Split, Croatia
It is finally starting to feel like spring here in Europe. The sun is out, the earth is warm, and it has been so fun getting to explore more of Reggio in our free time.
On Wednesday this week, my hospitality class and I took a field trip to a balsamic vinegar distillery. Our professor owns a few properties in the hills outside of Reggio, one of which is a distillery where him and his family have been making balsamic vinegar for the past 100 years. For our field trip, we ventured up to his property which had beautiful views of the Emilia Romagna region and beyond. It was beautiful! We got to take a tour of his main property which is now a farm-style restaurant and hotel. We learned all about balsamic vinegar and the production process. We learned that there are two main types of balsamic vinegar. Industrial vinegar is what you commonly find at the grocery store, which is a mix of grapes and chemicals that help speed up the fermentation process. It can be made in a few short hours, and is in the form of a liquid. Traditional balsamic vinegar is a much longer, and uses a more specific production method. Traditional balsamic is made of grapes that have been naturally fermented for up to 40 years, in 5 different types of wood barrels (cherry, oak, juniper, chestnut, and mulberry), switching between the barrels every month. This type of balsamic is more of a glaze, and can cost more than 100 euros per 100 ml. It was crazy! During our tasting, we got to taste the multiple types of balsamic that my professor and his family produce. Each bottle tasted completely different, and you could tell based on the way the vinegar melted in your mouth, how old it must have been. I personally found the balsamic that was about 25 years old to be my favorite. I feel like I'm starting to become a food snob because of this class.
That evening, our professor arranged for the chef of his restaurant to teach us how to make homemade pasta. It was so fun! We learned how to make spinach tortelli, deer capaletti, and tagliatelle. Our professor likes to spoil us a bit, so we had a blast drinking wine, making pasta, and hanging out. For dinner, we cooked our pasta, cabbage risotto, and pan fried pork with a balsamic vinegar glaze. For dessert, we made homemade panacotta (which is like a vanilla jello pudding dish) that had a balsamic vinegar glaze on it, with a side of vanilla gelato with balsamic vinegar on top. I have never really thought about putting balsamic vinegar on my dessert, but it was surprisingly not bad. It was very interesting. It had a nice sweet and salty taste to it. Next time you have ice cream, give it a shot. You never know, you may like it.
On Thursday night, a group of 15 of us set out from Reggio to head to Split, Croatia. We went with a program called Bus2Alps, which is a travel company that sets up trips and travel opportunities for American study abroad students throughout Europe. Our bus was picking students up in Rome and Florence to go to Split. Luckily, since there was such a big group of us, they were nice enough to pick us up in Bologna... at a truck stop... on the freeway. We were a little skeptical, but we knew we had to take a train to Bologna, then a taxi to this truck stop. We made the mistake of taking a train to a smaller station that we thought would be closer to the truck stop, but when we showed up, there were absolutely no one. No people. No taxis. No trains. So we started calling the taxi company. We quickly realized it would be much harder to get 5 taxis at 10pm than we thought. We called and called and called. About a half hour and three taxi companies later, we got our taxis and eventually made it to our truck stop. We had to pay an arm and a leg for it, but we got there.
We took the bus overnight to Split. We drove up through Italy, and crossed into Slovenia before driving south to Croatia. We pulled into our hostel around 9 am and changed into shorts (YES SHORTS!!) and took a short walking tour of the old palace and city. I don't know anything about Game of Thrones, but we got to see some of the inspiration for the show and where it was filmed in the old palace. So that was kind of cool. We also got to see a bunch of the old rooms of the palace, including the dining room where guests would eat 21 courses per meal. Our guide told us that people would stuff themselves so much on food and alcohol, that they would turn to a slave in the corner of the room that would tickle the back of their throats with an ostrich feather, forcing them to throw up their dinner, out the windows of the palace to create room for more dishes. Can you imagine?
After our tour, we bought a picnic lunch and went down to beach to hang out in the sun. We spent most of the day there. We swam in the Adriatic sea, which was pretty cold, but felt nice after being in the sun for awhile. We even swam out to this giant rock formation, where a few people cut their feet up pretty bad. Jordan and Madison stepped on a sea urchin and lost some feeling in their feet.. so that was fun. We stayed there and watched the sun set, before we headed back to our hostel to clean up for dinner. We ended up eating dinner along the water Friday night. There was a cute restaurant with good food and drinks that was able to accommodate a group of our size outside, which was so nice. We had fun just hanging out enjoying our vacation. We ended our evening with a scoop of "Biscotti de Nonna" (Grandma's cookies) gelato from a family owned gelatoria, which was amazing. It had yummy little bits of cookie dough in the gelato. It was so good!
One of the big things we noticed on this trip was the size of our group and how American we truly are. The Bus2Alps group had about 150 American students this weekend. For those of us in Reggio, who have only been around the 37 other Americans in our program, this was a huge culture shock. There are 5,000 American students studying in Florence this semester, so you can bet that the 15 off us from Reggio were a bit overwhelmed to be surrounded by so many Americans. Everyone was speaking English and there seemed to be little interest in the local culture, and more interest in what their instagram photo was going to be. All the girls were dressed up in shorts and heels and were ready for the constant photoshoots that were happening everywhere. It was every stereotypical sorority girl's dream. Those of us from Reggio were in complete culture shock. When we got back to our hostel on Friday night and were getting ready for bed, everyone else on the trip was getting ready to go out for drinks and a good time. I guess that's the main difference between those of us in Reggio, and those in Florence. It was insane! After the trip, we were all talking about how happy we are to be living in Reggio Emilia and to be getting a more authentic Italian experience.
On Saturday morning, we had breakfast at a local restaurant that was included with our trip, then we set out for our boat cruise. Emily, Lauren, Patrick, Jordan, Makayla (Emily's roommate from home), and I went on a boat cruise to the island of Brac, Croatia. We got to hang out on the boat, have a few drinks in the sun, and had lunch. We even got to see a dolphin swimming in the water. So that was really cool! For lunch, I had to try the fresh seafood. So I ordered the fish, and they brought a whole fish out to me that I got to de-spine myself. Everyone was super grossed out by it, but I thought it was pretty cool. The fish was amazing! it was so delicious and so fresh.
We got off the boat to explore the island of Brac and hang out on the beach. We went swimming and played on the beach until they called us back to the boat. We cruised back to Split and stopped for yet another gelato. There's a paved hiking path that leads to a lookout point over the city of Split and the surrounding islands. We decided we wanted to hike to the top to watch the sunset. It was such a cool little walk up the hill. We got out of the city and were able to see trees and wildlife that we don't normally see in Reggio. When we reached the top, there was a big cross looking out over the water that reminded me of Table Rock in Boise. It was beautiful!
We hiked down to find dinner at a local restaurant along the water. Luckily we were in a smaller group, so we had more options for restaurants. As we were leaving dinner, we looked out over the water to see the start of a firework show over the water. It was so cool! Apparently the annual boat show was going on in Split, so what a perfect time to have a firework display! The whole weekend honestly felt like we were on vacation. It was amazing!
Sunday morning, we got up pretty early, and our group drove to Krka National Park in Croatia. This national park is known for its massive waterfalls that are open for swimming during the summer season. Unfortunately the water was too high, so we weren't able to swim, but it was beautiful! We had so much fun exploring the area and getting to see the famous falls. Christina accidentally dropped her phone in the water and watched it get swept away by the swift currents. So that put a little bit of a damper on the trip. We spent a few hours hiking around, taking photos, and enjoying our last little bit before heading home on the bus.
About half way through our bus ride home, we stopped at the Slovenia/Italy boarder to get our passports checked. As we were waiting for our passports to be stamped, one of the guys on our bus stood up to fix the emergency exit hatch on the roof of the bus. Apparently it had been open the whole ride, and the pouring rain was landing inside the bus. As he stood up to fix it, the bus driver started screaming at him in Italian; saying something about the kid breaking it and he was going to have to pay. Then the bus driver brought the driver from the other bus over and he started yelling at the kid. Our bus driver was so mad that we honestly thought he was going to pull him off the bus and beat him up or something crazy. I don't think I have ever seen anyone get as angry as they did. It was insane! The Bus2Alps people didn't know what to do it was so awkward and scary for everyone.
On the way home, Bus2Alps promised to drop us off in Bologna again, but I think the bus driver forgot, because he completely missed our stop. We really just wanted him to drop us off at the train station, but that was "too far out of the way", so we settled for a McDonalds somewhere near Bologna. One of the Bus2Alps leaders helped us call taxis and promised that they would be there in 10 minutes. We said goodbye and they were off to Florence to drop off the rest of the students. After about 15 minutes of waiting around, we got a call from the Bus2Alps guide informing us that the taxis were not coming and she was sorry because there was nothing more she could do. At that point, we were left at McDonalds in the middle of nowhere. We tried calling various taxi companies, but they decided that since it was Sunday night at 10 pm, they "didn't want to". After talking with the drive-thru guy at McDonalds, and after he appeared to beg for a few taxis, and about an hour later, three taxis showed up to rescue us. It was crazy, but we eventually made it to the train station, but of course we missed the 10:30 train to Reggio. So we had no choice but to wait for the next train that would come at 12:45am. So basically, we sat around the sketchy train station for an hour and a half. We celebrated a birthday, were told we were "beautiful Americans", gave a homeless man a piece of gum, and hung out talking about all the funny things our roommates do. Emily swears I sleep in my jeans; apparently it's wrong of me to wear my jeans all day.... who knew.
We eventually made it home after our great weekend. We had an amazing trip to Split, and it was one of our favorites because we didn't have to plan the whole thing, and figure out all the logistics. It was so nice to take a little vacation from our semester vacation. This weekend was a great time reflect on our experience in Reggio and how thankful we are to be living in such an authentic Italian town with little contact to the rest of the world.
After this weekend, I'm not sure I'm ready to come home yet. Sorry mom! xoxo
On Wednesday this week, my hospitality class and I took a field trip to a balsamic vinegar distillery. Our professor owns a few properties in the hills outside of Reggio, one of which is a distillery where him and his family have been making balsamic vinegar for the past 100 years. For our field trip, we ventured up to his property which had beautiful views of the Emilia Romagna region and beyond. It was beautiful! We got to take a tour of his main property which is now a farm-style restaurant and hotel. We learned all about balsamic vinegar and the production process. We learned that there are two main types of balsamic vinegar. Industrial vinegar is what you commonly find at the grocery store, which is a mix of grapes and chemicals that help speed up the fermentation process. It can be made in a few short hours, and is in the form of a liquid. Traditional balsamic vinegar is a much longer, and uses a more specific production method. Traditional balsamic is made of grapes that have been naturally fermented for up to 40 years, in 5 different types of wood barrels (cherry, oak, juniper, chestnut, and mulberry), switching between the barrels every month. This type of balsamic is more of a glaze, and can cost more than 100 euros per 100 ml. It was crazy! During our tasting, we got to taste the multiple types of balsamic that my professor and his family produce. Each bottle tasted completely different, and you could tell based on the way the vinegar melted in your mouth, how old it must have been. I personally found the balsamic that was about 25 years old to be my favorite. I feel like I'm starting to become a food snob because of this class.
That evening, our professor arranged for the chef of his restaurant to teach us how to make homemade pasta. It was so fun! We learned how to make spinach tortelli, deer capaletti, and tagliatelle. Our professor likes to spoil us a bit, so we had a blast drinking wine, making pasta, and hanging out. For dinner, we cooked our pasta, cabbage risotto, and pan fried pork with a balsamic vinegar glaze. For dessert, we made homemade panacotta (which is like a vanilla jello pudding dish) that had a balsamic vinegar glaze on it, with a side of vanilla gelato with balsamic vinegar on top. I have never really thought about putting balsamic vinegar on my dessert, but it was surprisingly not bad. It was very interesting. It had a nice sweet and salty taste to it. Next time you have ice cream, give it a shot. You never know, you may like it.
On Thursday night, a group of 15 of us set out from Reggio to head to Split, Croatia. We went with a program called Bus2Alps, which is a travel company that sets up trips and travel opportunities for American study abroad students throughout Europe. Our bus was picking students up in Rome and Florence to go to Split. Luckily, since there was such a big group of us, they were nice enough to pick us up in Bologna... at a truck stop... on the freeway. We were a little skeptical, but we knew we had to take a train to Bologna, then a taxi to this truck stop. We made the mistake of taking a train to a smaller station that we thought would be closer to the truck stop, but when we showed up, there were absolutely no one. No people. No taxis. No trains. So we started calling the taxi company. We quickly realized it would be much harder to get 5 taxis at 10pm than we thought. We called and called and called. About a half hour and three taxi companies later, we got our taxis and eventually made it to our truck stop. We had to pay an arm and a leg for it, but we got there.
We took the bus overnight to Split. We drove up through Italy, and crossed into Slovenia before driving south to Croatia. We pulled into our hostel around 9 am and changed into shorts (YES SHORTS!!) and took a short walking tour of the old palace and city. I don't know anything about Game of Thrones, but we got to see some of the inspiration for the show and where it was filmed in the old palace. So that was kind of cool. We also got to see a bunch of the old rooms of the palace, including the dining room where guests would eat 21 courses per meal. Our guide told us that people would stuff themselves so much on food and alcohol, that they would turn to a slave in the corner of the room that would tickle the back of their throats with an ostrich feather, forcing them to throw up their dinner, out the windows of the palace to create room for more dishes. Can you imagine?
After our tour, we bought a picnic lunch and went down to beach to hang out in the sun. We spent most of the day there. We swam in the Adriatic sea, which was pretty cold, but felt nice after being in the sun for awhile. We even swam out to this giant rock formation, where a few people cut their feet up pretty bad. Jordan and Madison stepped on a sea urchin and lost some feeling in their feet.. so that was fun. We stayed there and watched the sun set, before we headed back to our hostel to clean up for dinner. We ended up eating dinner along the water Friday night. There was a cute restaurant with good food and drinks that was able to accommodate a group of our size outside, which was so nice. We had fun just hanging out enjoying our vacation. We ended our evening with a scoop of "Biscotti de Nonna" (Grandma's cookies) gelato from a family owned gelatoria, which was amazing. It had yummy little bits of cookie dough in the gelato. It was so good!
One of the big things we noticed on this trip was the size of our group and how American we truly are. The Bus2Alps group had about 150 American students this weekend. For those of us in Reggio, who have only been around the 37 other Americans in our program, this was a huge culture shock. There are 5,000 American students studying in Florence this semester, so you can bet that the 15 off us from Reggio were a bit overwhelmed to be surrounded by so many Americans. Everyone was speaking English and there seemed to be little interest in the local culture, and more interest in what their instagram photo was going to be. All the girls were dressed up in shorts and heels and were ready for the constant photoshoots that were happening everywhere. It was every stereotypical sorority girl's dream. Those of us from Reggio were in complete culture shock. When we got back to our hostel on Friday night and were getting ready for bed, everyone else on the trip was getting ready to go out for drinks and a good time. I guess that's the main difference between those of us in Reggio, and those in Florence. It was insane! After the trip, we were all talking about how happy we are to be living in Reggio Emilia and to be getting a more authentic Italian experience.
On Saturday morning, we had breakfast at a local restaurant that was included with our trip, then we set out for our boat cruise. Emily, Lauren, Patrick, Jordan, Makayla (Emily's roommate from home), and I went on a boat cruise to the island of Brac, Croatia. We got to hang out on the boat, have a few drinks in the sun, and had lunch. We even got to see a dolphin swimming in the water. So that was really cool! For lunch, I had to try the fresh seafood. So I ordered the fish, and they brought a whole fish out to me that I got to de-spine myself. Everyone was super grossed out by it, but I thought it was pretty cool. The fish was amazing! it was so delicious and so fresh.
We got off the boat to explore the island of Brac and hang out on the beach. We went swimming and played on the beach until they called us back to the boat. We cruised back to Split and stopped for yet another gelato. There's a paved hiking path that leads to a lookout point over the city of Split and the surrounding islands. We decided we wanted to hike to the top to watch the sunset. It was such a cool little walk up the hill. We got out of the city and were able to see trees and wildlife that we don't normally see in Reggio. When we reached the top, there was a big cross looking out over the water that reminded me of Table Rock in Boise. It was beautiful!
We hiked down to find dinner at a local restaurant along the water. Luckily we were in a smaller group, so we had more options for restaurants. As we were leaving dinner, we looked out over the water to see the start of a firework show over the water. It was so cool! Apparently the annual boat show was going on in Split, so what a perfect time to have a firework display! The whole weekend honestly felt like we were on vacation. It was amazing!
Sunday morning, we got up pretty early, and our group drove to Krka National Park in Croatia. This national park is known for its massive waterfalls that are open for swimming during the summer season. Unfortunately the water was too high, so we weren't able to swim, but it was beautiful! We had so much fun exploring the area and getting to see the famous falls. Christina accidentally dropped her phone in the water and watched it get swept away by the swift currents. So that put a little bit of a damper on the trip. We spent a few hours hiking around, taking photos, and enjoying our last little bit before heading home on the bus.
About half way through our bus ride home, we stopped at the Slovenia/Italy boarder to get our passports checked. As we were waiting for our passports to be stamped, one of the guys on our bus stood up to fix the emergency exit hatch on the roof of the bus. Apparently it had been open the whole ride, and the pouring rain was landing inside the bus. As he stood up to fix it, the bus driver started screaming at him in Italian; saying something about the kid breaking it and he was going to have to pay. Then the bus driver brought the driver from the other bus over and he started yelling at the kid. Our bus driver was so mad that we honestly thought he was going to pull him off the bus and beat him up or something crazy. I don't think I have ever seen anyone get as angry as they did. It was insane! The Bus2Alps people didn't know what to do it was so awkward and scary for everyone.
On the way home, Bus2Alps promised to drop us off in Bologna again, but I think the bus driver forgot, because he completely missed our stop. We really just wanted him to drop us off at the train station, but that was "too far out of the way", so we settled for a McDonalds somewhere near Bologna. One of the Bus2Alps leaders helped us call taxis and promised that they would be there in 10 minutes. We said goodbye and they were off to Florence to drop off the rest of the students. After about 15 minutes of waiting around, we got a call from the Bus2Alps guide informing us that the taxis were not coming and she was sorry because there was nothing more she could do. At that point, we were left at McDonalds in the middle of nowhere. We tried calling various taxi companies, but they decided that since it was Sunday night at 10 pm, they "didn't want to". After talking with the drive-thru guy at McDonalds, and after he appeared to beg for a few taxis, and about an hour later, three taxis showed up to rescue us. It was crazy, but we eventually made it to the train station, but of course we missed the 10:30 train to Reggio. So we had no choice but to wait for the next train that would come at 12:45am. So basically, we sat around the sketchy train station for an hour and a half. We celebrated a birthday, were told we were "beautiful Americans", gave a homeless man a piece of gum, and hung out talking about all the funny things our roommates do. Emily swears I sleep in my jeans; apparently it's wrong of me to wear my jeans all day.... who knew.
We eventually made it home after our great weekend. We had an amazing trip to Split, and it was one of our favorites because we didn't have to plan the whole thing, and figure out all the logistics. It was so nice to take a little vacation from our semester vacation. This weekend was a great time reflect on our experience in Reggio and how thankful we are to be living in such an authentic Italian town with little contact to the rest of the world.
After this weekend, I'm not sure I'm ready to come home yet. Sorry mom! xoxo
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