Arrivederci

Today is our last day together as a class. In the morning we still had class till 1 pm, though we had an exam at 2.30 pm, and the individual oral exam tomorrow.

Though many of us look forward to going home, there is always a tinge of melancholy in us. Melancholic about time whooshing past so quickly, melancholic about having to leave newly made friends, and simply – melancholic about an ending.

Yesterday evening, Ilker, Deimante and I went out for our last dinner together. As usual we hunted around for a ‘’budget’’ dining place. Hard to come by, since Diemante did not want an indoor dining area, nor a ‘’stand up-fast food-pizza-kebab’’ type place.

We had wanted to try the one and only Chinese restaurant around but since Diemante preferred outdoor sitting, we decided to wander around to look for something else. In the end we managed to find Il Grattacielo, a cosy ‘’hole in the wall’’ place that offered simple ‘’home cooked’’ dishes.

Today during the break many of us were busy exchanging contact details, and taking class photos. School mates from other classes were laden with various cameras trying to help us take the group photos.

And it was just so apt that our last 1.5 hours of lesson was spent watching the rest of the movie ‘’I Cento Passi’’, which we had been discussing and from which our exercises had been based.

The movie was also a kind of ‘’goodbye’’. It ended with the death of Peppino. The movie is very touching and although our teacher wanted to fast forward certain portions that we have seen and discussed, some of us requested her not to.

At punctually 1 pm, the movie ended. This time, when she invited us for comments and views, the silence was even longer and more deafening than the previous day. She did not push for any comments, only saying that she could tell the movie had left us bereft of words.

In fact, the movie left many of us in tears. Without a word, we shuffled our papers, and left the class.

Somehow we decided to go back to the Chinese restaurant for our meal, instead of eating at the school canteen. We agreed to order take-aways and find some place outdoor to eat, before returning for our exams.

Since we were so hungry, the minute we could find a place that we could rest our bums, we stopped. Take a look at this happy photo.

There will be many memories of Siena that I will bring home. But the most beautiful one will be this - having a 2.50 euro meal somewhere in the middle of Siena, near our school, and my friends ooing and wowing over the yummy fried rice and noodles. ‘’It’s so yummy! It’s so hot!’’ they exclaimed, gingerly handling the hot foil container. ‘’Is Chinese food always so yummy and always eaten so hot?’’ they asked.

This memorable scene sure beats the experience of having dined in a chi chi osteria or trattoria.