Fulminare

Well I learned a new Italian word yesterday: Fulminare, which literally means electrocute! I suppose the story all started about a few centuries ago when Italy was creating its electricity system for the country. Things didnt work flawlessly so a few decades ago they changed the plugs in the walls from two small parallel circles, to two very small parallel circles, to fit in with the rest of Europe. This doesnt seem too problematic except for the fact that most homes in Siena have both kinds of outlet still installed inside their homes! To make this long story shorter, my European blowdryer needs to be plugged into an old school Italian outlet to make it work. And yesterday i had the pleasure of grabbing the plug out of the wall while the light that allows the electricity to flow freely was still on. It was my first experience being electrocuted, and hopefully my last... my arm went numb for a bit and a few tears escaped my eyes but by lunch time I was finally able to feel my fingers again! ha! All is fine now, i dont think that i lost too many brain cells in the electric current that surged through my body, but one never knows...

l'apartamento

Just a brief note about where i live in Siena!
me and my roomate Christine hit the jackpot as it were with our housing assignment! we live in the bottom floor of a house that is so cute and outside of the city about 15 minutes (on foot of course). Our landlady lives upstairs with her husband and one daughter. She is so cute but they speak little to no english so whenever there is a problem we get to have a great conversation over the speaker phone trying to look up words as fast as possible! but our bedrooms are spacious, the amount of bugs inside is very minute compared to other apartments and everything works properly in the kitchen! what more could a girl living in italy ask for?

Pisa!

So yesterday we took our first trip outside of Siena, and went to Pisa! Pisa is a smaller town, about the size of Siena i think and of course it is famous for the leaning Tower! It was so fun to go there, about nine girls from my group came and we had a blast! We had to take two trains to get there, so although it would normally take about 1.5 hours to get there, it ended up taking us three! All was fine though, and we arrived in Pisa just in time for lunch! we ate at a Pizzeria hidden in a cute alleyway and made a few random friends while there. Their names were Dario and Salvador, and although they may sound strange man were they authentic Italian boys! they both are in the Italian marine core and live in a small town called Livorno just north of Pisa. They decided to accompany us to the tower since they were conveniently heading there as well. I learned all of this through italian because neither one of them spoke any English, and I was the most advanced of the group who went so I became the translator! Hah! I am not sure which was more entertaining getting to see the leaning tower of Pisa or playing charades and guessing what two random italians were thinking all day! it was quite eventful! well that is all i have got for now, Ciao!

Well i have dropped down on the list of bloggers from entertaining muser to scarecly breathing, but i will try to improve those skills over the next six weeks! So i have finally made it to Siena, Italy where I am attending the Dante Alighieri school for Italian! Classes started yesterday and are very intense, no English is allowed to be spoken while in class so you can imagine that there is a certain level of stress that accompanies me for those five hours a day! But i am learning so much, already we have been in Siena for three days and I feel like I can always communicate what I need to say strictly in Italian! The city is beautiful, it is in Tuscany so there is green everywhere you turn, but it is incredibly old so the building are gorgeous to look at! I love the people here, they are so Italian... the classic laundry hanging out the windows, the old men smoking their cigarettes and drinking cappuccinos, and everyone eating gelato! Well thats all the time I have for now, Italy is incredible and I never want to come home (except to see all of you fine people whom I miss dearly!) Ciao, mandy