Written by Maya Lambdin (University of Virginia), Student Correspondent for CET Siena, Fall 2026
Apart from my computer science classes and keeping busy, I like to find those activities you don’t do every day but…every so often. These activities build curiosity, strengthen friendships, and keep you surprised around every corner.
Every so often, take a cooking class.
Whether it’s with your CET program or you sign up with an intimate group. There’s something about rolling out pasta by hand next to people you met an hour ago that makes you instant friends. You’ll probably mess up the first batch (I did), but you walk out with flour on your clothes and a recipe you’ll actually make again.
Every so often, go on a late-night walk; you may run into a busker.
Siena gets quiet at night in the best way. The streets are empty, the stone glows under the lamps, and then out of nowhere you hear music bouncing off the walls. On late-night walks, I noticed this man playing the cello here at the statue every so often. The statue is Sallustio Bandini in Piazza Salimbeni. He stands right in front of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, founded in 1472 and considered the oldest bank in the world still operating.
Every so often, go shopping with friends in Siena.
You go in for one thing and come out with gelato, a scarf you didn’t need, and a sandwich the size of your face. This focaccia sandwich was the best meal of the week. My friends and I finished our midterm exams and decided to get this sandwich as a treat. It was so good, but it was the shopping and talking afterwards that made it so worth it.
Every so often, listen to foreign music; not everything has to be in English.
Ask your roommates or the barista what they’re listening to and add it to a playlist. You don’t need to understand every word to feel it. Bonus: it’s sneaky language practice. I once ran into a busker singing in Spanish and Italian in the street, and she was amazing. Being in Italy taught me to appreciate music that I don’t understand; rather, I feel it.
My roommate introduced me to “Da Sola/In the Night” by Takagi & Ketra; it’s our go-to karaoke song, and I love learning the Italian from it. My favorite line is:
“Certo che lo sai, prendi tutto e te ne vai
Per vedere se è vero
Che poi ti vengo a cercare.”
Honestly, I’m not totally sure what the whole song is about—something about dancing in the night—but I know every word and sing it with my roommate anyway.
Every so often, go to the Piazza del Campo.
Siena surprises you on the way to gelato. I wandered into Piazza del Campo and found it packed, with flags from all 17 contrade, the city’s historic neighborhoods, waving above the crowd. One thing that stuck with me was a tiny kid, maybe eight years old, carrying a drum so big it looked like it might tip him over. He didn’t miss a beat, though. He was playing great and proudly showing off for his contrada. Seeing every neighborhood’s colors together in one square felt like a peek at the heart of Siena.
A few nights later, the same piazza looked completely different. The sun had gone down, the old buildings around the Campo were glowing under the lights, and the whole square had turned into something out of a carnival. I ended up staying way longer than planned. There’s something about seeing a show like that at night, in a square that’s been around for centuries, that makes it feel almost magical. I still have no idea what the occasion was, but that’s kind of the point. In Siena, you never know what the Campo has in store.
Every so often, go to the mercato. It’s every Wednesday, and you can get food and fruit.
Go in the morning while everything is fresh and the stalls are buzzing. Grab whatever fruit is in season, try a sample or two, and practice your Italian when you order. I ended up pointing and smiling most of the time. Persimmons are really popular in the city I grew up in, where we call them kaki (かき).
I was so happy to find them here and couldn’t wait to try one and get a little taste of home. Even better, in Italian they’re called cachi, a name that comes from the Japanese word, so the fruit brought a piece of its name with it all the way to Siena.
Every so often, have a roommate dinner.
Everyone brings a dish, someone always makes too much, and the table stays full way longer than planned. These are the nights you end up remembering most, not because anything big happened, but because everyone was there.
Every so often, I try to do as many different things as possible. Siena runs on these every-so-often moments. None of them were planned, and all of them are the ones I’ll miss most. Classes keep me busy. Every so often keeps me curious.