Here at last, here at last!

Ok so this is going to be one of those boring blogposts that people hate because I don't have any pictures yet. However, I promise that there will be pictures soon!

  So we finally made it to Siena and I absolutely love it here! It is so much better than Rome in so many ways. Don't get me wrong Rome is an incredible city where it seems that with every corner you turn you see some bigger and better monument but I love Siena. It has such a medieval feel to it and it is jut absolutely beautiful, and can I just mention that it smells way better than Rome….WAY better.
  We got to Siena on Saturday afternoon and we all stood around at the bus station looking like a group of orphans as we waited for our host families to pick us up. Some people got picked up right away and others of us were shipped off in taxis to brave our new adventure alone. Stefani and I were in that category, and not going to lie it was a little nerve racking. We arrived at our destination which is a good thirty minute walk from the city center and were greeted by a darling old man at the top of a lovely staircase. Well right away it was very apparent that he didn't speak any English, nada, zip, zero, zilch. It was also apparent that he had no intention of helping us get our bags up the stairs. Stefani went first, then myself, then her again, than me again, we managed to do it in four trips luckily, in his defense it was obvious that the man who we found out his name is Viviano had some knee trouble.
   His wife, Angela, arrived a few long, quiet and awkward hours later and we discovered that our last hopes were being destroyed as she didn't speak any English either. That first day was really stressful but I think now we have gotten in the swing of things and can communicate fairly efficiently, at least I think I may be interpreting everything they saw entirely wrong. We have since that first day discovered that they are the sweetest, most patient and loving elderly couple ever. It really does feel like home even though there is a language barrier. I think that we are probably the luckiest students in the study abroad because it really does feel like we are living the Italian experience; we are having to speak Italian as much as possible, our shower is cold with no curtain, and we are going to have to hang our laundry out to dry haha. The view of from our little home is spectacular and I really am glad that we are a ways out of the city because we get to see it in all it's glory every morning and evening.
   It hasn't been all sunshine and daisies though. The first day of classes was really stressful. I was signed up for Italian 201 but I was the only student in the class who had not already taken 201 so after evaluating us by talking some he automatically jumped to the other students level and I spent the first hour and a half of my school experience here in Italy trying to hold back the frustration, the good news is I think I will be able to change classes into repeating 102 instead if I can just get around the add/drop deadline issue at BYU. However, besides that hour and a half things have really been wonderful and I am having so much fun. I promise that pictures will be coming soon!