Italia: Day Five

This morning we got to sleep in a little bit so Emilie and I got up to run at 7:00. Since it was just the two of us, we ended up running in circles mostly because we were afraid of getting lost. That is the one downfall to running in a foreign country - it's hard to get lost in the run when you're too afraid of getting lost for real. 

After showering, we boarded the subway to go to a presentation on Systemic Design and how to organize the food system in order to create healthy, cheap options. The man giving the presentation was really animated and interesting, but I couldn’t pay attention because the subject matter was so dry and I am thoroughly exhausted. Every time I sit down for a long period of time, I find myself falling asleep. I really am not used to getting up so early. I think I prefer longer stays in one place so that you can allow yourself to adjust to the time change when travelling and manage to adapt to the culture a little bit more. The one good thing about the presentation was that we were able to admire the building housing the school of architecture while listening to the man speak.

The ceiling of the school of architecture

Following the presentation, we walked to another subway stop which we took to a train station. We then rode on a train to the town of Bra for lunch with a representative from Slow Foods. The train ride was a great mid-day nap, but the three-course meal that followed it only made me hungrier. We had a pasta and meat dish, a beef and tuna dish, and a hazelnut mousse with a variety of red wines that didn't really appeal to me. Even though I didn't eat much, I left feeling full - I think it may be because of how long the meal took.

From Bra, we took a city bus to the town of Pollenzo where we visited the University of Gastronomic Science. It was weird being inside the university of a foreign country, especially since a large amount of the school’s students were also from the United States. We took a short tour around the castle-like grounds and were able to see their tasting room before the outdoor portion of the tour was cut short by a drizzle that felt like cold pinpricks on the skin instead of rain. It was such a sunny day that the weather didn’t really make sense.

Once we saw the library, our tour guide took us to a brief presentation on the importance of memories in collecting food culture and traditions. It was boring and I doodled most of the time, but my reward for sitting through it was a trip to the school’s wine cellar where they preserve some of the countries wine in the proper way – an appropriate temperature room, stored in wood boxes. Our “wine guide” told us a little bit about wine, such as why some are called dry (only red wine can be deemed dry because of the skin of the grape it comes from) and how all wines are the same except for their pH level. It was a rather interesting lesson and we even got to take a walk through the complete cellar while we were tasting a sample of their local red wine. A snack of bread, cheese, and salami followed.

Some of the students from the university picked us up from the wine cellar and showed us their community garden that is maintained entirely by students. It was actually the most boring part of the day though because their English wasn’t very good, there was no interpreter, and the main speaker kept rambling.

I was glad to finally leave Pollenzo via a bus back to Bra. We stopped for gelato (Chocolate of Ecuador) before jumping back on a Torino-bound train. Once we got to town, we hopped back on the subway before dashing into the hotel for a quick change.

I ate an apple on our walk to a local club on the river. Typically a private club, we found out soon after entering that our search for a Wednesday night party had resulted in stumbling upon gay night in celebration of PRIDE week. We didn’t get this knowledge though until after we filled out entry forms and received cards for admission. Luckily, it was free and we still had a great time dancing in a circle in the middle of the dance floor. The whole night was a rather fun time. The club played a mix of American and Italian music that was great for dancing. 

The inside of the club

Our group posing after Pam caught the bouquet

Italia: Day Four

This morning I had to roll out of bed way too early. The alarm went off at 5:45 so that we could meet the group at the bus stop by 6:30 and head into Lanzo again. This morning we went to a cheese-making demonstration in a production factory. I was kind of surprised by how mechanical the whole process was. I guess I expected it to be a small hands-on place where almost everything was done by employees, but instead there were huge machines. I have to admit, the cheese was good though. We had a tasting afterwards and I couldn’t stop eating the cheese that we saw them make. The other two samples weren’t really my favorite though.

The demonstration was actually pretty boring, but all the same, I wasn’t glad when it was over because then we had to participate in a 5K walk to the town of Nole for lunch. The whole walk was put together by a fitwalking team, which is kind of like speed walking only with less speed. There is a whole method to it, but none of the team members spoke English and the translations were kind of off, so we could only pretend to know how to do it.

The lunch at Nole wasn’t very good. We had this weird cracker with cream cheese as an appetizer. I just ate the cracker and left the cheese. After all, by that point I had already had more than enough cheese for the day. Next there was a pasta dish with vegetables. I ate all of the pasta from mine and then swapped with Emily who had eaten all of the vegetables from hers. It worked out because I didn’t end up liking the main course of beef and tuna or the zucchini that came with it.

We went to a conference in Lanzo afterward with some of the teachers we met yesterday. It was incredibly boring and half of the group fell asleep while the other half spent the three hours coloring. 

We took our bus back to Turin and went out for dinner at this dining hall style place. It kind of reminds me of Smith Hall because you just walk up to the various counters and order your food then pay for it at the end. We butchered our way through and I’m definitely glad. The chicken breast was some of the best that I’ve ever tasted. It was amazingly juicy. I ate too much though. We got some gelato at a shop on the plaza afterward. All they had was giandju, so I ended up with that again, but it was okay.

Italia: Day Three

We got up super early today so that we could take the bus and then the train to Lanzo Torinese for our first health presentation on the contributing factors to obesity. Only four members of our group presented the condensed version and then we showed a video of what life is like in Delaware, OH. The students presented some information they had found as well. I found it adorable how they were trying to speak English for us, albeit a little bit hard to understand. Parts of the presentation were a tad boring because we were sitting for so long, but I also learned some things. Apparently, they don’t eat very many apples over here. I find that rather strange. Also, they aren’t fans of pineapple. They hadn't even heard of eating it on pizza.

A lot of them smoke too. We went on a short coffee break in the middle of the presentation and I swear everyone crowded outside to smoke. And they’re high schoolers! It was kind of strange. What was even weirder though was that they were serving martinis at eleven in the morning. I don't think this was a typical day affair, I found it difficult to believe they were serving alcohol so early in the morning. I guess that’s how the Italians do it though. They have such a different mindset toward alcohol consumption than we do in the United States.

After the presentation concluded and we showed our video of a tour of Delaware, we sat down to a formal lunch with the students. I’m not sure what most of what we ate was, but I poured down a lot of the wine. I think I had four glasses of white wine and two glasses of this really good desert wine that I need to find called Moscato D’Asti. It was amazing. I also had some really dry red wine that I didn’t like very much to wash down our food. The meal lasted three hours in total, but I didn’t really enjoy it because the Italians were difficult to talk to and the room was too noisy, which only added to the misunderstandings.

The delicious desert wine, made in the region

Once lunch was over, we got a short tour of Lanzo and saw the crowning of a new mayor. Surprisingly, it was a woman taking over for a man. We took pictures with her and she gave us some key chains. Afterwards, we wandered over to the scenic Devil’s Bridge to take some photos with the Italian students. It was really difficult to walk on the cobblestone pathway and I’m glad that I brought flip flops to change into after the presentation because it would have been impossible in my heels.

The winding streets of Lanzo

Devil's Bridge

I think the most relieving thing of the day was that the restroom at the school had an actual toilet, albeit one without a seat, but still. I’m glad I didn’t have to squat to pee in another hole. You would think that Italy would be a little more advanced than that.

It was late by the time we got back from the school and most everyone was full from lunch still, so I went out with Pam, Chelsea, and Becky to wander around and get some gelato from a bar on the main sidewalk we take to the plaza area. After getting the ice cream, we tried to see if there was any nightlife near the clubs we had spotted on Sunday. Unfortunately, the area was completely empty so we continued on to the park, which was a little bit creepy in the dark. We got lost on our way back from the park and ended up wandering the streets of Italy until I was able to get WiFi on my phone and get us back.