In which Amber fills in some (though not all) of the gaps
Hi all, sorry it's been so long since my last post. But I've unfortunately had a distinct lack of free time owing to actually having schoolwork (what a surprise--I certainly wasn't prepared for it, let me tell you!), traveling (and thus creating even more work for myself!), and volunteering at the public library!
Here (LINK!) are some photos of my recent exploits in and around Siena, namely from my Florence art history trip and our second cooking class. Yes, I know the album is called Siena Part 12 when the last one posted is Part 8; that's because parts 9-11 are Paris, Scotland and Ireland, respectively, and are still....in progress as it were. Part 13 will be Munich, the trip I took this past weekend (with Julia--thanks again for dealing with my crazy), which was awesome, except for the part where someone in the hostel stole my pants (possibly because I left them in the bathroom overnight, but still, come on...). We got to see the city, go up the tower on city hall, go to the Frauenkirche, see the Residenz and Treasury of the Wittelsbach Dynasty (rulers of Bavaria), and then go on an all-day tour out in the Bavarian countryside near the Alps, including two castles, one of which was the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle. Sadly, these pictures are not even on my computer yet!
And I'm doing a day trip to Rome this weekend, which should be interesting (leave Siena at 6 am and return at 11 pm) and will hopefully not kill me! And which will lead to more pictures. Maybe my Winter Break project will be finally organizing all the pictures, haha.
I have to run off and try to eat before class, but first I will give you a quick description of my work at Siena's Biblioteca Comunale, or Public Library. Most of what I do there is shelving (books and DVDs), because I don't know enough Italian to help patrons. I do know enough Italian to be able to understand what the librarians are telling me to do most of the time. They're all very nice--they keep feeding me snacks--sugary pastries in the afternoon is apparently the Italian secret of how they make it from a noontime lunch to an 8 pm dinner. They also keep telling me to rest (my program director told me that Italians don't want to be taking advantage of unpaid volunteers), and there is a bit of downtime when people aren't returning stuff (between lunchtime and when people get out of school). So I've actually been getting more homework done while "working" at the library than I have been when I go home to "do work". (Bit of a library nerd warning!) The library is organized differently than any library I've worked in, probably because they've all been university libraries in the United States, and I am working in a public library in Italy. They use the Dewey Decimal System, mostly, which I am learning for the first time, and it is certainly easier than the Library of Congress system. And then there's the Italian-language fiction section, which also has subsections for "Giallo" Detective novels, and "Rosa" Romance novels. And of course the children's sections, one for Ragazzi (Youth) and one for Bambini (Little little kids). They just try to put Bambini books in the right genre area, because keeping that room organized is basically hopeless. The most difficult difference to adjust to is that the shelves are organized from the bottom up instead of the top down.
Edit: Check out the France photos!! (LINK!)