This is just the beginning...

Ciao a Tutti!

            I have now been here in Siena, Italy for 4 days and I have to say that I am extremely impressed! I came here not really knowing what to expect. I knew it was Tuscany and it was beautiful, great, fun and all those generic descriptive words but WOW, just WOW. Siena is beyond any place I have ever been to before. It has been preserved to look nearly exactly like it did in 1500. It is filled with interesting people and many places to explore. I am so excited to get 4 months here but somehow I feel like that will not be quite enough.

             I arrived here Wednesday morning after a 9 hour flight with a belligerent drunk woman by by side, no sleep to be had. She thought she made a new best friend while I thought otherwise. As soon as we arrived in Rome, my friend (who randomly ended up on the same flight as me) and I made our way towards customs and then exited the terminal to find the designated meeting place for our group. We eventually found a group of about 35 students who looked just as lost and excited as us and decided that we must belong together. Indeed we did and about 1 hour later we all found ourselves together on our bus to Siena. In just a short 3 hours we found ourselves quite suddenly given to the complete strangers that would live with for the duration of our stay.

            Another girl and I were put into the capable hands of two older women who promptly kissed us on both cheeks and brought us to their car. Turns out, neither of them spoke one word of English! I immediately had a small internal freak-out but as soon as they said something about dinner I pretty much got over any anxiety. It doesn't matter if I don't understand what you are saying as long as you fill my stomach right?

         Anyways, my host mother has turned out to be extremely welcoming and just plain fantastic. As many Italian women do, especially older ones, Laura makes sure that my every need is fulfilled and keeps offering even after you say no several times. This is just how they are here, to serve someone in your home is the best way of making them feel welcome. I definitely feel comfortable here, and I am being fed fantastically! One thing that has come as a surprise to me is that I have been able to communicate fairly easily with my host mother. Who knew that 4 years of Italian actually do stick in your brain? They just hide until they are forced to come into use. However, I still need a lot of work but being able to speak Italian makes it much easier to communicate with Laura. She has also hosted several students from the U.S. and she really knows what she is doing so hopefully things will continue to go smoothly.

          This post isn't very comprehensive but all of my orientation activities these few days have drained my energy and I will wait until tomorrow to tell you everything that I have had the chance to do in just these few days. I just thought this would be a good time to tell all of you that I am alive, I do NOT live with a crazy person and that I can actually speak Italian. If you want to know anything specific just make a comment and I will definitely make sure to answer!

A domani,
Haley