Day One...check

Greetings from Siena!

I have officially one day under my belt over here. In summation: got here around midday local time after the gautlet of international travel (long flights, not much sleep, a lot of adrenaline). I flew into Florence grabbed my bag and then on my way out an intimidating Italian police officer stopped me and asked me a bunch of questions to which i probably only replied completely honestly to one: what's your nationality. The others I kinda stretched the truth as to not raise any other unwelcome questions.

Thankfully on the bus into Florence I met a girl that is in my program as I saw her looking over the same info sheets I had. Hopped on the bus to Siena, fumbled our way to the hostel and slowly met the other interns as they trickled into the city. Great group of folks btw.

Then we headed out to dinner and the gastronomic endeavors began.
Suffice it to say I am no longer a vegetarian. 5 animals, one meal, no joke. Rabbit, wild boar, chicken liver pate, beef livers, salami and other cured meats. My stomach is a bit thrown off course right now...but the vernaccia, chianti and vin santo all helped in the digestion :) It was worth it and the conversation around the table was truly amazing, so much food talk, as these other folks are very knowledgable in their own ways about a section of the food world (anything from butchery, behind the scenes in the restaurant, commercial agriculture, etc). Eating meat is something I will always have a sort of uneasiness about especially in the states and, in general, commercially but, 'when in Rome' (or Siena)...

After dinner we walked the city and enjoyed the cool night air (as well as some awesomely bad Italian impressions of the beach boys)

Today will probably include more sightseeing, then we head out to the farm this afternoon. Hopefully this is one update of many sporadic ones... Not sure about the whole Internet situation at the farm... But thankfully the lady at the hostel let me use it here.

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Leaving tomorrow!

I board a plane for Italy in less than 24 hours! Still trying to work on all of the logistical stuff and hopefully will have everything in line for tomorrow. For those who I have not talk about this with I will explain a bit of what I will be doing over the next 3 months. I, along with 7 other interns, will be working on the Spannocchia farm in central Italy. It is both an educational program as well as a, well, a 'work for your keep' program. In other words, during most days I will be performing various tasks on the farm where needed(in the vineyard and gardens, with animals, etc.) and also being taught different crafts along the way. This farm is a beacon of sorts in regards to sustainable farming: people travel here to learn, be taught in older ways of producing food and food traditions. They truly focus on be a self-sufficient operation, in that, what the farm produces sustains life for the people staying there. Spannocchia is also a small hotel and conference center which allows different international folks to and take a peak at what is going on here. Anyway, I'm not sure exactly what things are going to look like in Italy as I'm, in fact, still in Texas now, but hopefully I can update every so often letting family and friends in on what I am doing. Feel free to check out Spannocchia's website for more info: http://www.spannocchia.org/

Now back to packing!