[A] Siena, first impressions

I have now been in Siena for three weeks, and that time has both sped by and lasted a lifetime. I do not feel totally integrated yet, and am still very conscious of my being a foreigner, but the welcome has been so warm that I feel such a turn is not far off. I share a room with a fellow American, Christian, and an Italian, Andrea. We have come to be good friends already, and having roommates with whom I can practice Italian is invaluable.

My apartment has four rooms plus a bathroom: a small kitchen, two spacious bedrooms, and a common room with couch, dinner table, and television. My shower has a curtain (+1 over France) and my desk...exists (+2). There is not, however a daily market outside my window (-1) nor is it acceptable to sit with an afternoon coffee (-2). It is linguistically a breeze compared to started anew with French, as I have already had two years of Italian in college. I feel my speaking already improving, though class thus far has brought with it no true revelations.

The city itself is beautiful, perched on an old hill and glowing in the evening light. Our apartment is just outside the proper walls, but in 7 minutes I am at the study abroad center, and in 16 at the locus of city life. The cobblestone streets are well corrected and walk with the wear of hundreds of years. Old churches shrink amongst five story private residences built both in the banking boom (Siena's Monte dei Pasci is the oldest bank. Yes, in the world.) and in the 19th century. The nexus of life and city is Piazza del Campo, a broad, sloping, central area in which the annual Palio races are held in the summer. In the evenings it is populated by families strolling after dinner and before work, children chasing pigeons, and people like me, reading or drawing. At night it becomes social central, and the determining factor to a night out is what time you arrived to or left from the Campo.

Just around the city lie the Terre di Siena, testament to Tuscan beauty. I have so far had limited occasion to explore this countryside, but am excited that this Sunday we are taking a ground bike tour around the area.

My courses are such that I have between 2-3.5 hours a day of Italian, 3 hours a week of Italian Cultural History, 3 hours a week of Italian and European Politics, 3 hours a week of Italian Love Poetry (taught in Italian), and 2 hours a week of independent study meetings. The Italian language courses are taken at the Università per Stranieri di Siena (UniStraSi), and all others happen at the study abroad center.
Siena has a great atmosphere, and is the size and type of city I prefer, very similar in many ways to Aix. I am 30 minutes from Florence by bus and 3 hours from Rome. I plan to explore the region and the country as much as possible, and of course to visit Pomai more than possible. I have not yet played tourist, so these pictures all come from google.