My SYA Italy Adventure

So this week was unofficial SYA Italy Spirit Week. Our home schools all seemed to have wrapped up homecoming and we intended to have our own version of "Spirit Week". Each day was a theme, and you come to school dressed to match it. Even though practically every Italian around was staring at us in our "Classy Day" attire, we know it's only because they're jealous they didn't look as good. Monday: America Day Tuesday: Twin Day Wednesday: Pajama Day Thursday: Classy Day Let's not forget Halloween! We (as in my friends and host families) went to a fundraiser party for which the cost of admission went towards a school a family here sponsors in Kenya. I felt good helping out such a great cause while dancing the night away with my friends. Even with technical difficulties and lack of costume access, we made it work. We even had a crew dress as the clan from the Great Gatsby and it was awesome!

If I could give you some straight up clarification on classic Italian food mistakes, I would say everything this article does. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/ketchup-on-your-pasta-basta-italian-food-institute-issues-a-list-of-rules-for-foreigners-to-follow-8803472.html

Your browser does not support this audio Some kids dream in chocolate. Some adults drown themselves in it. Some artists use it as a medium for their craft. Some chefs use it to make masterful creation. This girl just love to eat it. This weekend, I made my way with a great group of friends to beautiful Perugia for an international chocolate festival. To emphasize how big a deal this was...it took us about 4 hours to get there with a bus, then train, then another train, until we reached another bus (or Choco-Train) that drove us up to the festival. We also had a lovely 4 hours to navigate home. But, all that aside, once we were there, WE WERE IN A CHOCOLATE WONDERLAND. Stand after stand offered something slightly different (and all with free samples!) There were chocolates of all varieties- the strangest to me involved plants such as rose and violet. There were chocolate kebabs and chocolate churros. I even got chocolate pasta! The best part other than eating at the festival...

Recientemente, I have been thinking about the healthcare system of Italy as I have slowly but surely witnessed it's use by my family and unfortunately some friends. Did you know it's #2 out of 191 countries listed by the World Health Organization? Of all industrialized countries the US of A is ranked the lowest at 37. How embarrassing. Italians pay a hefty amount of taxes with a hefty chunk of those going towards health care and help fund their doctors offices and hospitals. The law states everyone must have health care. In fact, if a patient refuses it, they might have to go to court where a judge will decide if it's for the better good of the people that the patient receives treatment. Additionally, the system makes a hospital visit cost nothing to an Italian. They also have the choice to have a private doctor come to them in their home, but my host dad tells me a lot of the time it's unnecessary and doctors all over Italy know what they're doing. That probably ...

As I put on my cooking apron one more time, I was so excited to get my hands coated in flour and smell the perfumes of an Italian kitchen. This week in cooking class, we were in for quite the meal! We tackled 3 recipes: Pasta e Fagioli  (Pasta and Bean Soup) Lasagna alla Bolognese (Meat Lasagna) Carciofi alla Romana (o alla Guida) (Sauteed Artichokes)  These recipes are interpreted all over Italy, so we just made the "best ones" according to our cooking teachers. It was a really easy going class; as gourmet as these recipes sound and taste, they are very simple to make.  We handmade pasta for the Pasta e Fagioli , but this pasta was made with eggs in place of water, and the dough was very sticky!! Here's the tip of the week: invest in a pasta rolling pin. They have ridges in them so if you flour it enough, the pasta dough can be cut easily into perfectly thin  spaghetti ! When I cook for all of you at home, you better believe i miei spaghetti  ...