Mmm...tastes like Nutella

Wednesdays are my busiest day during the week. I have three classes at IES, two of them back to back, and then I go to the last two hours of Italian Sign Language at the Siena School for Liberal arts. This results in a whopping eight hours of class but tacking those two hours of signing at the end is totally worth it.

I am realizing that LIS is going to get really hard, fast. Missing the first hour is a huge disadvantage and I'm going to need to do some practicing on my own. Maybe I can find some videos online...the internet is a beautiful place.

The other six hours of class can be a little bit difficult to get through. I have Renaissance Art and Presence of the Past with the same professor, in the same room, one after another. Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised that I was actually engaged for the entirety of the classes. They are interesting topics, but four hours is a long time for anyone.

However, Thursdays are field trip days. Today, both classes will take a walking tour of Siena to see some of the objects that we've talked about in class. I'm excited for this opportunity to see things in Siena from a different point of view, and visit some of the places that I haven't been to yet.

Do you know the story of Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf? The she-wolf with the nursing babies is an important symbol of Rome. We also learned how it's an important symbol of Siena. Yesterday in class, we talked about the history of this, and why we've all noticed tons of these she-wolves around the city. There is a difference between the Roman she-wolf and the Sienese she-wolf, which is in the direction that the head of the wolf is pointing. The Sienese she-wolf turns her head towards the babies in a more nurturing way, which the Roman she-wolf looks straight out, focusing less on the babies.

I'm not going to go into a ton of detail, both because I don't want to bore you, and also because I don't feel like standing up to find my notes right now (sorry) but you can look up the stories if you're interested. There is so much history here in Siena...and everywhere in Italy for that matter!  And it's all so present in daily life.

---

I guess I should probably talk about the title of this post. Four hours of class requires something to help me get through it. Yesterday I chose chocolate. The particular candies that I picked were nutty and...well...tasted like nutella. Being a strong supporter of this creamy delicious substance, I have no problem with it, but it is literally everywhere. The nutella flavored gelato is particularly delicious. I also put nutella in my yogurt in the morning, cuz that's great. 

It's interesting to me how commonplace nutella is here in Italy. I know that it was here before it made its way to the United States, but everyone is so chill about it. Not in America though. It's kind of like an obsession. There are buzzfeed articles written about nutella. Really though, calm down. Just come to Italy and eat it daily and no one will blink twice. Really. I eat it daily.