Hi all!

Sorry it has taken me awhile to write I have been so busy. I am writing from an internet cafe in Rome. It is nice here. Kinda sketchy. So here is the recap of the last couple of days.

Friday we left early and had four stops to get to Siena. It wasn't too bad. Getting to the hotel was the problem. All of Siena is one big hill pretty much. Mark Heidrich who is I believe assistant dean is joining us for this three week trip, he had to help me carry my bag up the huge hill while I used my inhaler. He is really nice. I packed fairly light, I brought my small suitcase but it is pretty heavy so its hard to say. Anyway, we had a little break after getting to the hotel then our guide took us out on the town for a few. It was nice. Siena is beautiful. We then ate pizza at a nice pizzeria. Mark treated us to Ice Cream after that it was delicious. On the way back we past this guy who was like °Beautiful girl girl girl° probably because there was three of us...crazy italian men. It was hard to sleep in Siena cause our hotel was on the main street and everyone in Siena has a motor bike. It was pretty crazy.

Our first day we spent getting a tour of Siena. Going to Cathedrals, the Duomo and the such. I almost died going up this one hill which was almost a 90 degree angle. I wasn't the only one. Even my roommate who runs everyday was dying. We also went to this church/old hospital where people could give money or babies. It was pretty crazy. The duomo was beautiful though. The interior had these amazing pillars and they had a room full of beautiful frescos. Also there is a huge piazza in the middle of town with a huge cathedral and lots to see and do. It is known as the Piazza del Campo. The Campus Plaza in English. The shape of the Piazza is like a sea shell it is pretty amazing. After our tour we were on our own for lunch (they pay for two meals a day usually breakfast and dinner) Paul, Cadence, Molly, Cheryl, Beth and I went to a homemade pasta place. It was pretty amazing. Outside we were told by a police offer °It is not possible for you to stand here° Supposbly someone was trying to jump off the building. I kept waiting for them to ask °Is there a psychology major in the area!?" My moment never came...

After that I look around in the stores a little and checked out Siena for myself. It is a nice town. We have also discovered these seasonal treats called Frizzante I believe, I keep fogetting their name. They are fried rice balls with sugar. It is pretty wonderful and cheap. Its a nice snack. Sunday we had our first day in Florence. It is an hour and a half train ride to Florence from Siena. It is funny getting tours in both citites since they have such a rivalry with one another. In Florence we had the tour guide from hell. Well that isn't totally true she is very nice and had a lot of good information but her presentation of this information is less than desirable. She is pretty much like a 2nd grade teacher.

First, there are 11 of us and 13 with Paul and Mark, so we don't really have a problem of getting lost. Yet she carried around this huge flower to °guide° us which was so embarassing. It just screamed "Hey look at us we are a tour group from america" We were all following from a distance. Even my teacher was embarassed. Then she treated us like we were little kids, for example "Whoever gets this question right gets extra dessert!" It was fairly crazy. She is the first tour guide who has pushed us to our limits and kept a pushing. While most tour guides get when we are wiped out of information she just kept going. I want to learn a lot but when you put in so much information it gets confusing as ever.

So the first day in Florence we walked around and saw a lot of the DeMedici houses and such. We also saw this building of a family who had their competitors over for dinner and gave them opium so that they next day they would be the first to get the shipment. Crazy people. Then we went to a medevil house and looked around. Beautiful. Even though there was a creepy person in the corner with a puppet. Italy is so weird. I am a fan of florence in its crazy people. Most were traveling and american. There was a crazy guy walking on shoes that were pogo sticks and also there was a guy who could of been the monopoly man and on top of that I don't even know how many fros I saw. After the house we went to the Ufizzi museum. It was amazing. There is so much you really need 2-3 days to see it all. Our guide of course tried to squeeze it all in. We were going crazy. However the paintings were beautiful and so were the statues outside.

Following this the school bought us some lunch. We met some Romans and Paul set us up a play date to hang out with them tomorrow. Who knows if they will show though. Then I went to the market, I found a nice scarf for only a few euro. I was excited. Got hit on by a creepy man though. Seriously how do you think I will be attracted to you when you ask if I am alone? My friend Molly also got the worst pick up line ever. She walked by this guy and he was like "Miss you dropped something" and she was searching trying to figure out what and he spread his arms wide and said "MY HEART!" So I left and went back to Siena and met up with a few of my peeps. Then there was the long trek up to the hotel. For dinner since we had to buy it, we went to a local pizzeria. It was nice. Me and Keisha were the only people out of our group to have a bathtub which was nice. Sadly we didn't really have a shower, well we kinda did it was a very awkward bath.

The next day was a free day. Well we got to sleep in and then had a appointment to go on a hike with our awesome Siena guide but I knew I would not be able to hike so I opted out. I was the only one but I had to do whats best for my health. I ended up taking a 3-4 hour walk around the outskirts of Siena. I had the time of my life. I took a lot of pictures. I found these amazing gardens and also I found a park that faced the Tuscan countryside. Pretty exciting. I just sat looking out at the countryside for an hour. It was a good walk too though. Had one of the best times ever here so far that day. After that I went back and relaxed for a bit. I am slowly getting done with the godfather (the movie that is) Then Paul's family showed up and I joined them in town and showed them to the duomo and hung out with them for awhile.

They didn't know their way around but also it was nice because I had the information on all of the buildings so I could inform them of what they had missed. After that we got dinner on the school at the homemade pasta place. It was fairly spendy but they said we can do that every once and awhile. It was nice of them. The pasta was delicious. Later we ended up going out to a local irish pub, a really old man told me I had beautiful eyes. Score! Lucky me.

Yesterday was our last day in Florence and Siena. We went to Florence for more tour fun with our crazy tour guide. I loved our Siena one, I wish we could of had her for Florence. Anyway, we went to the DeMedici palace and other similiar things. Also, we went to see the David of course. It was very amazing. We saw the outside of the Duomo which was very majestic. The sad dissapointing factor about this day is I forgot my camera so I was in a bad mood. Missing some big picture taking opportunities. I had gotten a lot of pics though the other day in Florence. I got a couple of me in front of the Duomo. After our tour we were on our own for lunch.

Me and some of the girls found a sandwich place then went to the market. We didn't think there was a train till 5:10 so we tried to kill time. We looked around and got a few things and then looked in some stores. It wouldn't of been too bad if it hadn't started raining. It was ok in the long run just not fun. I didn't have a hood or even my jacket because I thought it was going to be warm. Luckily I had bought a pashmena earlier. It kept me warm and fairly dry.

After getting back I had to run to the grocery store real quick and then we had dinner. We ate the pizza place again. It was very good. I tried a couple need pizzas. Then I watched the godfather some more and went to bed. Altogether Siena and Florence were amazing. Today we got a bus to get to a train to Rome. So far my impression of Rome is huge and crazy. Lots of people. We have a nice hotel though.

In other new it looks like we are waitlisted for our apartment. We are number 2 but I dont know how much that means. I am very dissapointed but what can you do. So we are trying for a suite now I guess. We will see. I have been sleeping ok and havent had a cold for awhile just feel yucky depending on the food. Had some sketchy chinese earlier. Gotta get off now. I am not putting up pictures till after I get back. There will be a ton.

There are cameras and microphones here so if you want to set up a skype date let me know. Love you and miss you.

Katheryn