1st day of class in Firenze

Definitely just had the best first day of classes I've ever had...

Our first class was Pairing Food & Wine and our teacher, Marco, who is so wonderfully passionate about food and wine individually and combined, taught us so much just within the first hour of being there. He educated us on critically thinking about where everything comes from and how it's made, as well as the main ingredient to take note of when pairing food with wine. We also learned about the few food ingredients that have no match when it comes to trying to pair a wine with them. For the second half of class, we got to prepare a meal and dessert! We made a rigatoni in a tomato, basil, onion, and garlic sauce paired with a blush wine from Florence. We also made a special type of Italian cookie with nutella and rasberries, paired with a wonderful rose dessert wine. Both wines matched the color of food they were paired with, making for a great match. This class looks like it's going to be the best class I've ever taken, and the best part is we get to eat everything we make!

We saw Caroline!

Our next class was Anthropology of Fashion and our teacher was spectacular! She is an anthropologist herself as well as an artist. She taught us about how fashion is so much more than clothes and brands, but about one's own body, with modifications, and how its been portrayed in society since the beginning of time. She invited us to toast to her exhibit opening at gallery night after our tour of the artisan area on Wednesday. She is going to be a fascinating teacher. We went to our Lorenzo de'Medici welcome dinner this evening where we saw how many other American students went to our school that weren't in our API program. They mostly consist of students from N.C. State and UNC, which is quite ironic because I met a girl who lives 2 streets over from me at home. The world really is so small!

Ciao,
Tarra