Il Duomo

Since my mom thinks I don't post enough, I'll do a quick post now, updating you on my life since Venice. Well, since I'm sick I've been trying to sleep more (which is NOT happening, there's waaay to much to do here) and relax, but there's always something going on.

Monday is my catch up day, so I skyped and chatted with the family after working on some Italian homework. I really only do the homework for my Advanced Italian class, because the readings are 'suggested' in my Econ and Black Death classes and every time I open my Presence of the Past readings (ie- Art History) I cringe and shut it. I'm sorry. I'm all for artistic expression but I really don't care who every person is in every work of art in Siena. Especially since the readings and the class are in Italian. I know it will help out eventually, but I'm just not that into art.

Tuesdays are a full class day, though we did manage to squeeze in a movie. Star Wars. Old school. I don't know why, we just wanted to watch it. Fun times.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I have Presence of the Past. Tuesdays I set and try not to die of boredom as my adorably fashionable professor explains the significance of every person in every painting ever. Though today the class turned out to be quite useful, because we were discussing the paintings on the floor of the Duomo in Siena. Wednesday is class field trip day, so we headed over and got to see the works of art up close and personal. For free, which is pretty prime, considering our ticket gives us access to a bunch of other museums in Siena. I get tired of museums pretty quickly, but I might check one or two out soon.

Here are some pictures of our trip today:

Erm. Some painting in La Sala delle Lupe. All I remember is
that you can tell a city was at war during the time the painting
was done if the city is in the left hand of a person in the picture

One of the original She Wolves. Romulus and Remus
are also super important in Siena

La lupa, or 'she wolf,' with the children is the symbol of Rome, as the founders, Romulus and Remus, are the twins who were fed by this wolf and went on the create the greatest city ever. Or something like that. Siena adopted this symbol as well to state that they too wanted to be great like Rome. During the Renaissance, a new myth was created. It states that Remus had twins named Aschio and Senio, who were also coincidentally fed by a she-wolf and went on to create Siena. Don't listen to that one. It's a lie that they made up waaaaaaaay after the Roman she wolf was present in Siena.

This would have been part of the Duomo, if not
for the plague. Work was halted as people fell ill
and the city ran out of money to complete the whole church

And now we go to the inside of the Duomo

The she wolf with Sena written over it. You can tell it's a Roman
she wolf because of the tree behind her. See, I'm learning stuff.
The other animals represent other cities in Italy

The ceiling of one of the rooms in the Duomo

Pretty cool

I think this is one of the first representations of
the Madonna in the Duomo. Not 100% sure.
There's only so much art history I can absorb

The Last Supper in stained-glass window form

In other, less artistic but still exciting news, I met my language exchange partner today! Her name is Veronica and she's from Sicily, but studies here in Siena. We wandered around the city for a bit, alternating in English and Italian, and even got gelato from Kopa Kabana. Alright, so it was my second gelato of the day. That's la vita italiana for you. Anyway, it's great to have someone else to practice with, so now I have my host mom, a language partner, 2 classes conducted all in Italian and the IES staff to practice with. Sometimes I feel like my language skills haven't improved at all, and then some days, like today, I feel pretty accomplished. I have good days and bad days with Italian, but with all these chances to practice, my comprehension is bound to increase!

Ho un quiz domani e devo studiare!!! Ciao for now!