Day 3 - July 2

 After waking up a litle late today after the late night before, we all have to rush to get ready for one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It is called Palio di Siena which is, in very simple terms, a horse race that happens twice a year in Siena, Italy. Describing this event in those words is not at all fair though because it is so much more than that. There are 17 contada's in the city and each one lives together, goes to school together, works together, and has taken pride in their own contada for hundreds of years. It is amazing to see such pride in the people's faces when they talk about their own contada. This horse race, is not like any other horse race I have ever seen before though because there are no rules, and it is so intense that you can feel it in the atmosphere as soon as you walk into the arena. There were about 65,000 people there to watch a race that only lasted for about 90 seconds, but it was worth every penny (or I guess euro). I felt like I was at a Renesaince fair or Medieval times, but it almost gave you the chills because it was not fake, or pretend. It was as real as it got to these people and they couldn't be happier to wave their contada's flag and strut their horse in front of the crowd before the race. When the race actually started, I didn't want to blink. When it started everyone was so close, then all of a sudden one of the horses was pushed into the wall and lost its jocky!! Then the horse in the lead cut a corner too tight and he was knocked off his horse too, so he lost it on the last turn! I have never seen anything like this because the men that were in the stands that were a part of the parade where screaming, crying, and fighting over who won and who lost. The people were so proud of their contada that the winning one paraded through the entire town waving close to 50 large flags singing their contada's chant in celebration. All of these words and all of these descriptions STILL do not even begin to describe what it was like to be able to witness this event. It is compared to the running of the bulls in Madrid, but just isn't quite as well known. We also toured the city, which was even more beautiful and amazing, but the race itself was seriously a once in a lifetime thing and now I can say that I was there, I was a part of it, and I too got to celebrate with the winning contada!!