Adventure Rap up

It has been over a month since I last checked in, and a lot has happened. Since classes ended Dec. 3rd I have been traveling around the world. I went to Europe, Africa, and even a little bit of Asia. My first stop after my Italian adventure was Amsterdam, and I know what you’re thinking, so stop it. After Amsterdam my good friend Kayla and I went to Cairo. Then from Cairo we went to Istanbul where we meet up with Ryan, Emily, Christian, and Claudia. Now, I am home sweet home in the USA. Well it’s not so sweet, but it is home.

Italy really was an adventure, but there are so many exciting places in the world I think I could be happy in. Amsterdam is one of those places high on my list. (No pun intended) Ryan, Emily, Kayla and I stayed with Ryan’s relatives in a nice place outside the main city. They were kind enough to feed us, and put us up for free. What more could you ask for? In Amsterdam we went to the Ann Frank house, the Van Gough museum, and the old Heineken factory. The museums were amazing, but the life of the city was really the star.

When I think of Amsterdam, the first things I think of are: 1. marijuana and 2. the red light district. I couldn’t have been more wrong. There is so much culture and history it is amazing. Not to mention the absurd amount of restaurants and different types of cuisine. Even without marijuana and the red light district, Amsterdam would still be at the top of my places to return to. And before I knew it, I was boarding a plane for Cairo.

Cairo, the dirtiest place I have ever been. Since swine flue hit the world, the government of Egypt thought killing all the pigs in the city would be a good idea. Well, the pigs eat the trash, and now that they’re gone. The trash has been pilling up. As dirty as the city is, it is still beautiful in its own way. There are many stores and restaurants to explore, and you can wander anywhere and feel safe. The people are friendly, and always willing to help.

Did I mention that I rode through the desert on a horse, during the sunset? There are not many feelings in the world that can rival that. I also had the opportunity to camp out in the white desert for a night. There was no moon, so the stars shinned bright, but man was it cold. It didn’t get down to freezing, but it must have been close. Sleeping was not an option, so I curled up tight, and waited for the sun to arrive. Once again, my time in Cairo was short, and Istanbul was the next stop on my adventure.

Next, I went from warm and sunny weather in Cairo, to cold, rainy, and windy in Istanbul. Kayla and I met back up with Ryan, Emily, Christian, and Claudia to finish off our world travels. Ryan and his brother Christian already spend some time in Istanbul last year so they were able to show us all around. I ate some of the best food there, and drank some strong tea as well. We also went to some bookstores with books hundreds of years old. Finally, we went to Asia, and took a crazy bus ride around the coast. So now I can say I have been to Europe, Africa, Asia, and North and South America. Time to go home.

December

It is already December, and man did it come quick(that’s what she said) sorry, I had too. So yeah, it’s December here in Italy and we still don’t have any snow, today was probably close to 50 degrees. Classes are also officially over, and it’s time to relax because the amazing European adventure starts on Monday. On Monday I head to Amsterdam until the 10th, and then to Cairo Egypt for another six days. After that, I have no idea. I need to get my stuff together, get packing, and pray that my wine doesn’t get confiscated by customs. Wow, so much to do in the next few days.

Nothing can ruin my day. Why? because the dreaded Capatti History of Italian Cuisine exam is done. I can finally enjoy life again, that is until next Wed. when I have an Environmental law exam. Until then, everything is great! Even the fact that I have been without internet for almost three weeks now because Telecom Italia won’t fix ours, can’t get me down. You may be wondering why this test is so nerve racking, well, it is because every student who has taken this exam has failed at least once. Also, professor Capatti is nuts, and everything he says is borderline incoherent. So, thanks UNH for making us take this course. Either way, hopefully this is the last of it.

Eurogusto is next week, and four spots have opened up to go. Eurogusto is a conference like Terramadre, but specifically designed for students and the SlowFood youth. This is the first year, for it, and it should be very exciting. Two of these spots were offered to the NH students. Since there are nine of us, and only two can go, we did the most obvious thing. Put our names in a hat, and had our professor pick two. Well, I was not chosen, Matt and Emily were. So they will get a four day, expenses paid, experience in France. But I’m not jealous, or bitter…

Time to celebrate the weekend, like good Americans, party time!

Turkey Lurkey

Well it sure has been a while since my last update, but I have been pretty busy. Last week I was on olive oil stage in Liguria; learning about everything olive from the growing and pruning of the trees too pressing the “pasta” to extract the oil. It is truly amazing to learn so much about something so simple.

Unfortunately this info is about a week over due since I have not had consistent internet for about two weeks. Thanks TelecomItalia for your wonderfully slow response time. So since then, my days have mostly consisted of going to class, stealing as much internet as possible, then going home and playing solitaire on my computer for hours until I go to bed. Fun, I know.

So here is some way better news, for me. I am officially on the home stretch, I can see the finish line and I am running full speed ahead. I only have three more weeks of class, and four exams to get out of the way, and I am home free. Which means, it is time to start planning trips for after the exams. Right now it looks like I will be going to Amsterdam, and hopefully Cairo, Egypt. After that it is pretty up in the air. I have some crazy notion that I want to go to Russia, somewhere like Siberia to drink homemade vodka. Why you ask? I in fact have no idea where this notion came from, no not the vodka part that’s just because I enjoy vodka , but the Russia part. I just think it would be wicked pissah to go to the heart of the cold war era. I did just say wicked pissah, because I am from Mass, and I have been trying to integrate it into the Italian language.

With that said, I digress, and would like to talk about something else very important. Thanksgiving. Oh how I love turkey and stuffing, and all the various traditional dishes that each family makes Along with the pick football games and Macy’s day parade. Well this year will be a little different, instead of eating with my own family. I will be spending Thanksgiving with my new Italian family. I have never had a Thanksgiving dinner with more than eight or so people, well this year there are 23 people on the list. It’s going to be mega huge! The planning is starting to come together, and soon we will have a list of all the dished people are making.

Only 34 days left here in Italy, better make the most of it.

Wine Stage

It has been a little longer than usually, but no worries because I have some exciting news for you. Wine stage was amazing. Well, maybe that’s not so exciting for you, but it’s exciting for me.
The first day we went to Fontanafredda and learned about their history and got a tour of the production facility. We finished the day off with a guided tasting of one of the companies Barolo wines. Fontanafredda is a very large conventional producer of red and white wines with an annual production of six million bottles. They also had an amazing meditation trail surrounding the vineyard and forest on the property. As well as two restaurants that looked beautiful, one was BBQ style, and one was French.
The next day we visited Osella, a fresh cheese producer. Odd I know since it’s wine stage, but it was still pretty cool. They also had a great lunch after the tour with their cheeses. After that we went back to the school, and had a guided wine tasting of red wines at the wine bank. This was a great experience and I learned so much about how to taste wines.
The third day was jam packed with wine tours. We started at Batasiolo with a tour of their facility. Our tour guide was the company’s sommelier and was able to tell us everything under the sun about wine and the winery. Batasiolo is also a large conventional producer of red and white wines with an annual production of about 2.5 million bottles. They took us out to lunch in Barolo which was very nice. We got to have a glass…or two, of three of the companies wines. A 08’ Roero, a 07’ Barbera, and a 04’ Barolo. Along with some company Grappa. I couldn’t have asked for a better lunch.
So after all that, we had one Moscato producer to visit. We drove to the company Saracco were we saw the vineyards that produce the Moscato grape and we saw the facility where they make it. Moscato is unlike the other wines we tasted because it is white and sweet. The wine is also not aged and is produced in metal tanks. Saracco is a smaller conventional winery with an annual production of 380,000 bottles. We even were gifted a bottle of grappa made by a friend of the winery from skins of the Moscato grapes discarded by Saracco.
The final day of the wine stage was capped off by another visit to the wine bank for a tour and tasting. The wine bank truly is a unique building created as a museum and cooperative for Italian wines. It showcases a little more than hundred wineries with thousands of wine from all over Italy. All wines are more or less given to the wine bank so they can be stored and protected as well as promoted and some sold at a little above cost. We also had a tasting of white wines that really didn’t care for, so I won’t bother talking about that.

Thanks to UNH and UNISG for setting this whole program up for us, it was a great experience for everyone.

Middle aged women: 1 Me: 0

“Ciao ciao grazie ciao prego caio prego grazie ciao ciao.” In Italy that might literally mean hundreds of things. I am relatively sure that those words, no matter the order or frequency can explain everything that has ever happened to you or anyone else or anything in general, ever. Also, throwing in a “si” once in a while helps…usually. I say usually, because up until yesterday nothing has really backfired when I say “si” in response to something I don’t understand. Well that lucky streak came to an abrupt end when I was on the train yesterday and some middle aged Italian lady across from me said something and gestured to something on the train floor, maybe my shoes, or her shoes, or her shopping bag. I don’t know. When I said “si” she and her friend sitting next to her started to laugh at me, and my lack of Italian. Middle aged women: 1 Me: 0
On a more exciting note, I had an amazing time in Siena and Montalcino with Ryan and Emily. We tasted nine different Brunelos local to that region, all of which were amazing. Then we had a great dinner, Tuscan soup, pasta with a wild boar sauce, and a plate of cheese and meat.
And on an even more exciting note, if you can believe it, today is the start of our week long wine stage; it’s going to be awesome! We are visiting two Barolo wineries with wine tastings, a cheese maker (not sure why since its wine stage, but I won’t complain), plus we are doing another two wine tastings at the wine bank here in Pollenzo. Details to come.

Vino

It has been a little more than a month, and I have already tasted my way through many adventures. How about a little recap of what I have experienced so far? Good, here we go;

1. Spent a few days eating nothing but amazing cheese and drinking beer and wine.
2. Decided that the panna cotta at Osteria Del Boccondivino is the best tasting thing that has ever touched my lips…get your mind out of the gutter, jeezz.
3. Gone to, and hiked through the five towns of Cinque Terre. Seen the Mediterranean Sea for the first time.
4. Finished Italian class, history of Italian cuisine, and food history.
5. Scored my first goal against a bunch of Italian soccer players, that does certifiably make me awesome, just in case you were wondering.
6. Gone to two bio dynamic wineries, and had tastings at both, I also received two free bottles of wine. Had my first chocolate tasting with a local artisan chocolate maker.

Now, a few things that are coming up soon;

1. Going to Siena in the region of Tuscany.( That’s actually happing real soon like in day, 10/19)
2. Going on a wine stage, which involves a week of visiting wineries and tasting wines.
3. Seeing my Dad, and going to Milan to visit my cousins with him.
4. Going on an olive oil stage, same thing as wine, but with olive oil. I have been assigned to the Liguria region; I have been told that they have the best olives there.

Finally, things that I still want to do;

1. Go to my distant families’ old winery in Collie Piacenza.
2. Stand on the Champs-Élysées and pretend I won the Tour De France, maybe kiss the ground.
3. Go to Amsterdam, Munich, Paris, Nice, Egypt, Pompeii, Venice, just too many places to name and too little time to go.
4. Go hiking in the Alps.

Time to finish packing for Siena!