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Is It Over Now?

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Coming to you from the Florence airport! After our disappointing Friday rain delay, we had a lovely sunset with pink clouds.  I left Siena yesterday since my flight back to the States is very early this morning, but 20 of my students (plus Professor E) came to say goodbye yesterday morning - some of them are pictured below! I took the bus from Siena to Florence amid another downpour, one strong enough to fell a tree on the highway. We creeped past it thanks to the help of the  carabinieri  patrolling the scene, and I took this nonsense picture of the tree out my window. It made me laugh. I'm not sure why. I got to the hotel that I had booked for my one little night in Florence. It was bare bones and pretty small, but just what I needed, plus a lovely view! The room was air conditioned, too, which I'm not used to at this point, so I froze all night, despite being aggressively tucked in under the blankets. Italy has changed me... I went to sleep at 6:30pm so that I would ge...
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Come in with the Rain

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This was not the originally intended title of today's blog... After spending a little over seven hours in the piazza today, staking out a good viewing spot near where the start and finish line is, a torrential downpour let loose on us, drenching us to the bone and forcing the postponement of the race until tomorrow. Tomorrow's forecast? Thunderstorms. So we'll see how that goes... But! Instead of lingering in our disappointment, here are some fun things that happened during our time together today. Not all of our students were as eager as we were to get into the piazza this morning, so we sent one smiling picture, welcoming them to join us, and then another picture calling for reinforcements so that we could defend the space we had selected. Please note my war stance. Professor E sent me to get him lunch so that he could continue fighting off intruders. He relaxed only when I came back with his sandwich and Coke ("NOT Coke Zero"), at which point he sat down to qui...
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Location: 53100 Siena, Province of Siena, Italy
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...Ready for It?

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It is Palio Eve here, and the city is alight and abuzz! It's been a busy few days, with the reveal of the drappellone (big banner that you win if your contrada wins the race), the racing heats, the assignment ceremony where the ten horses are matched to the contrade that are running, contrada dinners and tours, and the trial runs, not to mention the students' final exams. Tomorrow is the big day, and we'll see what it brings, but for now, the lead up to the Palio, in pictures. Il drappellone: painted by Riccardo Guasco this year, the drappellone  always has to include the Virgin Mary (as she is the one being honored by the running of the race), the contrade (symbolized in the little colored balls), and a horse. At the ceremony where they reveal the banner to the public for the first time, everyone immediately loved it this year - there was clapping and many shouts of "ah, BELLO!" from the crowd. The guy next to me, an older gentleman from the Ram contrada, voiced...
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Location: 53100 Siena, Province of Siena, Italy
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I Know Places

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It is currently 104 degrees, so this blog is written in honor of the fact that I know places to go for good food to distract from unbearable heat and I also know places to go to get a respite from said heat. (it's mostly food though) Sunday: mortadella and truffle sandwich, Papini sparkling lemonade to make possible a walk through town in the heat of the afternoon. Monday: hiding from the sun in the refuge that is the University of Siena, mercifully air conditioned to the point that we freeze a little during class and then immediately defrost upon exiting the building. This week was our last discussion section - the kids applauded at the end, which either means that I did a good job teaching or that they're relieved to not have to sit through my classes anymore... My daily dose of rage came from the fact that one of my students walked off with my book and then claimed to not have it, immediately following my class on "polite behavior" according to a Renaissance-era tr...
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Location: 53100 Siena, Province of Siena, Italy
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August

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The air is salty and the doors are rusty, so cancel your plans and get in the car because August will be sipped away in the blink of an eye... This has been a week of me being confused by things that happened that I didn't expect. These moments are indicated with (?) in the following retelling of events. Monday was great. I taught Machiavelli and one of my students saw my slides and said "Katie, your slides always eat, plus ten aura points" (?). Turns out, I don't understand the slang of this generation, so they all worked together to explain to me that "eating" means "is very well done" and "aura points" are a way to express whether something is cool or uncool. One does not keep track of one's aura points, though, so I'm not sure how you know where you stand on the coolness spectrum. I taught a rowdy Italian lesson on Sienese culture and the Palio, during which we accidentally ended up in a long discussion of the sounds animals m...
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Location: 53100 Siena, Province of Siena, Italy
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