So I've had three solid rest days, now I feel like I need to do stuff. So after breakfast, I got writing on my blog, which is high on my priority list, somewhat to Rosanna's dislike I think. She thinks I'm wasting my time by writing it, and that I should be going outside to explore the town or doing some site saying and daytrips, of which she's suggested a few to do together, but I haven't taken any initiative in getting them happening, since I'm content to stay in and write my blog at the moment. I quite enjoy writing and reflecting on the trip so far, and it's good to be staying in one spot for a while. Also Rosanna has class during the week so don't want to be pulling her out of class to go out for a day trip.
One problem that I've run into though is that her internet connection is utterly terrible. She has one of those prepaid USB modems which cost about €100, and then you load them up each month; it costs €10 per month. It's so unreliable that it often drops out every couple of minutes, it's the worst connection I've used since dial-up at Dads place in Mount Franklin, Victoria, which mind you, was only a year or two ago.
And for some reason when I criticize the connection, Rosanna defends it. I think the four of them in the flat should share the cost of a router and ADSL connection and it'd be much cheaper, faster and more reliable.
So anyway, I became so frustrated with the connection that I decided to head across to the Economics faculty which is less than 100 metres away, and use their Wi-Fi with Rosanna's password.
Sorry, not too much to write about today, I'm rambling about internet connections.
I spent the day trying to catch up on my blog, then for tea we went to a Chinese take-away joint, which Rosie frequents quite often. I love curry and haven't eaten one for months so I ordered a chicken curry.
Later on we went to an establishment in Siena called the Tea Room, with eleven other English, Australian and American students, mostly from the Erasmus Programme (European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students). This is what they call their exchange program in Europe, and it's a very popular program. There are some six-hundred Erasmus students at Siena, Rosie said that four-hundred of them were Spanish. There are only five Australians. Erasmus students are typically fairly slack, and have the attitude "I'm just an Erasmus so my study doesn't really matter". I'm not sure what the arrangement is in terms of how it fits into their course, for Rosanna I think she just has to pass.
Anyway, presently I was in the tea room with eleven Erasmus students. Everyone ordered a pot of tea, which costs €4 each, so it's not cheap, but there is a huge range of tea's to choose from, I had no idea what most of them were. Rosie ordered a licorice flavoured tea which she shared with me, 'twas very good.
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| Some of Rosie's friends in the Tea Room in Siena, Italy. |
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| Some of Rosie's friends in the Tea Room in Siena, Italy. |
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| Some of Rosie's friends in the Tea Room in Siena, Italy. |
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| Some of Rosie's friends in the Tea Room in Siena, Italy. |
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| Some of Rosie's friends in the Tea Room in Siena, Italy. |
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| Some of Rosie's friends in the Tea Room in Siena, Italy. |
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| Sam, Rosie and Mattieu in the Tea Room in Siena. |
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| Sam, Rosie and Mattieu in the Tea Room in Siena. |
We had wanted to play a game of Monopoly, but another table had the Tea Room's Monopoly set. So Mo suggested a game of chess. He said he didn't really know how to play, so we'd have to teach him exactly how to play. I ended up being his opponent. I'm not great at chess, but it's a great game.
Mo absolutely demolished me; I could tell he wasn't, in fact, a beginner! I only killed three of his Pawns before he had me in checkmate. Then he told me he is actually the sixth best chess player in Tripoli, the capital city of Libya.
Mo challenged me to a second match, which I was reluctant to take up, but he talked me into it. My opponent may have been smoking some pot, which may have been from the bar tender, who seemed to specialise in more herbs than just those for tea. So in this round, I went much better, I had Mo stumped at one stage. He didn't know what to do, but I noticed he could take my queen with his horse. It was a big error by me, couldn't believe he didn't see it!
We'd both taken about eight pieces each when I made a fatal error and my queen was killed. I was saved by the bell though, because at that point we were politely told that the Tea Room was closed. It was about 2 am after-all, so we had to pack up and leave.
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| Piazza del Campo, Siena. |
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| Rosie, Mo, Sam, Mattieu and Derick in the Piazza del Campo, Siena. |
Ride stats:
No riding
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