Turns out
Erasmus students also have to work, which means these past two weeks I’ve spent
in good old Siena, no fancy weekend trips (although that ends this week – keep
your eyes peeled for my next post about Bologna and Parma next weekend!). I
have spent quite some time doing revision and getting work out of the way, but
that doesn’t mean I haven’t done anything interesting (it’s Erasmus after
all…). Here’s what I’ve been up to.
The first
week of April Siena held a chocolate festival: CioccoSi 2017. This meant Piazza
del Campo was extraordinarily busy since they set up some stalls (a little bit
like Bath Christmas Market), full of chocolate and other sweet goodies. There
were different chocolate-related events throughout the week, but I only visited
when going past the Piazza after lectures. Prices were insanely high, but the
stalls did look cute and I did treat myself to a freshly-made waffle with dark
chocolate and panna… I went on the
last day again in hopes of price reductions but I think it was way too early when
I went so prices were the same… It coincided with International Autism Day (2nd
April) so I did catch an event held by Piccolo Principe, the Autism Association
in Siena, with dancers and a communal release of blue balloons to raise
awareness about autism. It was a lovely event despite the rain!
I also did
some tandem-exchanges. On the 28th I met with Lorenza and Giorgia to
go for apericena at bar Impero. The
food was pretty good. I had a virgin mojito and a couple helpings of food… They
were both quite nice and we chatted a bit, mostly in Italian, to get to know
each other. I’ve seen Lorenza again a couple of times, either out at Al Cambio
or an afternoon at the Fortezza when I joined her and her friends to sunbathe
for a bit. I’ve also met again with Grazia. Last Sunday I met with her at the
Piazza and we caught up and went for gelato
– the weather has been amazing! We also explored a bit of Siena while the sun
was setting which was lovely. She’s a great tandem partner.
Tuesday
nights have become a rather eventful night in Siena after discovering the
karaoke and Maudit. I’ve been to both since. On the 18th Megan and I went to La
Piazzetta for the karaoke night which was quite fun. Definitely less busy than
the previous time and Francesco and Federico were adamant that Megan and I
sung. It had a slow take-off but once the Portuguese and Brazilians arrived it
was a massive lusophone party. That night we also met Gaetano and Tarek, an
Italian student and his former-Erasmus Egyptian friend who was visiting. We
happened to see them around again which was surprising because Siena is small,
but not that small! The following
Tuesday it was Maudit night so Megan and I headed there early to grab a table
and bumped into Duncan and his French flatmate. Vero joined us a little later
too. It was a fun night, Megs got a tonne of messages and the night was rounded
up with a very strange introduction to a drunk class mate from Lingua Francese…
It was a fun night. I went back this week again, this time with Jess, Emilia,
Nat, Fiona and Ivo (shout-out to Ivo who reads the blog!). We sat near the
entrance since there weren’t many big tables free and we had a lot of fun
sending messages to random strangers. Biglietti
night at Maudit always takes a bit to set off but once it does it’s a lot of
fun – brings your inner child out.
I have also
been doing a lot of exercise and healthy eating, for which I’m pretty proud. I
still find it funny how I came to Italy thinking I’d put on a couple of pounds
and so far I’m doing even better than when I’ve been in England… I’ve settled
for Power Pump and Crosstraining with random visits to the gym. Hopefully I’ll
get round to learning how to use the machines properly and get actual use out
of them!
On the 31st
instead of having a film screening for cinema class we had to attend an event,
‘Omaggio a Marco Grande’ who was a film critic who taught lectures at the
University and recently passed away. The three speakers were talking about
Grande’s work on Ferreri’s films and there was one of them being projected in
the background – I didn’t know anything about either of them but the film (a
sixties/seventies completely surrealist piece) caught my eye and now I kind of
want to watch it… Other than that, it was good for my Italian but not
particularly relevant to the course.
That same
night the plan was to have a girls’ night out in La Cantina with Vero, Megan
and Jess, but again, stuff came up and it ended up being just Megs and I (oh,
what a surprise! haha). While we were debating over what to do, there was a
weird night-time procession with a cross and candles going up my road which was
really random… Anyway, making use of secret sources, we found out there was a contrada party at Chiocciola. Now, contrada parties are great. Megan and I
have definitely started to get a bearing of what goes down as you’ll soon know.
Technically, it’s a party for contradaioli
but once the word of mouth spreads everybody ends up at the party and it’s free
entry which is great. It’s a hit and miss though, because there are usually
quite a lot of clearly under-age teens and the DJ can be really good or really
bad, but you have to try them out. Chiocciola was great – the music was fantastic
because they played Spanish music but also Italian hits and British and
American goldies, great mix. The crowd was alright and we randomly ended up
bumping into Gaetano and Tarek who we’d met at the tandem and we ended up
dancing all night with them two, their Spanish also-former-Erasmus-friend
Enrique and a bunch of other people. It was such a fun night, I really enjoyed
it. The next contrada party was the
following night – this time Istrice which was kind of a let-down. The place was
amazing and surprisingly big as you go down the corridor to a massive room.
However, the music wasn’t great and the crowd was made of bambini basically… The party ended at 1 so we then – again with
Gaetano, Tarek and Enrique – went to Al Cambio. Reggeatón duro and creeps are not my thing so we ended up going
home pretty early. Hit and miss like I say. The following Saturday I met at
around 7:30 with Nat, Jess and Emilia to check out the event ‘Swinging on
Porrione’ which was live music, dancing, and stalls selling art, clothes and
food in Porrione. It was quite busy and it reminded me of the events back home
which was really nostalgic. They got some food and we walked around and had a
chat. At around nine I went back home for dinner and then headed out to go to
Megan’s before going to l’Aquila. We’d heard there was a beer party in the contrada (trying contradas yet again), but when we got there it didn’t look too lively
so we headed to l’Onda instead where there was an actual party. We danced until
around one before swapping to Al Cambio, which for once was emptier and with
better music than the previous week. We had a slice of pizza from Lievito Madre
before heading home quite late. Great night out. I can’t wait for outdoor contrada parties, I’m becoming a fan.
In these
past few weeks I’ve also tried Italian cinema. I went to watch Beauty and the Beast with Megan and Jess
one weekend afternoon. The cinema is near my house and, although the room is
quite small, they have a decent film choice. Bad use of space though because
the corridors are terribly empty and resemble an old hospital… I absolutely
loved the film though, and if you haven’t watched it yet, you definitely
should! They are both true to the original cartoon and different for the
better, fixing plot holes and adding new songs. I loved the new version and
have been listening to the soundtrack a lot lately… The weirdest thing was
having everything dubbed – songs
included – which meant I didn’t actually realize who the cast were until they
turned back to human! Easy to follow though, which was good. Cinema trips in
France and Italy? Check.
Megan and I
also visited contradas by day. On the
2nd we attempted to make the most of the free museum entry on the
first Sunday of the month, only to find out we missed the Pinacoteca because it
is open only until one (will be doing that next month). So we ended up at
Contrada Capitana dell’Onda whose museum happened to be open. It was really
interesting because there was a guide who showed us around and explained all
the history of the place and contrada.
The exhibition was amazing but it was just great to hear the pride in the contradaioli’s voices. We learned a
couple interesting facts and had a look around the treasures they house like
the original plaster statues by sculptor Giovanni Duprè or the Palio flags from
Onda’s winning races. If you happen to run into an open contrada museum, definitely pop-in; they are free and very unique!
A couple
extra random events I’ve attended/things I’ve done. We finally got round to
having a Lalaland film-night, popcorn
included which was a good alternative to going out. I’ve had to work and study
quite a bit these past weeks so having an earlier night is great… Also
sunbathing and revising on the Piazza with the Brits which serves a double
purpose: studying while developing my non-existent tan (I definitely look the
least Spanish I am able to, shielding away because it wasn’t until now I
managed to get some sunscreen…). Another lovely thing was videocalling Moni who
I hadn’t spoken to in ages! It was great to catch up with her and Fécamp. I
miss the school and the people I met there. I’m sure now that spring is here
the beach will be so much nicer! Can’t wait to meet up with her in Glasgow! I
also went with Vero to Un Tubo for the first time which is a bar just off Via
del Porrione, quite fancy and different. There was a poetry night on the 5th
with contemporary Italian poets reading out their work. It was so full we
didn’t actually manage to get a table so we ended up sitting outside and
chatting for like 3 hours. Lovely night, but not much Italian practice!
On Thursday
the 6th I sucked it up and went to La Piazzetta because there was an
apericena to recruit writers for the
student newspaper in Siena. I thought it would be a good opportunity to meet
Italians and practice some writing, so I forced myself to go – yep, I still
have to do this sometimes, getting out of my comfort zone is not easy. Glad I
went because it was a great evening! When I arrived it was quite late so I had
missed the presentation but a girl called Giuglia filled me in on the
information and started to introduce me to everybody! I cannot remember half the
names, but it was great. They are pretty excited to have an Erasmus student
collaborating and I’m pretty excited to start too. There’ll be a meeting after
Easter and I already have a couple post ideas lined up. Here is the page if you
want to check the journal – it’s quite new (est. last December) and only
electronic but they are getting there! https://piazzadelcampus.it/ I stayed for a couple of drinks
talking to people and walked with them to Cacio e Pere but came back home early
because I had a 9am the next day. Such a great experience; cannot wait to
start!
Last few
points worth mentioning. The French test and presentation went just fine and we
only have a couple extra classes before the module finishes, which is great
because the other two modules are turning out to be quite time-consuming. I
also decided to start 13 Reasons Why
two days ago and I’m already over half way along the series and restraining
myself from binging. Send help. It’s not even that good. And, finally, I got
elected SocialSec for the Fencing Club next year which is exciting but I don’t really
know what I’ve got myself into…We’ll have to wait and see.
I’m off to
Bologna with Vero and Megan this weekend and will be going to Parma too to meet
Sara. I’ll try my best to have a post about the trip up as soon as possible
once I’m back, but bear with because I genuinely have a lot of stuff to catch
up on!
A presto!
Zoe
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