Season of Love!

Ciao!

It has been far to long since I have written on my blog! Oh boy today is February 15th already! Where is all the time going? The days seem to be going by faster and faster. Our program is done on April 3rd already and there is already a million things I still want to see and do! It has been a crazy few weeks in Italy. I had midterms already and they were surprisingly hard; I was expecting it to be easier but the work was worth it! I have learned so much since the first day of class about Italy, business, and politics here in Europe.



Since the last time I wrote I traveled to Siena in the rain. Although it was not the best day it was a lot of fun to learn about the history and see the beautiful Siena! It was a fun and spunky town to be in. We visited Church of San Domenico first and that is where St. Catherine's skull and thumb remains are. The church was very open and spiritual but simple at the same time. We continued to Palazzo Salimbeni which is the building of the two very famous families in Italy and then visited the Cathedral of Siena. We then had lunch around the famous Piazza Del Campo which is the location for the famous Palio di Siena happens. The Palio di Siena is the most famous palio in Italy, is a horse race held twice each year on July 2 and August 16 in Siena, in which ten horses and riders, dressed in the appropriate colours, represent ten of the seventeen Contrade, or city wards. The Palazzo Salimbeni is also famous for it's huge scene in the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. It was a great spot to see since the movie was filed there!



Yesterday a few girlfriends and I decided to go to Pisa for Valentine's day we woke up to roses from our program director who treated us to great meal at LaReggia the night before. We got to Pisa and walked around till we found the famous leaning tower. We toured around and walked inside the Duomo and noticed the U.S. Congressmen and women were there having a private tour accompanied by more than 15 security and police officers. It was quite thrilling to see and we tried to talk to them seeing as we were from America but they were not interested in teenagers!

We then went to see Santa Maria della Spina Church; which I have to say is the smallest church I have ever seen. It is said that "Spina" means "Thorn" and that one of Jesus's thorns from his crucifixion was brought to this church. It is very tiny church but quite famous. We had a lovely lunch and headed back to watch a movie and settle down from the long week. Oh and we were bombarded by Italian men giving us chocolates for Valentine's Day.. quite amusing!

Ti Amo & Happy San Valentino's Day!