Under The Tuscan Sun: Exploring Siena in the Rain

The past week and a half has been great here in Siena, otherwise known as rain central. I have seen the sun about three times since leaving Phoenix a month ago! It has been pouring rain, all day, everyday. Coming from Phoenix, I love and welcome rain, however, enough is enough! I am definitely not used to this weather and walking 40 minutes to school and 40 minutes home from school is not pleasant when you are soaking wet, even when you have an umbrella. Oh well, at least the scenery is really beautiful! I have come to notice that the rain and dark skies add to the medieval look of Siena and it really is quite a sight; to see the ancient town walls, towers and churches under a looming dark sky almost transports you to past centuries the city has endured, seen through its worn brick buildings and cobblestone streets. As far as school is concerned, it is going pretty well. We are almost done with our three week intensive Italian course and are preparing to take our oral and written exams on Thursday and Friday. We have completed our language activities in the afternoon as well as our history of Siena class coupled with tours of the city by our teachers. I will be able to enjoy a homework and worry free Valentine's Day weekend with my friends in Venice for their annual carnival, (Similar to Mardi Gras, but it lasts for an entire month and is a huge deal in Italy.) and then we start our semester classes on Monday the 17th! I will be taking Italian, art restoration, curatorial studies and museum anthropology. Art restoration is a four hour internship class, twice a week, where we will be learning how to restore medieval artwork and be able to work in a museum in the city. At the end of the course, one of our projects will be to offer curatorial support to the art students for the display of their final artwork. In food news, on Friday night we stumbled into an amazing and truly unique restaurant. "Antica Osteria Da Divo" is an underground tavern in the ancient Etruscan tombs! We thought we were just wandering into a normal pizza restaurant but as we got farther and farther into the cave like atmosphere we realized this wasn't your typical eatery! We sat next to an ancient Etruscan funerary urn cover from 3rd century B.C. on display and the food was so incredible! Definitely a fun experience for a museum studies person like myself! Even though the rain is continuous, it has been a good week in school and exploring the windy roads and hidden corners of Siena. I hope the sun comes out soon and I am looking forward to my museum classes starting Monday!

Here is a link to the Venice Carnival website explaining what the event is:

http://www.carnevale.venezia.it/ (Select English in the upper right hand corner to translate the website.)

Here is a link to the restaurant we ate at:

http://www.osteriadadivo.it/eng/chi-siamo.htm

Ciao!

-Rachel