Rainy Days In Siena

I love thunderstorms to begin with. The steady rain against my roof and the sound of the thunder that seems to shake everything around me, followed by an unexpected flash across the sky. In Siena they are even better. We had a really good thunderstorm the other day and I just left my window open, ate biscotti, and read a novel - enjoying some of my favorite things in my most favorite place.

This is what the Tuscan countryside looks like covered in rain --->

The Arguing

One thing I have come to learn about Italians is that they know how to argue. They have about 10 different hand gestures that can all contribute to the arguing process and a common habit of interrupting each other.

I was sitting at work one day and in the next room some of the employees at the radio station started arguing. I wasn't alarmed becuase this happens frequently. But then it got to the point where one girl was literally screaming at the top of her lungs. I almost went out to see if the guy she was arguing with was threatening her with a knife or something. But then 5 seconds later when I went out she just smiled and said something along the lines of, "Lots of problems come up when you work in an office!" And then her and the guy she probably damaged one of her lungs in order to insult were completely fine a few minutes later. I would say I was shocked but I have learned early on that arguing does not mean fighting in Italy.

My host parents argue all the time at dinner but then they act completely normal once the argument is over. I commented on this to Anna, my host mom, the other night and said I loved how Italians could fight and then blow it over so quickly, but she claimed it wasn't fighting. She said that two people need to discuss their opinions or else they will end up going in two different directions, and not get to know each other for who they really are and what they really think. For some reason this stuck with me. At first I just thought Italians were hot heads. But what Anna said makes sense. They aren't afraid of being rejected by another person, so they speak their mind until they are heard. There is something that intrigues me about that idea, the thought that we shouldn't just sit idly by agreeing with others to avoid causing contention. Silence inevitably becomes agreement. And sometimes I don't agree. Maybe I won't go full-blown Italian, but I think they might be on to something here.

Antenna Radio Esse

So not only do I get to travel around the best country in the world and experience all that Italy has to offer, I also get to work here. Yep, resume material baby! I needed something communications oriented since I am a PR major but Italy doesn't have very many internship opportunities. In fact, that's not even a normal thing that they do here. We had each of our positions created especially for our program. Cinzia, being the amazing Italian that she is, managed to find us all something relatively close to our majors with companies here in Italy to work for 4 weeks and get some good old foreign experience. Mine is at a radio station called Antenna Radio Esse. Esse is how you pronounce the letter S in Italian and it stands for Siena. But the station is actually a few towns over in Bedesse... a small run down town full of Asians. I get to take the bus every day by myself and enjoy 20 minutes of beautiful Tuscan countryside to and from work. Since they didn't really have an intern position, they created a spot for me to translate a page of news every day from Italian into English and then record myself in the studio. Afterwards, my boss will listen to it and let me know what to improve on. I'm learning a ton! Not only do I get to interact with Italians every day but I get to experience a little taste of what broadcasting or working at a radio station would be like! Translating is even pretty fun! But dang hard. Italians use about a thousand more words to say something that would take an American half the amount of words. I guess that is why their language is also a thousand times more beautiful... but sometimes trying to get their point across in English can be difficult. And the best part is the internship is only for about 2-3 hours, and then I get to take the rest of my day to explore Siena :) 

My Favorite Place the Whole World

And thiiiiis is the most beautiful place I have ever been. Cinque Terre is on the west coast of Italy, made up of five different towns separated by beautiful green mountains and a view of an ocean that looks like it goes on forever. Each town is unique in it's own way but I loved them all. 

Town #1: Riomaggiore - This is where we stayed for the weekend and our room was an adorable (and oddly very  pink) little hostel up about 20,000 flights of stairs (only a slight exaggeration). This town is possibly the smallest but it has a lot of character and is a great place to stay because it's less touristy. Anywhere you stay is literally 5 minutes walking distance from the ocean and the sunsets are unbeatable here. We woke up late every morning and had orzo (imitation coffee... I think I would be a big coffee drinker if I wasn't LDS because I am addicted to this orzo stuff and it doesn't even have caffeine) at a cute little cafe up the street. Paradise. Just sayin. 

Town #2: Corniglia - In order to get to this town you have to hike up the side of the mountain on a switchback trail for about 15 minutes and arrive sweaty and exhausted when... hold up! It's the most adorable little town you've ever seen in your life! This town was the best for little alleyways and hidden paths. It had some great hole-the-wall shops but more importantly, an incredible view. 

Town #3: Vernazza - The main thing you gotta know about Vernazza: cinnamon gelato. 'Nuff said. That stuff is probably the best thing I've ever tasted in my life. It tastes exactly like a cinnabon...except in gelato form. The rest of the town is cool. But honestly this delicious treat pretty much dominates my perception of Vernazza. 

 Town #4: Monterosso al Mare - This is the town with the beach. Need I say more? There is a really good pizzeria shack right on the shoreline and the water is beautiful. We got to take out kayaks for an hour too for only 5 euro. We paddled out in the middle of the ocean and looking back you could see all five towns, each one a cluster of color among all the green. It was great... until the boys flipped our kayak. But I knew it was coming. There will be revenge of course. Perfect way to spend the day!

Town #5: Manarola - This town is between Riomaggiore and Corniglia and it's the one town we didn't hit. I heard it was the least spectacular out of all of them. But WHEN i go back to Cinque Terre, I won't miss it.

This little piece of heaven will never get out of my head. 

No This is Not a Joke

I know what you're thinking. Me. With a hot stove and a spoon. Bad idea. But listen, I am basically a pro now because I was taught by the pros right? Italians know their food. Okay maybe I am not a pro but the two cooking classes we got to take last week were so much fun! I always thought I didn't like to cook but I think I have been living a lie. I enjoy it a lot! As long as I am not starving and grumpy or the kitchen is a mess then in the words of my roommate Cara: I think there is an inner baker inside of me waiting to come out. 

This is our view from the balcony of the Dante Alighieri school where we ate our appetizers. Good food, good view. Pretty darn good life.

Street Sightings Of the Week

My apartment window is right on one of the main streets that leads to the gates of the city. Naturally this means all kinds of Italians are coming and going and sometimes I get to see cool things like these --->

There was an antique car show in Siena one day and it started right on our street. My host mom came running into our room saying "Ragazze!!" (girls) and got all excited, opening our windows. We watched it with her while she had her arm around me and a huge smile on her face. This is one of my favorite Italy moments so far. And if you yell "Ciao" sometimes the people driving the cars would honk

One night I started to hear a ton of voices outside of my window and that whole week there were a lot of people just chilling on my street. Saturday night I walked past the field behind one of the buildings and saw this. We decided to join because.. perché no?! Apparently each contrada has 10 days of partying before the Palio event. This is the chiocciola party and oh my freaking goodness was it fun!! We danced all night and got to experience a festa Italiana. One of my favorite nights in Italy.

Another time I heard American music blasting from the apartment across from mine. These Italians love American music and it's nice to have a little taste of home.

And more than once I have seen the cutest little kids waving chiocciola flags and marching down the street, proud of their contrada.

My street is never boring, let's put it that way.

Hidden Gems of Italy

Castiglione della Pescaia. 

This place. Totally worth the craziness it took to get there, but really. It was quite the adventure! We bought tickets to go to Castiglione for Saturday and it's about a 2 hour bus ride. We got to the bus station just in time and then ended up sitting there for an additional 30 minutes because the bus was late for who knows why. Italians have a tardiness issue. (Not that I don't also have that issue...) But we finally left and had to make a bus change in Grosseto. Well, since our bus was late we thought we had missed the connecting bus and were going to have to wait 2 hours. Luckily they put us on a different bus passing through Castiglione. All was well. The bus ride was beautiful and then we saw the ocean for the first time since being in Italy. 

Well, one thing led to the next and we ended up getting too excited and getting off at the wrong bus stop... 30 minutes before the one we were supposed to get off at. 2 hours walking distance. We were stuck in a little town that I don't even know the name of. We went into a bar (bars are different in Italy - it's a little eating place with scones, not just alcohol) and talked to the owner, hoping maybe they could help us figure out what to do. The next bus didn't come for 2 more hours. I swear Italians are the kindest and most hospitable people ever. He said he would let us use their private beach for free until our bus came. So thankfully we didn't waste any beach time and were finally on our way to Castiglione. Or so we thought. We got to the bus stop at 1:20 and the bus was supposed to come at 1:45... 2:00 comes rolling around and we still see no bus. Remember how I said Italians were always late? Well, finally the bus pulled around the corner and we were OFFICIALLY on our way. 

We reached Castiglione, this time asking the driver where to exit. And found the most beautiful little beach town set on a hillside surrounded by the walls of a castle overlooking the ocean. We spent a couple hours just chilling on the sand and it was perfect weather. We hung out, took pictures, waved off annoying vendors, and soaked up the sun. Then we went exploring around the town and got gelato. You could climb up the old castle steps and see a view out over the entire town and ocean. I have to say I caught my breathe a little. I think the ocean just may be more beautiful in Italy than anywhere else in the world.... But maybe that's just because it's Italy and I'm in love with that place. Castiglione is somewhere I definitely plan on going back to before I leave. And the best part is that it's not too touristy. Not as bad as Florence or Rome. It was just an easy-going little piece of heaven. 

Cats are everywhere in Italy. Today we saw one on our roof too. Oh and gelato is just as common :) 

The ride back held a few adventures of its own too. On the first bus I had to endure the creepy flattery of a short, fat Italian man while his smelly armpit sat way too close to my face. We were packed in and sadly I was in the aisle seat, the creepy little man standing next to me. I tried to ignore his stares for a while, but Italians are persistent. The only things I understood were, "you have beautiful eyes," "your teeth are so white and you have a bright smile," and "bellisima." Every time I would try and continue to read my novel he would come up with some other creepy line and then cackle in a very serial killer sort of way. Luckily the smelly little man had to get off at the next stop. 

But va bene! Castiglione was totally worth it :)