Non capisco!!!!!

I've noticed that I haven't talked much about day-to-day life in Siena, so I guess that's what this post will be about.

I have classes M-F, which kind of sucks, but the teachers seem pretty lenient about missing classes and they even plan on cancelling a bunch. I start class each day either at 9 am (earliest class I've ever had in college) or 11 am (much better) and each class is 2 hours, which doesn't really go well with my short attention span. My classes are Italian, Presence of the Past (history class about Siena and Italy), The Black Plague and Its Aftermath, and the Economic Integration of Europe. The first two classes are great because the teachers are really nice and charismatic; the latter are awful because the teachers are monotone and boring. I wish I could switch into some other courses but I need those specific credits :(

Each day I have a substantial break for lunch so I've been able to try out a lot of different places, but I usually go this one bar (what they call "cafes") and get a tramezzino con proscuitto coto e formaggio (proscuitto and cheese) annnd a cappuccino. I hate the taste of coffee in the States, but I drink it all the time here, usually with 4 packs of sugar because it is SO strong.

The weather hasn't been so great recently, but when it's nice out, I usually eat outside. After class, I'll go and sit in the Piazza with friends or run errands around town. I've been trying to find all of the different Contrade, but that's definitely going to take a while. I'm really not looking forward to when the work starts to pile on because it means I won't be able to have much leisure time, especially considering my plans on traveling every weekend. I'm actually pretty nervous about classes because each class requires a 10 page paper and they're all due on the same day, so I'm going to need to start working on them soon!

People ask me a lot about the nightlife here and to be honest, there's definitely nothing like 6th Street here. There are clubs, but they're pretty unsafe and they require bus rides to get there and back....and the buses only come every 3 hours, so if you go, you know you are going to have to stay for that long. But nights are fun...just very low-key. We go to pubs and meet other students. However, I don't go out too much during the week because the cities that I'm traveling to every weekend all have amazing nightlife so I definitely take advantage of that. Plus, because I'm traveling pretty much every weekend, I basically have no life during the week because that's the only time I can do school work.

This weekend I'm planning on going to Viareggio, a seaside town in northern Tuscany, because it's carnival and their celebration is actually supposed to be much better than the one in Venice!