A Plague of Insects, and Plague of Toads, and a Plague of…Canadians?

Well, things have been…interesting since I last wrote. Kinda good, kinda not…

We had an incredible workshop that was an introduction to Italian opera. It was so good! Our Italian professor lectured for almost 3 hours and we listened to and watched clips of operas. I could have listened for another 3. It really, really made me want to try to sing opera. Not professionally, I don’t think, but I will DEFINITELY be trying out for the opera workshop at Vassar 2^nd semester and I can’t wait!!!

Short interjection: Italian keyboards are set up differently than American ones, and it took awhile to adjust, but we can only access the internet on the Italian computers, so I’ve been using them a lot. Now, however, I am on my laptop so that I can take as much time as I need to write this, and I keep hitting the wrong buttons because I’m used to the Italian places now. So I apologize if my punctuation is wrong…

We left for Rome early Thursday morning and arrived in time for lunch. Then we went to Piazza di Spagna, which was beautiful, and surrounded by stores like Gucci. After that trek, and a little window shopping, emphasis on window, we ate dinner at a lovely little restaurant. Our table was outside and there were violinists serenading the diners. The food was fabulous, as usual, and after dinner we found one of the best gelaterias in Rome. It was truly incredible. I had ginger and cinnamon and honey. Holy yum. If anything in the world deserves Roald Dahl’s title of “scrumdidlyumtious” it is ginger and cinnamon gelato. And then we ate our gelato by the Trevi fountain, which, especially lit up at night, looks like the entrance to a fairy kingdom. It was a magical experience.

Friday we toured the ruins of the Roman Forum and the palaces of several Roman rulers. It was only one palace, really, but each successive emperor had rebuilt it in his own style. One of the coolest things, I think, was getting to walk on the original Roman road. And standing in a piazza designed by Michelangelo. After that, we visited the Pantheon and 7 of us bought tickets for an opera on Saturday night. All before lunch. Then we went to the Collosseum. Zack and I had a mock gladiator battle. I won, of course, and Gabi, acting as emperor, decreed that he was to die. I’ll post the pictures once I’m back at Vassar. We trudged back to the hotel, napped, and went to dinner.

Dinner, again, was an incredible affair. We took a bus a little way outside Rome and ate in a, not really graveyard, more a mausoleum, with small niches for bones in the wall. Sounds creepy, but I should clarify that there weren’t any bones, and it was actually quite beautiful. The owner was a good friend of Guzzi’s, our professor from Vassar, and quite the performer. He was a riot. Also, he was a Harley-Davison man, which made me feel right at home. We what was probably my favorite meal so far, especially the cheese, which was possibly the best I’ve ever tasted, and the chocolate mousse. Yum. The group was split between three tables, which was sad, but my table played fun mind games, such as “umbrella,” all meal, which was hysterical. When we got back to the hotel, as an extension of what we were doing at dinner, everyone stayed up and played “psychiatrist,” with mixed success. Edoardo was scarily good at it.

Saturday we had to dress with special attention to cover our knees and shoulders, as they were considered too scandalous for our destinations: the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s . The Sistine Chapel was truly breathtaking. Even before you enter the chapel itself, the collections of statues and maps and tapestries is staggering. And the chapel itself is just… it’s like you’re actually in a painting. There are a zillion other people in the room, and despite the “no talking” signs and announcements there is a constant buzzing that occasionally grows to a dull roar, but you don’t notice. You forget that people are shoving past you and you stare at the ceiling and the walls and wonder how someone could have possibly created it. Maybe it’s because we had a guide who filled us in on some of the sordid details of Michelangelo’s fresco on the wall about the Final Judgement (the self portrait, the portrayal of a critic as the gatekeeper to hell, etc.), but I actually think I loved that painting more than the famous God/Adam one on the ceiling. Not that the ceiling wasn’t awing. I think I still have a crick in my neck from how long I stared, but, while the ceiling showed Michelangelo’s genius, the wall showed himself, and I found that more interesting. Then was St. Peter’s. Oh. My. God. It was…monumental? Gigantic? Monolithic? Freaking gorgeous? Words fail. It was an experience, no doubt. Wow.

After the tour, more mundane things like lunch were almost forgotten. Dronile and I went back to the amazing gelato place, tho, and I got my favorite flavor, plus chocolate meringue, which was almost as good. Then we went back to the hotel, napped, and got ready for the opera. We saw “La Traviata,” which is pretty much Moulin Rouge, only in Italian and with fewer pop songs. Also, no eyecandy. It was pretty good. Obviously, we were able to afford it, so it wasn’t a really well known cast or anything, but the lead, Violetta, was terrific! Not that I’ve heard a lot of opera, but she was easily in the top three singers I’ve heard. And that includes professionals on the recordings we heard in class. Unfortunately, the rest of the performers weren’t as gifted. Most annoying was the man playing Alfredo (the hero)’s father. Yes, the whole opera was in Italian and I understood about 6 words, but this man mumbled soooooo badly it was infuriating. I watched his mouth change shapes, but still heard the same vowel. Gragh. And his eyebrows! Admittedly, eyebrows are very important when you’re singing, but when you move them at COMPLETELY RANDOM times, they are not helping you in any way shape or form and it just makes oyu look CREEPY and UNTRUSTWORTHY!!!! AH!!! Sorry. It’s a bit of a sore spot.

Anyway, then we went to a club. It was a blast! Some of the Italian boys, and, more unfortunately, men, were a tad skeezy, but the boys on the trip were truly wonderful at rescuing us, for which we are all eternally grateful. Us girls were also quite good at well-timed trips to the bathroom. We stayed out until 4am. Fun!

We left too early on Sunday. We actually left at like noon, but we had to be out of our rooms by 10 and after dancing until 4, that is just not enough sleep. So we slept on the bus back. Then Gabi and I unpacked and fell asleep in our room. The idea was to nap for a couple hours, then get up and study since we had a test on Monday, and the go to our review session, study more, and go to sleep early. Instead, we slept for 6 hours, woke up 3 minutes before our review, which we rushed to half asleep, without our homework done, and giggled through because we had no idea what was going on. It helped though, I swear. Then, in a panic, we went back to our room and studied for several hours and then tried to sleep. Having slept all day, however, we were wide awake, so we watched Grey’s Anatomy until 3am. It’s a great show, I’m pretty addicted now.

Monday’s test went ok. Not as well as I would have liked, but not bad considering the circumstances.

Wednesday we visited a tiny town that was home to a Pope. It was extremely picturesque. And we climbed to the top of an ancient fortress, very cool! And very windy! We walked to an adorable little restaurant were we had, surprise surprise, another fantastic meal. With the 2^nd best cheese I’ve ever tasted. With honey and hot peppers. Sounds gross, tastes amazing!

Friday we had another test. I don’t really want to think about it. I studied for hours, cuz I really wanted to better on this one, but it was pretty awful. Ugh. I’m just hoping I did better than I think I did. After the test we had an awkward party at Pazit, the professor’s, apartment. It’s a lovely apartment, but we were all miserable about the test, and there was no food, and really nothing for us to do, so we sat around uncomfortably for half an hour and then left to drown our worries in pizza and chocolate. It is somewhat comforting to know that everyone walked out of the test nauseous. We had a wonderfully tasty dinner and then all bought our own bottles of ridiculously cheap wine and sat in the piazza drinking, eating gelato, and talking about everything from how our parents’ met, to funny experiences with squirrels. It was a nice way to end a not great day.

This weekend has been pretty quite. Most people went to Bologna, and a couple people’s parents are here visiting, but Gabi, Sophie, Sophia, and I went to Firenze again to shop! I bought some presents for people back home, and a cute pair of shorts and adorable shoes and it was a very nice day. We had dinner at Cice’s, which is pretty much our favorite restaurant here in Siena, and then had a quiet night in.

Sunday was our first day to really sleep in. Unfortunately, the Canadians have arrived, and that made sleep at all, much less late, slightly difficult. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been to Canada twice and loved it. I generally genuinely like Canadians. These ones, however…. There were 3 sitting in the hall not talking but shouting until 5am. There are so many of them. They’re everywhere! And they’re so loud! It’s ridiculous. The poor door ladies at the dorm are going crazy because they don’t speak English and the Canadians don’t speak Italian, and they can’t make the Canadians hush. I would be nicer, but someone just stole Gabi’s $200 dress out of the washing machine, and her beautiful shirt, and we no longer feel safe, or even really comfortable, in our own dorm. We suspect the Canadians because we’ve done laundry before, when there were only Italians and us here, and didn’t have any problems at all. Argh. It is really not okay at all.

The one good thing that’s come of this is that the door ladies really, really love us now! Even the one who didn’t like Gabi and I before (there was a miscommunication about a missing pillow…), is now pretty much our best friend. She’s been commiserating with us about the Canadians. I’m really glad to be able to talk to her even a little, and it’s also very gratifying to know that we aren’t seen as inconsiderate intruders. That, more than anything else, makes me want to keep learning Italian.

Wow. I’m sorry this is so ungodly long. I really meant to keep it short, but so much has happened! Venice next weekend! I’ll write more after that!