Looking Back on Italy- Emma Penick

    






After spending three weeks in Italy, I learned so much about the History and Present day culture. In terms of what I was expecting, there were some things that certainly were how I thought they'd be. For instance, the views. The beauty of Italy was just as incredible if not even more so than I was expecting, which given that that's what I was most excited for, was definitely a wonderful thing to experience! In my first post I also talked about the food, and while there were many tomato centric dishes, as expected, there were also a plethora of dishes I had never heard of that were absolutely amazing! My favorites of these were the pistachio pasta and the truffle pasta. 





    One thing that I was not expecting how BIG the portion sizes would be! Though, by the end I did get used to having bread, then pasta, then a main course, then a dessert, somehow! Also the fact that there would be bread available at basically every meal, I never thought I could get tired of bread haha. Another thing that surprised me was how strong Italian culture was throughout the whole country. Especially in the countryside, the majority of the foods were all Italian food, specifically authentic Italian food.




    This trip gave me so many amazing memories to look back on, from seeing the Colosseum and the Pantheon, to trying amazing pasta and gelato, to making wonderful friendships. I saw things that I knew would be incredible, like the leaning tower of Pisa, and amazing things that I had no idea existed before this trip, like the beautiful lemon orchards of the Amalfi Coast. People have asked me since the trip ended which place has been my favorite and honestly, it's impossible to choose. Every place had something so special and unique about it. Even if we're talking about favorite days, that's still a toss up between the olive oil tasting day, the lemon tasting hike, and the sheep farm with all the cats and puppies. 





    A big thank you to everyone who helped make this trip amazing. Alessio, Gina, and Austin, this trip wouldn't be what it was without you. <3

Ciao, Italy!

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