Study Abroad Update

Oct 9, 10, 11 Padua and Venice


Oct 16, 17, 18 Florence on Friday and Montepulciano weekend


Oct 23, 24, 25 Siena on Friday and Last weekend with the Study Abroad group in Montepulciano

On Friday we went to Siena for the day. It was a rainy day so we spent most of time going from museum to museum and trying to stay dry. One of the museums had a rooftop panoramic out look and the rain held off just long enough for all us to take some nice photos. When we got back in town that night we decided to use the rest of the food we had in our kitchen to make one last dinner in Montepulciano because the next weekend we would be out of town in Barcelona Spain. We had some pasta and sauce, a can of tuna that went surprisingly well with our pasta and sauce. On the side we had olive oil and spices with our bread and the rest of our tomatoes! I went to Italy liking tomatoes mostly just on my sandwiches, but the tomatoes in Italy are absolutely delicious and I fell like I can eat them with anything and everything!!

Saturday we took some time to try and finish as much last minute school work so that we would not have the next week and weekend in Barcelona to worry about . We took the afternoon to visit the local museum that was right in our town. My favorite part was seeing paintings from Montepulciano from many, many years ago and seeing the similarities and differences. Since we had eaten all our food the night before and we were not provided dinners on the weekends we decided to treat ourselves to a very nice dinner near Piazza Grande. The menu had so many great things on it and in the end we choose the set meal that consisted of… an appetizer of meats and cheese, Pici (traditional pasta of Tuscany- thick as a pencil spaghetti) and a class of Montepulciano Rosso wine, then the main course was strip steak with rosemary, a side dish and a glass on Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, then we had dessert and espresso. It was nice because they gave each of the four of us at dinner and different side dish and dessert so we were able to share and try everything. We had not made reservations for the place we ate so the only spot left in the restaurant was at an eight person table where two people were already sitting, we all sat there family style at one table, they had not made reservations either. The couple we sat with were from California so we were able to talk to them and we found out they were on their way to see the daughter in Florence who was on study abroad! After dinner we went down to the garden bar and met up with some of the locals we had met during our time in Montepulciano. Over our time there we had taught them how to play flip cup, an American drinking game. Each time we hung out with them we learned something new or we taught them something. This night we tried to explain how we go to waffle house or steak and shake or something similar after going to a party and drinking. They did not understand something like that and explained that the only 24/7 places they had near by and in most cities were autogrills- the places at the rest stops along the highway. We ended up finishing all the snacks from our apartment and the two guys we had hung out with the most took us to a nice place right outside of town where we saw one shooting star after another. It was amazing and a nice way to end our last weekend hanging out in Montepulciano.