Sunday, January 18, 2009

It's Time To Cut The Cord

I had a mandatory orientation session today and I know that a lot of the students that are part of Stranieri are really starting to complain. Arcadia was really making an effort to include us with the general Umbra students, though, and wanted us to experience an aspect of Italian life - seeing a working farm.
...we got a free 4-course lunch.

Doing paperwork that I feel like I've done several times before, and getting lectured about things that we'll be emailed about later this week anyways, I do want to share the positive experiences of today.

We went to farm off of Lake Trasimeno and got to take a very quick tour of it. Our guide told us about how their old olive trees have produced award-winning olive oil (3rd place in Zurich! and supposedly a favorite among famed racecar driver Michael Schumacher [unfortunately not a fan of racecar driving]). I actually got to try some of the olive oil for lunch and someone lucky will be getting a bottle as a gift! We then got a nice view of the lake, as little farm dogs jumped up to greet us, and quickly saw some basket weaving.

Most-importantly, I have step-by-step pictures of pasta making!































































I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining. The people (possibly volunteers?) who worked to show us around and cook us lunch were too gracious. It was an incredible effort because all of our food was naturally-grown products from the farm. I've been hearing about this a few times, but this farm is part of the "Slow Foods" movement, which is supposedly gaining popularity across the world. http://www.slowfood.com/ I know that my friend's international roomate is studying at Stranieri so she can go to a slow food culinary school up north in Italy somewhere. It's very promising to hear.
I'm truthfully just anxious, now, to really buckle-down and start planning where/when I want to travel. I don't think I really want to spend any more weekends in Perugia if my wallet can handle it.

1 comment:

  1. Now you can make pasta for me Kara! I have to learn to make some type of Latin American food for my classes this semester, so we can have a party when you come back with lots of yummyness.

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