Easter egg hunts, "Hoha hola", and Spring break plans!

Ok so I realize that it has been a very, very long time since my last blog post, and I feel bad that I haven't been updating. (It's been a busy month, let me tell you, but it's been a lot of fun as well!) So this is just going to be a quick update, because I have to get ready to leave tomorrow for spring break! :) 

My classes here are still going really well... We had midterms a few weeks ago, and they were all fine. Although classes aren't the "fun" part of being here, I really can't complain because I really like my professors and the subjects themselves. The only thing I really don't like about them is that they take up time, and therefore take away from my exploring and traveling. Of course, we're "here to learn", but I maintain that the greatest things we can learn here won't be taught in the classroom. 

My internship teaching English to kindergartners is also going really well! The kids are so adorable, and my friend Elise and I always have a really good time when we're with them. We go every Wednesday morning for an hour, and so far we've taught them about colors, numbers, animals, parts of the body, transportation, and emotions. This week, since Easter is coming up, we taught them about holidays and we did an easter egg hunt (una caccia per le uova di pasqua)! Elise and I had bought a bunch of little chocolate eggs, and we hid them outside the school in an area of pebbles. And it was fantastic, because they had never done one before. It was interesting to talk with the kids and the teacher about the differences between the ways Italians and Americans celebrate the same holidays. For example, they thought it was hilarious when we told them about the Easter Bunny. :)

One exciting bit of news is that we finally got an Italian roommate! Her name is Giulia (pronounced like Julia), and she is amazing. She moved in at the beginning of March, and it took a little while to adjust to having 3 people in the apartment rather than just 2, but now I think we've gotten it down. She's 22, from Florence, and she's in her second year at the University of Siena. She speaks English pretty well and she really wants to practice it, which is great because I want to practice my Italian - So some days we'll speak mostly in English, and others mostly in Italian, or sometimes some hybrid of the two. I've already learned so much from her - especially little colloquial things, like how to say the equivalent of "like" (tipo) or "oh boy" (cittino). She also has such a pretty Tuscan accent, which I've been trying to acquire (so far unsuccessfully, unfortunately) - most people in Tuscany aspirate their c's and their t's, so instead of saying "coca cola" it would sound more like "hoha hola". Of course it's hard to explain in writing, but when I get back just ask and I'll try to duplicate it. :) Giulia's boyfriend Riccardo is also over a lot, but we don't mind at all because he's nice, and he's also a really good cook and he cooks dinner for all of us! He doesn't speak much English, so I always enjoy trying to speak just Italian with him... Overall it's been really fun getting to know Giulia, and I know it's going to be really sad when we have to leave her. It's a shame that she got here so late!  Lately she, Lauren, and I have been making dinner and going to the supermarket together, so we get in some good roommate bonding time. :)

Today, a friend of mine was telling a story, and he couldn't think of a word so he just said the equivalent in Italian instead... And it made me realize how often I think of Italian words before English ones these days. Sometimes there just isn't the right word in English for what I want to say, and I find myself wanting to say the Italian word, even if the person I'm speaking with doesn't know Italian. Haha and it made me really excited because it means I'm getting more in tune with the language. And now, one of my biggest fears is losing this close connection with Italian once I leave... I'll have to come up with a way to maintain it - so don't be confused if I start speaking Italian to you, okay? ;)

The past month passed so quickly that I'm starting to get pretty anxious about how soon this will all be ending... There's only a little more than a month left now, and it feels like a ticking clock. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to see my family and friends again, and to get back to a few well-missed conveniences of home - but I feel like I still have so much to see and do here, and not enough time to do it. My roommate Lauren is SO excited to go home - as in counting down the days, literally - so that just makes the fact that it's coming up soon all the more present in my mind. For the first month or two, I kept putting off little things because I was still getting settled and I had "so much time to do everything". But now I find myself down to the wire with a lot of things left to see and do. :/ I'll just keep telling myself that those will be the things I do on my NEXT trip to Italy.

Speaking of getting settled, I feel like I've finally nestled myself into life in Siena. I feel really comfortable here, and I feel like I know the city like my own. You also may have noticed that I'm supremely biased, and I will defend Siena to the death in comparison to any other Italian city. ;) Unfortunately now that it's getting to be so beautiful outside, the number of tourists has jumped up exponentially lately, with some souvenir vendors to go along with them. Of course tourists are still much less present than in Florence, Rome, or Venice, but Siena's clearly a stop on most of their lists. I joked today that when I come back to Italy, I'll definitely only come in the winter.

So. Spring break! It begins tomorrow for us, Good Friday, and it lasts through next Sunday so that we have a full 10 days off! Here's my itinerary: I'm actually doing the first half of my break on my own, and I'm leaving tomorrow morning (Friday) bright and early to get to Verona, which is in the Veneto region (about an hour or two from Venice). I'll be there for 2 days, and then on Sunday morning I'll take an hour-long train to Padova and stay there for the afternoon. That evening I'll take another train to Ravenna, which is in the Emilia-Romagna region, and stay there for 2 days as well. Then on Tuesday I'll return back to Siena for the evening and the night, and the following day I'll take a bus to Rome and meet up with a friend for the afternoon, because we have a flight from Rome to Barcelona that evening! I'll stay there from Wednesday night until Saturday with 5 friends, and then fly back to Italy and have Sunday to recuperate before going back to classes on Monday... Whew. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. But I'm sure it's going to be sooo much fun! 

I'm really excited about Verona because I actually looked into the city as a possible study abroad location, back when I was deciding. They say it's the second most Roman town, after Rome itself of course, with a huge amphitheater and Roman ruins, etc. and it's apparently very, very beautiful. Also, my Italian professor at Richmond is from Verona, so I've heard a lot about it in her classes. :) And Padova has the Scrovegni Chapel (!!), which was painted by Giotto - I've studied it a lot over the years in Art History classes, so it will be really amazing to see in person. And I've similarly studied the mosaic interiors of Ravenna's monuments extensively in my classes, so I can't wait to see them! I'm a little nervous about the whole solo thing for the first half of break, though - not nervous in the sense of feeling unsafe, but rather in the sense that I don't know what I'm going to do all by myself! It will, beyond a doubt, be a good experience for me - plus it was a goal of mine to take a trip alone - but I still find myself worrying about what I'll do when I'm sitting at a restaurant alone... But I'll get past it, and it will be good for me, right? :) Plus, I can do whatever I'd like, without having to incorporate someone else's wants and needs as well! I'll definitely post how it goes after I get back. And I've been wanting to go to Spain for years, so I'm thrilled about Barcelona! I don't exactly know what  to expect, so we'll see!

Well, it's very late, and I should get some sleep before I start out on my excursion tomorrow morning! As always, I send all my love to everyone at home, and I hope everyone is well! I miss you all so much, and I truly can't wait to see you when I get back. :) Until next time, arrivederci!

P.S. There are a few new photo links on the left - from when my friend Sarah from school came to visit! - but I still have a lot of pictures to add, so keep checking back for more!