This past weekend my study abroad program (IES) took us on a trip through Tuscany. Midterms had just finished on Wednesday and Thursday morning at 8 a.m. our bus zipped out of Milan and south to Siena. The weather in Milan lately has been similar to a cold Tacoma, matching the midterm-induced stress and misery (the word "misery" being an extreme exaggeration because how can we really be all that miserable? if we have to take midterms, well, at least we are in Italy). As we continued south the sky brightened, the air was warmer (not to mention cleaner), and the rose and dropped into rolling hills. The hills and trees, crops and vineyards, were a range of reds, golds, and greens-- fitting for fall and the first weekend in November. What a perfect time of year to see this part of Italy. We arrived in Siena around 2:30 in the afternoon and, grateful to finally get our blood moving, had a short walking tour of the town. First we went into the church where St. Catherine's skull is kept. The story goes that St. Catherine was born in Siena but died in Rome and was quickly buried in Rome so that Rome could lay claim to her body. Well, Siena was none to pleased with their claim to holy fame buried in any other city. They decided to send some people to dig up her body. As they were running away with her body back to Siena, some Romans caught on to this not-so-stealthy plan and attacked them. During this process, St. Catherine's head fell off her body and, although Rome got her body back, the people from Siena took her head with them. The skull is now behind glass and very far away from the viewing area so this story is way more exciting than seeing her skull actually was. After this we walked through some of the streets of Siena to the main piazza in the this small, small city. We learned how Siena is built on three main hills and how Firenze and Siena have a rivalry originating in the middle ages and how they have horse races every year and the only year Siena won was in the 1200's...and just once (I just don't remember which year that was). Siena is still riding on this single victory, claiming this year they were in God's favor. Then we had some time to lie in the sun, eat gelato (of course), and purchase any souvenirs we wanted. This was my one opportunity to buy a "Siena" bracelet for my city-bracelet collection but it was 3 euros and I decided to see if I could find for 2 euros and come back if I couldn't...but then I never had the free time to either look for another or come back! Sad. In any case, after our sunny half hour in the piazza we went to the Duomo. The duomo in Siena is kind of small and kind of a mix of Firenze's Renaissance style and Milano's Gothic style. Then we climbed this tower next to it and soaked in an awesome view of Siena and Tuscany. Sometimes I wonder how much of what we do is treated as a photo opp and the moment that we are actually there is not really appreciated, absorbed, etc. Well, either way, it was beautiful up there. After this we walked to our hotel and our bus with all our stuff met us there. Like I mentioned before, Siena is built on three hills and I guess our hotel was in between two of them because there is this massive escalator split into four parts or so that runs all night that takes you down the hill to the street our hotel was on. Interesting, no? It was around 6 by the time we got back to our hotel and we had an hour and half before dinner to decompress/shower/unpack/relax, etc. I ended up rooming with a girl from UPS named Robyn (who I will be going to Krakow with in a couple weeks) and I find it really interesting how this study abroad trip has brought me together with other people from UPS that I wasn't friends with at school. After dinner, we went out and explored the piazza a little bit but Siena is very small and there isn't much going on in this city on a Thursday night.
Friday morning we left around 9 a.m. for Montalcino which is a very small town not too far away. We first visited a fortress which offered also some more breathtaking views of Tuscany. From up high and far away, the hills look like patches of crops or vineyards, rolling and golden and green and red and orange. A medley of beautiful fall colors arranged as if you were up in an airplane and looking down on a cloudless day. Friday we again had beautiful weather. People have started pulling out their winter coats in Milano but in Montalcino (Siena, too) I kept switching between my t-shirt and sweater during the daytime. At the fortress, there was wine tasting and local wines on sale. I did not invest in either due to my money-saving obsession...yet I still, somehow, seem to be no good at conserving money at all. Very worrisome. Anyways, after the fortress I wandered the town with Alba and Kathleen. We weaved through the street markets, found some super cheap lunch, frolicked in the sun, rested our feet next to golden vineyards, and took an ample amount of pictures of us looking cute, in front of beautiful patch-work views, and soaked in some much needed vitamin D. I felt so lucky to be there. When someone says "I'd like to retire to a villa in Tuscany" they are envisioning somewhere like Montalcino and especially envisioning it on a day like the day we had there. It was so beautiful, I couldn't believe it. I think when I first decided to study in Italy, before I picked out a program or city, I imagined myself somewhere more like Siena or somewhere with landscapes more like Tuscany. Oh well. I am still so lucky to have been able to visit this incredible region.
We left Montalcino around 2:30 in the afternoon and got back on the bus to go to the Sant' Antimo monastery in time for their Gregorian chant. This monastery was in the middle of almost nowhere amongst the beautiful hills and golden fields of Tuscany. Right next to it was an olive grove where people were harvesting. The church was from the medieval times and very, very cold on the inside. The chant was really cool, I'd never heard monks chanting before. It wasn't very long, but it was peaceful. Afterward one of the monks who had just arrived from LA talked to us about the monastery and the history of the church and the monastery and about some of the art history relating to the iconography in the church. We left Sant' Antimo to drop in, very briefly, to Pienza, or the Ideal City. I'm not really sure what about this small town makes it ideal but it was built by a pope hundreds of years ago according to his vision of "ideal." Again, we wandered through the small, cobblestone streets of a Tuscan city, stopped for an espresso shot, and took pictures of the sunset. We probably weren't here for more than an hour and finally returned the hotel, exhausted and totally drained, around 6:30 p.m.
After dinner, most everyone in the program went out to see what Siena had to offer on a Friday night. There was a live performance near the main piazza, many tents with cook-outs and wine from local wineries. At midnight they were opening the "new bottle" of wine of the season so it was big party leading up to midnight and after, as well (hence the tents of food, live performance, and tons of people in the street). It was a great night full of local wine, dancing, live music, and I even got to ride a vespa (which was one of my semester goals)! Success!!! Siena may be small but it is beautiful and much more my image of what studying in Italy would have been like. Plus, it was way warmer than Milano! And it isn't so small that it goes to sleep at 10:00 at night, even during the week.
Saturday morning we left Siena at 9:30 in the morning, with all our luggage, and drove an hour and a half to Arezzo. We had reservations to see the Piero della Francesco frescoes in one of the local churches. This was really cool and fed my art history appetite. The Student Services coordinator at IES, Walter, gave us a brief talk about the different panels and the bible stories they corresponded to. After this we wandered through the street markets. It was made up of mostly vintage items and antiques. The jewelry was absolutely beautiful but ridiculously, and very sadly, expensive (40 euro for a pair of earrings? I don't care if you say its real silver, this is a street market!). They also had relics from World War II (like a personal sized Mein Kampf, advertisements, coins, propaganda) and many beautiful glass lamps, vintage hats, and then, of course, a bunch of useless crap. I got a silk scarf for 3 euro but that was, impressively, my only purchase. We got falafel and kebabs for lunch and wandered some more. We had a bit too much time in Arezzo and most of us were pretty exhausted from all the stops the previous day so by 2:30 or so when we left, we all passed out on the bus. It took us FOREVER to get back due to traffic jams and things and the bus got really obnoxiously loud with car games and some singing. Ah well at least my ipod didn't die en route. I got back to my apartment, made myself some dinner, poured myself a glass of wine, and watched "Across the Universe" until I fell asleep.
I wanted to go out a bit today but its been pouring rain on and off all day so I haven't had the motivation or the bravery to leave the apartment. Back to classes this week, hopefully if I get any grades back from midterms they aren't too shabby. This will be my first indication of how I am doing in my classes.
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