Ciao for Now

I'm writing one final post about my experience in Italy, from a super comfy bed at my uncle's house in Belgium. Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited to start the next piece of my journey, but right now, I'm hardcore missing Italy already and also just super tired.

First, I want to tell you about the last two things we did in Siena (apart from finals) that were just super awesome. Last Saturday we got to go to a contrada dinner. It was super interesting to see one of these dinners in action, especially since we had been learning about contradas and their culture all semester. There was a lot of food, and wine, and spirit, and it was a super successful night.

Me and Guisi had very red tongues...

The other thing that we did was a cooking lesson. I didn't know what to expect but I knew that we would be eating a lot. Call that the understatement of the century.

The bruschetta was hands down one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten in my entire life. Yes, ok, it's super simple, but it was so fresh and amazing and I'm obsessed.

We hand-made Pici, a typical Sienese pasta...and ate it with rucola pesto also made from scratch!

And then tiramisu for dessert...obviously. We had seconds...

Aw, look at us all being cute.

Also, thank you Dana for taking the pictures! We can always rely on you to have your camera.

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So, I was thinking a lot about how I wanted wrap up with my time in Italy. I want to be super articulate and explain to you how amazing of an experience it was...and it really was....but I can't do that right now. I think I just want to share a few photos from the last couple of days. They have some beautiful people in them, that I will remember for a very very long time, and one of the most important parts of my experience.

I can not begin to express how grateful I am to have had this opportunity, and how much I learned along the way. 

I was really tired, but this is a picture a friend of mine took of me while we were sitting on a balcony overlooking the campo.

My amazing host sister, Margharita. 

The city, at night.

Angela and Dana, I love you.

No one can resist a good selfie.

We just had to take more!

We spent a lot of time sitting on the Campo in the last couple of days.

The family.

Guisi, how come you are always so gorgeous?

Too much fun with photo booth.

I'm sorry I can't be more articulate right now...but it will come. There's a lot of processing...and more adventuring that needs to happen, but I think a few nights of good sleep are in order.