Three day weekends are fantastic. Weekends everywhere should be like this. There extra time makes such a difference.
Thursday night was a great time. A bar nearby that we have already been to a few times had a kareoke night. A ton of kids in the program went, and there were also students there from NYU and other Universities in the city. I sang "Sweet Caroline" with my new friend Ralph, it was a blast.
On Friday we slept in a bit, but got up in time to make it over to a popular sandwich place across the city. Its called the Oil Shoppe. They have tons of options, HUGE sandwiches, and they are only 3 euro each :). I had an eggplant sandwich that was absolutely delicious. We walked off the huge meal by walking through the city, over the bridge, and over to the piazza de Michaelangelo. It is quite a hike to get to the top of, but once at the top there is an amazing view of the entire city. It was freezing, but the sun was shining and the sky was clear and the view was perfect. We spent a good amount of time there, and after the hike down, and back into the city, we went to a gelatto spot called Grom. Its a favorite of a lot of the year-long students here, so we decided to check it out. It has moved to first place on my gelatto favorites list!
Exhausted, we all went home, put in a movie, and took naps. Friday night was low key, we stayed in the Pensione and all of us hung out in one of the dorm rooms.
Saturday we got up bright and early, and headed over to the bus station at 8am. We got on a 9am bus, and made it to Sienna in an hour. It was nice to get there early because we got more of the daylight. We got a pass for 10 euro that was all inclusive. It got us into the Church, the Basilica, Crypts, Panorama, and into the church where St. Catherine's head was. All of the places were beautiful and so historic, and it was great to have so much time to spend in each one. We got pizzas at a little pizzaria hidden away in an alley then ate our lunch sitting in a huge plazza in the middle of the city. We walked more and found more sights, and got on the bus to head back at 4pm. We got back, went to the grocery store to get some food/snacks and went out to a popular club called Space. We danced the night away.
Today has been mellow. The weather is overcast again, so we slept and just hung out around the Pensione with everyone. Lauren and I went down the street to get some awesome chinese food, then Elizabeth and I went and did our laundry; which was not very fun at all, but at leasts its done.
Here I sit, doing everything possible to put off the homework I have to complete before tomorrow. There isnt much at all, the teachers seem like they all plan on going easy on us for the weekends due to travel and what not. :)
Ciao