Nearly at the end of week 2 and the course seems to be flying by. Today I did my presentation for the culture class which is a big component of the oral assessment of the course. At the time it seemed a good idea to get it over with early. But I can’t say that it felt like it went well. But D is for Done! It didn’t help that we woke up to no power this morning – something tripped so it was 7:30 before I could shower, have a cuppa etc and no chance for last minute checking!

Anyway, this afternoon we continued our world tour of the contrada fountains – it is certainly getting us into corners of the town we wouldn’t otherwise find. The description of ‘fountain’ is a loose one – the 🦉 contrada fountain had no water in evidence, while others like the tortoise have been more what you may think a traditional fountain looks like. Some contrada, like the Goose, have repurposed an ancient fountain and don’t have their animal symbol on their fountain at all. Have yet to find the 🐌, 🐘 and 🦄, amongst others!

When you get used to looking for clues you can tell when you move from one contrada to another – little tiles on the buildings, gate designs, light fittings and other street accoutrements indicate where you are.

The weather has continued to be good – cool and clear, and warming up slightly – above zero when I walk to uni in the morning is good!🥶. Expecting ☔️ for the next few days. We have one of my classmates from Wellington visiting at the weekend – we’ll see what she thinks of Siena!