First few days in Siena

I got here a few days ago, and it's incredible.  My host family picked us up at the bus station in Siena (a 3-hour drive from Rome, where I flew to).  They're great - the parents are Fabrizio and Letizia, and they have two children in their 30s and a granddaughter.  They host foreign exchange students all the time; they actually have the entire second floor of their apartment set up to host students - there are five of us living there right now, the three of us from my program plus two others from Montana State that are also studying abroad in Siena for the next couple of months.

We have classes at an old psychiatric hospital near the city walls.  It was converted to the Universitá degli Studi di Siena a while ago, and now it's Siena's main university.  The campus, however, is spread out throughout the city.

In the afternoons we're free to do whatever we want.  A few of us are thinking about doing a few day trips to nearby cities like Florence, Pisa, and some others that Letizia told me about but I forget the names of.  Right now I'm sitting in a bedroom with the balcony doors open and a light breeze coming through, and the sky is cloudless.  I see the Tuscan hillside out the window, rolling green hills of vineyards and brick villas.  It's amazing that people actually live like this!

I'll put up some pictures later.