A Night in Siena

Before dinner on the first night we decided that we should go geocaching. So we did. And it failed. We looked for two Geocaches and couldn't find either of them. But it was fun to walk around town just us kids. 

Looking for a Geocache

On the way back to the hotel

Dinner was up to us. The parents went out to their own place so we went to a pizzeria and ate....pizza. It wasn't the best ever, but it was pretty good. And then we went out for gelato. Probably one of the best things about Siena is the abundance of gelaterias and the number of flavours. I was pretty boring and got chocolate and mint, but it was very good. We ate our ice creams in the Piazza del Campo as the sky began to get dark.

At the restaurant

GELATO!! 

Eating our gelato in the Piazza

The Piazza in the dark...

After we'd finished our gelatos we played tag/don't let the balloon drop in the Piazza. A little boy came and played with us. He didn't understand a word we said, and we didn't understand anything he said, but he played keep the balloon away from Zach with Sam, Ashlynn and I. 

The Duomo

While Ashlynn, Sam and Zach stayed back at the hotel, I went with the parents to walk around Siena. It included ice cream. We went to the Duomo (cathedral) which was a black and white, stripey, big building. Heres some photos from the Duomo:

Siena

When we got to Siena we went to our hotel and dropped off our luggage before walking the short distance to the main square, aka the Piazza del Campo. 

Look at that pigeon!! It's drinking from the lion's mouth! So epic! 

Sam, Zach and Ashlynn in the Piazza del Campo

Ashlynn

Meeting up with old Friends

In the morning Zach, Samantha (Sam), Steve and Carolyn met up with us at our hotel for breakfast before we were off to Sienna on the train. We knew them from when we lived in North Carolina. Zach is a month older than me and Sam is 19. The train was about an hour long, and when we got to Siena we got into taxis and went into the historic center. It was beautiful. 

Mommy, Carolyn, Zach and Steve

Ashlynn and Sam

Playing the Logos Quiz on the train

Italia!

School got off at noon and we got incredibly soaked as we cycled home. And then Mommy, Ashlynn and I were off to the airport at five for our flight to Italy at 8:30. Unlucky for us our plane kept getting delayed. And delayed. Of course, all of the stores at the airport were closed by nine and AlItalia only provided us with 3 euros for dinner each, which was enough money for one cookie each. So we were hungry and bored and there was no internet. So we sat in the terminal and waited as the time just kept getting more delayed. 

I slept.

The plane was finally scheduled to leave at 11:59pm.

When we finally arrived in Florence we managed to get a cab to our hotel, which was really nice. It was a two floor bedroom with an ancient wall. Very cool.

Last Day of Y10

Finally. The last day of Year 10. And yet we don't want this year to end. Zoe and Mayu are both moving away and next year is going to be so incredibly insane. Here's to a gorgeous year. Thank you everyone who made it so special. 

Ellie, Amelia, Nora, Lizzy, and Fiona eating lunch at Mike's Place

Sitting near the back of the field, eating chocolates in the sun. What a great way to end a great year. 

Last English class. We got to play charades on the bridge. 

Nathalie, Emilie, Me and Kelly

Throwing Ellie in the recycling bin.

Bye Zoe. Zoe's moving to Singapore. 

Amelia, Ellie, Zoe, Fiona and Lizzy

Adelina and Emilie worked really hard to make us each a photo frame with photos from the years. 

Goodbye everyone. Have a good summer! I'll miss you!

Top - Adelina, Emilie, Nora, Zoe, and Lizzy

Bottom - Me, Nathalie, Amelia, Ziyoda, Ellie and Mayu

The Lion King

Me, Saskia, Lili and Kelly

The show went really really well, the lighting was amazing and apparently we sang really well. Click here for the link to the video that Daddy made on his iPad. Mommy and Daddy say that it doesn't give justice to our real performance, but at least you'll be able to hear it. 

Lizzy and I

Ashlynn and I

The masks

Being Cheetah-fied

The animal that I choose to be was a cheetah. Here is me being cheetah-fied:

Step 1. Orange face wash and white beardy thing

Step 2. Dots. Lots of them. All over my face, on my neck and even a few down my arms

Step 3: Looks awesome. :)

Showstoppers Makeover

For months Ashlynn and I went to Showstoppers rehearsals every Thursday where we learned to sing and dance to a ten minute Lion King Medley. On the Wednesday of the last week of school we finally got to perform at the Summer Concert. The first step was the makeover. Everyone in Showstoppers had to get their whole face painted, or wear a head mask. As there were only about 6 head-masks, almost the whole group had to get their face painted as African animals or African women. 

Saskia the Lion

Lili the Tiger

The 'African Ladies' had beautiful designs on their faces and wore leopard print costumes 

Day 5: Bye Bye Switzerland

After a late night I don't think anyone was pleased to be woken up at 5 in the morning to leave for Holland by bus. We were already pretty much all packed so all we had to do was get dressed, brush our teeth and make our way downstairs with our suitcases. We picked up lunch and breakfast bags on our way out, then we got into the bus and we were off. We had to leave early so that we wouldn't meet traffic at the border. We didn't and everything went smoothly, getting us home almost an hour earlier than expected. 

Bye Bye Switzerland!

Day 4: Disco Time

The final evening activity was the disco. We all got dressed up and were stuffed into an insanely hot chapel on the top floor. It was too small for us and because it was storming outside all of the windows were closed so it was crazily hot in that room. I went to bed much later than I'd promised myself I would. I would start heading downstairs to go to bed, then hear a song that I'd like and go back to dance. Discos are just so addicting. :)

Amelia, Ziyoda, Me, Fiona, Adelina, Lizzy, Emilie & Mayu

In the disco. 

Day 4: Is that a Fork!?

After we'd let our feet air dry and put our shoes back on we walked back to the meeting point and met up with the rest of the group. Then we got walked along the edge of the water to see the Charlie Chaplin statue and and huge ---- in the water. Can you guess what it's going to be? 

A swan, flowers and a bee. 

Wait a minute. Isthatafork!? A fork!? In the water. Did I see that right? Yes, you did. It is a fork. In the water. A huge fork. 

Lizzy, Emilie, Me, Nora & Mayu

Posing with the Charlie Chaplin statue

Posing with the fork. What an awkward photo. That fork is in my head...hmmm. Let me confront the photographer. 

Day 4: By the Water in Montreux

After Gruyere we got dropped off in Montreux to have free time. It's a pretty big city so we got told to come back and check in with the teachers in two hours and then we'd get another two hours. My friends and I went first to a huge shopping mall. It wasn't very interesting, but somehow we managed to spend the first half of our time there. We were watching our watches, concious of the time. We had just bought ice cream (it had taken longer than we'd thought) and we had five minutes to get back to the teachers before they'd get VERY mad at us. So we ran. That is, Lizzy and I ran. The others walked. We made it in time though, that's what matters. After that, we broke off into two smaller groups. Near the end of the time I was leading my group back and we bumped into a huge lake. So we took it as another photo opp and took some more photos. The water was FREEZING, but we all put our feet in. 

Emilie, Me, Adelina, Amelia, Ellie & Lizzy

Posing on the rocks. No, we did not think we were mermaids. 

Lizzy and I

Day 4: Gruyere

For us Biologists, day 4 was a fun day with not much work and lots of free time. The first place we went to was a working cheese factory/museum. Although we did have to fill out some questions while walking around the factory, it was mostly fun. We got to see how they made all of the dairy into cheese! And guess who was talking on our audio guide...a cow! 

The cheese factory

That's quite a lot of Gruyere cheese...

After the cheese factory we went into the mountain top village of Gruyere. It was a tiny walled city with a castle at one end. We got about 45 minutes to wander around the town meaning that we didn't have the time to go into the castle, but we still walked around the edge of it for awhile, getting a very nice view of Montreux and the surrounding mountains. 

The main square of the town

Amelia, Mayu, Adelina, Ellie, Emilie, Nora, Lizzy, and Me

Amelia, Ellie, Nora, Adelina, Lizzy, Emilie, Me and Mayu on the city wall. If we'd walked backwards we would have fallen to our deaths. Luckily we were smart enough not to step backwards. 

Me on the walk around the castle. 

Walking around the castle...