Wine and champagne!! :)

Okay… I have to hurry with this, because I have a final to study for and there is SO much to review! I wish I had more time to write this one because this last vineyard was my favorite of the 3. We went to a vineyard called Pamaio this week. They initially bought the place as a family thing and then decided to turn it into a business. The view at this vineyard was also beautiful and I really liked the “small business” feel I got from their facility. The person that gave us the tour of course walked us through some of the processes of making wine as both of the other vineyards did. He didn’t go as in depth about the process as the other two did, but that didn’t bother me too much because by this point I know a lot of what he would tell us already. He talked a lot about their business prospectives and I really like what he had to say. I was shocked to find out that this is a first generation vineyard, because most places the business has been in the family for many generations. This facility was started in 1991, which means it is younger than I am! Lol. He explained that they make a lot of efforts to be “green” which I think is really awesome. For instance, their cellar is built into the ground and they used mostly all natural products to insulate. The walls are actually made with natural sand and these HUGE rocks that they found when they dug up the area for the cellar. He said that this helps so they don’t have to heat or cool the cellar, because it is regulated naturally. So, although building this was more expensive in the beginning, in the long run it should save them money and it will help save the environment as well. As I said before, the basic process of making wine is the same across the board, but there were some differences between all three vineyards we went to. For one thing… Both La Striscia (the 1^st one we went to) and Pamaio (the last) do not irrigate their crops, but Buccia Nera said that they monitor the levels careful and irrigate when necessary. Buccia Nera had these flowers on the ends of their vine rows, and she said that it helps to tell if there is something around that may kill the vines, because the flowers will die first before the vines are effected. Then they know they need to treat the vines before the same happens to them. I don’t remember seeing anything like this at La Striscia and since I had not seen it at Buccia Nera I did not get a chance to ask them if they do have a system similar to this, or if not why they don’t. At Pamaio though, he said since the vines are so young (only around 20 years) they don’t want flowers to be around because that will provide more minerals up near the soil and then the vines roots won’t dig deep down to find the nutrients and water they need, so later on (like maybe in a time of draught) when they need the roots to be really deep, that could cause problems. He also said they don’t really need flowers because they have a prime area to grow the grapes and the flower system is not necessary. I also found it interesting that La Striscia and Buccia Nera both only use barriks for aging (French oak barrels), but at Pamaio they actually have some chestnut barrels (which may or may not have been why I actually liked their red wines and don’t like many other reds). I have tried several red wines and most of them were really dry and bitter to me and I honestly did not like a single one. I was completely anticipating not liking anything at this vineyard, because they make only red wines. I was actually really surprised when I tried their wines, because there was only 1 out of 4 that I really did not like. First we tried a rose (rose – A) wine. This is a wine made with red grapes but the skin is removed early on in the processing, and the wine comes out pink, and with different flavor obviously. The vineyard owner told us that the rose wines actually started out as workers stealing a little wine as the red wine was aging, so the stolen wine would come out pink (now known as the rose). I found it easier to drink than many red wines. I feel the rose is kind of blend of the red and white wines. It has the nice coloring of the red wines without the bitter flavor, and the nice aroma and sweetness of a white wine, but without too much sweetness to over-power you. I think a rose is a very eloquent wine. After that, I tried 3 different red wines. I tried a red made with 100% sangiovese grapes that was only kept in the steel vats they initially make the wine in, and not aged in a wood barrel at all. It was something that I would drink if offered to me and would enjoy, but it probably would not be my drink of choice. I found that it had a somewhat wood type flavor to it that I found out is actually the tannins from the grape skins (which give a bitter flavor to the wine).  After that I tried their ciante, which is the one I really did not like. This wine is made with 90% sangiovese grapes and 10% merlot. I found it very bitter and it really dried out my mouth. I didn’t get any kind of enjoyable taste from it at all. Finally, I tried a second wine made with 100% sangiovese grapes, but this one was aged for somewhere between 6 and 9 months in the chestnut barrels I mentioned they use. I’m told red wines are usually better as they get older and this was a 2011, so I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I was pleasantly surprised when I took a sip and tasted nothing like what I was expecting. I had smelled the wine before I tasted it, and as usual I really just a strong alcohol scent and not much else and was expecting something like what I have tried and not enjoyed. When I took a drink, the wine was really “soft”. It is hard to explain it, but there is usually a kind of peppery taste to red wines, and a bitterness that I’m not sure how to describe as well. They usually burn as they go down and just leave a gross feeling in my mouth… This wine was the exact opposite of that. It was smooth going down, had a rich fruity taste and just enough sweetness to make it perfect (for me). I definitely wish I could have got a bottle of this to bring back to the US with me, but unfortunately that is not an option, so I will just have to hold the memory of it as long as I can. J

Tonight I got to try champagne for the first time. We tasted 2 different kinds. The first one we tried was a Prosecco. I actually got something from the aroma of this, unlike I have with many of the wines I have tried. It smelled a little bit like sour apples to me and smelled sweet too. This was made somewhere in northern Italy, and it was actually pretty good! I got a sweet, tangy / citrus flavor when I tasted it. It did not burn as I drank it, and I think I would enjoy having a glass or two for a special occasion. The second one we tried was a Moscato d’asti. It smelled and (oddly enough) tasted slightly floral. I imagined roses as I was sipping this. It was very sweet, so I do not think I could drink a lot of it, but I think I liked it better than the Prosecco. I was surprised to find out that these were both really “cheap” wines. Considering that these 2 were my favorites out of all of the wines we have tried, I was expecting them to be more expensive (because that is generally my luck…). My teacher actually said he thinks we can get one of them back in Norman, so maybe I will see if I can locate a bottle sometime and recreate the memory of this amazing trip through my tastes and smells and thoughts as I sip a glass of champagne back home.

Well, I have a final to study for so I am going to be done writing for now. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading about my experiences throughout this journey, and I’m so glad that I have had the support I received from my family and friends in taking this opportunity! I miss everyone and I can’t wait to get back home and share even more of this experience with everyone. Ciao for now! 

What a week....

Wow. It is hard to believe this trip is almost over already. I will be back on American soil in 4 days and a few hours! It has flown by, but I feel like I have also been here forever. This experience has been so amazing, and also really trying. It has been a good test of my character, and I feel I have taken so much from it. I will never forget this once in a life time opportunity! We have do one so many things since I’ve been here, it is actually hard to remember all of them…. I wanted to take one last chance before I have to buckle down for the final and talk about some highlights from the last week of my trip…

First of all, we got the pleasure of going to the annual joust here in town (yes… with knights “and stuff” <--- to quote what someone actually asked me in response to telling them I was going.). I really enjoyed the joust and all of the events surrounding it. They had a parade and a lot of presentation leading up to the joust and the joust actually was over really quickly. I don’t know how many people have the misconception that jousting happens with two knights hitting each other with the lance, as often portrayed in movies, but that isn’t how it goes (or at least not here). There is a metal torso of a “knight” called a buratto at the end of the “runway” and he holds a score sign that has from 1 to 5 points. 5 points is the bulls eye and I am told it is pretty hard to get. Then the other numbers are aligned around the outside of the target, where it is “easier” to hit. In the other hand of the buratto there are metal balls connected on the end of a chain. If the knight gets hit by these, then he loses half of his points. The knights can also double whatever points they get if they happen to manage breaking their lance when they hit the target. In total, each knight can receive up to 10 points (if they hit the 5 points AND break their lance, which to be honest is not probably not likely to happen…) There are 4 teams total and each team has 2 knights. After the knight goes, the judges take the target up to their stand and decide what their points will be. Once all 4 teams had went, they announced the winner and the golden lance was handed off to the winning team (Porta San Adrea). I found this whole thing really interesting, because while the joust is definitely a fun sport type event for the locals here, it is also a very ceremonial thing as well. There were so many different things being symbolized throughout the events (such as flags with designs symbolizing the royal families that represent each of the 4 teams). Also, after the actual joust was over, the winning team and all of their supporters go up to a church nearby so that the knights can be “blessed”. I went to the church for a few minutes, but I left shortly after because there were a LOT of people all crammed together. I am really glad I got to experience this while I was here and hopefully I can come back again someday.

We have had lots of wine tastings since we have been here, and a coffee tasting (which I really enjoyed. I don’t think I have ever had legitimately “fresh” coffee before…), but this week we actually had an olive oil and a honey tasting. We got to try 4 different kinds of olive oil (here in Italy there are a LOT of types of olive oil). They poured the oil over pieces of bread on a plate and we got to just take a piece to try. When I tried the first one I felt like it tasted just like the extra virgin olive oil I cook with at home. I didn’t really get any flavor from it, and it didn’t smell very strongly like anything to me. Then, I tried a 2^nd one, which I think was my favorite. It had a very strong grassy type of smell to it, and also had a much stronger flavor than the 1^st one. I want to say that it tasted grassy, but I feel like that is misleading because that doesn’t sound very appealing at all. Although it tastes “grassy” it really just adds the right amount of pungency to the oil to make it great for break dipping.. The 3^rd oil seemed like a combination of the 1^st two to me. There was a little bit more flavor to it, but it wasn’t as strong as the second one. The smell was kind of different too and I find it hard to explain. I think it maybe smelled a little bit like leather oddly enough, and I’m not sure why that is. The flavor wasn’t too bad, but it was a little bitterer than what I would have liked. The last one was really good as well. I didn’t get a lot out of the smell of the oil, but the flavor was really good. It also had a little bit of a grassy hint to it, but also had somewhat of a peppery feel to it that I didn’t like. I have felt kind of silly at times, because we’re supposed to be smelling wines and taking in the aroma and matching with things we recognize, but I really do not get much from wines. I generally think they just smell really strongly like alcohol and grapes, but with the oils I have gotten a little more from the scents and tasting. We also tried 3 different kinds of honey with cheese. I will just say that I don’t like honey on top of cheese…. The honeys were really sweet, and I couldn’t pick out flavors from them either (although I only tried a little bit, because the sweetness really hurts my teeth.

One of the days this week, we got to take a pasta making class, which was really fun. I learned how to make gnocci! I think I will try to do it when I get home. They took us through the entire process of making ravioli, tagliotella, and gnocci, but I don’t have time to write all about it so I will point out some interesting things about pasta making. First of all, I learned a little about what kind of flour works best for the kind of pasta desired. For ravioli, they said you have to use “hard wheat” flour. This is because there is a higher protein to starch ratio in it than all-purpose flour, and that works best for the ravioli. The same mixture was used for the tagliotella as for the ravioli, but the gnocci works better with more starch, so you can use all-purpose flour for that. I have always been curious how ravioli were made, and it was really neat to learn about it. You make up the dough, then roll it out really thin. After creating your filling for the ravioli, you carefully spoon it in small piles onto the dough. You only do this across about half of the dough, then you fold the remaining dough over to enclose the filling. You have to go around and press the dough down really firmly around the fillings for each single ravioli. Then you can take a special cutter to cut them, or just use a knife and go around and cut them out then make sure they are securely closed. After that the pasta is just boiled as any other pasta is, and the toppings made and added on top (which we had no part in)! The gnocci was really neat. I did not know that they mashed up the potatoes and mixed them in with the dough. I always thought the potatoes were sliced up and kind of coated in the dough like you do with fried chicken. Other than that the process of making the gnocci was really similar to that of ravioli. We made the dough, rolled it up and cut little squares out of it, then they took it off to boil as well. Then we got to taste all of the pastas we made, and they were all REALLY good!!

Well, I have to get to school for a study session, but I will actually have more to write about later tonight / tomorrow morning about the last vineyard we went to and the champagne tasting we’re doing at class tonight! 

I had some pictures to go along with this, but unfortunately my internet doesn't want to work well enough for me to post them. :( 

Coffee!!!

My week was full and stressful, yet again. Lol. I had an exam this morning and then we only have one more week of lecture and a final and we will be done and I'll be coming back home. I'm sad to leave this experience behind, but I am really excited to see my family and friends back home again. I'm really excited about the Joust tomorrow. I have never seen a Joust before, except in movies, so that should be really fun! They take this event really seriously around here. I think it is about comparable, if not more of a big deal to these people than OU - TX is to major football fans. They have been having raves outside ALL week. Every night they have played loud bumping music and had tens of people out in the piazza by my apartment screaming and doing karaoke. I'm hoping after the event that part settles down, because it makes it really hard to study, and I have not got much sleep this week. I also think I may have a stomach bug or something so I'm not feeling very good. My stomach hurts and I have a headache and just wanted to sleep for a while without interruption, but I guess that won't really happen around here, because my upstairs neighbors are blaring music and stomping around and being really loud now, so I figured I would write out a blog post instead of trying to sleep. Then I might just go to the park and relax for a while. 

We had a coffee tasting in class this week, which was kind of neat. I felt I could actually smell the aromas more in the coffee than I did with the wine tasting (mostly I smelled alcohol with those). With this coffee tasting, the first one we tasted (Ethiopia coffee) had a mild fruit smell to it, which I found really interesting because I have never noticed a fruit smell in coffee before... I actually could taste it a little bit too, but maybe my mind was just telling me I was tasting it because my teacher told me it was there. I'm not really sure. The grounds of this coffee actually just smelled "dirty" to me and I couldn't smell any fruit smell there, but I definitely could in the liquid coffee. It didn't have a really strong flavor, but it also wasn't weak either and I tasted a hint of cherry, which I really enjoyed. After that we tried a coastarican coffee. I only smelled coffee aroma in this one, and it was a little stronger than the first one. I didn't really care for this coffee. My teacher said he smelled bell pepper smell in it, but I did not get that at all. 

We got to go to a coffee roastary this week and it was really cool. I think I actually enjoyed this visit more than I have the winery visits. We learned a lot about their process at the plant and I was really fascinated by it. I never even thought about how coffee was made before really, but now I know a quite a bit! The place we went was named Cafe River (I "liked" them and tagged myself in a picture at their plant!!). It seems like a pretty big place to me, but the guy that gave us the tour said only about 3 people run most of it. He took us into a lab, where we learned a little of the chemistry aspect of this. I found it interesting that their lab is very small. It was smaller than my kitchen at home is (which is in a single wide mobile home, so you can imagine that it is not very big)! They have several different tools they use to identify if the product they are receiving from over seas is in fact the quality they want in their products. 1st, They have these trays with a sort of sifter in them that stack on top of each other and are numbered according to the size of the holes. I didn't completely understand what he was saying about this, but I looked it up on google and found that they want larger beans, because that indicates bigger density (which is a clue the beans were from higher altitude) and suggests more flavor in the bean. Then they put the coffee in this little machine that tests for a certain toxin that could be harmful in high doses to make sure their beans do not have a high enough dosage to cause problems for consumers. They They also have a little machine that measures humidity, and I think he was saying if there is too much they can then remove the humidity from the beans to make sure the beans aren't "watered down". They heat them with an infra red light, which I guess caused some problems before they fine tuned it (the beans began roasting during the process... Ooops.). He also said this can remove some of the flavor of the bean, but I guess that negative is better than having coffee that is watery. I also learned this week that coffee beans actually come in cherries. Who knew? I never really thought about it, but I didn't think something so robust would come from a fruit! The beans are actually protected by many layers inside, then the cherry on the outside. The process of extracting the bean is another story, and there are several methods to doing it, but they do not do this at the plant we went to... They order "green" beans, which is how the bean is before they roast it.

These are the trays they use to test the size of the beans...

Machine used to test for toxins. I can't remember if he said any specific ones or not. 

Humidity machine. 

This ... Is a coffee bean cherry! :) 

Then this is a cherry he busted open, so you can see all the layers of protection, and the green bean that is inside. 

Once the beans pass all of these pre-tests, they go through a sorting process. They are sent through this huge silo looking machine to sort wood, metal, stones, and any foreign objects out of the batch of beans. After they are sorted in this machine they are taken through these huge tubes through the ceiling and into another room into the roaster. The roaster has a compartment where it holds the beans until it is hot enough to roast them. They roast the beans at 210 degrees C!! I think he was saying they start at a lower temp and work up to 210 C, but I'm not sure if he just meant the cool beans coming in cool it down and it has to be heated back up after, or if there is some reason for beginning the process at a lower heat and then going to higher. The roasting process takes about 15 to 20 minutes, and I think he said they can roast 240 kilo at a time. They have a little thing that hooks into the machine and twists in place that they can untwist and pull out to see how the roasting is coming along through the process. Once they are content with the roast the beans have received, they are released into this huge vat that immediately starts spinning the coffee around. It is like a huge blender, and the purpose of doing this is to cool the beans so they do not continue to cook after they are done roasting. Once the cooling process is done, then the beans are sent to a second silo that looks almost identical to where the foreign objects are sorted out, but this one has a scale in it, and they can punch in whatever the desired recipe is (like 70% of one bean to 30% of a different kind of bean) in a computer they have all the way upstairs that pulls the correct amount of bean mixture into a bin that holds them, until they are ready to package. Then they have a little packaging machine right there by the holding bins that bags and puts the coffee into cases for them.. I had no idea so much went into making coffee, and to think that this is just the ROASTING process. There is a lot more that I have learned about during class that happens before this point, but I won't get too much into the details of all that now. 

Sorting machine that takes out foreign objects from the bean mixture. 

This is the cooling area, where the beans are moved around and cooled by the air movement to prevent over cooking. 

This is the 2nd silo the beans go into (after being roasted) where they are stored until they punch in a recipe upstairs and pull the beans up through the green tubes seen here into another holding bin. 

These square containers are where the beans go once they're pulled up for a specific recipe. 

This is the computer they use to do a majority of the work the stuff they have to do at the plant, which explains a lot better how 3 people can mostly run it by themselves. 

Well. That about sums up this last several days. I hope you enjoyed learning about this process as much as I did...Because you should ... It is cool. LOL!!!

2 weeks left in Italy :):

I guess my blogs just keep getting further and further apart. I have been pretty busy with classes and studying for my quizzes / tests this week. We got to go to another vineyard on Wednesday. It was a lot bigger than La Striscia, which is the first vineyard we went to. The basic process is the same for making wine, no matter where you go, but Buccia Nera does things slightly different than La Striscia did. I don’t remember finding out how La Striscia actually mixes the must (pieces of fruit left in red wines to help give the desired color. Anastasia [owner of Buccia Nera] told us that the skin is actually really important for the flavoring of the wines as well) into the liquid while fermenting their wines, but at Buccia Nera she said they have pumps that they use and they circulate the must that rises to the top of the vat back down into the mixture 2 to 5 times a day for 30 minutes to an hour each time (so I guess it is good they do not have to do this by hand or anything). They explained a little more in detail about the differences in making red and white wines at this winery, which is kind of interesting to me.  For example, for red wines they keep the tanks kind of warm at 30 degrees C, because if the vats get too cold the colors will start to precipitate out of the wine, but excessive heat is also avoided because it will eliminate the aroma (which in case you didn’t realize it, smell has more to do with tastes than you might think. I have a fun “experiment” I learned while here that I’m going to make some of you reading this participate in… Haha).  On the other hand though, white wines are fermented at really cold temperatures (17 degrees C) and adjusted as needed for sterilization of the wine. Anastasia explained that they generally try to keep fermentation from one vineyard (since they have several) all together. Once the vats are empty and they need to be sterilized, they use peroxides and citric acids to do so. Just as La Striscia, Buccia Nera has oak barrels they age their wine in. These have glass vase looking things on top, which tell them if the wine is getting too high, and they may have to drain some of it out. Someone asked about the cost of these barrels and she said they cost about 10,000 euros and the steel ones cost around 12, 000 euro. That means just in the oak barrels they had about 80,000 euros sitting in this one little room! With the oak barrels, they only clean them with hot water. This is because the oak is extremely receptive to holding the tastes of the products in the wood, and I’m sure they don’t want weird chemical tastes from the sterilization in their wine. J Anastasia also explained to us the reason for aging wine in a bottle (I never knew why that was done. I thought it just was supposed to make the flavor better over time). She said that the wine is stressed from being bottled and it loses its aroma and flavor. Then after about 6 months in the bottle or so, the flavor and aroma come back!

I almost forgot to mention this. I had a hard time understanding Anastasia at times, so I THINK she was saying they use these flowers to help gauge how the grapes are doing. So I guess if the flowers are dying maybe then they know they need to do something to help the grapes so they are more healthy. 

This is the view looking out from their winery. It was so gorgeous!! 

Steel fermentation tanks 

Oak barrels used for aging. You can sort of see on the top how the glass works to show that the wine is getting too high, and they need to drain a little out. :) 

The best part of wine tasting is the delicious food! This place had the best olive oil and balsamic vinegar I have ever had! I got a bottle of each so if you want to try a little, let me know!!! 

We have nothing scheduled to do this week end and have 3 days we could go travel to other places. I chose to stay in Arezzo, but I don’t think any of the other students did. I ran into one of my instructors last night at the bar (which by the way has a totally different connotation over here… when I say bar, it would be the same as saying I was at starbucks or some other coffee shop type place back home), but I think he is going to go do some scoping out for things that may be fun for future students to do when they are here, so I’m not sure he will be around Arezzo much. I feel weird not having something scheduled until Monday morning, but it is nice that I have time to just relax and enjoy my time in Italy! There is a park up on the hill and I think I may walk up and read for a while today. It has a beautiful view of the city below, but the walk up sucks, because it is on top of probably the steepest hill in Arezzo. Lol. There are plenty of places I can go up there to just sit and relax, so I probably will wander up that way after a while.

I took exam # 2 yesterday, and I did pretty well on it. I am relieved that I feel like I am learning organic chemistry pretty easy and things are really making sense. I actually think I enjoy O-chem about as much as I am enjoying the culinary and cultural experience. That is surprising to me, because when we did just a tiny fraction of organic chemistry stuff in gen chem I was completely confused and did not understand any of it. Nomenclature (naming of molecules) was the hardest part of gen chem for me for some reason, but when we started working with it here, it completely makes sense and I feel silly that I ever struggled so hard with it, so all in all I think I am doing pretty well over here. I’m hoping I can pull of an A in O chem and my culinary cultures class, and then do really well in O chem 2 (which I start 17 hours after I land back in the states. Lol) this summer as well.

Well, I am going to find something fun to do. Until next time …….

Days 8 and 9 in Arezzo!!

I'm going to keep this brief. I am not feeling very well. As most who would be reading this know, I have some health issues I struggle with at times.. Traveling out of the country has not been helpful in that area. I really do not feel good most of the time, and I feel like I do when my meds need adjusting or just don't want to work, but I'm sure it has more to do with my body not adjusting well to the schedule change and different life style that I'm in for the time being... Oh well.

We went to a fortress today. It was really neat to see, and we got to go inside and walk around the top. The fortress was built shortly after Florence conquered the city of Vonterra, partially as a control mechanism to stop unwanted rebellions against the new "leaders". What I found really interesting, and also revolting (to me) was that the fortress was built with bricks from all of the houses in the small "town" surrounding the fortress, which they tore down in order to create the fortress! In the area where the houses used to exist, there is now a really beautiful park, but I can't fathom the idea of tearing down people's homes for what I'm sure they considered "the greater good". It is a terrible idea. It is really cool to note that the fortress was built around a castle that had been erected many years prior (built around or before the 1400's I think is what he said) and you can fairly easily tell where the castle was and where the fortress "expansion" began because the bricks look a lot different. We got to see holes that were meant for cannons and for riffles, and there are huge vents above the area to rid the area of the smoke from the cannons. There are also little indentations in the wall where the person lighting the cannon could retreat, so they would not get injured when the cannon went off. They are turning this place into a museum, with a little wine bar and I think touring right now, so it was under construction, but I find it really interesting to imagine the life that occurred within this little piece of history. They said only 2 months ago they discovered this new little area, and just judging by the size of the room, they can assume that it must have belonged to someone important. The fact that so much can be told from this one "little" piece of a puzzle and yet raise so many questions is really fascinating to me.

After that we had our usually AM lecture, followed by a 2 and a half hour lunch period. Then, we had  a group study session in the afternoon, followed by PM lecture. I came back to the apartment for a little bit before going out to dinner with some of my O-chem group. The customs here are so odd to me. 7:30PM is an early dinner for native Italians. In fact, many places don't even open until 7 or 7:30  at night. Our courses are so fast paced and I find getting dinner frustrating for me most days. There is really no "quick" dinner option, unless you want pizza that's been sitting out on a heater for a while... It seems to take at least an hour and a half to get dinner anywhere around here, but at least the food is honestly really good. I unknowingly tried liver pate bruschetta yesterday, and I really liked it actually. Since I don't care for liver, that was a pleasant surprise... Outside of that, nothing new to say so I am going to hope my medicine kicks in to help with my swollen painful ankle (just too much strain for it, because I had torn ligaments and tendons when I was in gymnastics, so it does not take much to agitate it) soon and go to sleep!

Caio! :)

PS
We get to visit another vineyard tomorrow, and I am excited about that too!! 

Day 6 and 7 in Arezzo

I am so exhausted, but this has already been an amazing trip and I still have 20 days left here! I feel like I had so many things to talk about, but when I started typing I forgot what it was!

We went to Florence yesterday and today by train. Yesterday we left a little after 8AM and took the 6PM train back to Arezzo, so I literally almost couldn’t walk when I got back to the apartment. Both of my knees are swollen, my right ankle is swollen (all where I have had gymnastics injuries…go figure. Lol), and I have blisters all over my feet from all the walking in the heat. For the most part though, the walking is getting easier for me. It is so fun to experience the different in culture here. Things are way different than they are at home. There are many places here where you can barter, which I found I am actually really good at, and it is kind of fun to do! I wanted to see if a belt I found would fit me, so the “booth” owner came over and like put it around me to show me it would fit. It was really awkward really! I bartered for almost everything I bought at the leather market and got some things for more than 50% off of the asking price. I am increasingly more and more aware of my surroundings and very cautious of people who are “too” friendly. For example, when the guy was trying to help me “try on” the belt, my hands went automatically to the pockets where my cell phone, wallet, pass port, and credit cards were in and I mostly keep my hands on top of the pockets so I know there is no opportunity for me to “lose” anything. 2 people in our group that I know of have already been victims of petit crime since we have been here and I REALLY don’t want to deal with losing any of my important stuff, so I am overly aware all of the time (not really a bad thing I guess).

Bathrooms are a really hard thing to come by in a lot of areas around here too. I had to pay to use a restroom this morning! It is interesting to me that something I always considered as a necessity for restaurants and stores to have, seem to be considered a commodity here. I really never thought I would find myself spending money to use a restroom, but if you get desperate enough… You definitely will!

There is just so much art in and culture wrapped up in all of these little towns we have been in (Rome especially, but definitely some in Arezzo and a lot if Florence as well). It is really amazing to me that have this opportunity to be here and experience all of these amazing things. I will be kind of sad to leave in a way, but I think I will also be ready to go home by the time the end of the month comes.  Yesterday while in Florence we got to go to the Ufizzi gallery. The art work there is so beautiful!! One of the other girls and I were discussing some of the pieces and realized that in many of the paintings baby Jesus was depicted doing a weird kind of hand symbol. It almost looks as if he would be holding a glass of wine in his hand, but there is no cup there. We decided this probably was not a coincidence and asked our OUA guide what it meant. He said that the Europeans used this symbol to mean they were about to speak and you should be quiet and listen, so the hand symbol is supposed to say that Jesus is about to speak. I thought that was pretty interesting. Today we went to the academia gallery (I think is what it is called) and we got to see “the David” and some other really neat sculptures. The coloring in some of the paintings I have seen really amaze me. They are so bright and I literally feel like they’re jumping out of the painting at me. It is truly amazing. I really have enjoyed seeing how art has changed over the years. I’ve seen a lot of stuff, from the older not so realistic types of stuff, to the era where realism became something important to portray in the works. I really enjoy the sfumato (which by the way is a term I recently learned...it is a type of type of technique used in paintings that blends shades together in a way to create depth in the paintings) pieces. I’m not really sure why, but I find them very appealing. The Mona Lisa was done with this technique, and I think the effect is just breath taking. The pieces that use the dark versus light technique (which there is a name for that I forgot) are really nice to look at as well, but I find myself most attracted to the pieces done with sfumato technique. I wish that I had more of a history type of brain, because I think there is so much here that I just don’t completely grasp because I have never really been very good at history stuff, and I tend to forget facts of this nature, while numbers (math stuff) I tend to retain really well.

I think I am going to go through the things I bought today and figure out where I can cram it all to get everything home. Haha. I have bought entirely too much stuff since I have been here, but I just can’t seem to stop myself from buying cool things, but anyways. I am done for now.

Caio! ~ Oh, that reminds me …. I have heard the term Caio bella SOOO much in the last few days! Its kind of funny, because I know they say that to any woman that comes to their booth… and yet, I guess they think it is flattering or something. Anyways. I just wanted to share that bit of info as well, because I find it silly. J

Day 5 in Arezzo!!!

We got our first exam over with today and I’m really happy about that! I think I did “okay”, but will know my grade probably Sunday night. My teacher said he wants us to enjoy the week end and not obsess over our tests so he won’t post the grade until almost the end of the weekend. Anyone who knows me knows how agonizing it is to wait for a test grade… Good or bad. I just want to know ASAP so I can deal with my emotions, whether happy or sad and move on with things. I will just wonder and keep replaying the test over and over in my head again until I get the grade anyways. Good things come to those who wait…or something like that right?

After the exam this morning we got to go visit a vineyard close to where my apartment and OUA are at. It was maybe a 25 minute or so walk to get there, but it was really cool and totally worth it. They took us on a tour of the grounds and we got to go into the cellar type area, where a lot of the wine making processes happen. That was really neat to see. So, if you have no interest in the production of wine, then skip the rest of this paragraph. I happen to think it is really cool information. First of all, the vitner (wine maker) has to decide what kind of grapes are best for the particular kind of wine he/she desires to make. Once the correct grapes are grown (theoretically at their ripest), they are picked from the vines (I think that is pretty obvious?) either by hand or more practically by machine. The machines can pick an entire field in 2 days that would typically take manpower about 2 weeks or so to do! After that, sometimes (depending on the type of wine) the seeds are removed from the grapes and they are “pressed” with a machine VERY lightly to release the desired juices from the middle area of the grape. In some red wines a bitter flavor is desired so the stems, which cause bitterness are left in the grapes, but with white wine the stems are always removed at this point. After this process is complete, then the grapes are put into a huge vat where they are left for fermentation. The vats at the vineyard we went to today were about 10,000L! The vats will initially only be filled to about 80% to allow for expansion during the fermentation process. For red wine, which is what we tasted at La Stricia vineyard today, the grape pieces (skin, seeds, stems…) are left in the juice throughout this process and will rise to the top of the vat through fermentation. This is a problem considering that they use the pieces to get the coloring they want in the wine and sometimes the flavoring as well, so they have to mix the pieces back down into the bottom of the vat at least 2 times a day to make sure this doesn’t happen. For white wine on the other hand, the pieces are separated from the juice immediately, since no color is generally desired in these wines. The grapes go through a fermentation process with the vat at 80% full, and then through a second one, but this time filling the vat 100%. Any kind of clarification of stabilization occurs at this point, and then the wine is aged in a barrel. Once the wine has aged appropriately (often around 18 months), then it is ready to be bottled. Some wines are further aged in the bottle, and some can be released for sale at that point… So there is your "wine making" 101 for the day. Haha. I’m sure a lot of you don’t care to read this, but I also know a few who will be really interested in the information as well! J I guess it is note-worthy to say that I did not like any of the wines at the vineyard we went to today, but they were all reds which I have not found many of that I liked in the past…

This was the view while standing out in the middle of the vines...

 

The 10, 000 L vats used for mixing 

Aging barrels, which I think he said are called barricks?... 

Random pretty flower. :) 

After the vineyard we were free to go and do whatever we wanted for the day. I went shopping in town and found some really cute stuff I may end up spending entirely too much money on. The little shop ships to the US and she said it is inexpensive, although I think inexpensive is a relative term. I got a couple little things for other people that I’m excited to get to them when I get home! I have actually got a few things for myself as well for a change, and I have a couple things in mind I would also like to get before I leave to go back to the US. I went to dinner at a little place that had really good food. They had a bruschetta trio that I got for an appetizer and I tried a tortellini that had potatoes as a filling which was really good. I was so full by the time I finished I didn’t want to walk “home”.

I have accumulated a LOT of dirty clothes since I’ve been here so I decided tonight would be a good time to get some laundry done. It was an interesting experience, because I have never hung my clothes on a line before and that is the only option, since we don’t have a dryer. I was just worried my clothes would end up flying away off the 2^nd story balcony where our clothes lines are, but I guess they seem pretty secure… I’ll see tomorrow if they’re still all there! We are heading out to Florence tomorrow. I’ve been told there are really good places to shop  out there, so I hope people are correct. The shops here in Arezzo have a lot of cute stuff, but a lot of it is really over priced for what it is.

Anyways… there is my exciting day! I’m going to get off of here and call it a night early tonight.  

Day 4 in Arezzo

This is going to be a short post. I just went to a little gelato place really close by my apartment and they have really really good coffee gelato!! I have class at 4PM til 6PM, then we get a dinner break til 8PM and will be here for review session until they kick me out probably. LOL. We have an exam tomorrow morning, and then we are going to a vineyard in the afternoon so I'm pretty excited about that! I'm understanding the newest materials in class a little better than the first day, but I guess I am missing some key concepts or something, because I'm not doing that well on the work. Nothing new really. Just going to class and studying and that is about it, so I'm going to get off of here. 

Day 3 in Arezzo!!! =)

Second day of O-chem and culinary cultures of Italy classes!! I got up around 8AM to get caught up on some reading for O-chem, and read through what I thought I was supposed to have read for today. Turned out I was a half a chapter behind still. =( I went to my apartment on my lunch break though and finished up the reading for what I hadn’t already done, so I’m “caught up” again. It is going to be really hard to keep up in this class, because I’m a really slow reader and we are going over a full chapter or more a day plus our days are sort of packed tight. We generally have lecture 11AM til 1:20PM then break for “lunch” til 4PM. I like that our apartment is only about a 5 minute walk from school so I can go back on my lunch break and read. I have been so exhausted though I end up taking a short nap as well, so I can’t get quite as much done as I would like. Then we have class from 4PM til 6PM and after are free to do whatever we want or need to do. We have to walk anywhere we go for dinner so it generally takes a couple of hours to get to somewhere for dinner and back to our apartment. Then by the time I take a shower it is probably 9 or 9:30 or so, and I have a few hours until I need to go to sleep. I guess it isn’t really that packed of a schedule, but I feel like it because I don’t have time to take notes from the book as I would like as well as doing all the practice problems our teacher suggests and reviewing the things I didn’t quite understand in lecture.

We tasted some wine in class in the afternoon today and also tried some cheese with it after we tasted the wine by itself. They wanted us to smell the wine first and get an impression of what we thought.  It kind of smelled like apples to me, but had a really strong alcohol scent to it more than anything. My instructor said it was a sweet wine, but it didn’t taste sweet to me. It burned as it went down, which I really don’t like (which is why I have only had jack daniels precisely ONE time before). He said most of the wines we will be trying will likely be red wines and will be dry. I’m kind of iffy on that, because I generally like white wines that are sweet, and I don’t think I care for dry wine, but maybe I will be surprised by it! You never know. The cheese we tried was made with sheep milk and it was really good actually. It had a little of a weird after taste, but maybe with a different wine it wouldn’t be noticeable. We learned that the majority of cheese you will get here isn’t made with cow milk, so that’s a fun fact for the day.

                I went to eat at a little place really close to my apartment tonight, and I think I will probably keep going back there for meals. It is on our voucher plan, so it is free and it is one of the places that I get free water at (they don’t really serve tap water over here… only bottled mineral water, so if it isn’t included in our voucher we have to pay for the water we drink). Plus they had really good food. I tried gnocchi for the first time (have always wanted to, but the opportunity never really came up) and it was really good, and I had a little left over to take with me for lunch tomorrow. I like that, because I can just come to my apartment to eat lunch between classes instead of spending an hour or longer wasting time at a restaurant. 

                I just got back to the apartment again and I’m going to try and read through another chapter AND do all of the practice problems for the chapters we have already covered. I’m not sure if that is going to work out or not, but I can be ambitious!!

                Missing friends and family back home so much! *hugs*  

Back to my studies!

Today was our first real day back to school. We had to be at OUA around 9AM for official orientation, and they took us up to this park that is WAY at the top of a huge, really steep inclined hill. It is so pretty up there, but I am really frustrated. I feel like I'm the only one that is really struggling with all of the walking and hills and stuff, and everyone just leaves me behind or I have to put myself in pain to keep up, because my ankle is really swollen already and I am so out of shape that I can't do much physical activity without my chest hurting and feeling like I am going to pass out. I'm sure a big part of this is my thyroid disorder, but a big part is also that I am just really out of shape because I don't ever do physical activity anymore, and I am so disappointed in myself. I really miss home and I'm trying really hard to be positive and improve myself while I'm here and have a good time, but I am really struggling with it. 

Then at our first lecture today I felt even worse. For one thing I was really overly tired even though I slept fairly well last night and I kept almost falling asleep in the AM lecture. I also have basically forgotten everything we did today, which was supposed to be just review and I was just really confused on the majority of it. I've enjoyed being here and I am really glad I came, but I'm feeling like maybe it was a mistake because I'm not sure if I can do this class as a fast track course and pass it with a good grade. I think I'm too far behind where I should be and way too confused about the things  I should already know really well. Hopefully with a lot of studying I can get it though. I know I am going to do my best anyways.. and that's what counts, right? I also had a really bad migraine during and after our AM lecture (another side effect of my thyroid..), so instead of going to the supermarket to get some fresh fruit for breakfast and some snacks to keep at our apartment I ended up just going to the apartment and taking some head ache medicine and laying in the dark for 2 hours. Thankfully the afternoon class was easier for me. It was our culinary cultures class, but we talked about chemistry stuff related to the culinary class, and I didn't have any problem following along with that part of it, so that is a good thing! 

After class, me and a couple of my peers went to find a place to eat that accepts our food vouchers. We settled on a place that is somewhat buffet style. One of the OU faculty told us that some students find it intimidating because there is a lot of pointing to tell them what you want. I couldn't relate to that experience though. The lady up front was really really nice, and explained the menu to us in English and the things she could not think of, she showed us and asked how to say them in English so she would know! It was actually really cool. I got a pasta with ragu, some prosciutto with mozzarella, and some diced potatoes. The pasta was really good. It wasn't too "tomatoey" and had good seasoning in it. The potatoes were "okay". They kind of just tasted like olive oil. There wasn't much to seasoning on them. Then the prosciutto was way to sweet for me. I didn't like it at all. I don't think meat should be sweet like that! On the way back from dinner I stopped at the supermarket and got some apples and pears for breakfast, some raisins (I think ... if not, some kind of dried up fruit that looks a lot like them), some kind of granola bars with nutella to dip them in (yumm), and vanilla wafers just cause I could. I also picked up some toilet paper for the apartment, since we only had 1 and a half rolls or so. 

Now I'm back at the apartment and going  to study for a while before I go to bed. I miss everyone so much! I can't wait to see you all again!! I'll post more soon. 

The pics of the building are OUA (University of Oklahoma, Arezzo!)

Leaving Rome...

From yesterday.. since it would not post at the time:

Well, today was my last day in Rome, but I have to say it was one of my favorites! I really loved the Colloseum and the ruins! They are so beautiful! I took a lot of pictures, but they really don’t give you the full effect of experiencing the sights for yourself. I actually got sun burnt, which usually doesn’t happen, so that sucks, but overall it was a great day.

We had a reading assignment that taught me some interesting things about wine I never knew. For one thing, wine was suggested to have first been produced in the Neolithic period, between 9000 and 4000 BCE! Because it had to be imported from wine-growing lands far away and the cost of importing it was high, someone who was able to afford wine would be considered to be wealthy. Because of the low availability and expense of wine, it was considered to be “worthy” of religious ceremonies. Availability of the beverage, help lower prices, which eventually allowed for wine to be a social as well as religious or “elite” drink.

We learned today while we were out walking about how and why wine and olives played such an important role in the Roman world, and even how figs figured into it. There are 3 trees planted together in the forum (this is what they call the collection of ruins next to the colloseum). One fig tree, one grape tree, and one olive tree. Even 2000 years later, the importance of these items is being shown through the symbolism of the three trees planted together. We were told that the Romans would use wine and dilute it with water, and that would allow them to drink water in new lands they were exploring without fear of the water causing them to get sick. That in combination with the calories from olive oil, and the sugar from figs allowed them to explore new lands they ordinarily would not have been able to.

I actually went out on my own to dinner tonight and navigated my way to the restaurant and back with no problems. Not that it was that hard… I just went right up the street from where I’m staying, but I still did it! I found a little Indian food place that smelled good, so I decided to try it. They had a couscous with vegetables on their menu, but he looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for it, so I told him to just give me whatever he would suggest… I think he gave me falafels in like a wrap type deal with veggies and some kind of sauce on it. It was really good, except the (what I am assuming to be) falafels were kind of dry, but I’ve never actually had falafels so maybe that is how they should be. In the Indian place I found a sort of wine cooler type drink I decided to try when I got back to the hotel. I find it funny that it is socially acceptable to waltz in to a gift shop with a beer in your hand and nobody even seems to notice here. I couldn’t imagine doing that at home. I really probably wouldn’t have done it here either, but I forgot I had it in my hand until I was already in there and realized the store clerk didn’t care.

So looked around in his shop a little bit and headed to my hotel…. I’m all packed up to head to Arezzo tomorrow morning and start classes. Believe it or not, I am really excited about getting into school stuff. I generally really like chemistry. I just hope I am better at organic that I seemed to be with the little bit of it I dealt with in gen chem. =/ Well, I am going to look over my syllabus and school information my teacher posted. I’ll post again soon!!

Day 2 in Rome!!

We went to a nice place for dinner last night after I posted. It was the kind of place that has a predetermined menu and they bring you each course without you actually ordering. I ate the appetizer, which was like some kind of tuna pasta dish I think. It was okay, but it had a strong fish taste and I didn’t really like it. Then the main course was fish and some kind of salad that I didn’t really care for… I did try to eat the fish, but I just couldn’t do it. After that they brought out dessert. It looked like maybe vanilla gelato, but I took a bite and realized it was lemon, which was really really good!

I was so exhausted by the end of yesterday, but I made myself stay up until 11PM so maybe my body can get used to this new time zone. I got up and 7 this morning and went to have breakfast here at the hotel. The breakfast here is a little different than back home. They had lots of different pastries (like chocolate covered scones). I tried what looked like a donut with sugar on it and chocolate in the middle, but I realized it was Nutella or something like it in the middle once I started eating it (also really good). They have pineapple juice that was delicious too, so I had some of that.

We left the hotel to walk to the Vatican at about 8:15 this morning. It is about an hour walk to get there and it was hot outside, so I was sweating and worn down already by the time we arrived. Inside the Vatican is beautiful. Words cannot even describe it, and the pictures I took do not do the beauty and justice at all! The Sistine chapel was phenomenal. You are not allowed to take pictures and the guards are very serious about it! There was a lady sitting near me who had taken a couple & he opened her tablet and made her delete them all, then told her “no photo!” and walked off. Next we got to see Saint Peter’s basilica.

After walking around and taking a few pictures in there, me and another girl got separated from everyone else in the group and never did find them, so we just found a little shop with a map and wandered around Rome for the rest of the day, shopping and site seeing, with no particular agenda. It was pretty fun actually. I bought several souvenirs for friends and family, and even got myself a couple of things too! We went through the bargain market, which was kind of interesting. I have never bartered before, but you can there, although I didn’t.  We came back to the hotel for a little while, then we went out to dinner.

We went to a place really close to our hotel that was having a special with bruschetta appetizer and since we both like bruschetta figured, “why not give this place a try?” The bruschetta was really good, and a little different than what I usually get back home. What I got here was served as 1 big piece instead of several small pieces as I usually get in Oklahoma and it was covered with a lot of olive oil too. Also, the toppings were full of flavor, rather than just plain with minimal seasoning (if any) as I have received back home. The special we got was another some-what predetermined meal. We got to pick out of 3 entrees (we chose to get lasagna, but I don’t even remember what the other options were to be honest). Then got to pick out of 2 “2^nd” courses, which both contained veal. I have always been adamant that I would never eat veal, but I tried it anyways, because, “I’m in Rome, why not?!” I’m happy to say that I have concluded I do not like it. It kind of tasted like wild turkey or something like that. I don’t think I will eat it again. Then they brought out a big cup of mixed fruits (pineapple, kiwi, and apple [I think]) that was SO sweet, but really good also. I have gotten so used to the fruit I get from the grocery store at home that usually isn’t very fresh, I forgot how good it can be when it is fresh.

I’m really excited about tomorrow. We are going to the Colosseum, which is one of the biggest things I really wanted to see while I’m here… So I am going to go to sleep so I’ll be rested tomorrow and have plenty of energy to walk around and see some more exciting sites in Rome. 

PS
I tried to post this last night and wifi wasn't working. :) So this is my post for yesterday. Not from today. Lol