Marco and Paula / Siena

We arrived in Siena around 7 where all the host families were anxiously standing around to find out who they got. Molly and I were collected by a very sweet nd Italian looking older gentleman who led us over to a Mercedes and then told us his wife would be there in a second. Paula rode up on a little Vespa smiling hugely and welcomed us, then Marco loaded all our stuff into the trunk and drove us to their apartment. The drive was fairly quiet because he speaks no English and Molly and I don't know much Italian but we made do and discovered they have no children, he hasnalwaysblived in Siena and Paula is from Florence. Their apartment is beautiful! All the floors are either marble or hardwood and the furniture is modern but classic and elegant. The kitchen is teeny but it is perfect for just the two of them. As soon as we got our bags into the room Marco took us on a tour of Siena to show us where we were to meet the next morning with our professor and point out a few things. Paula stayed at home to make dinner and when we arrived it smelled mouth watering. We began with crostinini Toscana and it is probably better that she doesn't speak English and couldn't tell us what was in it because it was so good! But when I read about it later I am quite certain I would have mentally kept myself from enjoying it, the. We had a delicious pasta dish and then potatoes, meat, peppers and peas followed by a dessert of strawberries with lemon juice and sugar. Im not sure how I'll adjust to one or two course American meals after this, I've been very spoiled. Though the food was delicious dinner was difficult and exhausting because we couldn't quite understand each other and I must say the language barrier is much more difficult than I was expecting, they know really NO english, I had come o expect something different being in Rome where everyone seems to know a little, but this will definitely be helpful with learning the language. Marco also showed us the picture of his horse Rimini that won the Palio back in 1982. He is very proud of it and I was happy to have something to talk about. We went to bed soon after dinner because they don't eat until around 9 here and we were already tired. The subsequent dinners have been getting better and better and molly and I learn more and become more comfortable with them. Thursday night was really good and we stayed talking to them for almost 2 hours after dinner about traveling and then their family and their horses. They pulled out photo albums to show us and for the first time I felt like we all carried on a real conversation though it did have its humorous stumblings as we tried to figure out words. Overall im so glad to be here and really like both Marco and Paula and hope as time goes on things will get better and we can all become a little more comfortable.