In a nutshell: Europe = nude 50+ yr olds and sporadic trains

 Don't remember what this was. Right near the Piazza campo

 Right after we left the starting point in Cinque Terre. Much sweat was to be shed homie.

 Siena from the top of the spiral staircased museum. These pictures are slightly out of order.
 I liked the way the sun looked in this one. Right in the Piazza Campo again.
 Cleaning up from the Palio race. There was sand everywhere on the ground.
 Cinque Terre again.
 Io amo l'Italia.
 The first beach at Cinque Terre. If you look close you can see the rocks I almost cracked my head open on in the background.
 The chicadillas, having a bubble making contest? This is what happens when you miss 2 consecutive trains home, folks.
 Cinque Terre, second leg. All the houses are different colors. I want this for my birthday, thanks.
 Diana, NOT getting burned like all the rest of us with the hat her mama made her buy.
 Lunch stop with a gigantic sandwich and cowgirl.
 Right after we started the hike -  road was blocked by water that stunk like shit and on the side we utilized anything and everything we could to make it across without falling in. Objects included a wooden plank, broken pipe (?), rocks, and killing the soles of our feet in the process.
 Alexandra is excited.

 Kerstin wants to make love in Siena! She also loves things such as Stewart and not talking about people in a different language while in front of them.

 Back to Cinque terre, again. The water was the bluest I've ever seen.
 More.

It's been awhile, my American compatriots. Classes have been going well, I'm in an Italian grammar course and another one on Renaissance art which is pretty tough, actually (mainly because I know jack shit about the Renaissance). The weather is still hot as ever, but at night it cools down. I've actually been lucky on that front; everyone else is getting monster mosquito bites but I haven't gotten a single one yet.

On Friday we went to Siena. Saw lots of churches, the usual. Nice quaint little town - we went 2 days after Palio, the big horse race where everyone apparently goes crazy and you can get trampled to death but it's all good. When we got there they were still cleaning up the sand from the ground in the Piazza Campo (big square around which the race is held, below). Had a nice lunch then climbed to the top of the museum there and had sweeping cool views of the entire city and Tuscany. We also (cherry on the figurative sundae) got to see San Domenico and Saint Catherine's head. So after she died, the Sienese decided she belonged in Siena and not in Rome, so they sent someone to chop off her head from her corpse, and brought back her head (Oh, and a thumb of her finger) to Siena, where they were embalmed and held in the church. It was really tiny, and kind of far away (there was a rope) so hard to see. Plus, obviously no pictures allowed. Trust me, it was pretty hot. That nun had one tiny head, apparently she was anorexic before her death or so Elena (my teacher) told us. Siena was awesome; the gelato was better than in Florence, in my opinion. Go figure, it's all about the food. Well it is, really, in this country. Food is definitely a high priority here, anywhere you go.

Yesterday we woke up at around 6:30AM and went on the train to Cinque Terre, a national park that stretches along the ocean across 5 towns (hence, the 'cinque' in Cinque Terre). Mainly, it's a hike along the coast, in the mountains. It took us about 6 hours and I'm convinced we did around 7-8 miles. In 90+ degrees. It was amazing. The views were pretty breathtaking and I sweated 5 liters of water. Seriously. I drank about 3 big bottles and didn't pee once. It's all in the sweated out urea, baby (thanks MCAT - 9 days). Speaking of MCAT, I have yet to start secondaries. Somehow, I really don't give a shit. I probably should. I just feel kind of hopeless from 6/13. Whatever. Back to Cinque terre. It took us around 3 hours to get to a small beach and we were all happy to stop to eat and take a dip. Leather-looking people, nude post-menopausal women and gelato galore, it was ... fantastic. The water wasn't too cold, lots of rocks to climb on a little off the shore. The sand pretty much killed my feet, it was so hot. For real, it's a day later and I can barely feel them and have blisters on 7 of my 12 toes. 12 toes? Just making sure you're paying attention. On the way back, we missed the first 2 trains and wound up getting home at 12:30AM. It was a goooooooooooooood day. And now I'm here, writing my paper. Which frankly, blows.

David