Gastronomical update

 I've had pici twice this week and this makes me very happy. On Tuesday night, I made the pici that my dad bought me in Siena with my host family. They showed me how to make a simple ragu sauce and we also had boiled artichoke, salad, delicious bread and cenchi for dessert.
 Last night, I ate at a ticket restaurant very close and delicious. They have pici there, so I split that with Kately who got an amazing pesto pizza. We were also able to share three litres of white wine, so it was a pretty good deal. I went out afterwards for St. Patty's day (which only the Americans seems to celebrate here). There were several people missing from my Italian class (its from 4:30-6:30 which is too late to start drinking for some people) and she was asking us about the holiday. I heard of two other classes in which the teacher literally just took the class to Friends' Bar.
 Also, yesterday three girls in my Dante in Translation class put on a very interesting walking tour. We went around Florence and saw several quotes on plaques from Dante's Divine Comedy such as about crossing over the Arno, and about the Baptistry, etc. They took us to several selected quotes and then explained the significance. Afterwards, the director of our program, Monica, treated us to free delicious gelato.
 Tomorrow, I leave for Venice with my school. Will update you more later.