Today was the day trip to Siena with SRISA. After meeting at the train station super early, we naturally took a bus just like every large group of college students. Even though I was excited and ready to go and explore, I still felt like total shit.
There was no way I was going to miss any part of this trip, I’ll sneeze and wheeze the whole way if I have to an I honestly think I did exactly that this day.
With my allergies going haywire, I was sneezing and sniffling the whole bus ride there, back and in between. Though, I was in higher spirits when we got to Siena! We split off into different groups – of course I was with my school and some school from New York.
Starting in the church was wonderful. I learned more about Saint Catherine. She had followers from a young age, she could read and write and she was a very, very holy and spiritual person. I mean, she died at the age of 33 from basically not eating anything except communion as a way to become even more spiritual than she was. She wanted to become the definition of holy if you know what I mean.
Moving on from the church, we went into the heart of Siena, where I learned that there were actually 17 different neighborhoods that are defined by their mascots on their flags. They range from Owls, Dragons, Goats, and other animals. For example, the church we first went into had the Dragon flag flying all over outside of the church. Making the church in the Dragon’s territory so to say.
Of course there’s a neighborhood rivalry against all 17 neighborhoods and it still goes on to this day. When we were there, a local school was having races – children from various neighborhoods having fun and seeing which would be dubbed “the best” so to say. It was cute and something totally different to what schools do in the states.
Moving on from the fun scene of the children having the time of their lives, we made our way to the Cathedral and I’m not going to lie, I was a little intimidated. Just by the fact that I’m not really a religious person and I haven’t been to church in who knows when. Of course, I wasn’t rude, I still respected the practices and such.
I know what I just said might have sounded weird, but that’s just how I feel and how I think I should go about such things. It was beautiful though – the outside so detailed and bright, it really drew you into it. Going inside was the same, I was left in awe everywhere I looked. The paintings, sculptures, mosaics, alters and the tile floors that told stories – it was all great and decked out of course.
The one things that got my attention was the silver hearts all over the walls by certain shrines. Our guide saw most of our confused faces by the item on the wall and told us it was a sign of thanks. They were thanks for prayers being answered.
The one thing they don’t tell you about Siena is that it’s hilly. I’m not talking about small inclines and such, I’m talking roller coaster type of hills. Up and down like nobody’s business. Needless to say, I was out of breath after a few hills. While I was huffing and puffing up the hills, the locals of course had no problem.
I mean, if the little old lady with bright red hair and a cane can do it and without breaking a sweat at that, I could do it too!
Deciding to eat lunch at a place my teacher went to last year, it was cute and small, but very homemade and fresh. I ate all of my food and I even ordered dessert, but I wasn’t sure which to get so, the waiter being the doll he was made me a dessert platter to try and it was so amazing!
I mean I had to share it with the rest of my group and even then, I had a lot to eat myself, but I managed to. The one thing I wasn’t prepared for was the dessert wine that was given to me. It’s used to dip the biscotti – a very hard dessert type of cookie with macadamia nuts in it. It’s very hard and the only way to soften it is the dessert wine itself. Though, it is strong, very strong and it burns, but the taste of the cookie helped with the strong burn.
Overall, Siena is beautiful in it’s own right, an old city that still has old ways to it, but it has hills that are not kind of fluffy people, but doable and it was enjoyable and I’d love to explore more later in life!
A Niki In Italy 