Week Two: Day trip to Siena

My first full week of classes was a huge success! Suffice it to say that my academic semester will meet with the same amount of procrastination that my music classes previously met... My homework is glaring me in the face. And I'm writing a blog post.

 This weekend we took a trip to Siena. Beautiful city. We had this really fun, spunky tour guide named Chiara. Siena is unique in that it's made up of 17 different contrade. A contrada is an area of the city, but more than that, a community into which you are baptized - civilly, not religiously - and to which you belong until you die. Each contrada is represented by an animal or symbol, and they each have their separate flags. Twice a year, the Palio di Siena is held - a horse race, in which 10 horses, representing 10 of the 17 contrade race. The winner gains bragging rights and the "honor and glory" in the words of our tour guide. She is from "the best contrada" - the she-wolf, or Lupa Contrada. Being the only city in Italy that has contrade, even other Italians think that Siena is odd. But it's a uniquely patriotic tradition. Although the contrade seem to be in constant competition, the overall sense of belonging to a quintessential community of Siena is very apparent in the lifestyle of the locals.

My favorite part of Siena (besides the food). The Duomo di Siena.

And the original Donatello statue in the Duomo.

Siena's city hall in the Piazza del Campo where the Palio takes place. 

We climbed to the top of the Museo dell'Opera, and got an amazing view of the city. 

And we had AMAZING weather that day. The clouds were so gorgeous. 

And... the ravioli I ordered in Siena. Delightful.

Coffee picture of the week: We found take out coffee at Illy! The first take out coffee I've seen since arriving in Italy. 

It's right by the bus we take to school, and a macchiato is only one euro. 

Loving Firenze,

♥ Em