Day 1: Life Is Different on the Ground

And so here I am. Sitting in an apartment in Siena, Italy, the sun has set and the thoughts run wild. The past days have been a phantasmagoria of exhaustion, adventure, sadness, and excitement. I can’t really contextualize the craziness of what I’ve experienced in the last 70 or so hours. What I can say, though, is that I haven’t felt so completely turned around in a long, long time.

Friday I spent packing. Well, that is to say Friday night I spent packing. I spent most of the day hanging out with Edwin and Nick, talking and reminiscing over the past year. It was such a wild year… one of the most fun and most trying years I can remember, full of creativity, the best kinds of immaturity, and heartbreak. But I wouldn’t sell the experience, even the darkest parts of it, for all of the creamy pesto sauce in the world…. And that’s saying a very large something. ☺

So yes, Friday night I spent packing. I decided at about 10 that I was going to stay up all night. Forget sleep! I have a 12 hour flight ahead of me! As always, however, I got over the deepest exhaustion and hit my second wind right before I went through security. Before I left I sat with my parents and bros and talked about cool names for kids. (Some of these included Amoeba, Nightshade, Otis, Aquamarie, and Diarrhea…) I got on my first flight at about 7:45 in the morning on Saturday. The first leg was relatively uneventful. I realized right after I boarded that I had totally spaced bringing headphones and a writing utensil. “So much for entertaining myself for the next 5 hours” I thought dejectedly. At which point I decided to watch New In Town starring Rene Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr., and was truly and utterly turned off. I love stupid romantic comedies, don’t get me wrong, I just couldn’t stomach how painfully unfunny and trite this film was. I couldn’t even make it through the first 20 minutes… then again, maybe it was because I was sleep deprived and falling into a bad mood. Just when you think you have your emotions under control they sneak up from behind you and poke you repeatedly like a baby dinosaur prodding you for breast milk. Do dinosaurs drink breast milk? No; they’re reptiles… or birds or something. Anyway, like I was saying the first leg of the trip was quite uneventful…

I got into Newark after a few hours and bought an I Love New York pen for four dollars. It barely writes… but I found that it was perfect for clipping my large red dangling belt together! Plus, now I get to look more stylish! Stylish like an American tourist who loves New York! The second flight was better. I talked to a Jersey lady about how cool the exchange was going to be and another lady about Barack Obama and gypsies in Naples, both of which she did not approve of. I tried to convince her that Barack Obama was actually a pretty cool guy, and that not all gypsies are petty criminals, but to little avail. Right as we were exiting the plane the little girl in front of me decided to announce that she had lost her shoe! What a thing to loose at such a time! I helped her look, but I we couldn’t find it. If you’re reading this, best wishes to you finding your shoe, little girl!

Rome was pretty damn stressful. I almost got lost a few times. But I did finally get to put the 2 years of Italian I’ve taken into action with phrases like “Dove è Terminal cinque?” or “Qual’autobus vada alla Terminal?” I decided that I was going to try only to communicate in Italian, a task much easier said than executed. The problem with speaking in a language you don’t really know that well is that people assume that you speak it. Thus I had to overcome quite a bit of confusion. But it was great! I waited a couple hours for Emilee and talked to a girl who worked on a cruise ship for old people. She showed me some of her photographs… super pretty!

After stressing quite a lot, I finally spotted Emilee walking out of the baggage claim. She had run into Andrew, another Siena student, and we all luggaged our way to the underground train. We had a smooth 45 minute ride in which we talked about Up and Transformers 2, and listened to a violinist who was determined to make some quick money. We almost missed the stop, but we asked one of the Italian passengers at the last minute and hopped off at the right bus stop just in time. Finding the Sena bus company was relatively painless, and the ride to Siena was slightly less painless, but slightly more beautiful! Italian countryside is a lot like Californian countryside, in the best way possible…

But damn, Siena is amazing. Arriving here you feel like you just drove a DeLorean into the middle ages! Well not quite, but I think you understand. It’s obvious that everything from the stone buildings to the cobblestone streets have quite a few stories to tell. Andrew and I took a little time to help Emilee to her hotel and then proceeded to our own. The girl who worked at mine was simply lovely. Not only did she go out of her to make me feel at home, but she let me talk to her in Italian under the context of me not really knowing the language. Plus she was a cutie. ☺ The Albergo Bernini has an absolutely wonderful terrace with a gorgeous view of the city. This was such a great way to start my stay in Siena…

And directly after I checked in a huge thunderstorm hit! It was interesting to watch as the rain began to pour down and all of the locals took shelter under covered walkways and umbrellas. They were so afraid of the rain. And they must have thought I was crazy because most of them either gave me funny looks or smiled with warm but eye-rolling smiles as I walked slowly and calmly through the downpour, letting my thoughts be washed clean. Then again they were probably more concerned with what I was wearing…

I met Emilee and Andrew at 6:30 and we had some tasty pizza. I walked around some the city a bit to get my bearing, and then retired to my room for a well deserved rest… What a lengthy day it has been!


















All streets in Siena are this beautiful













View from the Church courtyard













The terrace of the Hotel Bernini


















Refuse