Once all my humanities journals were finished Sharissa and I went on a walk around town and saw the cemetery and a few other cool things.
Well this past weekend was a very busy one with a lot of homework to do, but I did have a bit of fun.
Once all my humanities journals were finished Sharissa and I went on a walk around town and saw the cemetery and a few other cool things.
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So yesterday was cooking class and we had another seafood day. I'll explain the the pictures from left to right from top to bottom.
we have individual size carrot quiche, salmon fillets (which I deboned), cutting up calamari and octopus, risotto and white wine, frying up canoli shells, and then the calamari mix being sauteed. The final product: So last night we had a bit of an adventure. Everything was going normally and then we had a bit of a surprise as we were getting ready for bed. Sharissa was taking a shower and I was writing a letter to a friend. Suddenly, she comes running into the room and cowers behind the corner of the door peeping out into the hallway. She is freaking out because she saw something in the bathroom. After I get her to form complete sentences I figure out that she had run into this little guy: Yep - That is a scorpion my friends. He was only about a half inch or an inch long. Our host mom dispatched him easily and without much ceremony but Sharissa is still traumatized. Hopefully she isn't scarred for life.
So this weekend we had a three day weekend, and it was great. Instead of going off to somewhere amazing we took it easy here in Siena. So what could five girls do with all that time on their hands you might ask. Well..... we went to the torture museum. Yep fun stuff eh? on the pokey chair the plaque said that sometimes they would heat up the spikes before hand.....
People are pretty sick and twisted. Then we went and napped in il Campo. On the menu: salad with fried polenta for aperittivo, pasta with a spicy tomatoe sauce for prima piatta, breaded fried beef with mixed vegatables and potatoes for secondo, and for dessert we made biscotti with almonds and a chocolate sauce :D Two Weeks Ago: tomatoes stuffed with ricotta and bread crumbs and other spices, stuffed savory crepes, eggplants with tomatoe basil sauce, and finally a chocolate souffle with orange glaze. Last Week's Food. We made stuffed shells, meatballs with baked vegetables, and a kind of fruit cake sort of pie.
So it's kind of been a while since I posted. Sorry! Things got a bit crazy, then the internet wouldn't work, and then ..... you know how it goes. Last week was midterms and it was a little busy at times. I had an Italian exam and a Humanities exam. Italian was hard, but it went alright. I got a B+ and then in Humanities the entire exam was answering two essays. I still don't know how I did on it, the third exam was the week before, but I got my score back and I got an A- so things are looking good so far in the GPA realm. hopefully I can boost it up a few points this semester. Then on Friday morning bright (or not so bright) and early we headed to the bus to go the Firenze. It was pouring rain. Literally pouring. It was ridiculous. My shoes were soaked all day. We arrived, and dropped off our stuff at the hotel (run by nuns :D how great is that?) and then went sight seeing. (still in the rain) First stop was the Uffizi Gallery where the works of Giolitti, Bottacelli, Rubens, Rembrandt, and other famous artists are housed. I saw all the painting I've been studying for years in real life. It was crazy. Those little thumbnail pictures in the textbooks are very deceiving. Those paintings are huge! The birth of Venus, and La Primavera are like 7 feet across and 5 feet tall! I was amazed. Sadly, we always seem to go to these museums in the middle of lunch time, so we had to really concerntrate on enjoying the art and not think about food. It was definitely a struggle. The 201 Humanities students had to stay, but those of us in 202 got to leave when we pleased, so when the hunger could no longer be ignored we went off to ..... dun dun dun.... The Diner. Pancakes are just something that you don't get very often so we had to take advantage of the opportunity. Then we met back up with the group, and went to L'Academia museum where Michelangelo's David is. I saw the other sculptures by him as well where it looks like the people were trapped in the marble. Everything was really interesting, and I had to sneak my pictures because they were really getting onto people they caught. There was a half circle with a full bench all the way around behind him so that's where my friends and I hung out while we waited for Silvia to finish her lecture to the 201 students. We were a bit tired so we took a bit of a nap. And then it was free time. I don't have many pictures of free time because we mostly walked around and then did some shopping at H&M. When we finished at H&M two girls had "lost" their wallets. After checking the changing room again we decided it wasn't a coincidence and they had been pickpocketed. I felt so bad for them. One girl lost everything. Her cash, all her credit cards, all her IDs and even her social security card. It was not a happy night. We headed back to the hotel and the girls went to talk to Dr. Call and try and get ahold of their parents and the banks. The rest of us went upstairs to get changed for our fancy night out at an opera rectial. It was really really really fun. The singers were amazing. They had a lot of talent and were really trying to engage the audience. They even had us sing the choir part a few times. Super fun. I can't really say it in words :) Then back to the hotel to try and get some sleep. But only after Brittany sang some Figaros out our window to the less then pleased crowd below. The next day was completely free so we hit up the giant leather market. I was searching for boots but had no luck. My friends all ended up with leather jackets that they paid way too much for. But they look pretty sexy in them so that all that matters haha. There were some mishaps with bancomats, and some weird salesmen. It was the first time I have ever been told I was someone's "Jennifer Lopez."
Seriously. I'm walking down the market, and the salesmen always try to say things to get you to come to their shop and this one guy was like "Just for you I give you a free jacket." I gave him a look and said " yeah sure. I don't think so." and then kept walking and he told me I was his Jennifer Lopez. Keep walking. That is when you don't bother to check if you're friends are still with you cause it's just weird. If you take them up on the offer they will say you were trying to steal the jacket and all sorts of things. It's a con. Anyway We got out of the market. We popped back into H&M so I could pick up a shirt I wanted, and then we went back to the bus station to head home. It was a decent day but I was very very happy to go back to Siena. So today a small group... well actually kind of a big group.....well okay a mediumish sized group of us went up to San Gimignano today. It is a small medieval city that has been really well preserved. Apparently It was a city of 60,000 at one point but then it was struck by the plague in 1300 and something, and was reduced to 4000. This definitely helped keep it preserved. There was no one hardly living there to ruin it. Anyway currently it makes all it's significant revenue off of tourists. So we went and added to that. We went to the supposed "World's Best Gelato" . It was really really good. We actually got gelato three times in fact. As in. I got two or three scoops 3 times. That is seven flavors. 5 of which were brand new to me. I tried Rasberry and Rosemary, Blackberry and Lavender, Ricotta and Blueberry, Chocolate Cherry (and Chile), and Almond. They were all very fantastic. The other flavors we Cinnamon, and Banana. The first list of flavors are unique to this special shop though, so they got mentioned first. Anyway - it was delicious. We wandered around, cracked jokes took pictures and generally admired the lovely contryside. A Perfect day out :D When we got back to town we did a bit of grocery shopping and then went to General conference. It was really really good, and wow what exciting announcements!
On a side note - Despite never getting car sick, or motion sick, or airsick or anything sick in my life, I have learned that I am prove to getting bus sick. They get stuffy and hot and smelly and they sway and jerk and bump the whole way. If I never have to ride in long distance buses again I will be happy. So over the weekend we took a trip to a local cheese farm. The entire place is run by about 6 people and they produce thousands of pounds of cheese each year. Before taking a tour of the place, we were able to taste their products and had a nice lunch there.
Then they showed us around and explained the process. It was really interesting to learn about. On Saturday night we heard that one of the contradas was going to be having their victory party. They have been preparing for this party for a month, so it was huge. The contrada was Onda (the wave) celebrating their win at the palio in July. The theme of the party was Trojan War, and they had decorated their entire neighborhood to look like ancient Greece. There was a giant wooden horse, straw all over the street and everyone was in a costume. It was a toga party. Old men to babies were dressed up. Some were even dressed as satyrs and cyclops. We had tons of fun just walking through the neighborhood enjoying the atmosphere. We ran into a satyr party and one girl in our group got swarmped and then they all growled/roared at her really loudly, she screamed and the whole thing was just really funny. Later that night we had a movie night and it was just really fun. This week is a continuation of the crazy homework schedule from last week. I have lots to do, not a lot of time for it all, and I just hope I can scrape an A at the end. Otherwise things are good. It has been a bit crazy trying to plan out my schedule for next semester when I haven't applied for my major yet and I a |
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