As some of you already know, the study abroad program that I worked with for the month of August finished last Saturday. At 5:15am we loaded up three buses and took the students on the group flight to the airport in Rome. We stayed while they all checked in for their flight (which might sound boring but it was actually a little amusing to watch many of them heave gigantic suitcases onto the scales and wince as they waited for the total weight to appear) and then, when the last students finished, Ninni and I said goodbye to Joe, got in a rental car, and drove back to Siena. We arrived back in Siena around 4:30pm, which gave me an hour or two to finish packing my room and talk to my family before calling a taxi and heading across town to my new apartment. The entire day felt very rushed and before I knew it, I had left the Sperandie Residence behind and moved on, without really taking the time to think about it. My new apartment is great (I'll post some pictures soon!), my new roommates are lovely, kind, and considerate girls, and I feel very lucky to have found it. But I have some wonderful memories of the Residence, so I thought I would share one of them with you. One my favorite things about the residence was the random decor that could be found on the walls in nearly every room. Unlike the dorms that I have seen in North America, the students here are not required to remove everything from the walls when they leave. For example, two of our girls were staying in a room that had race cars, bikini clad women, and a dart board on the wall, while others had random paintings, sea shell decals, and other odds and ends. Even my room had a few quirks, as you can see in the pictures below. My favorite room, however, was that of my neighbour Helene: she had kittens on her wall! It was amazing! So here's to the Sperandie Residence and its random decor- kittens, sea shells, dart boards, and all!

My bed- nothing strange on the walls here!

A shot of the room from the doorway . . . wait, what is that on the wardrobe? Let's get a little closer.

They look like leaves . . . let's get closer!

Look at that- they are leaves, maple leaves to be exact. They are actually made out of the same sticky stuff they use to make those sticky hands that kids are always playing with. I am not quite sure who put them there or why, but if felt approriate for a University of Toronto student to live in a room with some maple leaves on her wardrobe.
So what else was in my room, you ask? Well . . .

How about some Winnie the Pooh? This lovely wallpaper covered a storage box in the entry to the room. Well, that is about it for my room, so let's move on to Helene's room next door.

This poster was above the door that led into the bathroom that Helene and I shared; maybe the people who had our rooms previously just really liked Disney! Or, it's quite possible that the person just really liked animals because this was also on the wall in Helene's room:

Yes, that is an aerial view of Siena (which has probably been on the wall for a long time based on how faded the picture is) and yes, those are pictures of kittens tacked onto it. Don't you just love the cute little grey kitten sitting on a pair of jeans, and the adorable black and white kitten in the garden? Don't get me wrong- I don't have anything against cats. But these pictures in this context were a bit much. Helene just laughed about it and left them there for the next occupant of the room - I probably would have taken them down!