Mom and Cesca in Siena

Tuesday was the day I was anxiously awaiting because it was the day that my family arrived in Siena. I love Siena, but I wasn't sure I could do it justice when they visited. Cesca had been for a short visit, but I wanted them to see how nice life is here. After their bus got in a little bit late (and after some confusion as to their location- I assumed bus station, apparently the bus stopped at the train station) I took them to their hostel, which is the floor below me, conveniently. It wasn't the best hostel ever (I got stuck in the bathroom when I was down there because the lock was dumb) but it was only for one night.

After they were settled, we headed off to Il Campo for a bite to eat and relaxation, with me explaining Siena along the way. I may hate my Art History class, but it has given me some fun facts and valuable information to share with people. We got pizza and sat in the Campo in the sunshine, which is one of my favorite things to do here. We even saw a wedding!

I showed them the IES center where I go to school, where Mom and Cesca were greeted like heroes because of the gift they had brought with them: Oreos. Everyone had been craving them (some even went as far as looking up shipping costs) so I asked them to bring a pack over. Needless to say, I was very popular that day.

Afterwards, I had class so Mom and Cesca wandered over to the Duomo to see it's awesomeness. I met them near Il Campo and bought them nutella pies, my favorite snack, and we headed home to meet Paola.

all studious and ready to show them Siena

In Il Campo!

Wedding photos!

They got to admire the view on the way to school

lol. Perfect for us!

They checked out the Duomo while I learned about
factors leading up to the Black Death! Yay!

A lovely shot of Palazzo Pubblico in the evening

Paola has been super excited to meet my mom, and vice versa. The difficulty lies in the fact that they don't speak each other's language. Enter me: the translator. It was a wonderful dinner where I had to talk most of the time to translate between one or the other, but it was fantastic! Paola went all out with her cooking and it was delicious! I even liked her spinach, and I hate spinach. It was lovely having my two moms together at one table. Mom and Cesca brought Paola a small elephant statue as a gift (in Siena, the perfect gift for anyone is something with their contrada on it) and she was very happy and insisted they didn't have to get her anything. Moms in any culture are so similar!

We skyped my dad for a little bit since I have internet access that they had been lacking for the last few days, and then my mom headed to bed while Cesca and I headed out to karaoke night with my IES group. It was so much fun and almost everyone came. I'm happy she got to meet the people I chill with here. We sang everything from Mamma Mia to Lady Gaga to the YMCA (and that includes that popular Portuguese song I was telling you about- Cesca thought it was a strange song till everyone at the bar did it. Then it's awesomeness finally made sense).

Cesca and I with some of the awesome IES Siena gang
at Karaoke night

After staying up and chatting for way too long, Cesca and I headed to bed. Paola had a full breakfast spread for us in the morning, where I again was the interpreter (I admit I enjoyed this job a lot) and then Paola dropped me off at school and them at the bus station. They were heading to Rome to spend the day looking at the Vatican Museum while I diligently learned about Ambrogio Lorenzetti's frescos that depict the effects of good and bad government. Yeah. 

They saw cool artistic things. Mom kept
asking for pictures of stuff

Yum?

Polish room! The other part of my heritage that I sometimes
overlook

So after that intriguing lesson (actually, to be fair that one was pretty interesting) I hopped on the train to Rome to meet them at their hotel. We had an early start in the morning, so we turned in early so we could be ready for our next big adventure: Southern Italy!

Breakfast is calling my name, so I'll update more later! Ciao for now!

Mom and Cesca Visit Italy! (Florence and Perugia)

As I sit here on the computer, it has been a few hours since I had to say goodbye to Cesca and my mom at the train station. After spending like 5 days with them, it was rough to say the least. But I’m not going to dwell on it because we had a wonderful time! It may take me a while to update on our whole week, so please be patient!

Saturday was Cesca and mom’s first day in Italy. They arrived in Rome and were going to meet me in Florence to begin their journey. After waiting around at the train station, I finally saw them getting off a train. I was a bit worried when the first thing my mother said to me was “You are worth it Tina, because that was awful!” I was a bit concerned that the rough start they had had on their journey would hinder the rest of it. Luckily, this was not the case. Mom ended up being a champ and soldiering through everything we put her through, and I think she enjoyed herself along the way!

I had scouted out our hotel before their arrival, so I knew exactly where to take them. After depositing their luggage, we decided to hit up the Galleria d’Accademia to see the David. My mom loved it; it is pretty impressive, not gonna lie. I spent the remainder of the day taking pictures of random things that my mother wanted me to. She’s not very good with the camera, so it fell to Cesca and I to capture the memories. Since they were jetlagged and tired, we found a place for dinner and turned in early.

Sunday was a bit more filled. Cesca and I dropped mom off at the Uffizi (because I refuse to look at rooms upon rooms filled with pictures of “Madonna and Child” unless I absolutely have to) because we had already seen it, and went shopping. This turned into a major long trip because it took mom FOREVER to get into the gallery. We wandered around both markets, which we discovered was not a great idea. See, vendors at the market try to do anything to get you to buy stuff, and that includes yelling about the pretty twins walking by (even in Italy, we are a spectacle) which makes me tense and anxious, so we skipped the rest of the market to shop around more normal shops. I ended up getting a new pair of boots and a real leather jacket that I had been gunning for. It’s currently being altered and I have to pick it up soon.

Mom's first gelato in Italy!

These are the types of things my mom
asks me to take pictures of...

our hostel in Florence

In front of the Duomo 

Mom camera fail- she only got most of the
street, not the tower LOL

Lots of statues

Mom aspires to be like this
cute old couple

we wandered over to Santa Croce while wating
for mom

Dante!

This is our favorite pigeon

This man was a one man band!

After mother finally had her fill of baby Jesus paintings, we wandered over to Ponte Vecchio to look at jewelry we will never be able to afford. We also wandered around the Piazza della Signoria, which has replicas of lots of famous statues. Mom wanted a picture of like every one, so that took some time. After dinner, I had to return to Siena as academic life was calling, while they headed on to Perugia for the day. I didn’t go with, but here are some pictures of their adventures!

Cesca went back to see some friends at the Umbra Institute 

KEBAB

Mom taking in the views

The park we loved so much

Perugia at night

I'll update more tomorrow! Ciao for now!