Having finished intensive italian (grazie, dio!), the students of Siena Italian Studies were granted a four day vacation in the Italian Alps, in the province of Val D'Aosta.
We left Wednesday morning and began our very long bus ride up north. It took about six hours, with two rest stops, to get to Torino, despite being told it would only take about four. When we arrived in Torino we went to a museum of cinema, which may have been cool but we had just been on a bus all day and were tired. Another hour and a half got us to Aosta in time for cena.
The next day the bus left at 8:30 for the mountain, called Pila. We took the gondola up to the middle-ish of the mountain. The views were so beautiful, we took a lot of photos, and then walked to a cafe, where we sat and drank warm beverages.
Then we decided we wanted to go to France! Being in way northern Italy, France was very close. An hour-ish bus ride to Courmayeur, where we had a little wait and met an English ice-climber named Tim, and then another hour-ish bus ride, during which we drove under Mont Blanc, supposedly the biggest mountain in Europe, got us to Chamonix, a classy little ski town in France. Our new friend Tim showed us a great place to get lunch. I got a sandwich called Le Tartif, a local specialty with bacon "plugs," melted goat cheese (not too stinky), lettuce, tomatoes, and french fries. It was so good. Then we spent some time touring around, taking more photos, and window shopping. Despite being in the mountains, it was so warm that I was comfortably down to two layers.
Back the hotel in time for cena, drank some wine, went to bed, another not too crazy night at the hotel.
The next day I decided to go skiing! This was a surprise to myself, as I was dead set against it from the beginning. However, when I saw my friends skiing on Thursday I was very jealous. Skiing in the Alps just wasn't something I could pass up. So, I scrounged up some ski clothes, rented some gear, and went onto the mountain. I had some friends who were beginners, and was planning on spending the day with them on the easy slopes, but once I got started I was so excited that I just had to go. So instead I spent the day with Trevin, from Montana who snowboards very well but was very patient, and Rachel, a girl from Lewis and Clark who lives in Canada and has skied a few times before but was brave. We hit up a lot of red slopes (in Europe it goes blue-->green-->black instead of green-->blue-->black). I had so much fun and was not scared, cold, or uncomfortable at all. I skied from 10 to about 4:30, with a break for lunch, and could have kept going. I wasn't even sore the next day! In short, I've decided to give skiing another shot.
We had some apres-ski brie (bought by Rachel in France) at the hotel, then some cena, lots more wine, and then went to bed.
The next day we had to repeat the marathon bus ride back to Siena. We left at 9 am to go to back to Torino, where we stopped. We visited an Egyptian museum, filled with Egyptian goods stolen by Napoleon and brought to Torino, and then had some free time to go get lunch. Torino is a beautiful city and I'm really glad we got to see it, and although I probably won't be making it back there I would have liked to spend some more time.
The bus ride back was so long but the sights were nice--we saw Genoa, some of Cinque Terra, and a bunch of nice castles and churches.
I am currently sitting at Zest, a wine bar in Siena with free wifi, which I will never again take for granted. It is currently filled with Siena Italian Studies students blogging, emailing, uploading pictures onto Facebook and, again, drinking wine. Tomorrow we start our regular classes, which I am really looking forward to. I will finally have a regular schedule day-to-day, will continue going to the elementary school, and traveling and doing fun things with SIS on the weekends. Next weekend is free again, and I am in the process of figuring out what to do. I'm thinking I want to go to Cinque Terra, but I am concerned about getting people to come with me as it is not peak season. Any ideas?
Talk to you again soon!
Megan
Oh! And my hair is now darker brown. It looks very nice. I think I'll keep it. Photos to come.
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