The school started on Monday. There are language courses in Dante Aligheri http://www.dantealighieri.com/ with a period of one week to one year. If you are not at the beginning level you may attend in one of the courses which start on every Monday. I don’t recommend you to attend these courses for a short time without having a slightest proficiency in the Italian language. People only speak Italian here and some teachers do not speak English at all. This might be an advantage for those who speak a little bit Italian but it could be a torture for beginners. On the other hand I never understand those who come to the language courses together with a friend, spouse, sweet heart (if not an Italian). Let me just repeat that famous proverb at this moment: “Can not learn a language without touching one’s tongue on the other’s” Let me also write the same proverb in Italian: “Non puo imparare nuovo lingua, senza la lingua tocca un altro” Those who speak other languages, please write the same proverb in other languages so that we are not deprived of an important knowledge.
When you have made an on-line application for the course you have already passed through a test to determine the level of proficiency. The courses begin at 10:00 since there are some requirements to be fulfilled like enrollment controls, payment of school fees, distribution of students to the classes suitable for them, a short introduction of the school etc., while the courses in other days begin at 09:00. There is a quite cheerful environment depending on the teacher. You may attend group courses for 3 or 4 hours a day. The first three hours are didactic while the last hour is applied learning with games and amusements. You get a certificate at the end of each course irrespective of how many days you have attended it. The cerfificates of the long courses are official certficates.
There is an activity almost every day after the end of the courses. City tour, history conference, watching movies, reading lesson. It would be useful to participate in all these activities once you come here. You absolutely learn something from an activity in which Italian is spoken.
There was school between 09:00-14:00. For that reason I was going to bed and waking up early. Even in the vacations I like to go to bed and wake up earlier than usual. I hastily go out to eat something immediately after leaving the school because the working hours of the restaurants are between 12:00 -14:30 in Italy. You must absolutely eat your lunch between these hours in this country, otherwise you may starve. I remember that once we had looked for something to eat at a place away from the city center in Milano after 15:00 and couldn’t find anything and also couldn’t find a taxi and then catched a bus to Duomo and could find a awful sandwich to eat there just at the moment at which we were about to eat one another partly because of hunger and partly because of the nervosity caused by the drop in blood sugar.
The restaurants are opened at 19:30 and remain open until late hours in the night. Restaurant culture is unbelievable here. Italian people get dressed elegantly and go out for eating together everywhere, either big or small. They have their dinner a little bit later than us because they begin and finish their dinner late since there is no place to catch up on after the dinner. That is to say they have no chance to flow into the night life after dinner in Siena. For that reason those who look for an entertainment holiday should not come to Siena.
There is a very small town called Pienxa otside Siena but Pienxa is the last place to see while there are such other places like San Gimignano, Montelcino, St. Angelo, Montepulciano.
Montepulciano which I visited this time is a town which is set up on a hill like San Simignano. There is no train to these towns but only buses. I would liker to remind once more that the buses depart and arrive just on time. You would have hard time if you miss the last bus.
By the way, I want to emphasize that writing is an activity which only those, who are patient, ready to remain sleepless and have no other occupation, may endure.
Patience is required because it may sometimes take hours to write an article which you read in just 2 minutes. Especially writing poems is absolutely something that only mads can do. There are even poets who complete writing a poem in three years and there are also those like Yahya Kemal who have been unable to publish their poems because they have thought that their poems were not good enough or have revised and corrected their poems time and again. Nobody who hasn’t read the poem titled “Walls of the Caravansaray” can not understand that writing a poem requires very much effort. And finally you may understand that being an author requires great patience if we think that there are even those who write a book with hand-writing.
Insomnia is another feature of being an author. All of us have written our best articles and poems and proclaimed the most emotional loves just at the moment at which we were about to have a dream, haven’t we? Those who wakes up while having a good sleep and write are those who are not in good terms with sleeping since they are able to discontinue even the sweetest form of sleep. Here are the names of those who live and write in this manner: Ayşe Kulin, Orhan Pamuk, Elif Şafak… By the way, does Elif Şafak have her dreams in English or Turkish?
I may now put an end to my article with a clear conscience after I had let you know that I am a person who more or less reads books.
If I have to summarize all the foregoing:
Names and addresses of the places in Siena where you may eat delicious food with reasonable prices:
A very beautiful restaurant just behind Duomo. San Desidero - Piazzetta L. Bonelli, 2 - Tel: 0039 0577 286091 http://www.ristorantesandesiderio.com/
A humble but very beautiful restaurant: Osteria Nonna Gina - Plan dei Mantellini, 2 - Tel: 0039 0577 287247 http://www.osterianonnagina.net/
Famous pastry store Bini - Via Stalloreggi, 91 - Tel: 0039 0577 280207
Wine, Cheese etc. sales outlet - Consorzio Agrario Siena - Via Pianigiani, 5 - Tel: 0039 0577 230223 http://www.capsi.it/portal/
Ice-cream shop; Grom http://www.grom.it/ita/
There are more pictures of Siena and its vicinity for those who wonder it.
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