Kristen DeAngelis
June 8, 2010
Assignment: Journals May 12- May 25
May 12 – Day 1
After getting off the plane we waited for a while; We needed to wait one of the
students who was coming in late from UNC. Our plane was originally delayed so it
wasn’t too big of a deal but it kept getting later and later. Anxious to get the trip
started, finally she arrived and we left for Lake Como around 1:45. It took until 4:00
p.m. to get there which was a difficult drive for such a large bus on such tiny winding
streets around the area of Lake Como. In the meantime however, we were all taking
pictures out the windows of the bus at the breathtaking view of Lake Como and the
surrounding area.
Our guide, Patricia, gave us some information along the way about the Lake.
Swimming is not allowed and there are only about 3 small areas where people can
gather on a beach area on the lake. We also learned George Clooney lives here.
Patricia also told us a little more about Italy as a whole and that ROMA is the capital
and there are 20 countries within Italy. We learned the lake is 480 m deep –
deepest in Italy, but seems so big and never ending, as we seem to keep winding
around the Lake to get to the Hotel. One thing I noticed is the town seems very old –
there are zero kids here it seems mostly older folks and is very quiet.
After driving around for a long time between the tiny winding roads that
brush the leaves of trees and seem to graze the sides of houses, we got to our Hotel.
It took a long time to get keys to our rooms and again being so anxious to start the
adventure around the area, some people were getting antsy. Once getting into our
rooms we got ready quickly and headed back down to get on the bus to ride to a
family owned wine cellar for dinner and wine tasting. This was located at a
beautiful house up on a hill. After walking into the cellar we walked into a beautiful
carved out stone dining room. We filled the long table and sat down to meet the
man who owns the winery.
The owner, Daniel, was so incredibly nice and told me he started the business
in 1998 and so far it has been going quite well. He had the business in the family but
it stopped producing between 1960-1998. He makes both red and white wine
which we tasted and drank throughout the dinner. The first he served, was white
wine which had a sweet smooth taste and was very good! Then we had an appetizer
of salami, jamon (ham), projutto, and cheese. The cheese was delicious, creamy and
sweet; He said it was made of half milk, half cream and some added rosemary.
There were also breadsticks served at the table to munch on as well. The red wine
was next to be served and was weird at first to my taste but still very good once I
adapted to the difference. Next we were served our first course, which was the best
pasta I have ever had – cooked perfectly “al dente”. I never knew what that exactly
meant until just now. The pasta was in small twisty rolls and was the best
homemade pasta I have ever had (even considering my father’s own homemade
pasta). The pasta was in a light Alfredo sauce with mushroom, ham and a garnish of
parsley – I even took a picture it was such a pretty presentation. Second course was
breaded trout, risotto, and pesto sauce which were all do decadent and beautifully
presented. All three components of the dish went together so well. Next, we had
our third course, dessert, which was a light not too sweet apple pie. This was made
more like a tart and was light, refreshing, and a perfect way to end a meal.
By now, I have had so much to drink and eat and am completely stuffed but it
is time to go to the wine cellar where the wine is made and stored. I had so many
questions to ask! I learned white wine takes more time to make and is harder to
make because the temperature is so specific. For white wine it is only between a
very few degrees where it can ferment between and takes up to 40-60 days. This is
much different than red wine, which is much easier to create as it takes only 6-8
days to ferment. Daniel said he prefers their red wine best. He also told us that they
export 30,000 bottles to Baltimore, USA. He makes the bottles in this cellar but has
a bigger factory in town. He said to make champagne is a little different than wineyou have to ferment it twice. Also, you have to manually shake the bottles
throughout the fermenting process and that is why it is usually more expensive than
wine. The champagne he gave us was amazing with a dry and crisp taste. The other
beverage he makes is called “grappa”. This is extracted from blueberries and is
pressed delicately to create a strong concentration content of about 28%. To me,
the grappa tasted like blueberry, bubblegum Everclear(extremely cheap strong
vodka) – I did not like! However it tasted a little better when Jackie and I mixed it
with some champagne in our glasses.
I asked if they could make flavored champagnes from compressing
strawberries or raspberries. He said you can do this for grappa but is forbidden in
Italy. He told us that the peak time to drink a good wine is about six months after it
is made for white, and five years after for red. The wine gets better and better as the
red ages up to five or six years and then starts to go downhill and go bad.
Many people in the group bought bottles of red and white wine here. One
bottle was only 7 Euro and three for 20 Euro. In Baltimore Daniel said he sells for
about 11-13 dollars. He goes to NYC for wine expo that I thought was pretty
interesting. His family and wife cooked the meal for us and came down before we
left to say hello/goodbye and we all thanked her for the delicious meal and
hospitality.
The taxi man drove us back down the hill to our bus and we then took that
back to the hotel where we immediately passed out after being so exhausted from
all the traveling. My overall outlook on the day is that it was fun but long; We spent
a lot of time on the bus but got a good feel for Lake Como and Italy.
May 13 Day 2
Today we woke up at 6:30 to go for a run but looked outside to see that it was
unfortunately cold and rainy! We went back to sleep to wakeup and get breakfast
an hour later at 8:30. I was pretty surprised at how extravagant the bufett of food
was for a European breakfast! There were scrambled eggs, hard-boiled eggs,
sausage, bacon, toast, croissants, bread/toast, cereal, fresh fruit and yogurt. I
noticed the milk they served with cereal was pretty warm though. They also had a
great machine for cappuccinos and coffee. Here there is mostly espresso offered so
you need to specify if you want only coffee and not just a shot of espresso. Also, all
the water here is carbonated and when we first took a sip we were completely
surprised and not used to the taste. The fruit they offered was prunes, kiwis, and
pear slices which I thought were uncommon fruits that we probably wouldn’t see at
a continental breakfast in the US. Also, there was nutella offered – which I knew
would probably be the first of many times we would see this chocolaty spread. After
breakfast, we left to take a Ferry to the Bellagio Hotel. It was only a five-minute ride
and although it was raining and cold, the ride was beautiful and we took several
pictures on the way. The hospitality group went to the Bellagio Hotel and our group
(Nutrition group) had free time available to walk around the area. It was rainy and
cold with clouds low in the sky giving the island an eerie feeling. The roads in the
small town were all cobblestone and extremely tiny- I don’t understand how cars
get through here. Little dogs were everywhere. We went into many shops – Taylor
got a small side bag purse from a woman who was sweet and nice and marked it
down to 25 Euro. We walked into a church that was so old – made in the 1400’s.
The stone pillars inside were beautiful. This church still in full service. There were
dark tiny windows that were up very high and a church bell at the top. On the island
everything is so green and thriving. The trees here are different and have little
knubs for branches. Patricia also mentioned and we now noticed that in Italy there
is a break from about 1-4 p.m. where stores close. The entire time we are walking
around it seems pretty bizarre and errie that no one is really around – the area
seems extremely quiet and almost deserted.
After waiting 40 minutes for the Hospitality group, we took the Ferry back to
our Hotel. It was kind of funny we noticed while waiting, the restaurant next to the
ferry was playing funky American music we all knew. It looked like a cute café but
was playing American rap music. After going back to our Lake Como station, we
stopped for a very quick lunch for 30 minutes in a small café. I got a fabulous mixed
salad and a Pandina sandwich (these are well-known and the waitress
recommended it as her favorite). The sandwich was a warm pressed Panini/tortilla
with ham, swiss, mayo and lettuce. We also took the little packets of olive oil and
balsamic vinegar – they were so cute I have never seen anything like it before! The
waitress was cute in her little orange outfit and hat. She spoke very good English
and was so easy to talk to and accommodating and helpful. I know we aren’t
supposed to tip here (5% if that) but I slipped her a Euro for how good she was to
us. We ran out quick to catch the bus to take to Milan.
We went to Milan where it took about an hour and thirty minutes to get to.
Along the way, we learned that Milan is the most economic country in Italy and
known for its good business. We passed by the Leonardo da Vinci museum where
the picture of the Last Supper is on display. We went to Milan for the purpose of
learning about Ayurvedic Medicine. This was extremely interesting and is what I
live by. I felt personally connected and want to learn more about it to bring back
information to friends and family here in the US.
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Ayuvedic Medicine notes
Ayu = life in extent, Vida = in life… medicine – keep balance and longevity
All senses are involved in nutrition - Nutrition is not only food, this is only
one component. Food is what we see but nutrition is the interaction we have
through what we hear, breathe, smell etc.
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Mind, body and soul is one- the mind and body affect each other and food is
what nourishes the mind and body
Ayurveda is based on relationship; problems don’t come from that specific
organ but comes from things that have relationship to that organ. For
example, if someone has a problem with their knees, ayurveda will look at
the body as a whole and analyze the other organs and how they are being
treated which will tell us why that specific organ (knee) is in pain
3 principles: [explains the universe, all is the same, changing relationships]
 Vata – movement (gravity)
 Pita – transformation (for food this is one thing to another
 Cata – cohesion, what keeps it together
Ayurveda is a popular practice mainly seen in Japan, China, and India and is
oldest system in the world
Based on experiment vs. experience
how to utilize the homogenous part – when food is a part of us
tongue has different perceptions at different times of day - taste and degree
varies. For ex. if you are not hungry – taste will be different
6 different tastes relate to how you will utilize the food later part in the body
situation around food is very important! – people sitting with, what the food
looks like, setup, smell
teach how to make balance outside the body – physical factors influence the
body and mind
cancers created from how you think – body immunity… how you think affects
your body… can you train the mind?
-very interesting point! – if you start thinking you may get a disease, or fear
of certain diseases because it is all over the news, or you read articles then
you are more inclined to train your mind to “think” you may get it
o what affects how you think? – economics, people, healthcare, news –
puts knowledge … think naturally rather than be influenced by
outside factors that will make you think you have a problem
o if you think positively or negatively, it will happen/ affect you
o what you hear, read, write all influences us
Ayurvedic physicians – correct and uplift, teach wisdom, correct future
activity, thought process, food, activity
Problem of society? Technology is not culture but is only a tool we have, it is
important to bring back the ayurvedic medical practice
Today everything is standardized – guidelines, rules, based on insurance if
you have or don’t have based on what kind of medical help treatment you
will receive – this is absurd and ridiculous!
o Medicine and treatment needs to be individualized – not based on
king vs. thief theory but based on curing the patient
o Jaiuim.com is the journal of ayuvedic medicine, look into [Nama] what
courses - in U.S. Ayuveda is international education, no one really
knows about it in the westernized culture
Disiordi – “Greek Book of Herbs” – reference for western world, speaks of
medicine similar to Ayurveda
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Some of the medical practices involve oils on top of the body, massage
techniques, putting a ring of dough over the eye and use oil to put into ring to
cleanse the eye
Ayurveda says what to take is not going to be comfortable, when you get too
comfortable with what you eat that is when you get sick… life is great but
tough, hard but beautiful, when life is tough that is when it is best = this is the
BALANCE of nature
The man at the Ayurvedic hospital was so nice and extremely interesting…
everyone here so far is so friendly and greets us with smiles wherever we go. When
we first walked in, the woman first off greets us with hello in her accented English,
asking to take our coats and if we need a bathroom. This is so different than what I
would have expected. When I went to France just last summer I felt like a complete
outsider and never once had someone smile at me or greet me in a way that this
woman had.
After leaving the hospital we went back to the bus and stopped over at a castle
located in the center of Milan. Taylor and I ran to the soccer stadium that was
massive in the middle of a park near the castle. Unfortunately it was closed off to a
soccer camp of some sort so we went back to tour though the castle. Along the way
we notice there are always couples lounging around everywhere. The vegetation is
beautiful and green and growing. PDA is not a problem here- men and women are
all very open and affectionate towards one another in public.
After getting back to the bus we went back to the hotel, as it continued to rain
and lightning all along the way. Meanwhile, we take note that the roads are
extremely small and winding the entire way as our massive bus treads on through
the nasty storm around Lake Como.
We cleaned off in the hotel and then ventured off to try and find a restaurant for
dinner. There really was not much around though – everything like I said before
seems very quite and old here. I have only seen older folks and minimal shops and
restaurants. We walk about five minutes to find the first restaurant. It was very
quiet yet clean and pretty inside. It seemed like a family owned restaurant where
only the man ran the dining room of about 10 tables, and the older woman in the
back cooked. He spoke minimal English but again greeted us with smiles.
We ordered the house wine which we were all advised to always get the house
wine over in Europe because wines here are so much better than in the states.
Tonight’s wine was not as good as last nights (considering we had two different
kinds which were made right in the wine cellar where we were). Four of the people
we were with got ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta, which looked amazing! It
was weird though because there was no sauce. I thought this was strange because I
feel that back home you always get a pasta with a sauce, even if it is only a butter
sauce. I came to realize later maybe instead of putting butter on for it, because
butter really is not anywhere here in Europe, they instead use olive oil on top of this
kind of dish. Thinking about it now, I assume they left the olive oil on the table for
these people to put over their ravioli if they would like. This was something else I
began to pick up on – there is always olive oil on the tables when going out to
dinner/lunch. Also, the restaurants here always have these packets of crispinis –
long, thin breadsticks. Also, I noticed that the breadbaskets they serve are always
extremely hard – not my personal preference. It was also odd that they brought out
the food at different times. I suppose this is so that their customers will always
receive the freshest and hottest food that they can eat right after being made in the
kitchen. I don’t really like this though because then everyone is eating at different
times – in America, usually this would be rude to eat before everyone is served.
Finally after about ten minutes after the ravioli dish was served, my dish was served
directly from the dish it was cooked in. I ordered a fillet de Como with butter and
thyme along with a side of vegetables consisting of green beans and potatoes. The
waiters brought it all out right from the pan they cooked it on in the kitchen and
place it on our dishes. The presentation was fabulous.
After finishing our meal we walked back to the hotel and could hear music
coming from the downstairs lounge area. Taylor, Justin and I walked down to check
it out – it was pretty much an “old people” dance party. It was so much fun to watch
them though, all having such a good time laughing and dancing together. We started
talking to one group of older couples and they were so friendly and nice! Two of the
men were from the UK and were Korean veterans. They were so funny and
interesting to talk to; Alfie, one of the older men, took me out to the dance floor for a
dance! I also talked to another man who was sitting nearby but not with the same
group we were sitting with talking to. This man was kind of overweight with big
glasses and was just enjoying sitting at a small table watching others have fun on the
dance floor. After talking to him for a little bit I came to find out that he was
originally supposed to be here on vacation with his wife, a trip they do every year
together to Lake Como. It was their 30th anniversary but unfortunately she had just
passed away only a few months ago. He sounded so loving and caring and it was a
very sad story but it was nice what he had to say about her and Lake Como. It made
me happy just to see him here despite what he has gone through- especially at his
age to still find happiness just watching others enjoy themselves on the dance floor.
This man reminds me of my own grandfather. After talking to him and the other
group for another hour or so, we decided to get back upstairs and get some sleep.
May 14 Day 3
Today we woke up and had breakfast in the lobby again – prunes, warm milk,
carbonated water (I still think is very odd), hard boiled eggs with ketchup (funny
that the ketchup is in small plastic containers). We drove three hours to Verona, the
second largest tourist attraction of Italy. From 11- 12:15 we had free time and went
to see where Romeo and Juliet was based. To enter the small courtyard area you
have to pass through a small archway is covered with love notes from all over the
world. It is supposedly illegal to post a note on the wall but there are thousands
pinned up on the wall so me and a couple other girls decided to do it for our
boyfriends back home. I wrote a letter to Matt and posted it on the wall.
After visiting this famous site we ventured over to the markets in the plaza. I
noticed there were Pinocchio’s just about everywhere hanging from stands and in
shop windows. There were also masks of all kinds in the market booths. There was
so much fresh fruit, vegetables, and dried fruit out for sale – all displayed
beautifully. There were delicious looking fresh fruit cups with fruits I had never
seen before – dragon fruit, star fruit, an orange looking fruit but different color as
well as delicious kiwi, pineapple and more! We walked into several stores – there
are overwhelming amounts. I really start to notice that fashion is a serious art and I
appreciate all the window displays the stores put out. Lots of the stores are pretty
expensive but we managed to find several reasonable stores …. Here I made my first
purchase at “Berksha” – I got a pink stylish dress and some tan colored fun heels. I
absolutely love what I got and they were definitely worth it! We walked to a
different area of the city where there was a castle. We walked over the mote to
enter into a large courtyard and then over to another long walkway, which crosses
over a large river. The views are just beautiful and it’s hard to leave. Walking back
to the bus I wanted to take note that I really like as you walk by the small shops and
markets, vendors here do not probe and try to get you to buy their stuff as much as
it happens back in America at tourist locations like these.
After getting back on the bus once the hospitality group is done with their
excursion, we head to La Casara – Cheese Factory. The woman welcomed us with a
broad smile and open arms excited to show us what they do here. First before
entering the factory we had to put blue wrapping over our shoes to stay sanitary for
the cheese production we were about to see. Once we did this we went down a
couple flights of stairs to the basement where the cheese is made.
She showed us all different kinds and how they were made… First she
showed us where it is mixed and where water drops from and then where it sits in
100L of salt water. After it is made, the cheese is brought downstairs to a very cold
cellar where it is stored to be aged. She said there are about 2500 cheeses that we
see here. All blocks are stamped around the side with the name of the kind of
cheese and dated. Each block must be turned, brushed off (mold develops quickly
with aging) and cleaned with oil every 1-2 days.
She shows us the different kinds of cheese produced here – some are made of
raw whole milk versus others that are made from goat milk. There is hard
parmesan cheese which is extremely heavy and looked like barrels to me. I was so
surprised when she said it was actually cheese that I could “knock” on because it
was so hard.
We then went upstairs to try several different kinds of cheeses. We first tried
a whole milk cheese with medium softness. The second was parmesan aged cheese
and was very good tasting like the kind you would want for cheese and crackers; It
was very salty though. The third was made with wine and was a medium softness
cheese. The outside rind of this cheese you could actually eat although it was dark
red in color – due to the cheese being fermented by the cheese being wrapped in
grapes. The fourth cheese was a goat cheese – very soft and delicious. We had all
the cheeses with complimentary wine. We were also offered toasted crusts of bread
to go with the wine and cheese. It was a very interesting lecture she gave us on the
cheese discussing the taste difference depends on where you get the milk from;
Different regions will produce different tasting cheeses because the cows are eating
a different variety of food/grass/corn. Here on this farm, cheese is produced from
cows that mainly just eat grass. However, other places feed their cows only fruit,
corn, or wheat. The cheese here is very cheap versus what it sells for in England ( 8
Euro/kg here versus 30 Euro/kg in England).
After leaving La Casara, we drove a long time and finally got to Venice.
Taylor and I went for a run in the surrounding area which was technically not in
Venice but was more like a suburb right outside the city. Our drive here showed us
that this surrounding area looks very industrialized but seems kind of deserted at
the time we showed up. We ran to a small park and over a walking bridge. It was
really nice there was a great bike path throughout the way. There were several kids
playing in the playground at the park and one thing that surprised me was there was
a water fountain here!! This is the first “free” water I have seen over in Europe. It is
so green and growth is just everywhere I really appreciate it. We ran back to our
Hotel Da Vinci and showered to meet up with everyone and start walking to dinner.
On our way to dinner it seemed very deserted which was odd considering it
was a Friday night and we would assume there would be more going on for a
weekend night. All the stores were closed and even when we got to the main plaza
that Patricia brought us to, there were only a few restaurants and bars – all which
didn’t seem too populated. One thing I did notice in passing, is that although it
seems very industrialized, everything is very clean. We ended up resorting to a
restaurant we pointed out at the beginning of our walk called “Buffalo Meat”. It was
very cool and retro with reddish pink lights all around. We sat inside at a black high
table with Taylor, Katie, Angelica, and Jackie. The atmosphere was very cool all
black tables and contrasting lights. There was a brick firestone place where the
cooks were right there cooking the pizzas in front of us. The food was very good!!
We got an amazing pizza with artichoke and mushroom. Pizza here in Italy is so
much better than back home in America – it has a thinner crust and is more crispy
rather than all the deep dish and fat crusts we get back home. We also got a big
salad with all different kinds of fresh vegetables in it. Both our waiters, Pepe and his
brother, were very cool and nice and recommended a few discos and bars nearby to
check out. We paid the bill and left the trendy restaurant to go back to Hotel Da
Vinci.
May 15 Day 4
We woke up today had breakfast again with a good buffet of a variety of similar
foods including rolls, cheese, ham, yogurt, fruit, cereal, and my favorite - a
cappuccino maker. Again I found it odd there were hard boiled eggs and kiwis
available – usually you don’t see at continental breakfasts back home. Also,
everywhere we have been so far has always had rolls, ham and cheese as well as a
necessary coffee machine. I know coffee/espresso is pretty big over here in Europe
and I don’t mind because I am a big fan as well.
We met with the group at 10:30 and walked to the bus stop nearby. The bus
was very squished for our short trip into the city of Venice (about 15 min). We got
off and walked over the bridge into the heart of Venice where you see water all
around and little streets and shops everywhere. As I already knew, Venice was just
how I pictured it would be – lovely, romantic, and unique because of the lack of
roads. Instead of cars and buses, there were waterways through the entire city with
gondolas and small boats transporting people.
Today we walked around the city for the entire day. Unfortunately, it was
raining the whole time, which really put a damper on the day; Nonetheless, it was
still beautiful to walk around and see. We did lots of shopping as the streets were
lined all over with shops making it hard not to stop every minute and your with a
group of girls. There are so many stores and I like how the people selling their
products aren’t demanding like they are in NYC or in other stores back home. One
thing that really is a problem here though is that it is nearly impossible to find a
public bathroom! A few old ladies saw me frantically looking around for one and
came up to me and told me the “secret” about the bathrooms here in Veniceunfortunately there are only 7 public restrooms in this city (ridiculous!) but what
you have to do is go into a café and order just an espresso which is the cheapest
thing they offer (only 1 Euro). After ordering this, then you are allowed to use the
café’s restrooms. Thanks to them I was able to finally relieve myself – how nice are
the people here? I wonder if someone back home would have stopped and helped
me like that.
The rain and cold started getting to us after several hours of nonstop bad
weather. We were very tired and cranky but finally it came time to go to dinner
after meeting with the group. I have never experienced being so thirsty until
coming here and the minute I sat down I asked for water (drank 4 bottles and was
still thirsty- is this just me or the country I am in?) The one good thing about being
thirsty at this particular restaurant is that it is one of our paid meals included in the
trip cost (water is free for once!) Lasagna was our first course – mine was cold and I
was a little nervous but asked the waitress to bring it back to be reheated. I was so
thankful that the waitress was so nice and had no problem doing so in addition to
my needy water bottle replacements I kept asking for. This is one thing I really
appreciated because when I was in France last summer I would never have been
able to do something like asking for my meal to be reheated – I was way too nervous
of the scary remarks I would get in return. Italian women are very nice here and I
seriously appreciate it. Our second course was very disappointing – French fries
and a very thin slice of fried chicken. This first of all is pretty much just fast food
and if I were going out to dinner I would have never ordered anything like this.
Secondly, I am a nutrition major and find this a terrible option to be served to our
group. The third course however was delicious – tiramisu cake. It was extremely
decadent and I didn’t know I liked tiramisu until just now. Inside the restaurant we
were all very cold and tired; Where we were sitting did not offer much heat so we
were all pretty anxious to leave and run home to warm up.
Once back at the Hotel, I lay down after the long day and didn’t realize how
much my feet hurt until now. Though tired, I decided to get up and go out with
some other people. We walked to the square we were at the other night even
though it was pretty dead and deserted the night before. We happened to run into a
group of local boys who told us of a fun bar to head to and pointed us in the
direction. The local boys were so sweet! Joseph was from England and was
studying in Venice for the summer with his friend Alex who lived here year round.
Alex was from Italy and lives here but is studying languages and was excited to be
talking in English with us. We asked the guys what they thought of Americans as we
always want to know what other people think of us or view the US. They said they
really like Americans, but are a little intimidated by the women. Italian women act
so great and snooty with their “nose up in the air”, but Americans are more laid back
and fun. They said America is so new, modern, and exciting. They are amazed with
America and say how bored they are with where they live because it is just so “old”.
This is funny though because this is what we love about being in Europe – how old
and interesting it is!
May 16 Day 5
This morning I got up and went for a short run – same route as yesterday. I got back
and met with some people at 10:45 to get the bus to Venice. Taylor, Jackie, Doug
and I all walked around the back roads of Venice – where people actually live and
have families. We got to see the village scene, which was not as touristy. We were
so lucky today being so beautiful and sunny out! We saw a church where service
was just getting out and families and kids were talking, drinking, and laughing with
each other. Kids were everywhere running all over the place.
We ended up running into the Leonardo Da Vinci museum. We decided to
pay the 5 Euro and check it out – totally worth it! This is definitely something our
group should be required to go to. He was such an amazing person and offered
gains in educating the world on human anatomy and making inventions and
architectural advances. I never realized how smart and what an influence he had on
the world. Just a few of the inventions he created were the odometer, wind gauge,
humidity measurer, directional compass, wheel to reduce friction, flying plane, self –
going car, a way to gauge different weights, catapult, tank, different bridges, scuba
diving masks etc. He also was an amazing artist and was able to work on some
amazing anatomy pictures which are everywhere throughout the museum. These
pictures were literally spot on and probably in most of our anatomy books at home.
The most interesting point he made was that we are so lucky with what he had
because he was able to overcome so many obstacles to give us these phenomenal
anatomical advances of the human body; He overcame being able to just see a dead
corpse, to then get a hold of one, to then work on one, to stomach it and investigate
it, describe it, had perspective and geometrical shapes and new how to paint it – he
had all the necessary skills that no one else did at the time to give us a complete
book of anatomy – we are SO lucky! All the pictures are so precise and exact which
is amazing for the time that this was done.
After exploring the museum we had to head back and meet with the rest of
the group. We got the waterbus to the island of Murano, which is famous for its
glass blowing. This is something I had never seen before and we saw the man make
a glass figurine horse right in front of us! He put the hot rod iron in the blazing
firepot and then took it out and made a horse by just twisting around the rod against
a hard cooler surface. After this short presentation, we walked around the island
and went into many shops that sold all kinds of things made from glass – lamps,
figurines, clocks, random sculptures, ornaments, jewelry, etc. After wondering
around into all the shops and watching the tourists walk by along the water ways
that had boats and gondolas traveling by, we eventually made our way back to the
waterbus. We got a ride back to the mainland of Venice. We walked into a couple
other stores once we got back on our way to find a restaurant for dinner. We
stopped at a small standup café to have a famous cocktail for what Venice is known
for – it is a special red wine with spritzer and sweet “appertivo” added. We started
to notice that a lot of people here do this – they stand up and have a drink and travel
from bar/café to the next where they get another drink and have a few appetizers
put out by the bar.
After our little cocktail acting like the “locals”, we found one restaurant
where they offered a free cocktail if we ate there. We sat in the back at a small table
of four. Service was okay and we decided to all get the set menu of three courses.
First course we got a spaghetti dish with seafood – mix of shrimp, mussels, and clam
in a marinara sauce. The breadbasket we were given again was very hard. As
always, there was balsamic and olive oil at the table – the three of us girls are
beginning to love the balsamic and always have to have it with out bread now! I am
100% in love with balsamic and don’t ever see myself for opting for butter at the
table again. Second course was salmon, which unfortunately had a lot of bones. The
fish came along with a mixed salad – topped with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
The meal was delicious except for the occasional bones in the fish. This is
something I don’t think would ever be served in an American restaurant – a bony
fish? After paying for dinner (service was not that great so didn’t bother leaving the
5% tip we occasionally give here), we walked around to a gelatteria. I got banana
and Nicolla (hazelenut flavor). It was delicious but it was still cold out at night so we
ran back to the bus fighting the cold along the way.
May 17 Day 6
Today we woke up at 7:15 a.m. and packed our bags (mine was hard to fit
everything). We dressed professionally and walked to the obesity clinic which I was
so excited to see and learn about! The doctor was very interesting and has been in
practice for the last 20 years after going to school for 10 years. He works with both
obese and anorexic patients. We got to watch a diagnosis of an obese patient at the
clinic where they performed several tests. The BIA test was done and uses different
electrodes attached to the body to measure where fat is distributed. Also, they did a
weight and height measurement to get the patient’s BMI. Then they did a BMR test
using a mask over the entire face to test the resting metabolic rate. Oxygen and
nitrogen are pumped into the breathing mask and the CO2 levels that are released
from the patient are taken to measure how much calories the patient should be
getting. This test is done for 20 minutes and a test is taken every minute to create a
graph that the doctors can then analyze.
We also talked to the dieticians who told us a little about themselves and
their practice here in Italy. They told us that to be a dietician they had to go through
3 years at the university and now currently get paid about 1300 Euro/month. It is a
competitive field and there are only 13 spots open at the university for this major.
The woman we talked to said she has been working for 2 years now and her
position is still fairly new. Dietetics here seems like a very new practice and they do
not seem to give us as much specific details and information as I think an American
dietician and nutrition program would have. They kept talking about counting
calories and not so much about the percentage of carbohydrates/proteins etc. It
doesn’t seem like they have a very structured guideline like we do in the U.S. I don’t
think they have the general guideline like we do such as the “My Pyramid” we all
grew up with. They do have similar tracking plans like we do though to track meals,
calories, and nutrients. Also, the dieticians tell people to be active. However, it
seems like it is not as specific as U.S. dieticians would be; I didn’t really hear any
kind of recommendation about strength training or flexibility training in addition to
cardio. All they really recommended was either walking or jogging about 30
minutes a day. It seems if more strength training was mentioned this would be
helpful in a diet plan but was not as prevalent in what they were recommending in
their practice.
We also talked to a psychologist – she really is a “MI” – motivational person.
She works with patients for only about 15-minute sessions to try and motivate
people to get fit and start to initiate physical activity. The translator we talked to
was a patient and said it was hard to find time to workout in her busy schedule – the
US has people like this psychologist to help people find time in their day to
incorporate physical activity so I wonder why they don’t have that here? Why does
this physiologist not work on helping patients find time in their days to incorporate
physical activity instead of just motivating them to do so?
The clinic gave us an interesting packet of past questions and answers
students have asked. It was interesting looking at the diagram that shows where
obesity is most prevalent in the country. It showed that obesity was more prevalent
in the southern parts of Italy, which is ironic because in the States obesity is mostly
seen in southern parts/states as well. This clinic is a growing practice because
obesity only started becoming a problem in the last 10-15 years. The center was
extremely nice and clean with good technology – all the machines were American
(Dell computer, BIA machine etc.).
After saying our goodbyes and thanking the doctors for speaking with us, we
headed back on the bus to go to Bolognia. Bolognia is known for its “red” color,
which is due to all the buildings being made out of terra cotta. This is the city
known for having the biggest university for medicine and law. We first stopped for
a three-course lunch before touring the city. The first course was amazing and was
similar to a quiche (made from spinach, cheese, egg) but didn’t have a crust. It was
presented beautifully in a perfect cylinder shape with a thick cheese topping. The
second course was vegetable lasagna. This was amazing and was served hot (just
hot I like it). There were green spinach pasta layers and it was stuffed with a variety
of different vegetables. As a side note, I want to mention that for some reason I
don’t know if it is what I have been eating here but I again am constantly thirsty! I
drank about 6 glasses of water and am still thirsty. The third course was a dessert
custard like pudding with cocoa sprinkled on top. It was very creamy and tasted
kind of like a whipped cream/cake batter mix. We asked what it was made of and he
told us just egg, cheese, and sugar. I didn’t really like it and he noticed none of us
were really eating it but was so kind to ask for a recommendation on how to make it
better. I thought this was very kind and a good way for the chef to relate back to his
customers – something I don’t think many chefs do back at home! I told him I
needed more of a crunch and a different consistency to satisfy my liking for this kind
of dish. A minute later he came out with several biscotti’s to add to the dessert – we
could use this to dip in the creamy custard. I was so satisfied and happy with how
he handled the situation and didn’t make us feel awkward with not liking his food
but instead asked and then actually did something about making the dish better.
Italian chefs are so kind and hospitable here!
After our delicious three course meal, we were taken through the streets of
Bolognia to the main plaza where there was a very cool fountain we hung out at
until our guide arrived. She took us into the main library in Bolognia – it was
massive and was actually built on top of Roman ruins, which you can see through
the glass floor we stood on top of. We then traveled to a couple museums that the
guide showed us through. One was an old library and academic center – we sat in a
big wooden room with statues of famous great professors all around us. It was
setup with auditorium seats all surrounding the main floor where a table was setup
where the “dissections” would take place. The professor would stand at the front of
the room higher up in front of a podium and use a long pointer directing students to
the body being dissected and compare it to the statue bodies next to his podium.
This was extremely interesting because this is relates to my major in learning about
the human body.
After looking at this museum, we went to a famous church where once you go
inside you find out that the church was never finished being painted. All the
churches in Europe all have a dress code requirement for tourists to be allowed
inside. You constantly have to be aware of what you are wearing – no shorts or
spaghetti straps. Inside on the left, the paintings go up the ceiling and along the
walls but stop halfway in the middle of the massive arched ceilings. The right side is
blank and doesn’t have anything on it. There are huge columns and arches in this
church, which is known as the “Gothic Style”. This style is seen in many other
churches and always has big columns, arches and stained glass windows. On the
floor of this church there is a massive sundial and every solstice the sun goes
through the windows of the church and lies directly on the day/month that is
positioned on the floor.
After this we walked to the Cantina where they served us wine and
appetizers. This is a place where they play Jazz music at night. The atmosphere was
very cool. Although it was closed (open only to us at the time) usually there are lots
of people here you can just tell. All different wine bottles and pictures were hanging
everywhere. The white wine they served us first was very good – cold and a little
bubbly. Again as a side note, I am incredibly thirsty and can’t stop drinking water
(keep refilling). The appetizers consisted of surprise - hard parmesan cheese.
There was also another medium soft cheese, pretzels and crackers, bread, salami,
bologna, and an egg/vegetable frittata. It was all very good- I’m starting to really
enjoy wine and cheese when I was never that fond of it before coming to Italy! We
walked back to the bus and headed to Florence.
We arrived around 8:30 and walked to the train station nearby to get a
couple things at the pharmacy and to see what we could find for dinner. We found
an awesome place to finally be able to get a salad!! It is kind of ironic because all the
food here is so decadent and really delicious but I have just been craving a cold fresh
vegetable salad for a meal. The place was more like a food court inside the train
station and had a buffet salad station, a fruit station, and a hot meal station. I piled
my plate high with a variety of fresh vegetables- chickpeas, beets, carrots, zucchini,
and tomatoes. It was kind of comical that it really was a food court and once you sit
down you notice there is olive oil and balsamic vinegar just like there would be
ketchup or mustard at each table. Other customers I noticed even had bottles of
wine for their “food court” dinner. I really like that wine is such a passion and part
of their culture here no matter what the circumstances. We stopped at the
supermarket on the way back to the hotel to see the different kinds of foods they
sold. Everything is so different looking compared to our packaged foods we have at
home. The store had all their own versions of similar candies, gum and crackers we
have back home. They sell so much nutella and jams but it is really hard to find
peanut butter anywhere! The wine is also extremely cheap – there were several
bottles for only about 2 Euro. After getting back to the hotel we got ready to go out
for the night. When going out at night we learned quickly that Europe or especially
the area we were in, is very different than back at home. For example, a smile or
even a glimpse of eye contact is pretty much “an open invitation to come and talk to
you” or that you want to initiate something. No matter where we were, guys
seemed to look at us and whistle or say something (usually we would hear “bella”
which means beautiful) – very different from back in US. Either way, once getting
over this and knowing how we had to act, we had a great time when we were out.
May 18 Day 7
Today we woke up and had breakfast downstairs again with the same bufett of rolls,
ham, cheese, cereals and a cappuccino machine. The rolls here are the best I have
had yet – sesame and poppy seed! All day we roamed around the city of Florence.
We did a lot of shopping today and went in to so many stores and markets. This city
is very fun and vibrant – lots of people but not just tourists. There are a lot of young
students everywhere. The statues and sculptures are amazing and so interesting to
look at and examine. We didn’t get to go into La Acedemia because the line was too
long but the replica statue outside was still an amazing sight to see. We walked to
the leather market – here the vendors are a little more like back in NYC where they
keep trying to put the price down but still not AS bad as they are in the US. I walked
into a leather store and never ever thought I would, but ended up buying an Italian
Leather Jacket! It was something that will last forever and you can tell it is real
leather by lighting a match to it and it doesn’t burn. The salesmen here were
extremely nice and seemed genuine – they didn’t probe or keep saying you have to
get this etc.
After venturing into several other stores we walked to the famous bridge
where the gold Market is. Once entering the bridge I literally felt like I was in Disney
Land – obviously this is where they were trying to replicate. There were so many
tourists in this section – especially lots of Americans. We took some pictures and
then walked along the river and looked back at the view of the bridge. There were
all houses over the bridge which is why it is so interesting to look at from a distance.
A little farther down the path along the river there was a chain (protecting
pedestrians walking along the river sidewalk and the tiny street). On this long chain
were all locks that people had written on and chained them up. Someone came up
to us and told us that these were the “love chains” – people write them to their
lovers or family and lock it up on the long chain with hundreds others. We walked
further and saw more of the statues and city buildings and landscapes. We noticed
along the way that here in Florence, there were painters and artists we did not see
in the other places we had previously been. The acrylic paintings were pretty
expensive so I didn’t bother getting any but were still all amazing works of art.
May 19 Day 8
Today we woke up at 6:30 a.m. and had a “breakfast box” given to us before
being rushed off on to the bus to head to the olive oil mill in the Tuscan countryside.
Here, we learned how olive oil is extracted and how to taste a good olive oil. The
man who spoke to us and the people here are so passionate about their work. He
said it takes a long time to get olives from trees depending on how they do it – it is
faster to “shake” trees but it is not as good for the tree for the next year. Farmers
who are truly passionate about the process of it all tend to each tree and massage
the leaves to get olives. He told us that in 1985 there was a terrible disaster for
Tuscany and the olive farmers. This was a year of extreme cold harsh conditions
that the countryside had never seen before. It was so cold that all the trees died and
it was a terrible season. It was complete devastation to all farmers as they had to
completely start from scratch and replant trees, which took five years to restart!
After getting olives you have only 48 hours to get them to the mill to start the
process. The process once started at the mill takes about 1 ½ hours. First, the
farmer will put all his olives into the bin outside and this puts them into a conveyer
to carry the olives up and inside to sort out olives from branches and twigs. After
inside and the sorting is done and then the olives go into a water bath and pass
through jets of water before entering another compartment. Then, the olives go into
a big place where it will mush into a paste. This part of the process can use either a
hammer crushing process (faster) or a slower but more traditional way that consists
of three churning wheels that the olives have to pass through several times to end
with the same kind of paste. After this, the seeds are then sorted out and filtered.
Then the paste goes into barrels where water and olive oil is differentiated – water
is heavier and sinks (similar to how it is in dressings). This is where pesticides are
sorted out because pesticides only affect water so when the water sinks and is
filtered out the pesticide goes along with it. There are three main kinds of olives
used here in Tuscany for olive oil. They tend to do cropping in mid October –
January. Earlier in the season you get a better quality olive oil but there is not as
much you can get out of it. Later in the season you will get a greater quantity of
olive oil but not as strong and specific of a taste. The olive oil is always measured in
kilos – I am not very good at conversions so it is a little tricky to follow what he says
relating to how much is made/sold/ etc. He also advised our group to never eat an
olive from a tree because it tastes extremely bitter- you must soak the olives in
water and salt for months to create the kind of olives for eating.
Once describing the process of the mill, we all sat down to try the different
olive oils and to learn how to differentiate between a good and bad olive oil. To
taste test an olive oil you must first cover a small sample cup with your hand and
cradle it in a circular motion to warm it for three minutes. The warming brings out
the aromas of the olive oil. Then you cover one nostril and take a deep breath in
through the nose to smell. Put the mouth to the cup and just barely taste it and then
suck in. A good olive oil will have a sharp taste and seems clean to the tongue. With
a bad olive oil, you can taste some defects and it will leave a longer taste in your
mouth after. Extra Virgin olive oil is the better kind of oil as it has a better quality.
In order to be extra virgin the olive oil must be less than or at 0.8 acidity creating a
very light taste. We also tried an olive oil that had a lemon flavor and was a very
light olive oil used usually for dressings. I really liked this one and it has a taste I
have never had before. This kind of olive oil is made with lemons being juiced with
olives in the regular process but are then extracted along with water and pesticide
once in the barrels. This gives the olive oil just a tone of lemon flavor because
lemons are extremely acidic and if left in the oil and not extracted, the olive oil
would be ruined.
After testing the olive oils we went into the store to make a few purchases
from the mill. I got a high quality olive oil along with a pack of basil pasta for my
family. The man was extremely nice and I loved how passionate he was about the
mill and his work with the olives. Now I am excited to try and distinguish
differences with olive oils at home.
Once leaving the olive oil mill with all our treasures, we traveled through the
beautiful Tuscany area on our way to Sienna. Tuscany is known for its beautiful
landscape and rolling hills along with its good wine, olive oil, and food. It is also
famous for the Art of Italy. This is where the Renaissance started – in Florence in
the 1200’s – Leonardo Da Vinci was here and is famous for his advances as a
scientist, artist, architect, and was the first to study the human body. The
renaissance was a movement where artists rediscovered naturalism and the antique
art of saying that bodies, humans and nature are all beautiful. This period of
naturalism brought us out of the Dark Ages where the church governed all and said
that human and earth is sinful and humans will never reach beauty.
Once traveling though the beautiful countryside we came to the city of
Sienna. We had to park the bus outside the city and take a shuttle into the town
because Sienna does not allow busses on its roads – this makes sense because it
makes it easier for pedestrians to walk around, besides the fact that the roads would
probably be too small anyways. This is also a good way to reduce pollution inside
the city – something our towns/cities should think about? Sienna is where the
famous horse races are located in the open city square. Currently however, without
the horse race going on it is just a wide beautiful open area with restaurants and
shops lining all around and the church in the middle. There are all kinds of people
just lounging around – some teenagers, other small children running around,
couples sitting together, and old men just hanging out.
We went to a restaurant with the group – thank goodness a paid lunch! We
had a starter salad that was very good! Again all they offer is balsamic vinegar and I
am not addicted to the stuff and add it immediately to my salad and on the side plate
for dipping my bread. Then we got our pizza, which was absolutely delicious but
very big! I was surprised with the large size because it was a “personalized” pizza
but was big enough to feed two people. There was a mix of vegetables of eggplant,
zucchini, red and yellow pepper, and artichoke. We saved half the pizza to have for
another meal later on and put it in a to go box. We left Sienna (only a quick stop)
but then took a two-hour bus ride to the Chianti region.
We arrived at an old famous Abbey in the Chianti region where monks used
to live. Napoleon took it over at one point I believe she said 1857? The woman that
gave us the tour of the Abbey was beautiful and so extremely nice. She was always
smiling and laughing and making jokes about how much she loves wine. I love that
all the people here are so friendly and nice- especially towards Americans and
having to speak English, which is not their native language. This woman said that
the abbey is now only used for tours, cooking classes, and wine tastings. It is also
used as a kind of hotel for older folks to come to as a very quiet and relaxing get
away.
She brought us to one of the lounge rooms where she introduced the first
wine we would be taste. This first one was a red wine with a light flavor. She said
this wine would be a good table wine, as it would complement well when eating
with food. She said in Italy there are lots of foods with delicate flavors and so that is
why the wines here are light in flavor to not overpower the taste of foods; This is
different from the French wines which are heavier in flavor because there are
heavier foods. What she just said makes sense on what kind of wine you would
want to pair, but in my mind I was thinking Italy has all pasta and bread (heavy) and
I would have thought the opposite between French and Italian wines based on the
foods they serve.
She then took us down to the wine cellar where we saw four bottles that
were as old as 1937! This would be too old to drink but is mainly just a piece of
history and is why it is so valuable. She said that wines can last up to 50 years but
any longer and the wine will go bad with not as high a percent of alcohol and will
also lose its acidity. Each year’s worth of wines depend on the cropping season and
how good the grapes are and determines what wines will be kept for a long time.
For example, 2001 was the best year for cropping season of grapes and it is
extremely hard to find a bottle from this year that is not phenomenal! The wines
that we tasted were about 2 or 3 years old and we tried 3 different kinds. I don’t
really like red wine without food so I wasn’t too crazy about the tasting. It was hard
for me to tell the difference but I didn’t mind just sipping on it while she discussed
the history of the abbey and the wine etc.
We walked around the abbey and saw the beautiful garden in the back. Next
year will be the 300th anniversary from when the abbey was destroyed and rebuilt
in 1711; The abbey will have a big festival on that date next year.
We thanked our tour guide and left the abbey to travel back through the
Chianti region to Florence. The Chianti region has lots of hills and is very high up in
elevation explaining why it is so much cooler at the abbey. Our guide told us that
usually the temperature here is much hotter and is why the region is such a good
place for growing grapes for wine. On the way back, we stopped at a restaurant for
dinner in Florence. The staff was all so friendly from the minute we stepped into the
place. They gave us the back room to our group and smiled with our entrance
saying they love Americans as they set our tables. We got a delicious three-course
meal from the friendly waiters that kept laughing and making small conversation.
The first course was a delicious fresh salad, which was followed by the main course
of some kind of very tender meat with potatoes, meat sauce and garnished with
peas. There was a weird dessert that followed the first two outstanding dishes –
this was custard that was too soft and felt weird when I went to eat it. We finished
the meal and on our way out signed the visitor’s book saying we had a great time
and loved the food and wait staff!
May 20 Day 9
This morning I woke up and went for a run early in the morning. Then in the late
morning, we met in the lobby with a local Italian dietician. She was a very nice
woman but had a hard accent and was a little difficult to understand. She told us
that she started her career after having her first child and wanted to make sure she
could help him; She decided that health is directly related to nutrition and is what
she wanted to focus on. She works on health promotion and education. She has
worked in clinical settings and also worked with smokers, alcoholics, and addicts to
develop diet nutrition plans. She complemented us on being passionate in this field
and took note that we were “fit and slim Americans”. I thought this was funny
because we are, but as a whole America is made up of lots of obese people.
She went on to discuss the “Eubiotic Theory” which is the type of nutrition
she works with – Mediterranean diet. She works in this because it has been proven
to be the best diet in the world to prevent cancers. The Mediterranean diet consists
of cereals, legumes, vegetables, and olive oil. It is important in this diet to reduce
excessive protein, animal fat, sugar, and salt. It is also important to take into
consideration the quality of each and every food and to abide by the superiority of
fresh food or “still living” food. The Eubiotic Theory is based on several points,
which are all very similar or pretty much the same as what we go by in the U.S.
Some of the points for example were to consider the food’s biologic integrity, to
replace animal products with vegetables, and to look at the overall meal
composition. Her points also mentioned to moderate red meats. Most of her points
and the majority of her information was very repetitive of what we already had
heard and knew. She was extremely nice but I feel like I didn’t really get much out
of the lecture.
After the lecture we were free to walk through the city until the next activity.
We had lunch in an open park/plaza area with people again just lounging around
everywhere – lots of kids playing and always small dogs running around alongside
their owners without a leash.
After meeting up with the group at 2:00 we took a bus to Pharmacy Lab,
which is extremely famous. It is so old and well known that they don’t need to
spend any money on advertisement because it is already so publicized from people
writing stories or interviewing the factory as it is. People from all over the world
including celebrities seek them out. The woman who would be giving us our tour
was actually from Pennsylvania and we were so lucky to have such a thorough guide
who was so easy to understand. She showed us the production of all their products
produced here– soap, creams, cologne, candles, potpourri and liquor. The soaps
they make use plant oils and not animal fat like most. They let the soap sit for six
months and allow the smell and fragrance to concentrate. She also showed us the
packaging process and we looked at the machine that stamps and marks the
package and the workers that hand stamp and wrap the soaps and boxes. As for the
cologne process, she showed us how the oils are extracted. I liked learning about
the liquor process best. She showed us where they put the herbs in to extract the
flavors for the liquor. She showed us how they put them in the tinker and the
alcohol runs through the raw herbs and spices used to create the strong intense
flavor. They use all raw materials and she kept repeating this because this is what
makes the liquors so special and intense. They then let us taste test all the liquors –
each had the most distinct and intense flavor I have ever tasted, all exactly like
whatever the material used to make it. Some of the flavored liquors were licorice,
chocolate(like biting into a chocolate bar), cinnamon (tasted exactly like a cinnamon
stick), rose (smelled and tasted like a rose) and cappuccino. All the liquors were
very expensive. They also make herbal remedies, lozenges and teas here at the
factory. The lozenges tasted more like an altoid to me. We then went to where they
make the potpourri and candles. We looked at how they made the candles and how
they poured the hot melted wax into a large pot and then poured it into different
cases to harden. The rose candle was my favorite and was being hand carved right
there. This candle smelled amazing and is my favorite of all of them. We then met
the man who makes the machine that works on the terra cotta that holds potpourri.
The terra cotta is a beautiful color and is in the shape of a pomegranate, which
represents good luck. The man was so proud and so happy to show us his
“invention” and kept bellowing and laughing to us. I took a picture with him next to
the machine. This is another thing I have noticed about this country – everyone is so
extremely passionate about what it is they do. When they work on something it is
something that they put their life into.
After going through each part of the factory I came to really appreciate how
each and everything is made – there is so much labor that goes into each
individualized piece that this factory produces. Everything is hand done, they lick
and peel each label and the candles are all hand painted with the gold emblem. It
seems so tedious, but this is the work that makes this pharmacy so special and well
known; Detail and time spent, is what is important to them here. She told us they
take on many student interns here for pharmacy, biology and chemistry majors.
We took the bus back and had some free time before dinner so Taylor and I
walked back to the beautiful bridge to catch the view around sunset. Over here in
Europe, the sunsets are so much later than back home. I have also noticed that the
light here is much more clear and bright. It makes landscapes and surrounding
areas and buildings look crisp, fresh and new versus at home I feel like the light is
more dirty and stale looking. Once walking to the bridge and catching the great
view we go back to where the lovelocks were and put our own additions to the
chain. After this we walked around back the plaza where the statues were at.
Everyone is lounging around, music playing, an old man playing a guitar, other
vendors displaying their trinkets and art to sell. It is all such a beautiful scene
especially with the statues all around. Each statue here is so amazing – the muscle
and detail and the passion you see in their eyes. I like how each of the statues really
seem to try and tell a story.
We found a restaurant and sat down at a small place- nothing too
fancy but still very good food. I ordered a small green salad along with a dish of
penne, tomato, zucchini and peppers in a sauce. It was all very good but I am
starting to feel how the food here seems very heavy because there is always so much
bread and pasta. Always there is a breadbasket brought to start the meal (along
with olive oil and balsamic of course). Also, I want to take note that sometimes it is
hard to decipher what exactly the menu is saying – for example, I ordered a “green”
salad, thinking it is probably a house salad with maybe carrots and tomatoes or
some kind of other vegetables. However, I was literally brought only a “green” salad
– no other vegetables but only green lettuce and field greens. I find this a little odd
and appreciate back home the variety you will get when ordering just a salad.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel and got a little lost on the way but
ended up running into some more of the “back roads” of Florence. We ran into what
seemed to be neighborhoods where many different races of people lived. There
were lots of Indian and blacks here. After going through some of these
neighborhoods, we eventually found our way back and treated ourselves to some
gelato along the way. This was the best gelato I have ever had and really didn’t even
look like it would be that good from the looks of the building. I got a walnut flavor
with another scoop of scroky ( chocolate flavor with nuts and hazelnut).
Once getting back to the hotel, we rounded up a group of people to go out for
the night and check out the nightlife. We walked to an area that we heard might be
good. Along the way, we ran into a guy we met the night before – Bryan. He pointed
us out and asked if we remembered meeting him the other day. This man was so
incredibly nice and I knew it was genuine and not creepy because he took all of our
friends including the other males we were with (which is usually unlikely to be nice
to guys too). He told us where the good bars and clubs would be and even treated
us to a free drink for the entire group we were with. He also showed us the side
restaurant from the bar we were at and said if anyone wanted anything to eat to
come here after the club and all would be paid for. I cannot get over how nice
everyone is here – this is a prime example of how sweet and caring the people are
here. They are all just smiles and about having fun and are surprisingly extremely
nice to Americans.
May 21 Day 10
Today we woke up to head to the activity I have been most looking forward to – a
cooking class!! We walked to the famous culinary institute, where people from all
over the world will come to take classes. We arrived and met the two instructors
that would be guiding us through the market and then helping us make a threecourse meal for lunch. Again, the two women were all smiles and excited to greet us
and show us around!
They took us to the “center market” where everyone in the city gets all their
fresh foods from and is open from 7:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. everyday. The first floor is
meats, bread and fish and the second floor is fruits, vegetables and cheese.
However, today when we went through, the market it was set up all on the first floor
because there was construction going on. Once we walk in there are people
everywhere and just mounds of fresh food from right to left. The market is setup
like small stations where you go to each station for what you want to get from that
vendor.
First we travel through the fish section – they are known for selling their
mackerel, bluefish, and shellfish. We then go on to the meat section – which can be
hard to stomach what we see through the glass windows. It is so interesting they
use literally every single part of the body – we saw the small intestine, stomach
lining, uterus, tongue, and trepe. A lot of these different body parts are used to make
stews. Our guide told us that Italy usually eats sheep and goat in the south and more
boar and chicken in the north flatlands. We then travel on to the vegetable area –
everything is just in mounds, fresh, crisp and vibrant in color! The cheese shop is
also located in the market – where we are told they are most famous for their
parmesan. It is nice that here you can sample all the different kinds of cheeses or
hams. Sometimes you have to ask but other times they simply offer or have it laid
out with toothpicks for customers to sample. There is also a dried fruit stand I with
mounds of all different kinds of fruits – some I have never heard of and others which
seem like they would be delicious for a fruit snack. Some fun ones I decided to try
were ginger, papaya, mango, passion fruit, star fruit, kiwi and kumquat – they
literally had every single kind of fruit possible. The fruit is all so fresh and looks
delicious. Spices, herbs, and dried peppers etc. hang and are in cases just about
everywhere. The market is truly a spectacular place to see.
After venturing out of the market we walked back to the culinary institute to
start our cooking class. The large group was split up into three smaller groups
according to what we would be making – biscotti, chicken cattitorie and spinachricotta stuffed ravioli. Taylor and I were partners in making the chicken cattitorie
dish. The chicken we were given to use was extremely low quality and I really
questioned if this was suitable to be using. In the states we definitely would have
been given boneless clean slabs of meat but here the meat was half fat and still half
attached to bone – pretty messy. When I make this dish at home I will definitely use
easier pieces of clean-cut boneless meat pieces. For our dish we used a red wine
when cooking the chicken and then added a tomato sauce and olives for it to simmer
in. While our dish was cooking we helped make the ravioli’s – I have always wanted
to learn how to make these homemade! We used three different kinds of pastas to
roll out and make the ravioli pieces – yellow color pasta, spinach, and tomato. We
then used frozen spinach and drained out the water and mixed it with ricotta cheese
to make a stuffing for the raviolis. After rolling out the pasta we used a small cookie
cutter to make the shapes to put together for the ravioli. We basted each piece with
a little bit of egg mix and then put on the stuffing and closed the ravioli with another
cutout. It took a while to get all the ravioli done but eventually we cooked all of it
and it were finally ready to be served. We got to eat the three-course meal along
with a bread basket and red wine (of course).
The meal was absolutely amazing and I could not believe how lucky we were
to work here in this environment and with these chef’s. The institute is a wellknown place and is a beautiful facility. They gave us the recipes of all the dishes we
made and I can’t wait to bring it home and cook for my family! My family is Italian
so my Dad will seriously appreciate that I will be able to make him homemade
ravioli – just like his “Uncle Joe” always used to. Biscotti’s have always been my
favorite so I am excited to compare the recipe to the multiple kinds of recipes I have
used at home. This culinary institute also offers classes and internships – this would
be such an amazing experience but it is very expensive to go here (I learned after
asking for more information on the subject).
After eating and cleaning up the area we thanked the amazing staff and left to
walk around Florence for a little bit. We were all kind of tired so I decided to lounge
out on the lawn in front of the train station and just take in the surroundings for a
little bit while resting. There were people like me just laying around on the grass –
some eating lunch or snacks, other couples kissing nearby, lots of small children and
dogs wandering and playing. Family is a big part of their culture here – I have
always noticed small children accompanied with an older grandparent. Also, there
are so many dogs here – usually small sized ones that I have seen so far that just
wander around with no leash but come right back to their owner. They are
extremely well behaved – something I wish we had in the States (I know my dog
barks at anything that walks by). Also, in the States family is not as big a part of our
culture as it is here. My grandparents and cousins all live at least over an hour apart
from each other. Here however, I always see grandparents playing and walking
with younger kids and toddlers which I think is so great and very important. This
might even explain why the kids here seem so lively and happy and are never crying
or acting up. I have not seen one kid crying, whining, or complaining the entire time
I have been here thus far.
After laying around for a while we headed back to the hotel to get ready for
diner. We tried to go to La Academia before it closed before dinner but
unfortunately it was closed. Sometimes it is hard to understand the timing of when
things are opened or closed. It seems that stores and places don’t really open until
later and then once everything is in full swing there is a big break time between
1:00- 4:00 where everything is closed. Then to top it off, a lot of stores just close
around 6:00 or so making it difficult to understand when certain places are open
that you want to go to. Therefore, when we arrived at La Academia and it was
closed we decided to head to dinner instead.
We walked to the outskirts of the main heart of the city (where we had
already mostly seen all day and yesterday). Now we were able to see the other side
of the city where people were actually living and housed with families. Clothes hung
outside every window and lots of different looking people were outside their doors
or bringing laundry to the Laundromat. It was fun to see this side of the city where
we could get more of a feel for how the locals lived. We found a small restaurant
with a great selection of foods for a fabulous price – 5 Euro for a bufett of all you can
eat tapas, appetizers, and salads. There are lots of appetizers here in Italy with
mostly bread and something on top. In this case, we saw a brushetta, a bread sliced
with salami and cheese, lots of olives and finger sandwiches, two different kinds of
orzo salads – one barley and mushroom, the other with carrot and cucumber, and
three different kinds of mixed salads. The mixed salads were extremely delicious –
one had cantaloupe, mozzarella, and honeydew melon. Another had anchovies,
crabmeat, small shrimps, radish and carrots. The other one was similar to what
Taylor had gotten for lunch earlier in the day – it was mixed greens, tomatoes, and
vegetables with bread (similar to croutons but more soggy in texture). It was the
perfect meal because we got to try a little bit of everything and with the “all you can
eat buffet” we were definitely left feeling full. We walked back to the hotel taking in
the beautiful sun setting and small vendors cleaning and packing up their shops.
The street vendors start rolling up their artwork and a few men are outside playing
on their guitar or listening to the others playing. All along our walk I love to take in
the scenery of cafes where people are outside enjoying a glass of wine or a cocktail.
There is always a small dish of chips, olives, or bread along with their drinks. People
are laughing and relaxing in the outdoor areas.
Saturday May 22 Day 11
On our way to Nice we learn a couple more things about Europe from our tour
guide: There are 27 European countries – surprisingly Switzerland is not. Every
law has to go with the European law. Brussels and Truplene are the capitals of the
EU. Germany has the best economy and is the strongest with the biggest population
out of all the European countries. However, this puts a lot of pressure on Germany
and other good economies because the EU’s money source is based on country’s
GDP- the richer or greater a country’s GDP, the more money they have to give to the
EU. Based on the GDP is how much money a country can put in or take out. Also,
what is unique about the EU is that people are allowed to move freely – people don’t
need visas anywhere. Therefore, no one needs a visa to attend university or a
career. This unique feature is a boost for careers and education. Another important
note is the high number of gypsies throughout Europe. Gypsies come from Eastern
Europe – Libya and Romania where they were very unwanted and have a very low
education level.
Aside from the lessons we learned about some of the unique feature of
Europe, on our way to Nice we stopped in Pisa. It was very cool to see the leaning
tower and learn about its history and architecture. Apparently it is leaning due to
bad architecture in addition to the soil it was built on. Originally, the tower was
built up to the fourth level and then the building of the structure stopped for about
100 years for unknown reasons. It continued to build up more layers after the 100
years of having nothing done on it and after realizing that it was sturdy even though
it was leaning. Since then, there has been a lot of maintenance required replacement (of pillars), reconstruction and cleaning. It is really bizarre to finally
see with my own eyes this amazing structure that actually is leaning. The other
buildings were just as fantastic – there was the famous Basillica (church) that is
known for its outstanding acoustics. It has amazing statues and intricate details
throughout the entire outside exterior. It is kind of weird though there is really
nothing else in the city of Pisa besides the leaning tower and the famous church.
There are so many tourists here – many ethnicities I have not seen yet (lots of
Japanese, Chinese, and surprise – lots of American families).
After taking several pictures and enjoying the sunny weather in Pisa, we took
the bus to continue the journey to Nice. On the way we stopped at a rest stop for
lunch, which I have to make note about the changes between a European rest stop
and what we are used to back in the states. Here we walk in to a big bufett of fresh
foods, salad bar, and cooks all around making fresh pastas and meat. I don’t
understand why we can’t have rest stops as simple and delicious as these here.
Instead, we are used to having only 5 different kinds of fast food options – never
anything fresh or with so many different hot/cold options to choose from. It is kind
of like a healthy food court setting – something we need to implement in the states.
After our lunch and some more driving, we arrived at a famous perfumery –
Fragonard Perfumery. We had a short tour and then got to browse around in their
shop. We learned that they hire a few “noses” and there are only a few in the world.
These are the professionals that assess each smell and have to go through ten years
of training that can only be done so in France. They get paid a LOT which
compensates for all the rules they have to live by; They can’t drink alcohol, eat spicy
foods, different spices, and have to abide by a strict diet so that their senses are not
affected. After learning and smelling the different scents and going through their
small factory, we went upstairs to the shop. Our tour guide showed us the five
popular scents for women as well as the well-known scents in cologne. They sell
perfume, cologne, soap and lotions here. I bought the cologne Belle Geuxioux
(which means handsome man) for my boyfriend Matt. I really think he will like it
and appreciate the wonderful scent and the fact that I got it from France’s famous
Fragonard perfume factory. Everything here was pretty expensive but well worth it.
After visiting the perfumery, it was only a short while on the bus until we
finally reached our Hotel “All Seasons” in Nice, France! This was a very nice hotel
and gave water, coffee, and tea as a complimentary option – something we have not
received yet and I was so excited to finally be offered for free! The rooms were quite
modern and chic and finally had a TV with cable! We got ready and headed outside
to explore the city and get dinner.
The walk was absolutely beautiful along the water – very pedestrian
friendly!! There are sidewalks along the entire walk from our hotel and then lead to
a fantastic boardwalk that is very wide to accommodate all kinds of people doing
different activities. There are so many people out and about and active here – lots of
rollerbladers, bikers, runners etc. Even though the sun is setting and it is getting
late you would have guessed it was the midday with all the commotion and activity
on the boardwalk and in the street. After walking along the water and taking in the
beautiful beach scenery, we walk to the right into the area of “old Nice” to find a
massive market with cafes and restaurants everywhere lining the market and tents.
It is hard to decide where to eat because there are so many people everywhere and
the food looks just as delicious at each place. We randomly select one of the
restaurants that looks cool because of the chic tables and lighting under its outside
umbrellas. The waiter is a little impatient with our indecisiveness on what to order
– something I take up as a little different from the U.S. Back home it is easier to take
a little longer to order and waiters don’t usually mind giving you a few more
minutes to decide. However, here, the pressure was on when our waiter kept
coming back and asking for our order. Either way we knew what ever we got would
be amazing… and it was! I ordered a large salad with prawns, salmon, tomato with
crispy bread on the side. We also ordered a glass of house wine, which was a very
good choice.
We went shopping a little after dinner and then walked into a bar that where
there was a lot of commotion coming from all the doors and windows. We walked in
and found out that a big soccer game was going on – the international futbol game
between Munich and another big name team. Everyone here was going crazy
shouting at the TV and having a good time with each other while intensely watching
the screen rooting for their team. It was really cool to see something like this, as it
was the end of such an intense game of this country’s favorite sport. After the game
was over, the bar cleared out very fast. We finished the drinks we got and headed
back to the hotel.
Sunday May 23 Day 12
Today we got up and had breakfast (extremely delicious buffet of fruits, fresh
squeezed orange juice, and different cereals) and then got on the bus to meet our
tour guide who would be taking us to Antibes – a nearby village (45 minutes away
on bus) next to Nice. Along the way we learned a few things about Nice and the
surrounding area:
-Nice is the 5th largest city in France and is the capital of the French Riviera.
We passed the children’s hospital that is located right on the water and is where
Angelina Jolie recently gave birth to her twins. Nice is surrounded by the Pre-Alps
and sea which creates the lack of space - a crucial problem it is constantly running
into. This lack of space is the main reason for why it is so expensive to live here – 1
sq. meter is 6-10,000 Euro (on the hill it is the highest, in the valley it is cheaper).
However, this is no comparison to 1 sq. meter being 12-25,000 Euro in Monaco –
this is the most expensive place to live in on the French Riviera.
Once we arrived in Antibes we got out of our bus and started the short
walking tour with Brigitte. This town of Antibes was absolutely gorgeous but I just
wish we had more time to enjoy it! She pointed out a couple places including a
famous Picasso museum which we heard was a phenomenal museum but wouldn’t
have time to go inside and see. I was pretty disappointed about this and hope that
next year or in other years this museum will be incorporated in part of the trip.
After passing through some small alleyways and walking around for a bit, we
came to a fresh outdoor market – this is the first open air market we have been to
yet. There were rows of farmers with their goods displayed beautifully. Rows of
fresh vegetables, fruit, spices, tapenades, olives etc. were lined all along the sides
and middle of the market walkway. One woman held out a sample of what she was
selling – a pickled onion. I had never heard of this before but tried it anyways and to
my surprise actually really enjoyed it. Another stand was selling all sorts of
tapenades along with a few spicy mustards. There were samples on top of small
pieces of bread for each tapenade and we tried a bunch of different kinds – some
spicy, some rich in flavor, some very salty and one with goat cheese. There was such
a wide variety that I didn’t know what to choose from so I ended up walking away
empty handed thinking I should wait until the last day of our trip to buy a tapenade
to bring back home to my mom (tapenades are her favorite – something we don’t
see a lot of at home).
After our adventures through the fresh market in Antibes, we headed back to
the bus to continue on to Cannes. The famous international film festival was still
going on and we were lucky to catch the area in its last day of the festival. I didn’t
know much about the film festival – they are all international foreign films that I
haven’t really heard of. We passed a beautiful harbor, some public beaches, and lots
of stores and restaurants before getting to the area where the red carpet was. We
took a few pictures in front of the famous red carpet and then walked around for a
bit. We saw some of the handprints of famous actors and actresses. We also walked
into the tent where they sell all the photographs that the paparazzi take when
celebrities enter the red carpet (taken from this year and years past). After walking
through the film festival area and white tents, we crossed over to the street area and
to where all the stores and restaurants were. There were not many “locals” here as
it is a big tourist attraction being the film festival and all. We sat down at a small
restaurant facing the street with a few outdoor tables. It wasn’t anything fancy but
we ordered some Panini’s while watching some of the interesting people walking by.
After waiting for a very long time (service here is pretty terrible) we took our
sandwiches to go and headed toward the church at the top of a big hill we had to
climb up. After climbing a lot of steep stairs we made it to the top of the
church/castle. The view was unbelievable and well worth the hike in the heat. We
could see all of Cannes from such a high up view. Looking out on the blue ocean, the
white tents, the commotion from down below, and then behind all this were just
normal people laying out on their outside porches of their apartments sunning
(today was a Sunday so many people just lounging around not doing much). You
could see all of the rooftops from up here - all so beautiful and different from what
we are used to. Here they are all stucco and different shades of red. There are
clotheslines hanging from every window and so many plants and flowers hanging
from every window or on top of every possible terrace or porch of each apartment.
We could even see Nice in the far distance! After getting a good look around we
headed back down the steep steps and walked back to the bus. We didn’t see any
celebrities but I was still very impressed by the whole scene and elegance of the city
of Cannes.
We took our bus to our next stop at the museum “King of Cooks”. The writeup in our itinerary made the museum sound really interesting and cool but it was
actually a big disappointment to the majority of the group… it was very boring and
not too interesting of a museum as we all thought. It wasn’t very educational
besides the fact of how famous this man was and what he did with food –
revolutionized the culinary works of restaurants and French cuisine. I would
suggest in the future trying and finding a different museum that would offer a little
more than this one did.
After taking the bus back to our hotel in Nice we got ready for the night. We
went out to a bar called “Wayne’s” which was mostly Americans but we ran into
several other kinds of people – lots Australians and English/British. We started
talking to one girl that was so funny, loud and fun. Her boyfriend came over and I
thought it was so funny because when we said we were from the states he said oh ok
well “Howdy!” We couldn’t stop laughing and told him that is only what you say in
Texas and none of us speak like that. It makes me wonder if a lot of other people
from other countries think of us Americans as speaking or acting a certain way –
certainly no one we were with is from Texas nor do I know anyone who says
“howdy”.
Monday May 24 Day 13
Today we woke up to meet with our tour guide Brigitte again to get a tour of Old
Nice. This tour just went around the streets and areas we had already become
familiar with the day and night before – the Plazas, Fountains, and market. The
market during the day is quite different than all the restaurants that we see under
its tents at night though. There are lots of antiques, old artwork, and random odd
trinkets and collectibles. The big Plaza we ended our tour in has streets down the
sides with expensive shops as well as affordable well-known stores as well (H & M a well known international store we have at home). After the two-hour tour, our
group parted ways to spend the rest of our time exploring the area on our own.
Taylor and I had seen all around this area already so we headed to the train station
to try and figure out our transportation to Spain after our program ended here in
Nice tomorrow. Unfortunately, Monday the 24th in France is a national bank holiday
so the information booth at the station was closed and we were told to come back in
the morning. After being a little frustrated in not being able to navigate the train
station and understand what to do for our tickets to get to Spain, we left and went
back to the hotel for our next activity.
We put on our bathing suits and headed out for a planned picnic with a local
dietician. We walked the opposite way of where we had already seen and walked
around (Old Nice) and headed to the left of the harbor where our hotel was located
near. We were taken to an area right along the beach where only locals go and hang
out. The scene was something I have never seen before and was absolutely
beautiful – the beach was had large jagged white rocks right on top of its turquoise
blue water with small crashing waves. There are also small areas of a few yards
wide where kids and people will go down to cool off in the water. Even though it
was a little uncomfortable at first, we all managed to sit along a small area of a large
jagged rock surrounded by locals.
After meeting the dietician we carried the foods we would need for our picnic
down to this small area. Today we would be learning to make the classic Nicoux
salad. She was so in depth about informing us each detail on the salad – how to
prepare it and the story behind each vegetable we were using. First we started with
cutting tomatoes. We had to take out all the seeds because apparently they are bad
for the digestive system (I never knew this- I always keep the juicy part that the
seeds are in). We learned that the traditional way to prepare tomatoes is to throw
them in boiling water for a few seconds to take off the outer part of the skin, which
is bad for your digestive system as well. However, she told us that although this is
the traditional way, not many people waste their time doing this because it is just
another step that takes time – time not so many people have these days. Another
vegetable we have to prepare is the large peapods she hands us; We have to open
the pods and take out each of the large peas. Each pea is still enclosed in another
covering that you have to open with your fingers to get at to eat. We also use hardboiled eggs to add to the salad. We learn that the color of the yolk is very important
– the darker it is in yellow color the better it is for you. We also chop some onion
and red pepper. Then the next and most educational lesson of the day comes the
introduction of the artichoke we will need to prepare. I never knew you could just
take a raw artichoke and break the leaves right off to eat. The proper way to
prepare an artichoke is to peel off each strip until you get to the core where it is
softer. Once you are at this point you have to cut off any remaining green/purple or
hard parts of the artichoke. You then cut it in half and then take out the small hairy
part in the center (these taste very bitter and you need to make sure it is very clean
and no hairs are left). Now you are done and just have to put some lemon on top
and let them brown just after sitting for only a few minutes. Now they turn into the
artichoke we recognize as what we are used to seeing/eating. The old man sitting
next to us took my artichoke out of my hands and showed our group how to do it –
cutting and shaving the artichoke with such ease and quickness. He wanted to show
our group how to do it and I appreciated his help and concern with our group – it
was quite comical. Another group of locals sitting next to us apparently made a
comment asking if we were kindergarteners, asking where we came from if we
didn’t know something as simple as the lessons she was giving us. I was a little
embarrassed but it was quite funny because it seemed like we really didn’t know
much of anything at all.
After putting all the vegetables on top mixed greens, we put some tuna and a
few anchovies on top (only a few anchovies because they are extremely salty).
TaDa! I was so impressed with how delicious, fresh and colorful my salad looked. I
forgot to mention the appetizer our dietician gave us during our preparation of our
Nicioux salad. I don’t know the name of the appetizer but it was a rather thick bread
with marinated onions on top. It reminded me of a thick pizza with thick layer of
onions for the topping. It sounds very odd and maybe a little disgusting but to my
surprise it was absolutely delicious!!
After making our salad we all were allowed to eat. We learned that only the
outsiders (such as people walking by) say Bon Appétit. Also, it is a rule that no one
is allowed to eat or pick at their food until the main person who has prepared the
food allows their guests to do so. She taught us a few things about food and
nutrition while we ate. She told us how your body depends on what you eat to
control its internal temperature. For example, you should eat tomatoes in the
summer because it is classified as a “colder” vegetable because it takes less energy
for your body to digest. There are also vegetables that are longer to digest and will
affect your internal temperature in the reverse effect.
After taking a break from all the food we ate we walked down to the water
and took a few pictures. Coming back to the food area, she brought out the next
course of a famous French dish – ratatouille. She made this at home and
traditionally it consists of seven different vegetables that all need to be cooked
separately. She made this at home and brought it along with some fresh French
Baguettes. The ratatouille and salad have honestly been the best meal I have had on
this entire trip. I loved how fresh and healthy all the food we were eating was. Even
though I was completely stuffed, she had a famous dessert she brought for us to try.
This was absolutely amazing – it looked similar to a lemon tart with a crust bottom
and sugar topping, but instead of a lemon filling the filling was made of some sort of
green vegetable. This is what makes the dish so unique – the filling is made from a
vegetable that only grows in the surrounding area of Nice. The dessert was such a
light yet sweet way to finish off the meal – not too heavy or too decadent, it was a
light flavor. This dietician was so interesting and had so much to say. Her English
was perfect and we could understand and discuss everything she had to say. We
learned that she did her own schooling and taught herself the material to earn her
degree as a dietician. She worked in China for a while and now is stationed here in
Nice. She really instilled that nutrition is the base to curing all diseases and it is the
core of prevention. Even though that seems so obvious I don’t think it really ever hit
me until she put it like that. If medicine and education puts money into anything at
all, they should put it into nutrition because it is the core to preventing all disease
and aches and pains. I enjoyed every word that she had to say and really
appreciated all that she offered to our group today. We were so lucky to work and
learn from such an amazing and passionate dietician. She has had so much
experience and was so patient and kind to all of us. I would love to learn more about
her practice here and am going to check back into looking her up on my own.
After cleaning the area we walked back to the hotel. I would like to take note
how important recycling was to her – we had to put all the food in a food basket
(compost) and all the paper and plastic went in another bag that she took back
home to recycle (we couldn’t throw it in the normal trashcan at the beach). I
thought this was so great how much she cared and made sure we were putting the
trash in the right bags.
Although we were so stuffed from such a big meal, we didn’t want to give up
the money we had paid for the scheduled three-course meal we were supposed to
be going to. In the future, I hope the program will space this out and plan the meals
that we were given a little better. Either way, we went with the group to a cute little
restaurant to get our three-course meal. We were given the entire back area of the
restaurant to ourselves – extremely nice. We were given wine and a breadbasket to
start while we waited for our meal. This was the first place where we had two
choices of what we would like to eat for each course. I chose the mixed salad for my
first course and the fish in a cream sauce for my second. Each was very good but the
fish I was a little bland and slightly overcooked. The sauce was also not as good as it
could have been and lacked certain strength in flavor. The third course, desert, was
my all time favorite and I want to recreate it at home. It was a baked apple
(skinless) that was covered in a cinnamon dusting and had a side of vanilla bean
sorbet. The sorbet was so strong and the flavor complemented the apple perfectly.
These courses were amazing and even though I was not very hungry going into the
meal, I managed to thoroughly enjoy and eat most of it – how could I not?
May 25 Last Day
Today we woke up at a decent hour because we had the entire morning free. Thank
goodness because I had a lot of packing to do. After stuffing my suitcases full with
all my treasures and souveniers, we dressed professionally and headed on the bus
to go to the “Archet Hospital” to learn about their studies and the way the hospital
works here in Nice. Once arriving, the hospital was different than what I expected.
The first floor where we walked in was very open and had a small cafeteria and
random people just seemed to be walking around and carrying coffee. There were
lots of windows looking out on the beautiful scenery of Nice and it seemed very
clean and orderly. After going up three floors on the elevator we arrived in the ER
unit of the hospital. I thought this was very weird because it would be difficult for
emergency situations to get all the way up to the third floor. All of the hospitals I
have been to (at home) have the ER on the first floor so ambulances have direct
access to getting patients in as quickly as possible. After finding where we needed
to go in the building, we met the doctor we would be speaking with. He brought us
to a smaller room and discussed how the hospital works and the doctors that work
here. He went over the schooling process and how the French train their
professionals and work within the medical field. He said it takes about 10 years of
schooling at university to become a doctor. He said it is a lot more competitive here
in Nice in the southern part of France to get schooling in the medical field.
Therefore, students have been studying and getting their degree in the northern
parts of France where it is a lot easier. Then once getting their degrees, they will
move down to Nice and get a job at the hospitals here.
In addition to discussing the different schooling in France, he then took us on
a short tour down to the dieticians office where we were able to look into a few of
the patient rooms along the way. The patients rooms were all very plain looking
with 2 beds and a side table – nothing fancy. He then took us to the room where
dieticians and doctors get their IV bags to give to patients. It was interesting to
learn that these bags can supple all of the nutrients necessary to sustain life. He
showed us two types – one that once opened only lasts 30 days and the other IV
pack can last up to three years.
All of the people and doctors here are extremely funny and friendly. They all
don’t stop laughing and joking with each other and it makes it seem like an
extremely laid back and fun environment to work in. The environment of this
hospital seems so much different than what we are used to at home. In the States, I
feel like hospital settings are almost always busy, hectic, and stressful. People are
always running around and trying to fill out all tasks while working with incoming
problems and difficult patients. However here in Nice, the hospital setting seems
relaxed and calm – I hope everyone is doing their job!
The man thanked us for coming and lead us out with smiles and asking our
group to return in the future. He was extremely nice and funny but I wish we had
learned a little bit more about how the hospital works specifically and maybe had
been able to speak to some of the other women dieticians that work there. We
learned more about the schooling of doctors throughout France.
OVERALL EXPERIENCE
Overall, this trip has opened my eyes to new cultures, ideas, medicines and
job opportunities that I never knew I would be able to see and experience. My
favorite activity our group did was when working with the dietician on the local
beach in Nice, France. The entire lesson taught me so much and was such a great
hands-on experience. I also appreciated learning about the Ayurvedic medicine,
which is something I had never heard of before and now am extremely interested in!
I have even looked up this medicine at home and read up on it so I can apply the
practice in my life. I think it is important that these activities were incorporated in
the program as it is these kinds of learning experiences that we could only get from
being in this environment here in Europe.
The people here have been extremely nice and generous. Although I don’t
like some of the small inconveniences such as the water differences, weird toilets,
and being looked at harshly for wearing shorts, I loved the atmosphere and scenery
everywhere I went. I love how family is a big part of their culture. I also
appreciated how little technology (cell phones, ipods, etc.) are used here. These
technologies have forced our nations citizens to isolate themselves by always
focusing on either texting friends, having a phone glued to their ear, or being
completely enthralled in their own head banging music of the headphones they
constantly keep in their ears. Here in Europe, everyone is so lively and active.
There are always a group of boys playing soccer or running around. These are some
of the cultural aspects I truly appreciated.
The two weeks went by so fast but through these experiences and lessons
learned, I feel like I am so much more of a well-rounded person and appreciate the
cultures and places I have been able to experience and see. Because of this, I hope to
continue learning and studying abroad in the future!