Ciao, Regazzi

It's finally the weekend here in Siena and I really needed it -- finally time to explore the city without any time constraints. Last night, a bunch of people met at my apartment and got ready to go out. We figured out that since buying drinks at clubs and bars is SO expensive here, it's just much more economical to buy wine (literally as cheap at 1 euro/bottle) before going out...the Italian pre-game :)

We then headed to a disco called The Gallerie and I felt like I was at any American club. The place was full of another huge group of American students who will be in Siena for their orientation for another week before going on to Florence for the remainder of the semester. Besides the all-American crowd, every single song was American, too. In retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised at all, but I was a little disappointed. It was fun, but nothing I can't get back in the States. The one thing that was very cool was that since all of the buildings here are so old, even the club had awesome alleyways and was built using other medieval trends.

Finally I was able to sleep in this morning. I woke up and fiddled with my Blackberry for a good hour. If anyone who is reading this has ever had a problem locating data on their phone after backing up their phone onto their computer, I'd really appreciate your help!

Anyway, I met my friends at the beautiful fountain in the center of the Piazza and we got a quick lunch of pizza and then got AMAZING gelato and people-watched for a while. Afterwards, we meandered around the city and visited a bunch of the shops. I was finally able to buy a new hair straightener since my old, dependable, and very loved Chi couldn't quite handle the outlets over here.

For dinner, we found a restaurant where I basically ate macaroni and cheese, only better. Yet again, we ran into that other group of American students...all I have to say is that I'm really glad that I chose to go on this program instead.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I'm not sure how religious this town is. I was planning on going to look at some of the churches depending on whether or not they are actually open! The one church that I have gone into, Saint Catherine's Church, was absolutely beautiful and also beautifully restored as well. I can only imagine how expensive and time-consuming such a restoration must have been. The weirdest part: when Saint Catherine died, her head was mummified and placed in an open area of the church for everyone to see, including me, to see. It was crazy!