A Level Italian Trip

During the first week of the Easter break, 13 Lower and Upper Eighth Paulines, accompanied by Miss Rahim, Miss Musa and Silvia Tanzini, the Italian assistant, set off for a week-long study course in the medieval city of Siena.

The Paulines stayed with host families during the week, all of whom had a son or daughter who was roughly their age, which fully allowed them to immerse themselves in Italian culture, and forced them to communicate in Italian for the week, which did wonders for their spoken language. They spent evenings with their hosts, attending their usual activities; for example, basketball or volleyball training.

Every morning they attended an hour of lessons at Istituto Sarrocchi, a local high school. Highlights during the week included English lessons comparing Italian and English idioms, Italian literature lessons on classic novels such as I promessi sposi, and basic or more difficult maths depending on the respective Pauline’s A Level choices.

They then spent the rest of the morning in private Italian lessons at Università per Stranieri di Siena. Lessons were structured around the Italian A Level course that they are studying back in London, with cultural interludes about the history of Siena, the famous Palio horse race, and rivalry between Siena and nearby Florence.

After morning lessons, the Paulines engaged in a range of activities in and around Siena, such as a treasure hunt around the centro storico with their hosts, a 3-hour cooking masterclass where they made 3 different sauces (ragù, pumpkin, and tomato sauce) and 3 types of pasta to go with them (ravioli, pici and gnocchi), as well as cantucci for dessert, an e-bike tour through the picturesque Tuscan countryside, and a trip to nearby San Gimignano for a gelato tasting. They were also lucky enough to be invited to visit the church and museum of two of the Sienese contrade (Leocorno and Oca) that take part in the aforementioned Palio horse race, as well as enjoying dinner in the Oca clubhouse, where they were treated to renditions of the rousing songs that are sung to spur on the jockeys. These kinds of experiences are not open to regular tourists visiting Siena, and the Paulines greatly enjoyed this once in a lifetime opportunity.

The final day was spent exploring more of the city with their host partners, and fitting in last minute tours of the must-see sites, such as the impressive duomo, as well some who went further afield to Florence.

It was a very enjoyable trip – the Paulines’ confidence and fluency in Italian greatly improved, and they thoroughly enjoyed the activities on offer.

Many thanks to the Italian department for organising and helping to run the trip.