Early Morning Adventures

I mentioned a whirlwind of experiences. Getting lost. My school is in Pollenzo, which is about 5 kilometres away from Bra. There is a bus service that you can use to get to school. There is a country road that you can walk or cycle through to get to school. I decided to walk to school this past Thursday. We (my adventurous flatmate and me) left our apartment in Bra in good time, our aim was to get to school at 8.45 in time for our 9.00 lecture. That was out aim. We did get to school, but not at 8.45, and not refreshed from a morning walk. I’m trying not to admit this but we got lost in the middle of the farms, I don’t know where but we just found ourselves too close to the highway and not in the direction of school. We figured that we would be left to perish in the middle of nowhere if we kept going, so backwards we went, through some farmer’s muddy field (the land was laying fallow for the winter so we didn't destroy and crops). We tried to call a classmate to come to pick us up with her car- that failed since we couldn't give her proper directions. How do you direct someone into unnamed fields anyway? We eventually got back to the canter of Bra and got a taxi to school. With €12.00 less to our names, tired, muddy, possibly smelly we did get to school and luckily only about half an hour into the lecture.  I was able to get a few photos though of the scenic country side. 

I live in Italy

So here goes nothing. My first blog post. I hope not to bore you too much, but rather keep you somewhat entertained, intrigued and confused. Apparently being confused is a good thing according to Carlo Petrini. For those who don’t know Carlo, he is the founder of Slow Food. Slow who?... you ask. Slow Food promotes food to be Good, Clean and Fair or buono, pulito, e giusto in Italian. What does that have to do with me. I’m currently a Masters student in Food Culture and Communications at the University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG) in Italy. The aim is to approach food in a more holistic manner, and it is supported by Slow Food.

So back to Carlo, he spoke to us about his passion for Slow Food and gave us a lot to think about and suggested that being confused about food is a good thing; it means you are thinking and not just enjoying the taste. So that is what I plan to do, get a bit confused about food. What better place to do so than Italy. I constantly remind myself that this is not a dream and that it is my reality not someone else’s.

I’ve been in Bra, Italy for about two weeks now and it has been a whirlwind of experiences: eating, tedious bureaucratic processes that had to be done for me to legally reside in Italy, finding my way round Bra, wine, going to school and learning about things I had very little knowledge about, cheese, getting lost, eating, laughing, walking and trying (although not very well) to speak Italian Thankfully I’m not the only one who has had this whirlwind. I have 26 class mates from all over the world which makes my new home of Bra even more exciting.