To end my junior year/start my senior year off with a bang, I along with 23 other students are traveling through Italy to study the infamous Italian lifestyle. I packed up my bags and began the trip in Venice on June 23rd. The first day there was hard to grasp. After 12+ hours of continuous travel and to finally be halfway across the world in one of the most famous cities was truly unbelievable in every sense. I kept turning to my best friend and saying, “we’re in freaking Italy”.
The quite calm streets of Venice were unlike anything I’ve experienced, and I shortly attributed it to the lack of cars. Once we slept off the jetlag, the next morning we visited St. Marco’s Basilica, ate traditional Italian tapas, and explored the city on our own. We reconnected for dinner, where we had the traditional several course meal that included regional seafood.
The next morning, we took a water taxi out of Venice and transferred to a bus which brought us to Bologna, aka the food capital of my DREAMS. We got settled into our hotel and then began a three-hour historic food walking tour. The guide brought us all around the city, and our first stop was a restaurant with no kitchen, no running water, and no waiters. She explained to us that this restaurant is more of a meeting place for locals and students to bring their home cooked meals, meet new friends, and share their food. This spot has been in operation for hundreds of years. Here, we ate fresh-sliced prosciutto, mortadella cubes, parmigiana Reggiano, bread from the oldest bakery in Bologna, and dummy refreshing white wine. We then went to a cooking demonstration where we got to make our own tortellini. We of course, then concluded the tour with the best gelato in Bologna.
A few days after, we arrived in Ascoli Piceno, I will be taking two classes, both of which revolve around the diet and the culture. The first class is titled, Food and Culture in Italy. This class is about traditions Italians have regarding their meals. The second class is titled, The Mediterranean diet. This class is about experiencing the Mediterranean diet as well as understanding the history and components of the lifestyle. This class basically started when I stepped foot in Italy and will continue even outside of the classroom!
We’re just getting started here in Italy, be sure to follow for updates especially because I need followers for a grade.
Italy Adventures 