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Italy Travel Update Issue #3, April 2, 2003

Well, the sun doesn't always shine in Italy. While it looked sunny enough this morning, encouraging me to leave my umbrella at home (especially since today I was hauling my laptop around with me), now, at 5 in the afternoon, it's raining... and thundering. No lightning visible. I've dodged the raindrops all the way from school to the Piazza del Campo, the main piazza in Siena, where they hold the Palio horse races in the summer. I'm sitting in a cafe, prepared to order a pricey hot chocolate (paying for the seat and the view/location) in order to earn the right to sit here and compose this email.

I've just inquired of an internet cafe if there is a place in the city where I can connect my laptop via phone/ethernet cable to the internet, and was told that I can do it at their other cafe... which is on the other side of town, of course. This is the halfway point in between.

Big flash of lightning and almost immediate thunder just happened. (Just in case you were wondering how the weather was progressing.)

Well, the first few days of school have been challenging. My first day was a bit of a trial, just in terms of getting to and from school. Grazia, the head of the family with which I am staying, gave me all sorts of bus information, but didn't know that one particular bus came at a different time during the 7am hour, and so I missed it. Got another bus, but it all ended up with me being a bit late to school. (It's now pouring cats and dogs out there.) Not a big deal.

Going home, another problem. I hadn't been told, or didn't recall being told, that there were two different #10 buses, and they go in different directions. So I got on the first one that arrived in the piazza where many buses came and went, and of course, it wasn't the most direct one to my homestay. Another passenger told me that I could get off at a particular stop and transfer to another bus that would get me there quicker, but that bus seemed to be non-existent. I ended up finding a bus back to the city and starting out all over again from the same point.

Oh, and did I forget that Grazia overslept on that first day, and so I didn't get to have much in terms of breakfast, was only able to grab a banana on my way to that bus that I missed.

Travel went much better after that day. And though it's only Wednesday, I already feel like I know my way around some of the major parts of Siena. It helps that the school is a 15-minute walk from the bus piazza, not only to keep me in shape but to travel the city streets. Yesterday I wandered around after classes and bought a couple of necessities. (The storm seems to be passing.)

I only wish I was staying either closer to the city or within the city walls. It's a 15-20 minute bus ride from my homestay to the bus piazza at the edge of town, though when getting the right bus back from the city it's only about a 10-15 minute ride. I'm inquiring again about a change in locations, but am not very optimistic. May also check at the tourist office, see what they have. I'm willing to spend two weeks at the homestay, but would like to be closer to the city for the last two weeks -- without paying too much, of course.

My morning class consists of me and 5 other students, no Americans, 2 Chinese guys, a Japanese girl and a Swiss girl. All are much younger than me, including the teacher. My afternoon class, which is just on Tuesdays and Thursdays, a conversation class, is even smaller, with one gentleman and 2 other women. They seem to be a bit older than college age, and the gentleman is probably in his 50s. As mentioned above, the classes are challenging. We started off with the subjunctive in our morning classes, and if you've never studied any languages and aren't sure what that is, be happy in your ignorance. It's not something we have in English, at least in terms of using whole different verb forms to express it.

I've already signed up for some of the afternoon cultural activities, including a trip this Saturday for wine tasting in Chianti. Some outings are free, and some, like the Chianti trip, require payment for the bus and for the wine tastings, if you wish to taste wine.

OK, it's getting lighter and brighter out there, and may have almost stopped raining, so I will stop here and make my way to the Internet cafe to post this... assuming all goes well.

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