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This past Monday I arrived in Siena, Italy to begin my semester abroad. The past few months have been a bit wild in terms of not really having a permanent place to live, which doesn’t bother me, but it is a strange feeling to consistently be a guest in someone else’s home. For about four months, I lived in Berlin with host parents. I felt as comfortable as I possibly could have living with people who I’d only known for a few months, but no place will ever be like living with my parents. After Berlin, I met up with my parents and sisters in Croatia and we spent about two weeks together—I hadn’t realized how much I missed my family and, while we were living in rented apartments for those two weeks, I reverted back to the sweet feeling of complete comfort. After Croatia I headed to Madrid and stayed with my aunts, uncles, and grandparents for a few days. And after that, I spent a night in Rome with my mom’s cousin. Now I’m in Siena, living with an adorable Italian host mom, and I couldn’t be happier—but it’s still strange to be a guest. When people ask me if I miss home, it’s not my house or Pennsylvania that I miss—it’s my parents and sisters and dog and feeling comfortable doing whatever I feel like, whether it’s grabbing whatever I want from the kitchen or lying lazily on the couch—things you don’t do when you’re a guest—not because my hosts aren’t incredibly welcoming (my host mom constantly tells me “my house is your house” and “this is your home”) but because of the fact that this is a temporary place I’m living in.

In terms of Siena, this city is beautiful. It’s a medieval city and the only thing that reminds me that we’re not living in the 1200’s are the cars. It’s very different from Berlin (obviously) and Philadelphia (OBVIOUSLY) but I really love it here. This week is our orientation and we’ve begun our Italian classes but next week all courses will officially begin. My focus for this semester is getting to the point where Italians don’t know where I’m from when I speak to them so we’ll seeeeeeeeeee how that goes.

 

Ciao!!!