As some of you know, shortly before coming to Italy I went to my wonderful hairstylist Mario to get a haircut. I decided to make a big change, so I had Mario give me a cut that included bangs. I loved the haircut right from the start (although I did have a few moments where I looked in the mirror and thought "Oh boy- what was I thinking? What have I done to myself!") but after a week or two I was reminded that when you have bangs you have to get them trimmed often, and when you have hair that grows really quickly (like mine) then you have to trim them every few weeks. So last week I noticed that they were getting a bit long (getting stuck in my eyelashes and constantly in my eyes) so I decided I better get them trimmed. I was too chicken to try and do it myself, so I started asking around to see if I could find a good salon to do it for me. One of the professors overheard me asking someone and said that his daughter Claire cuts her sister's hair and all the time and she could probably do it for me. I was thrilled! So that evening, Claire came over to the residence and trimmed my bangs. She did a fabulous job and I am so glad that they are not hanging in my eyes anymore! I'm not sure what I will do the next time they need a trim, but I suppose I'll worry about that later. For the next few weeks at least they will look great, so thank you Claire!

The side-view (I hate taking self-portraits!)

From the front!

Here are some of the pictures I promised; the videos will have to wait until tomorrow. Enjoy!

For several nights before the Palio each contrada has its own neighborhood dinner, and to accomodate everyone they set up long tables like this in the main street or piazza of the contrada. This is the set up for the dinner in Aquila, near the Duomo.

My view from the Campo of the Palazzo Pubblico Saturday evening for the last trial run. The stands in front of the building were full of children from each contrada and they seemed to have a lot of fun cheering and waving flags.

Yuliya, Me, and Kathy at the trial run; it was so hot outside!!!

Some lucky people get to watch from up above the crowds.

Balcony and bleacher seats are expensive, but far more comfortable than being smashed in the middle of the Campo with the crowd.

Some of the flag bearers from the parade Sunday afternoon.

A knight in shining armor!

These next few pictures aren't that great (it was hard to get good shots from my spot in teh crowd) but I thought I would include them just to give an idea of the various dress/costumes that people in the parade wore.

Another knight in not so shining armor!

The black and yellow of Aquila.

I love the detail on the sleeves!

The Palio has now come and gone, and there is much excitement among our students and staff because Civetta, the contrada of our on-site coordinator Vincenzo, has won. This is Civetta's first win in thirty years and, needless to say, there has been much rejoicing. If you have ever witnessed to Palio firsthand then you can imagine how strong the reaction was among the people of Civetta; for those who have never seen it then I don't think it is possible to convey in words exactly what it was like. Let me just say that I have never seen such rejoicing (or so many emotional grown men) ever in my life. The race itself was very exciting: there were the usual problems with getting the horses to line up in the correct order (Aquila's horse wanted nothing whatsoever to do with the line up and Giraffa's horse wanted to face the opposite direction) and there were several false starts. This meant that the race that did not start at 7:30pm as it was supposed to, and the crowd and the announcers were becoming very agitated the closer it got closer to 8:30pm, since that is when it begins to get dark and since the horses cannot run after dark they would then have to put it off until the next day. But luckily, at about 8:20pm everything fell into place and the race began. Two of the horses lost their riders (including Aquila, the horse that was so fussy before the race) but everyone else made it through just fine, with Civetta claiming the victory.

I should say that I wasn't feeling very well Sunday afternoon, so I decided not to cram myself into the Campo to witness the race in person. Instead, I crammed myself into a crowd near the Duomo to watch the parade in the afternoon, and then I went back to the residence and watched the race on TV with two of our porters. It was fun to watch with two Sienese women and see how involved they were in the whole thing, even just watching it on TV. But even though I did not attend the actual race, I did go to the Saturday evening trial run, and I wanted to post some of my pictures and videos from both events but I forgot to bring my flash drive with me today, so I will have to post them tomorrow! So for now, here is a link to an article where you can view some pictures of the race and the aftermath, just click on the pictures and a slideshow will open.

This past Monday I was able to tag along with the Modern Italian Culture class for their field trip to a small town called Collodi and Lucca. It was so much fun! We went to Collodi specifically for the Parco di Pinocchio located there - a whole park dedicated to the story of Pinocchio. Professor Urbancic gave the class a great lesson on the importance of Pinocchio in Italian culture after we arrived at the park, and then we had a an hour or so to explore. In addition to some traditional carousels for children and a small children's theatre, the park has a maze (with Pinocchio faces on the ground that point the way, but not really because Pinocchio lies!), a museum, and a small piazza covered with mosaics that show scenes from the story. The main attraction of the park, however, is a trail you follow that takes you through the story: along the way you encounter statues of characters from the tale, the blue fairy's house, the pirate ship, and, at the end, the whale. Overall it was a great little place to visit, and it was very pertinent to the topics the students are studying in that class. The park itself was a works project started by the mayor of Collodi after WWII to help bring jobs back to the community. It is also an appropriate location for such a park to be built, since the author of Pinocchio wrote under the pseudonym Collodi because his mother was born there.

After Collodi we went to Lucca and had the afternoon free to roam around and explore the city. I thoroughly enjoyed myself there - it was very calm and quiet, and the fact that it was flat (unlike Siena) was a big bonus. I would like to go back while I am here and do some shopping - it looked like the shopping was great there! Since we only had a few hours I walked for a bit on the walls of the city (it is one of the few Italian cities that still has its full city walls intact, and they are impressive) and then I visitied a few churches and Roman sites, including the piazza that used to be the Roman forum and the area that used to be the Roman amphitheatre. I had my camera but it was difficult to get good picutres of these things (and I was a bit rushed to see everything) so I have included here a few pictures that I found online.

So the week started off nicely and then became quite busy, and the Palio craziness is really starting to pick up. The actual race is on Sunday, and I am going to try and participate in as many events as I can. I will be sure to post about it next week!

The sign at the start of the trail; the very famous opening lines of Pinocchio.
(Loosely translated they say: "Once upon a time there was - a king! No, children, you have guessed wrong. Once upon a time there was a piece of wood." Such a beginning signaled the start of a very different sort of fairy tale.)

This is a statue of the cricket in the story - definitely not like Walt Disney's creation of Jiminy Cricket. In the original tale the "Talking Cricket" is eventually smashed by Pinocchio because he is irritated and doesn't want to hear what the cricket has to say. (Pinocchio is a pretty bad boy in the original story!)

Another point of the story that differs from the Disney version (which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, by the way!) is the death of Pinocchio. Here you see the two assassins (who are really the Cat and the Wolf in disguise) on their way to kill Pinoochio. They do so by hanging him from a tree, and, of course, he dies. This was actually the original end of the story, but the protest was so great that the author, Carlo Collodi, had to continue the story and bring Pinocchio back to life. He did so by having the Blue Fairy look out her window and see Pinocchio hanging, then sending a falcon to see if he is still alive. The falcon arrives just in time and brings Pinocchio back to the fairy's house to rest and recover.

This is the park's version of the fairy's house. You can go look through the little window and see the fairy caring for Pinocchio, who is resting in bed.

A statue of the Blue Fairy. Apparently, Collodi based the Blue Fairy on a little girl he knew whose hair was so blond that sometimes in the right light it looked like it was coloured pale blue.

The Whale! This thing was so cool! You can go and climb inside the mouth; there is also a spiral staricase that goes up the center and comes out the top so you can stand on top of the whale and get a nice view. There is also a little window in the back of the whale where you can see Geppetto sitting, waiting for Pinocchio to rescue him.

One of the many statues of Pinocchio in the park. By the end of the story Pinocchio eventually learns that it is best for him to listen to and obey his father, Geppetto, who respresents Italy. The story played a major role in helping to create an Italian culture after the unification of Italy.

Me on the pirate ship; yes, Rachel, there are pirates in Pinocchio!

The gift shop full of Pinocchios!

Me with the statues of Pinocchio and his creator, Carlo Collodi, at the entrance of the park.

This huge statue of Pinocchio is jsut outside the park and was donated by Swiss woodworkers, I think! They told us that not long after they put him up his nose fell off and they had to reattach a new one!

This is the facade of the church of San Michele in Lucca. I really like how eccentirc and unique it is; all the columns and figures on the front are different (you can tell if you zoom in!).

An aerial view of Lucca. Notice the city walls!

This is where the amphitheatre was located in Roman times; apparently some of the entrances to the centre are original to the amphitheatre.

A side view of San Michele. This church is located in a piazza that used to be the Roman Forum. (And although the church is great, part of me still wishes that the Roman stuff was still there!)

This past week seems to have flown by! Work has kept me busy (but in a good way) but I also managed to have some fun as well. Wednesday evening we had a concert of classical music in the courtyard of our residence. The performers were all students at the Chiggiana Academy of Music, a prestigious school that brings students from around the world to Siena. The musicians who performed were from Italy, Japan, Mexico, Austria, and Germany, and they were excellent. The string quartet which closed the concert with a concerto by Ravel was exceptional. Then, on Thursday night, I went to the Orto dei Tolomei where they host outdoor movie screenings in their gardens several times a week. We were expecting to see Coraline, but we had read the schedule incorrectly and saw Frozen River instead. I was pleased that I understood a good deal of the dialogue (the movie was dubbed in Italian) and it was interesting to watch a movie about people struggling in contemporary America in the idyllic setting of an Italian garden. Friday night I rounded off the week with a jazz concert. The music was great and several of the performers were extremely talented, including a 15 year old pianist who blew me away. After three nights out in a row I was pretty exhausted so I took Saturday off and did some more mundane things like laundry and grocery shopping. I was also able to get a full night of sleep- my first since arriving here! It helped that most of the students were off travelling for the weekend, meaning that there was less noise in the residence and fewer people for me to worry about.

It is a good thing I got some rest this weekend, because today the madness that is the Palio began. The actual race in next Sunday, August 16, but for the next week there will be numerous parades, processions, parties, and events all leading up to the race itself. Only 10 out of the 17 contrade participate in each race, and those that do hold parades and processions throughout their neighborhoods and the city. I have included a few pictures and a short video clip of one of the processions that happened today (this one is the Nicchio contrada) below. It is important to understand that the Palio is not just a tradition for the Sienese, it is part of who they are, and it is taken very seriously. Thus all the events around and leading up to the Palio are more than just an excuse to get together and have fun (although they do provide that) but they also help to create the unique sense of community and identity of the Sienese. It is part of why I love Siena!

*Look for more updates, pictures, and info on the Palio as the week progresses!

The Nicchio procession begins!

This is the fountain of the Tartuca contrada. Each contrada has its own fountain, most with the symbol of the contrada (in this case, a tortise). I walk past this one on the way to the office every day and fill my water bottle up (yes, the water is safe to drink!).

A close up of the fountain so you can see the tortoise. If you look closely you can also see a little snail underneath the tortoise, maybe representing the contrada I live in: chiocciola. Chiocciola and Tartuca are neighbors and Palio enemies, as you will see in the next few photos!

Almost every contrada has lightposts on the street with the colors and symbol of the contrada, so the style of the lights changes all over town. This is a Tartuca streetlight - see the little turlte on the post? (Sorry about the poor quailty of the photo- the lighting was bad that afternoon!)

This is a sign posted on the Tartuca community message board next to their fountain, clearly making fun of their enemy, Chiocciola. (Although I'm not sure if they are say that Chiocciola is like a horse or it the horse is supposed to be laughing at Chiocciola . . .)

In retaliation, Chiocciola has given insults of their own. On the border between the two neighborhoods they have spray painted an insult to Tartuca. It is a bit hard to read but it says "52 1/2 Pifferi." The 52 and 1/2 is how many times Tartuca has won the Palio (they tied with someone for the 1/2) and Pifferi, although it literally means "penny-whistle" is actually an insult. See? I told you they take this stuff seriously!

For the past ten minutes I have been wracking my brain trying to come up with something clever and entertaining to write but all I can think about is the fact that I am tired. Last night I slept straight through the night for the first time since arriving, but I still did not get a full eight hours. My duties with the program have kept me fairly busy, the hilly layout of Siena has kept my legs sore (in a good way- toned legs here I come!) and my Italian has been stretched to its limits by communicating with the residence staff on behalf of the students about thinks like lack of hot water, clogged drains, and broken window latches. (Il lavandorio e bloccato = the sink is clogged!) The fact that I am in such a beautiful place helps to make the exhaustion worth it, but my brain and body still both need a rest! So, in lieu of a longer written post I hereby present some pictures from the past week. Enjoy!

A view out my residence window at dusk.

Another view out the window. (How lucky am I?)

Via delle Sperandie (the street where the student residence is located).

Another view of the street (notice the laundry drying?)

Laundry and rooftop gardens!

These little signs can be found on the sides of most buildings in the neighborhood of our residence, marking the territory of the contrada we live in. It is called "Chiocciola" and its symbol is the snail.

The view outside the residence front door (bonus points if you can find the snail in this picture!)

The courtyard at the Rettorato of the University of Siena; we were stuck there on Monday afternoon while it poured rain for about twenty minutes.

Group dinner at the Selva contrada. They were kind enough to host our rather large group and they fed us a wonderful dinner of pasta, salad, bread, and grilled lamb and sausage, with ice cream for dessert. (It was really good!)

Professor McClellan and myself at the dinner. Professor McClellan is teaching a very interesting course on the history of sport; his class gets to try and recreate ancient and medieval games!