Sweet sweet sound of victory

So we made it to day 5. Five days without spending 1 cent. Nothing. Nada. (I haven't learned that in Italian yet..) Ok. Well there were 2 exceptions. On Tuesday our professor made us print out our responses, which we had emailed him and then hand written so we could avoid the printing cost. But, no. 10 cents gone. And then on Thursday our Italian teacher took us on a field trip to her favorite gelato place.. enough said. But we were practically forced against our will, we had to buy some. We were practicing ordering in Italian, so we didn't count it because it was mandatory for class. I would proudly like to say, actually no, SCREAM that I won the bet!!! Alex broke down on Thursday night and bought a kebab ("burrito" as she calls the). So yes. I won the bet on not spending money. The very next morning, the same morning Alex came and woke me up may I add with a very productive schedule for the day. American brunch place was accomplished but on our way to the open-air market one of the girls just had to go in this store. I felt like a recovering alcoholic in a bar. Not the place for me. I was 5 days sober and all the soft leather, cashmere and all of the vibrant fall colors was just a little too much for me. We then went home to plan out exactly how we were going to spend all of this money. Budgets- not my forte.


Today we conquered Siena and San Gimignano. Gorgeous Tuscan towns with so much history and culture. Siena had so much character and sort of reminded me of high school and rivalry school districts. Siena is made up of 17 districts, essentially neighborhoods, all marked with a different animal. Twice a year they hold the Pailo, which is a horse race around the center square. Each horse in the race represents a neighborhood, and is practically a celebrity. The giraffe district currently holds the Pailo title until the next upcoming race. The city had so much spirit it was crazy. Every street had flags of their animal flying out of their window, and even people were wearing flags as scarfs.We visited the cathedral which could have been a day in itself with all of the frescos and marble, mosaic flooring. It was pretty overwhelming with how much detail the church had. It was a melting pot of architecture, sculpting, mosaics, and paintings. The perimeter of the ceiling even had statues of the first 170 something Popes. 176 or so heads staring down at you, in addition to Jesus, Joseph and Mary: talk about intimidating. As if the structure of the place wasn't enough they had to go ahead and add all of these original works of art by Raphael, Mike and Donatello. A perfect trifecta of ninja turtles. (Oh and when I say Mike I of course mean Michelangelo, I'm taking a class solely studying the guy so I think we are at a place appropriate for nicknames).

 For lunch we saved 12 euro from skipping the tour lunch and found the most amazing pizza I have had yet in Italy. We found a little secret spot in a neighborhood where we sat and just ate in awe of the views of the Tuscan hills. And for dessert we obviously had to try the spice cake that originated in Siena. I'm not sure what exactly it was, as no one could really explain it very well, but it tasted like Christmas and hit the spot.

San Gimignano was just as cute. A small little town that consisted of towers built by the Truscans (prior Romans). Its amazing at how much history even a little town like San Gimignano has. Supposedly the twin towers in NY were inspired by two towers placed side by side here. The views of course were spectacular- but I mean, Iwould like to know where in Italy the views are anything less? You just get used to the idea of never being disappointed, which is something I can definitely adapt to. I purchased some traditional white wine that is made in Siena and we were off to Florence.

I am in bed right now, with absolutely no idea how I am still awake. I honestly thought I was going to fall asleep at the dinner table after all of that fabulous food and wine. Isabelle invited Alex and I over for a casual dinner, to our surprise turned out to be a dinner party of 8. Oops! I only brought one bottle of wine?! But oh my god the food! Pasta with a shrimp sauce, caprese salad, deviled eggs, cheese, and pigs in a blanket to snack on. Oh and I cannot forget the wine and dessert. Vanilla gelato with chocolate fudge swirl decorated with nuts and then.. oh god some of the best chocolate I have ever consumed. Straight from Perugia, I had no idea Italian chocolate had any potential. This only solidifies the fact that I am for sure booking my tickets to ChocolateFest in Perugia. Anyway, combination of the massive amounts of food, the wine and sheer exhaustion from the day's activities and keeping up a conversation in Italian with real live Italians lead to the direct result of my laziness sitting in bed on a Saturday night. Very close to a Thanksgiving food coma, and there was no way I was going to miss out on the great sleep a good food coma can bring. Ta-ta for now!