ITALY

My heart is like a singing bird soaring up the sky..

My heart is like a rainbow shell that paddles in the sea..

My heart is gladder than all of these for ''Siena'' of the Tuscan Italy hath come to me...!!

The meandering streets, the welcoming magnificent doors, the endless arches, the red-bricked walls, the strong forts...

I suoi rossi edifici, le brune tegole, le sue case allungate, i campanili svelti delle chiese, via di Città, Banchi di Sotto, Banchi di Sopra,Fonte Nuova, Fonte Gaia, ma sopratutto, la più antica della tutta dov'è si trova la mia Residenza Universitaria è la bella ''Fonte Branda''..!!

Looking skyward, sits my soul, newer challenges, newer goals, and knock-knock here we come, 200 of us from 200 different places to the Centro-Linguistico, il 5 luglio, per l'esame orale e l'esame scritto, and were thus assigned our respective ''livello''!

First day, first class, 40 of us clubbed in to B2 = introductions, salutations and then began the grammatical downpour of ''Periodo Ipotetico'' '' Il Congiuntivo-presente, imperfetto,trapassato..'' = ''Avessi, avesse, abbia, fosse, venisse'' and so on and so forth!

Due ore della grammatica, due ore della lingua, quattro ore della cultura, la prima giornata ben è stata interessante e lunga!

The shell-shaped Piazza del Campo which houses the Palazzo Pubblico, Torre del Mangia or the hosting of the famous fervent horse race='' Il Palio''= what pride! what passion! fervent enthusiasm, alliances and animosities and indescribable human emotions!

Beyond the 12th century ''Il Duomo''=Siena's Romanesque-gothic architectural cathedral with the best Renaissance Fresoes of Ghirlandaio, Donatello, Ghiberti, Jacopo della Quércia and Duccio's famous Maestà or Beyond the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, or Il Campanile di Giotto or la Cupola del Brunelleschi or Il Battistero di San Giovanni or la Porta del Paradiso di Lorenzo Ghiberti or La Divina Comedia di Dante Alighieri, Beyond the golden roofs of il Palazzo Vecchio or La Torre di Arnolfo = Florence's emblematic Simbolo or the picturesque ''ponte Vecchio'', Beyond l'arte dell'Uffizi with Leonardo da Vinci,Filippo Lippi, Tiziano Vecellio or Tintoretto's ''Leda e il cigno'' or '' La nascita di Venere'' di Sandro Botticelli or Davide of Michelangelo, beyond the leaning tower of Pisa or the breathtaking Colosseum, Pantheon, Fontana di Trevi, or la cappelle Sistina of the Vatican City, Beyond the mystical magical postcard perfect moments of Gondola=Venice or the spectacular musical opera of ''La Traviata''...Beyond the 5 Mediterranean cities of La Spezia, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia,Vernazza, Monterosso of trek and sea, of cancelled trains, and closed ticket counters or ticketless return journey of having spent sleepless nights on station platforms.. Beyond le bruschette, papa al pomodoro, riso insalata, pasta pizza, ravioli, spaghetti, panino, tramezzino, tiramisù, gelato, caffe espresso, caffe cappuccino or the wine tasting at Montalcino, Montepulciano, Chianti, Brunello, Vino Nobile, Vino Santo..Beyond the street musicians or the street artists or the staged concertos or just the sheer sight of those beautifully hanging clothes...or be it my early morning walks to the university for ''bus-ticket=economy'' brisk walks on the meandering cobbled paths in the silence of the aromatic cappuccino restos and bars...Beyond the 4 walls of classroom learning of language, literature or the complex almost mathematical grammatical structure, It has been a cross-cultural, borderless, boundaryless, life-time emotional bonds of pure friendships....it has changed and channelled my vision, opened newer horizons......My trip has ended but the true journey beyond has just begun...!!!