Today I Went Somwhere Smelly.

Right now I'm exhausted, but I'll try to write what I can. Today the program leaders took us on another walk around the city center and gave us some more history. I'm my current state of fatigue I can only remember so much, but I really liked that Mike took us through all the different contrade. Some of the animals are really silly; there's a catapillar, a dolphin, a snail, and even a shell. I also finally found out why the Panther contrada is represented by a leapord-like creature: it has something to do with the language, and I'm kind of thinking that back in the day they didn't have much in the way of animal classifications, so it may have ended up being more of a blanket term for large cats.

Look you can see the Chianti region from Siena!

Oh, we also heard a cool story about how the Florentines (who were always trying to attack and take over Siena) sent in some spies to tell the Sienese about a fake plan to attack the city from the south side, which was significant because Florence usually came in from the North (considering it is north of Siena). So Siena sent it's whole army to the south doors, leaving the north side virtually unprotected-or so the Floretines thought! The women of the city ended up being bad asses a holding of the entire Florentine army until the Sienese army made their way back across the city (party foul). So now at the North door there is plaque or something for the women (sorry, I can't remember exactly what was there, but the point is, GIRL POWER).
Anyways, after the touring we had some pizza for lunch (which wasn't great, but that's what to be expected from any pizza ordered in bulk and delivered in boxes, even in Italy). Oh, I also hate Tuscan bread. As it turns out, the bread is different in Tuscany than any other region because they don't put any salt in it. This is smart because the salt is what absorbs moisture, thus leading to mold. Also, I guess Tuscan food tends to be saltier, so it evens out. Unfortunately, this makes the bread a little harder and weird texture that I can't quite describe. It makes for awful sandwiches. Allora. Speaking of salt, another thing we learned was that they used to keep salt (which was SUPER valuable back there, because if you didn't have it you couldn't preserve stuff and you'd starve) in pumpkins so it wouldn't evaporate. They also used this later as a loose metaphor for these academic dudes who would basically just sit and think all day. The metaphor had something to do with the most valuable commodity being in their heads (get it, because pumpkins are vaguely shaped like heads). Anyways.

After all the cool learning and stuff we went to a hot springs spa, about 30 minutes outside of the city. This was not my favorite. I mean, I'm glad I went and all but it was a little much; the smell of sulfer for one is not the most enjoyable, but even after we adjusted to that it was extremely crowed (probably because its Sunday) and the people were all very... European. That is to say, there we many couples that didn't seem to have a problem with pda, and many people didn't seem to mind being so very squished together in so little clothing. I know that's just how they do it on this side of the world, but there's some culture shock for ya. It was also designed more like a swimming pool with weird milk water in it, and I'm not crazy about swimming pools, especially indoor ones (they're echo-y and slippery and humid), and especially ones packed with cozy Europeans.   Ah well.

The Hot Springs

After that we made it home for dinner and I was proud of myself for correctly identifying the pasta as putenesca. My roommate Julia tends to me more talkative than I am (I suppose I generally wouldn't consider myself a very talkative person), so I like these little mini victories when I'm with my host family. Also, Alessandra made the same excellent dessert as last night!

After dinner I joined the family in the living room to watch a soccer game (Milan vs. Cesena, Milan won) before retiring to finish up a bit of homework. Allors, adesso vorrei dormire. Buona notta!

Also, anyone feel free to comment if you think things and have comments, if you don't I wont mind but I'd love to see who's actually reading this and what y'all think.

OH ps I found my laundry like this when I got home. This is the life.