A Long Walk Back

Our morning started out with a visit to Villa d’Este in Tivoli. We took the metro to the train station where we were able to take a bus directly to Tivoli. Tivoli is an ancient town very near Rome. The villas there are the main attraction for the area. We were able to explore an estate and the large garden attached. The views were incredible!

It was really nice to be able to relax and explore the large garden. The many hills and stairs gave my legs a good workout. Apparently part of a Lizzie McGuire movie was filmed here so many of my classmates spent time recreating the movie. It was kind of amusing, ha!

On the way back to school, our bus broke down. Fortunately we were back in Rome at this point. We had to walk a long distance before we found a public bus stop. It took much longer than expected to make it back to school. Lunch was quick and then we met back in class.

The first exam was a success! I was tested over the 20 different regions of Italy; how Italy compares to other countries in wine production, consumption, and exportation; the wine classification system; primary grape varieties for specific areas; Chianti and Super Tuscan; and many other topics. All of my extra studying definitely paid off.

I picked this study abroad course because I am genuinely interested in wine- the production, taste, aging, marking, etc. Essentially all aspects encompassing the topic. When we have class and learn about the process, I really noticed an improvement in my effort to learn and retain the information. It is all so interesting to me!

After the exam we had our first tasting! I tried the Capitel Foscarino, Nussbaumer, Amarone Della Valpollcella, and Lagrein Riserva. The main focus of today was to learn the proper way to participate in a wine tasting. We used the Six S’s as a guide- Stem, Stare, Swirl, Sniff, Slurp, Spit. I already feel like I know what I’m doing just knowing the proper way to go about a tasting. As far as the quality of the wine- I am having a hard time understanding the taste. I can tell they taste different but I don’t know how to verbalize this. Hopefully in the tastings to come this will get easier!