YA-26: my last weeks in Siena!

Ciao!

I can’t believe this is the last post about my adventures in Siena during my Year Abroad. Fear not, I have a couple more in mind about places to eat and contrada parties, as well as a round-up post about my opinion on the Year Abroad and on my Erasmus, but this is the last diary-styled entry for the year, which makes me sad (I mean, I did leave Italy nearly two months ago, but that doesn’t mean I can’t complain!).

Here is what I did over the last two-ish weeks I was in Siena.

After coming back from the short holiday in the north, I was knackered but had to wake up early on the Saturday to run errands and clean and do all the boring stuff in preparation for my sister’s arrival the following day. The day kicked off with a weird message from my landlady saying a guy was probably moving into Dan’s old room for a little over a week, but she’d let me know, so I went out to do the groceries and then started cleaning the house. I was surprised by some keys rattling on the door and then a random guy coming in. Apparently, my landlady hadn’t deemed it necessary to warn me in advance... I swear, the whole situation was a mess and dodgy af but oh well, I lived through it and Vittorio wasn’t a bad housemate anyway… I spent the rest of the day doing some work and speaking to Vero on the phone since it was over 35 degrees outside and thus impossible for me to leave the house. In the evening there was an impromptu ESN barbecue but Megan and I decided to pass because we were so tired and instead just hung out at home and spoke to Vero to update her on our trip.

The next day I got up and packed my bag and sorted through the photos I’d taken since the Palio (which were a tonne, believe me). Jess came over for lunch as she was transferring flats and was homeless for a few hours in the middle of the heat and afterwards I uploaded the photos to the different social platforms and rested for a bit before heading out to the station. It coincided with the second Estrazione of the horses running the August Palio, so the streets were quite empty since everybody was in Piazza del Campo. I was watching it through the TV in the Consorzio Agrario while I was being served some pizza for the journey and had Grazia and Megan update me live: Aquila, Bruco and Lupa were pulled out and Drago, unfortunately, wasn’t running in August either. This does mean that Drago will be running both Palios next year, so I’m excited for that! The trip to Pisa didn’t seem too long and I reached the airport before Erin had picked up her case. It was so bizarre to hear the Canarian accents of the passengers leaving the flight – I had a little over a week left in Italy but was feeling the nostalgia towards home after six months away! We reached our Airbnb without any issues, showered and went to sleep. We were exhausted!

On Monday the 10^th we got up early to beat the heat and got ready to explore Pisa. After having our Italian pastry and coffee for breakfast in a nearby bar, I took Erin around the city and within two hours and a half, she’d seen all of it: Piazza dei Miracoli with the Leaning Tower, the Tuttomondo mural, the Chiesa della Spina… We did a bit of shopping and decided to go grab our bags and go to Siena, since there was not much more to do. We got some wraps from a kebab shop and had lunch on the train back to Siena. When we arrived, the only issue was that the sun was nowhere to be found. It was still hot, but the sky was covered by a massive cloud in comparison to sunny Pisa… We spent the rest of the day resting and relaxing. We helped Megan bake some brownies for Francesco and then, after Power Pump and dinner, we met with her again to chill on the Piazza after the sun went down and it started to cool down. Not bad for a first day.

On Tuesday we had pancakes for breakfast before heading out the door to explore Siena. I showed Erin around the main sights, following a similar itinerary as I did with Dad when he’d come: San Domenico, then Fontebranda and up to the Duomo, the Piazza, San Marco, Orto dei Tolomei… We had some Panini from Il Cencio (still not as good as All’Antico Vinaio, but pretty good nonetheless) and some icecream from La Favorita before going back home to regain our strength. That evening we met with Jess and Megan at Boccon del Prete for dinner and, as per, the meal was amazing. I had some of that Soave Classico wine with some gnocchi with fish, sweet paprika and basil which were to-die-for! After our lovely dinner together we went to the Piazza to chill for a bit and give Francesco his brownies.

On Wednesday morning we hit the mercato in Fortezza with Megan and I bought some taralli and a Pulp Fiction tee. Then I showed Erin the actual Fortezza Medicea and the three of us went to Osaka for sushi and pretty much stuffed our faces. Literally, my life in Siena was a lot of tourism, walking around, chilling and, above all, eating! On our way back home we bought our Siena hoodies and then Megan left us while I took Erin to San Francesco. I really liked that building, but I didn’t have any lessons there. The walls of the courtyard are covered with very old scribbles from the former students of the faculty, which is super cool! From San Francesco we head over to find where the Bruco contrada party would be and then managed to find Fonte Nuova d’Ovile which is one of the fountains in Siena which I hadn’t seen yet. It is actually just behind the società for the Contrada della Lupa! It was a very peaceful spot in the shade which I really liked. We then came back home to escape the heat and start packing all my stuff (which took longer than I’d like to admit). After the gym we just relaxed at home and planned the few things we wanted to do on my last week in Siena before going to bed.

The next day we got up early and went on a mission: finding a sunflower field to take pictures in. We’d spent the previous afternoon researching to figure out where they’d be one we would be able to read by public transport, so there we were, with Megan, on the bus to Casetta. When we’d gone to that final Erasmus party at Essenza, a man on the bus had told us there was a sunflower field just off the leisure centre, so we’d pretty much gone out based on the words of this stranger. Fortunately, he wasn’t lying, and after a 20 minute walk under the scorching sun being catcalled by a couple truck drivers and farmers, we made it to the sunflower field. Irl it wasn’t as amazing as the pictures, but shhhh! We managed to take a few pretty ones and then decided to leave before we got even more sunburnt.

In the afternoon we went shopping for the ingredients we needed to cook dinner at Megs’. We’d invited Emilio over and wanted to cook some chicken and potatos with a mustard and rosemary sauce which turned out so yummy! It was also Frederike’s birthday but we’d agreed to the dinner first, so we dropped by to give her her present before dinner. We had a nice time that evening and Emilio was really funny trying to speak Spanish – all learnt from listening to reggeaton apparently!

On Friday morning I had to run some errands with Jess and Megan and get my final Erasmus paperwork sorted. The office was pretty busy, not going to lie, but I managed to get it done and also purchase the tickets to the airport and sort out the phone. After lunch Erin and I decided to go to Orto dei Pecci with a couple of magazines and a picnic blanket to rest in the shade and get some fresh air, and were later joined by Jess. We stayed there until around six and then went back home, grabbing some Menchetti pizza and Nannini tiramisu for dinner instead of going to Morbidi. The dinner was really good, so no regrets there! At around ten we met in the Piazza with Jess, Megan and Elliott and Lydia, Megan’s brother and his girlfriend who were visiting for the weekend. We drank some wine and then went to the contrada party in Bruco. I was amazed by the massive garden – it is totally out of view from the outside and accessible through the entry to the società. It is divided in different levels which is kind of tore away from the size, but despite that it was amazing! We went down to jam out to the music and I had a great time, even though Jess had to leave early because she was moving to Florence the next morning. We saw Francesco, Emilio, Tsubasa, Antonia, Natalie…  And ended up in Civico 6 with Emilio dancing until late.

On Saturday we slept in and then had brunch and did some more packing. In the afternoon we met up with Grazia in Piazza and got some gelato from Gelateria Caribia. It was weird to be meeting up with everybody to say goodbye, but we had a nice time chatting on the Piazza and I’m sure she’s going to have a blast in Germany doing her Erasmus! After she had to go, I took Erin to Contrada della Giraffa on our way home to show her the contrada who had won the Palio, still all decorated with flags and still parading the Palio around the streets of the city just as we’d seen the previous night. After dinner we got ready to head out again with Megan. We had some wine on the Piazza and then hit Bruco. I felt sad that it was my last contrada party in Siena and that I was soon going to leave. The night was also kind of weird since most of the usual Erasmus bunch had already left Siena by then and so the contrada party was full of actual Italians and not that many friendly faces. There was live music and eventually we walked Erin home and then I went back to the Piazza with Megan and we kind of just sat there and spoke at length about our experiences over the year and in particular about Siena. I was feeling pretty down to be leaving at that point, but Siena had changed so much after the Palio with most of the people leaving and a lot of places closing for the summer, that a part of me also wanted to leave. It was a weird mix of feelings.

The next day I took Erin to the Facciatone, where we bumped into some Swiss guys from the contrada party the night before. The day was nice and sunny but not too hot, so a perfect day to climb the arch and enjoy the bird’s-eye-view of the city. We had lunch at l’Antica Trattoria dell’Aquila where, so it seems, one of the guys from CoreBattente works, and then later on met with Duncan on the Piazza. We went to Orto dei Pecci for a bit and then got some blood orange granite and chatted on the Piazza for a while before saying good-bye to him and Tsubasa who we happened to run into. That evening we decided to organize the next few days and stay in and rest.

On Monday we slept in and gave up on our plan of going to the pool so instead we ran some errands and then had lunch while watching Game of Thrones. After resting for a bit I hit the gym since Power Pump had finished and then did some laundry and went to chill in the Fortezza with Erin while the sun was setting before going to Pomodorino for dinner. We were given a table outside with a lovely view of the sunset over the Duomo and Torre, and enjoyed our pizzas followed by some frozen yogurt from Yogorino on the Piazza. Quite a laid-back day.

On Tuesday we took an early bus to Florence. First stop: Fra Angelico’s frescoes in San Marco. I’d been around before but it was always closed, so I managed to go when it was open for once. They weren’t as amazing as I expected them to be, but I was glad to cross the place off my list and I found it quite interesting to see the inside of the monastery. We then walked towards the centre (in the all-encompassing heat of course) and saw the Duomo and did some shopping. We randomly bumped into Vittorio on our way to Via dei Neri to meet up with Jess and her friend Alice for lunch. We got some schiacciate from All’Antico Vinaio (duh!) and sat together on the sidewalk to catch up on the last few days and Jess’ move to Florence and her first few days at work. It was lovely to see her. Then we did some more walking around, visiting a few other spots like Santa Croce, Palazzo Pitti, Ponte Vecchio…) and did some more random shopping before getting the bus back home. We got back at around 7 and did some more packing. After our sad and meager dinner of soup and pasta with butter (what happens when you’re about to leave a place and need to get rid of what’s in the fridge/pantry), I went out to meet Megan on the Piazza where we chilled together and then decided to go on a walk around Siena after dark – Orto dei Tolomei was incredibly calm and you could see all the stars which was so nice! I was feeling quite sad about the next day being my last in Siena.

The 19^th was my last day in Italy for a while and I was quite sad. I woke up early to go to the market and buy some sandals that had caught my eye and then got the taxi ride sorted for the next morning and bought some cornetti for breakfast on my way home. I cleaned and finished up packing everything I possibly could and went to Menchetti to get some pizza for lunch. After that I met with Giulia and Valeria to say good-bye and we had coffee in Bar Il Palio. I’m really glad I met them; they were so welcoming and helpful with my Italian and happy to show me around Siena and introduce me to new people. I actually wish I’d joined the newspaper earlier, but I am thankful to have joined at all. It was such a good practice for my Italian and I hope to see these two gals again at some point!

On my way home I bought some ricciarelli to bring with my and then chilled at home before Erin and I went over to Megs’ for dinner. It was nice to have an actual plate of food haha We then went to the Piazza and joined Antonia and Quirine for a last Piazza-chill. It was lovely to see everybody one last time and I felt pretty sad and also kind of sick from the travel anxiety the next day. I really made of Siena my home for six months and it was sad to have to part our ways, even though I knew it was coming. I’ll go back one day, I’m sure.

We left Siena on the 20^th of July and the trip went fine. We woke up very early and brought our bags downstairs without any problems. The taxi picked us up and drove us to the station while the sun was rising. The train and change in Empoli went just fine and we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I actually saw a guy whose face looked familiar at the seating area in Pisa and told my sister, but we were so far from Siena I thought it was just my imagination. We saw him again at the baggage pick up in Tenerife, which I thought was a coincidence. Well, I didn’t find out until later, but turns out he is actually my best friend’s classmate in Tenerife, who’d done his Erasmus in Siena for the whole year. I definitely bumped into him in Siena but we didn’t ever get to talk (that I can remember at least) so we actually made acquaintances after Erasmus. So bizarre!

Anyway, after dropping our bags and paying for the extra weight, we went through security, got some food and waited to board the plane. I had to change seat three times and ended up at the back of the plane. The flight was a nightmare. It was long and I’d forgotten how loud the young people who go to Tenerife on holidays can get. I mean, not my kind of tourist I can tell you that. I had an empty seat next to me at least, but that didn’t make it any easier. We eventually reached home, which felt surreal after so long. Mum and Dad picked us up. I was glad to be home, but sad to have left.

Here’s a video I put together with pictures and photos of my experience. The music got messed up due to copyright reasons, but you can see the pictures at least.

My Erasmus exchange in Siena between February and July 2017 was an amazing experience full of great people, tasty food and many wondrous places and adventures – I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Grazie mille a tutti quelli che hanno reso il mio Erasmus indimenticabile! Mi mancate tantissimo e vi voglio bene!

Alla prossima,

Zoe