YA-14: visiting Perugia and Assisi!

Ciao!

Apparently Erasmus study is not a five-month vacation and work is starting to pile up, hence this post being put up quite late (scusate, devo studiare!).

Assisi

On the Thursday before Perugia I had to run a few errands, including trying to hand in my Learning Agreement only to be told that I needed the change form to be signed before I could be signed up to my lessons… It was so annoying because it meant having to chase the Coordinator here (and by chase, I mean it took us forever). I will be writing a post about the Erasmus paperwork on the University of Bath Placements’ blog (which you can find here: http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/hss-placements/ ), so keep your eyes peeled for a detailed description of the mare…

Anyhow, I eventually managed to pack my little weekend suitcase and I met with Vero, Jess and Megan to go out for dinner. Initial plan was going to Dino’s for some cinghiale ragù, but the place was closed so we ended up in Nonna Gina. The food was great – I had tortellini con panna e prosciutto and we had some shots of amaretto and grapa on the house. The waiter was really nice and it was an overall lovely evening chatting and eating – what more could we ask for?

On Friday I went to my regular lessons and then Megan and I set off on our Umbria escapade. First problem? Megan couldn’t print her tickets. Fortunately they only need the QR code so having them on your phone is alright. Second problem? The Flixbus was delayed by a whole hour, which meant we weren’t actually pressed for time to get to the station, but that it took us a while to reach Perugia. The coach trip itself was fine – I slept – and then Cristina came to pick us up at the bus station. We just about managed to catch the last minimetrò into the city (guys, it’s a super cute tram that connects the centre to the peripheries) and the bus to her house. We were knackered and starving by the time we arrived, but finally there. Cristina (you might remember her from my Stonehenge and Glastonbury posts) was lovely enough to host us for the three nights and we stayed in her sister’s room. Her house is amazing and she was happy to show us around for the weekend which was fantastic! On Friday evening all we really did was have dinner together and broadly plan our weekend. We had frittata and veggies with chocolate cake for dinner and we met her flatmate Francesca. Then we called it a day – we were tired!

On Saturday morning we got up at a decent time and got ready to head over to the station and get the train. Plan? Spend the day in Assisi which is a small town nearby. We took the 10:18 train and reached Assisi in about half an hour. The day started sort of cloudy but eventually the sun came out so, although it was a bit chilly, it was nice out in the sun. First we walked from the station to Porziuncola which is the Cathedral that San Francesco built. We passed a MacDonald’s on the way (I don’t even eat there often but it’s nice to have the option…) and there were security checks at the entrance to the Cathedral, but nothing much. The Cathedral itself was quite nice. No pictures allowed but I managed to sneak a couple of snaps… The unique thing about it is that the actual building built by San Francesco’s order is still inside the nave, so it’s a church within a church. We also walked around the Rose Gardens but it was too early for them to be in bloom… After Porziuncola we decided to head to Alto Assisi. We were going to take the bus but the day was so nice we opted to follow the pilgrim path instead. There is a brick path connecting Porziuncola with Alto Assisi paved with names of contributors, so we made our way. It took about half an hour to reach the town. It was worth it though, the sun was lovely and we got to see the landscape properly and get some really nice shots of the town from the outside.

Eventually we got to Alto Assisi and reached the Basilica di San Francesco. It took a bit of effort and by the end we were hot and sweaty but we did get the proper pilgrimage experience right? To get into the Basilica we again had to go through security control and this stop was clearly more touristy. Fortunately, the entrance to these places is free despite them being so touristy, which is great because you actually have to pay to get into the Cathedral here in Siena… Anyway, the interior of the Basilica was amazing – decorated with frescoes by Giotto. Again, no pictures allowed but I managed to take a couple of them before being told off… I didn’t think I’d visit Assisi and see the frescoes, so I’m happy I actually got the chance!

After the Basilica we were kind of hungry so went out on the search for a non-touristy restaurant. On our way we passed the Piazza Comunale and a few pastry shops which looked absolutely amazing and sugar overdose provoking. We eventually settled for a place called Terra Chiama which looked sleek and not that touristy despite still being quite central. I went for tagliatelle con asparagi selvaggi and they were so yummy! The waiter was also really welcoming and the options Megan and Cristina chose were just as tasty as mine, so if you’re ever in Assisi definitely check them out! Also, the decoration of the toilet was definitely curious, so I’ll leave it for you to discover…

After lunch we walked to Santa Chiara where there were some alleged treasures from the era – personally doubt that but each to their own. The views from the piazza in front of the church were great though. From there we kept on climbing, went past San Rufino but couldn’t enter because there was a funerary service and eventually reached Rocca Maggiore which is the medieval fortress at the top of Assisi – made it from the bottom and now we’re at the top, right? Unfortunately, we had to pay to enter the fortress so we ditched that and walked around the building. The views were amazing – we could see where we’d got off the train and the long distance we’d crossed. There were also wild donkeys and two tourists having a full-blown photo shoot with them; it was hilarious!

On our way back to the station we decided to reward ourselves and went into Pasticceria Santa Monica for some treats. The place reminded me of La Casita and the two waitresses were blasting old-school hits on the speakers – so cool! I got a cappuccino and shared some panpepato and fondente with puffed rice and forest berries which was pure dark chocolate heaven with Megan. Definitely needed after such a hike, but we were so full by the end! We actually stayed there for a couple of hours chatting which was super nice. Then we walked back to the station as the sun was setting and got back to Perugia. We were knackered but as it was a Saturday we decided to go out on a night stroll after dinner. Francesca and Cristina took us around the centre, which was packed with students as it was Saint Paddy’s. Somehow we ended up at an Irish SU party where they were playing live folk music – it was great! And what a surprise when I turn around and suddenly see a bunch of Erasmus students from Siena! What were the odds?!

On Sunday we woke up latish, I took a shower and we got ready to explore Perugia. Perugia is a pretty big city if you consider the outskirts, but the actual historical centre is quite small and reachable from Cristina’s house. We visited a lot of places: il Templo, la Fontana Maggiore, il Palazzo dei Priori, il Pozza Etrusco, la Galeria Nazionale, la Catedrale, Rocca Paolina, Piazza IV Novembre, I Giardini Cardicei, San Francesco al Prato, la Via dei Corsi,… We pretty much did all of it and it looked very different from the night before even though it was the same places. Everything is also quite close which was good because we avoided having to walk too much. 

We had lunch at Il Testone and had a torta al testo which is supposed to be a special dish from Perugia. It’s like a sandwich with focaccia style bread and mine was filled with sausage and spinach. It was really good. We had lunch under the sun and then went to grab some bio ice-cream; mine was orange flavour and a combination of ginger, pear and cinnamon – so good! We also did some shopping and got ourselves some 5 euro sunnies from Tiger because why not? 

After that we decided to go back home and rest for a bit. Cristina was going to mass and we were to join her later to go for dinner with her church friends. I really wanted to meet up with Fra and Luca but unfortunately they had been busy over the weekend and I had already agreed to go to the dinner, which went on longer than we anticipated. It was a bit of a strange situation because I'm personally not religious so I felt a bit out of place even though everybody was nice and polite. After the dinner we wanted to get some cornetti with Nutella because it’s tradition to get them after a night out and since it was our last night there we wanted to try them. The place Cristina usually goes to was closed so we went to another one – it was a Kurdish shop tender with whom we had an interesting conversation about Kurdish treats like baklava which he also sold. It was really hard to understand his accent but we made it work! I had a ciambelli with Nutella which is pretty much a chocolate spread filled donut. Yum!

On Monday morning we were returning to Siena, so we took it slow and got ready and made our way to the bus stop – missed the first bus but we weren’t in a hurry so it was alright! The Flixbus was again late so we had to wait under the sun for a bit but we made it home.

Grazie mille Cristina for having us over the weekend, it was great to see you again!

The rest of Monday I spent running errands, cleaning, cooking and all that jazz. I’ve signed up for three more months at the gym so there is no escape now! This week I haven’t done much as I’ve been busy with getting the Erasmus paperwork sorted, catching up with lectures and preparing my French presentation for Friday. Even though most of the week has been fairly uninteresting, here are the things worth jotting down.

On Tuesday evening I went with Vero, Megan and Jess to the Tea Room near Piazza del Mercato and had a lovely piece of cake with some lemon and ginger tea – definitely going back! And then later that night Megan and I went to the ESN tandem but since it didn’t look very promising we ended up joining Megan’s flatmate and her friends at Maudit, an English pub where they give you a number and you can send other customers messages. It was a lot of fun – there’s mean people but you can also have a laugh! Definitely going there again! On Thursday I met with an Italian girl called Grazia from UniStraSi for a tandem exchange and it was really nice. We spoke a bit of Italian, Spanish and French and I hope to meet up with her again soon! Then on Friday night we went out to a student party at Contrada dell’Onda. I went to Megan’s for pres but ended up swapping location to the Piazza with Vero and Suzanne. The night was alright – the music wasn’t great but we had fun nonetheless. Vero and I ended leaving after it finished at 3 and managed to grab the last pizza slice at La Trofea and enjoy it on the Piazza. I ended up going to bed at like half five… Therefore, on Saturday I was exhausted but I forced myself to get up at 10, go out to buy a couple of things I needed (yay new trainers!) and do some more presentation work and then I met with Vero and Megan in the evening to book our Easter weekend in Bologna – can’t wait! We will also be going to Parma to visit Sara, so I’m looking forward to it! There was another student party that night that I really wanted to go to, but with only four hours of sleep I decided to stay in… #soboring Sunday I spent at home (the weather wasn’t great anyway) – I slept in, made pancakes for brunch, cleaned and finished some work. It was a pretty chill day. Also, there was a dead pigeon on our corridor and neighbour drama went down because nobody wanted to touch it… It eventually disappeared. And today has also been pretty chill. I finally managed to hand in my LA and I succeeded at making banana bread for the first time. Later I’ll go to the gym and I’m planning on having an early night…

This week I’ve also decided to run for fencing Social Secretary next year. I’m going to be snowed under with work but it’s the last year of Uni so I want to make the most of it! If I’m honest, I can’t wait to go back to England! I’m missing fencing and BUSMS and general British life-style…

Sorry for the long and overdue post, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. See you next time and don’t forget to follow me on my other social media:

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YA-13: Pisa and Enrico comes to visit!

Ciao! 

Lately my life has been both average and interesting. My days have been quite dull save for a couple events and I think ‘freshers’ flu’ has actually struck disguised as ‘Erasmus’ flu’ after the Welcome Week, as most people ended up staying home last week because of stomach/head/throat discomfort. I seem to have been able to mostly avoid it *knocks on wood* aside from a little sore throat and tiredness that I’m putting down to the fact that it’s that time of the month and that days have been pretty warm with quite cold nights…aka temperature changes…aka not good.

Anyhow, as I’ve said, nothing much has happened. Last week I attempted a Storia degli Istituzioni Politiche with Jess on Monday which was an absolute failure. It was a mix of law and political history and we spent two hours listening to the professor talk about the barbaric communities after the dissolution of the Roman Empire… Struck a bell with me but she spoke so quickly and the topic was so uninteresting for me that I gave up note-taking half way through, and following the course altogether not long after. End result? I had to look for a replacement module. On Wednesday I attempted to go and see the Rhetoric teacher, to figure out if I will actually (and successfully) be able to take the module… He wasn’t in his office so I went again today. He seemed quite nice and the module is very appealing but since it doesn’t start until May, I’m trying out Storia Sociale in the meantime so I have a backup plan. The teacher is really nice and the lectures are easy to follow as it’s pretty much primero de bachillerato contemporary history material. I will sign up for this and then eventually try out Rhetoric anyway – it’s a masters module so it might be harder to follow. Tomorrow when I hand in my Learning Agreement I will check that I can indeed change later on if needed.

This week I’ve also been going to the gym. Turns out the initial idea of coming back from Italy like a potato is unlikely to happen, as I’m filling my time with two weekly workout lessons and some visits to the gym with Jess #gymbuddy. Working that summer body (so we also have an excuse to eat gelato and pizza). Not a bad combination. I feel tired but content after the workout session and hopefully I will keep it up – will have to keep it up because it costs a fortune to go to that gym…

I’ve also been filling my time doing some course reading, but I feel I don’t really have much work to do aside from catching up on lectures I’ve missed… Ideally I will soon make a trip to the Library and take out a book in Italian or French (or both!). The weather has been so nice lately that one of my favourite past-times in sunbathing on the Piazza. If I have a book, I will at least feel like I’m doing something useful with my time. I miss reading but I want to limit the tablet e-books to my coursework, because I’m not a great fan of the electronic device. Hopefully I’ll find something interesting!

On Tuesday night Jess, Emilia and I went to an aperitandem in a bar nearby. It was packed by the time we got there and we didn’t really find anywhere to sit so we just hung around. By ten just as we were about to leave, they suddenly yelled ‘Tandem is about to start downstairs, guys!’ so downstairs we went. The event was organized by the ESN people – must say it could be improved. I guess it was because there were lots of people but we all just randomly chose a place rather than sitting according to target languages, which made us three end up in the English speaking table along with two Turkish gals and a pair of Italians. It was worth it because I met an Italian girl who was quite nice and potentially interested in a tandem exchange and I also met another guy who happens to be taking the Rhetoric module in May. We spoke English, which was not ideal, but hopefully next time (they organize them fortnightly) there will be less people and I’ll be able to speak some French or Spanish… Or Italian for that matter – it’s really hard to find opportunities to have a long conversation in italiano, crazy as it may sound!

On Wednesday, which was Women’s Day, I felt sick with cramps which was not a great start. I ran some errands and stayed at home. I really wanted to go to an apericena organized by Amnesty Siena about Rosa Parks – hoping to meet some Italians there. But I felt so sore I ended up staying in. No Al Cambio, no nothing. I watched a film and went to sleep. I hate it when this happens and I have to miss opportunities because I can barely move and have to walk around with a hot water bottle glued to my stomach. It called ‘the curse’ for a reason.

The rest of the week was pretty chill though. The weather was amazing on Thursday and Friday so on Friday I had lunch on the Piazza with Megan and Jess between my lectures, and afterwards relaxed at home. I’ve discovered my window sill is a pretty sweet spot to read or have a drink – quiet, in the shade and with great views. I feel like I will spend a lot of time sitting there when the weather definitely gets warmer.

Now what you’ve all been waiting for, our day trip to Pisa on Saturday. Megan and I got up early to catch the 9:20 train to Pisa – you have to change at Empoli and I must say it takes nearly two hours each way so it’s a pretty long trip. Anyway, the weather was lovely (chillier than in Siena but the sky was clear blue and the sun was shining). We arrived at around 11am and made our way to Piazza dei Miracoli to start with. I’d been to Pisa before but I barely remembered anything aside from the station and the actual Piazza, so my memories were not of much help. We managed to get there without any problem (it’s quite an easy city to navigate) and there we were joined by Sebastian, a German guy studying in Pisa who Megan and Jess met during their language course. It was great! He joined us and was our guide for the day, which was so nice of him and spared us from having to pull out the maps all the time. In the Piazza dei Miracoli we saw the Leaning Tower (touristy picture included, of course), the Cathedral and Baptistery. It was packed with tourists as expected. The tower is a lot prettier than I remember – not as tall but under the sun it looked amazing. We then went into the city and walked around –Sebastian showed us part of his University and a couple other random spots in the city: a nice Piazza where students meet, lots of other piazzas and alleys. We, of course, also visited the popular sightseeing spots: Chiesa della Spina (amazing church by the river), the river Arno, Palazzo Blu, Giardino Scotto (which looked like the Fortezza Medicea in Siena) and Keith Haring’s 1989 mural Tuttomondo which was amazing. We had lunch at a pizzeria Megan had read was supposed to be very good – we waited for over an hour for some not-so-amazing pizzas so I will not even mention the name of the place. Mistaken choice. At least the beer was good. Megan and I also tried panpepato which is a Tuscan pastry made with pepper and I must say I’m a fan – it’s like panforte but with a more unique taste. Definitely try it if you get a chance. 

After the sightseeing we parted with Sebastian and stopped by to do some much needed clothes shopping. I got myself some emergency shorts in case the weather gets too warm before Dad brings me my summer clothes. I also tried (and failed) to find nice plain white shirts so bought an over-priced Mango one and I could not keep myself from buying an orange red jumper. Completely unnecessary but I fell in love and there are no shops in Siena so I thought I might as well buy it. Happy and tired, we made the long trip back home and that was a wrap for the day. There was a Limoncello Fountain Tour and night out at Al Cambio that night but we were knackered from the long day so it was a no from us.

On Monday morning we met with Enrico in the Piazza – he came to visit and check on us! He invited us for coffee and pastries at Nannini and then took us to an amazing place near Piazza del Mercato called Gino Cacino for wine (Montalcino for red and Vernaccia for white) and we had a tagliere di salumi and crostini for lunch: a cutting board full of different hams, cheeses and bread with different toppings. My favourites were pesto, ceci and pepper. It was such a lovely meal and it was great to catch up with him. He updated us on all the Bath news and we had a lovely long chat about our respective Erasmus experiences and how to make the most of our time here. We’ve really missed him and we all miss Bath and can’t wait to be back next year (despite the work-load!). Grazie mille per il pranzo Enrico!

Then yesterday and today I’ve pretty much spent running errands and catching up on missed lectures (which takes forever, by the way). I’ve binge eaten a lot of unhealthy food so today I cooked a batch of veggies to keep me going the rest of the week. Last night was Karaoke night so the British lot went and it was so much fun! La Piazzetta (same place as for the apericena) was packed and Dan got the ball rolling by performing ‘Wonderwall’ – such a classic. Nat and Emilia nailed the ‘Wannabe’ rap, kudos. We sang a lot and very badly and we had a couple of drinks. Let’s get the playlist ready for next time!

Tonight I’m going to Al Cambio, since it’s been ages since I last went out to dance. Tomorrow I have to pack as this weekend Megan and I are going to Perugia to visit Cristina, so keep your eyes peeled for the next entry!

Alla prossima!

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YA-12: Welcome Week!

The first week of the semester, Welcome Week, is technically over (save for a postponed event next Saturday due to bad weather yesterday). It has been pretty cool, especially because we’ve been busy with activities and inductions. So here’s what we’ve been up to.

On Monday I was woken up by builders on a rooftop across my bedroom window. It was fairly annoying tbh, but at least it made me get out of bed and do things. I managed to run some errands in town like getting tickets for the Welcome Week events (which took a while because the queue was massive!). I then headed to Fieravecchia to find the building for the Beni Culturali department where I was going to have my Cinema module. They were having their registration session when I arrived but there was a guided tour at midday so I waited for that. Dan and I skipped the tour and directly asked where the Aula di Musica was – easy peasy. I then came back home for lunch and later on met with the others in the Piazza to make our way to the Rectorate for the Welcome Meeting at 3. The Aula Magna in the Rectorate is quite small and we barely fit inside so we used up the last few seats and a lot of people had to stand around the sides or sit on the floor… Not great. During the meeting we were given some really general information like when the registration session for each department would take place and they talked about the CUS for sport, Monte dei Paschi for opening bank accounts, the ESN group (despite technical difficulties and lack of accompanying power point). I didn’t really learn anything new, but we did realize how many new Erasmus students there actually are. I managed to meet my Buddy Marco, who’d been busy with exams up until now. He seems nice but is quite busy with his degree.

I then went back home to do some chores and have some tea before the Welcome Happy Hour. With the ticket came a drink and free buffet at Parsifal Guinness Club near the Piazza. I’d never been there before but it was quite good. They kept bringing pizza, pasta and random bits of food out on a table and we were all mingling as you do at an Erasmus event. I met people from all over: Germany, Argentina, Chile, Austria, France… and, clearly, Spain and England. It was a good night. I went home at around midnight after meeting loads of new people. I feel kind of in a bizarre spot though, because I hang out with Brits and speak English close to being native, so people assume I’m just English. On the other hand, I’m Spanish so I have no trouble speaking Spanish but I feel like I don’t get along as well with Spanish people because they just speak Spanish all the time which is limiting. I don’t know, I’ll see how the situation unfolds; I’ve barely started the semester.

Tuesday was an extremely chill day as I did not have any events to attend during the day. I was going to phone Lara but she couldn’t talk that morning so instead I slept in, read some more of ‘Lolita’ and watched YouTube videos whilst wrapped in a blanket. Productive. After lunch it was the Erasmus tour of Siena at 4 but the weather was horrible. We did walk around new parts of Siena which I hadn’t been to, which was surprising. I saw Fonte Branda and the escalator on that side of the city to go up to the Duomo level. Not bad at all. The guide was quite funny, but the weather sort of ruined the afternoon. After that I just came home, napped and skipped the gym – I was feeling a bit down, not going to lie, I think I might actually have a little bit of Seasonal Affective Disorder, because when the weather is bad I’m more likely to feel sad… I hope the weather improves soon.

That night we were going to Vainilla, which is a club outside Siena. Our bus left at 1am so we met for pres at Ivo’s house at around eleven and I then went to Piazza del Mercato to find Vero and the Spanish people at midnight, before joining the Brits again to get the bus. It was packed! Carnival themed so a lot of people were fancy dressed which reminded me so much of home… I miss the Carnival, it’s so much fun! The bus ride was quite long, about 20’-30’, but the club was in a massive building. It was packed and took me forever to find people I knew, but I had fun nonetheless. The music was quite good and we ended up taking over a platform with seats which we made our dancing location for the night. It was fun but by four I was ready to go home. We made it back to the bus and managed to get seats as well as crave some MacDonald’s to appease the drunken munchies. However, at 5am in Siena everything is closed so no fries for us. I went home, had some cereal and went to bed. 

Again, Wednesday was a pretty chill day. I was so tired from the night before so I slept in until midday and then phoned Lara and we talked for a bit. I then got out of bed and ready to venture outside and run some errands including hiking to Pam to do the grocery shopping. I did some bulk cooking; I went to Power Pump and ended up even more tired, but glad I’d done some exercise. Before bed I watched ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ with Dan which is a pretty good film although it was kind of hard to understand the accent… And then I skipped the Beer Competition and night at Al Cambio which was the Wednesday ESN event in favour of getting some proper sleep to be ready and functioning for the next day.

On Thursday the Dipartimento di Scienze Sociale, Politiche e Cognitive (which is my department) had their induction session in the morning so I met with the others and we made our way to San Niccolò for the session starting at half ten. I was surprised by the amount of people there. Alright, the engineering students were also present, but there were a lot more students than I thought. Jess and I didn’t learn anything new, as the information session was the same as the one we’d had earlier in the month, but we did meet some new people. There was a tour of the building, popularly called ‘il Manicomio’ because it used to be a psychiatric hospital, at midday so we stayed and did that which didn’t take long. The building is a maze though, so I know I’ll still have trouble finding the classes in there if I decide to follow the Rhetoric course… I had lunch back home and then headed to Fieravecchia for my first lesson: Storia e Critica del Cinema. The Aula di Musica is a small room with a piano, record player, and a few rows of chairs. Not extremely musical in my opinion… The group is quite small which I appreciate and the teacher was really nice. He asked the Erasmus students – we’re three, a Scottish guy named Duncan, Dan and I – to go see him in his office over the break and he made sure to explain to us the contents and assessment process. He even reduced the reading list for us! I really like the module thus far. After the lesson we met with Emilia and Nat to have some coffee at MeetLifeCafé and then back home I did a tonne of module research after finding out my Rhetoric module doesn’t start until May. I’d like to replace it with something starting now, so I’m going to go to Storia degli Istituzioni Politiche tomorrow with Jess and see what that’s like.

On Friday I woke up to the horrible news that someone had stolen some of my old Facebook profile pictures to make a fake account. I spent the day reporting the fake account and going through all the privacy settings in my account… Facebook replied saying the fake profile did not infringe their code so they couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t believe it. I got a few other people to report it and eventually the profile didn’t come up anymore so I hope it has been deleted… But the photos are stolen now anyway, nothing I can do now… Aside from that nasty episode, the day was quite good. We had our first Lingua Francese lesson in the morning. The teacher was also quite cool but the French level is super low. I’m not required to follow any extra lessons as my level is obviously higher than the required A2. But I am going to follow the module despite this fact, since the content sounds interesting and it is, after all, a 9ECTS module which is fantastic. Then Megan, Jess, Dan and I went to the mensa for lunch – it was packed! I had spinach tortellini which were really good and a potato and octopi salad with some chickpeas. All worth it. We then had a final cinema lesson to be done for the week. We had the film screening of ‘Stagecoach’ by John Ford. Fortunately, the other students in the group agreed to have Italian subtitles put on, because otherwise I don’t know how I would’ve followed…They spoke really quickly and it took me a while to adjust and not rely on subs. I really enjoyed the film too, which was great. After that I popped into Conad on my way home and did some chores before Crossfit with Megan that evening. The session was good.

I then went home, took a shower, and while I was finishing my shower the rest of the people started arriving in our flat for pres before the Party at the Rectorate (Friday’s ESN event). Pres was fine, we were quite a bunch at one point and lacked a couple of chairs plus I was concerned about the music and the neighbours, but that’s just me… We then headed to Via Pantaneto to grab some food before the party and happened to bump into another outdoor party in Contrada del Leocorno. There were loads of people gathered outside the church and the music was really good, so we danced there for a while before actually heading to the Rectorate party. The one at the Uni was quite good. We arrived at midnight and it felt quite empty as people were hanging out in isolated groups, but as soon as the doors opened to the public it got so packed you could barely move around! I shifted between the Brits and the Spanish, and ended up hanging out with Vero because I’d lost most of the people I was with… I ended up going back home at half three, after grabbing a slice of pizza on the way. Not great for socializing, but I did have a great night.

Yesterday I didn’t do much. I slept in and did some house chores. After lunch I went out to bring some medicine to Jess and Megan who’d been ill since the night before and had been throwing up. It took me a while to get there because there was a cycling event that had cut off the main streets, but I finally made it to the rescue. Once back home I didn’t do much else; I finished cleaning the house, did some work and took a shower before video calling the parents and then tucked into bed to watch ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’. Proper throwback.

Today I haven’t done much either. I slept in late and then finished my fourth entry for the University of Bath Placements’ Blog, which you can read here: http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/hss-placements/2017/03/05/year-abroad-iv-moving-to-siena-italy/ After lunch I met with Jess in the Piazza, having to avoid another cycling marathon, and we waited for Nat, Emilia and Chris to join us in the Palazzo Comunale to visit the Museo Civico. The museum is free for Siena students which is great. It is a massive building full of frescoes and some artwork, but quite empty. I expected it to be a bit better, not going to lie. Since we finished so early, we headed towards Il Duomo to have a look at what we could do there; we ended up going to the free exhibition (first Sunday of each month) at the Museo Archeologico and the Museo della Città. They were quite interesting. The building is an old underground hospital with bone pits and dark corridors and the exhibition was fairly good – a lot of Etruscan and Roman objects, mainly funerary and decorative. Once we were finished I decided to go home because it was quite cold and I worked on my blog a bit before joining Nat, Emilia and Chris for dinner at Il Pomodorino. This time I tried the Villana pizza which is a pizza bianca made with pear, pecorino and parmesan. Good combination but the cheese got a bit overwhelming at the end. And now I’m back home finishing the last words of this post.

Next week we’ll have proper lessons so tomorrow morning I’m trying my potential third module out. We’ll see how it goes. I hope to get in the swing of things soon because so far it seems like I have quite a lot of free time… I also have a couple of weekend trips planned soon, including Pisa and Perugia so I will keep you posted.

A presto!

Zoe