Thank Goodness for Siena

On Thursday, after having a walking class in Florence with my Italian Culture History class, Sean and I decided to stay the night because we had to catch an 8:30 flight to Paris the next morning. We both have friends studying in Florence, so we had a big group dinner with Sean and her roommate from Colgate, and then my friend David, Kay and Claire (the last two are studying in Bologna). Dinner was great then we decided to meet up with some people on the Syracuse Program for a night out in the big city. It was amazing the difference between Florence and Siena in terms of night life and daily interactions with the locals. There are Americans and tourists everywhere in Florence. We went to a bar and everyone there was on some sort of study abroad program. Also, if you try and speak Italian to anyone they just automatically respond in English. Where as in Siena, I only speak Italian and the people really try to work with me and my limited knowledge of the language. Also, there are almost no Americans in Siena so it was weird to hear English at the bar. Sean and I were both saying how we had debated between studying in Florence and Siena and now how glad we are that we decided to go to Siena! As we were leaving I ran into my high school friend Ryan on the street - I guess it's true what they say about Country Dayers always seeming to find each other!