July 15-20, 2019 - Classes Begin
After winding down after a weekend of beach time and visiting some spectacular medieval cities, both the English and Visual Arts students prepare to begin their first day of classes in Siena. Both the Visual Arts and English students showed tremendous focus and respect as they worked on their assignments.
While the English students attended classes at the Università di Siena- San Francesco, the Visual Arts students explored various sites and created their art pieces from various sites in Siena. The weather was perfect- sunny, blue skies and not too hot. The locals were very interested in their pieces and looked on. The Visual Arts students visited Florence two days during this week, visiting the Medici Chapels, the Brancacci Chapel, and the Fra Angelico frescoes in the Convento di San Marco. They also visited some studios of street artists and were welcomed into a studio of Canadian artists, who have relocated to Florence. These few extra days for the Visual Arts students were engaging and informative.
After eating lunch at the hotel, the English students return to school to finish up their first week of classes. After class, some students, with the help of our supervisors, go to the laundromat to do laundry. It was an interesting experience and the students were very grateful for the help provided. They learned how to read garment labels and decide what could and could not go into the dryer.
After dinner at the hotel, some students decide to stay back and work on their assignments, while others decide to take a break and go into the city. Overall the first few days of classes marked a transition from our time in Rome and Florence, and the students were more than prepared to adapt to these changes.
On Saturday, we went to mass at Santa Maria in Provenzano, a beautiful church in the contrada of Giraffa, It is named after the visitation of Mother Mary to St. Elizabeth. The July 2nd Palio is in honour of the Madonna di Provenzano. The winning contrada of the July 2nd Palio march to this church with horse and jockey to thank the Madonna for the victory. The Parish priest celebrated a beautiful mass in honour of our Canadian students. Our students were reverent and very well behaved. One of our St. Elizabeth Music RAP students, Isabella Couto, sang the Ave Maria during communion. Her angelic voice brought tears to our eyes. Thank you Isabella for making this mass extra special and for sharing your God given gift of music with us.
Every Wednesday in Siena, the locals go to an open air market by the Siena soccer stadium. The colours, voices and merchandise all make this an eclectic experience. All students spent an hour going through this market, purchasing clothing, leather goods, and even food! The students bargained over prices, just as the locals do. After this, the English students resumed classes and the Visual Arts students went to the Duomo to sketch.
