Tuesday, September 8, 2009
I now understand the Italian coffee obsession. A little more than an hour through class, Roberta suggested we take a break and grab a coffee in a little cafe right around the corner from IES. For a little over a euro, I bought the most delicious cappuccino I've ever had while talking to the friendliest barista I've yet to encounter. He knows that I am an American attempting to learn language and I am determined to become a regular and practice my spotty Italian with him.
In the afternoon the group took a bus to an archeological site right outside of Siena where we saw the ruins of a city that originated in the 4th or 5th century. Before we left, the tour guide (who told me that she finds it strange that I'm trying to learn a "language that is practically dead") showed us the bones of an actual skeleton that was in the process of being excavated. It's a bizarre feeling; walking around the deteriorating remains of buildings and people that are all older than my home country.
On our way back from the site, I made the most thrilling discovery of all: Italy does, in fact, have water bottles! Covered in dust and available for purchase in tiny bicycle shops, they’re a steal at 2 euros.
In the excitement of my find, I almost didn’t notice the two angry looking Italians standing outside of my apartment, clearly discussing the three bags of trash sitting on our stoop; the three bags that I had placed there that morning. Upon our arrival to Siena, our group was told that bags of trash and recycling (each in very particularly marked government-issued bags) were to be left outside of our door every morning between 6-9am. On Saturday, we left one bag around 7am that was still there when we returned from Follonica, so we took it back upstairs and attempted the process again today. Well, the bags still hadn’t disappeared by 6:30pm and now they were accompanied by two angry Italian tenants. Well, the four of us walked past the front door, panicked, and then decided to grab the trash bags and throw them in the gigantic trash bin we found down the street. Keep in mind that as we were laughing hysterically, running back and forth between the bins and our doorstep trying to figure out which can was which, a very large group of Italians were silently watching the ridiculous display. We finally disposed of the evidence and ran into our apartment when the two Italians tenants caught us at the door and explained that our apartment must deliver trash to the cans ourselves. Oops.
I now understand the Italian coffee obsession. A little more than an hour through class, Roberta suggested we take a break and grab a coffee in a little cafe right around the corner from IES. For a little over a euro, I bought the most delicious cappuccino I've ever had while talking to the friendliest barista I've yet to encounter. He knows that I am an American attempting to learn language and I am determined to become a regular and practice my spotty Italian with him.
In the afternoon the group took a bus to an archeological site right outside of Siena where we saw the ruins of a city that originated in the 4th or 5th century. Before we left, the tour guide (who told me that she finds it strange that I'm trying to learn a "language that is practically dead") showed us the bones of an actual skeleton that was in the process of being excavated. It's a bizarre feeling; walking around the deteriorating remains of buildings and people that are all older than my home country.
On our way back from the site, I made the most thrilling discovery of all: Italy does, in fact, have water bottles! Covered in dust and available for purchase in tiny bicycle shops, they’re a steal at 2 euros.
In the excitement of my find, I almost didn’t notice the two angry looking Italians standing outside of my apartment, clearly discussing the three bags of trash sitting on our stoop; the three bags that I had placed there that morning. Upon our arrival to Siena, our group was told that bags of trash and recycling (each in very particularly marked government-issued bags) were to be left outside of our door every morning between 6-9am. On Saturday, we left one bag around 7am that was still there when we returned from Follonica, so we took it back upstairs and attempted the process again today. Well, the bags still hadn’t disappeared by 6:30pm and now they were accompanied by two angry Italian tenants. Well, the four of us walked past the front door, panicked, and then decided to grab the trash bags and throw them in the gigantic trash bin we found down the street. Keep in mind that as we were laughing hysterically, running back and forth between the bins and our doorstep trying to figure out which can was which, a very large group of Italians were silently watching the ridiculous display. We finally disposed of the evidence and ran into our apartment when the two Italians tenants caught us at the door and explained that our apartment must deliver trash to the cans ourselves. Oops.
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