy the plane with me. They're playing a really bad movie, "Just My Luck" with Lindsay Lohan, and I can't quite force myself to watch it. Everybody I’m traveling with is really nice. Cecilia is a very petite Hispanic girl in her fifth year at UCI as a Criminology major. Mike is a fourth year Biological Sciences major. Bao a fifth year and Amy a third year like me. Cecilia and Mike seem fine with traveling; they're the most excited. Bao and Amy are more like me. They were like "ok, time to go home" as we were leaving. I know they're excited but I understand exactly how they feel. As much as I want to stay home though, I also think I need to do this. I think it really will be a good experience and like I’ve said, hopefully I will learn to relax more and be more confident with my decisions. I'd like to get rid of the "should haves." I love you all. And will see you soon. Ciao!
