Day Trip to the Cheese Farm!

On Saturday (Sep. 17th)  I went to the Podere Cheese Farm and Greve in Chianti, Italy. It was a really fun adventure and I got to see the country side of Italy and get out of the city. I also got to see some vineyards and try some grapes. yum, yum!

Cheese Farm Place

We started off our adventure by taking a bus to Chianti, Italy. It was about an hour bus ride from Florence, in which I slept the whole time because I didn't get much sleep the night before. Once we got there we walked to the Podere Cheese Farm and we saw the gorgeous countryside of Italy.  Since we were going into the cheese making room we had to put on a 'shower cap' (so our hair would not get in the cheese) and footies on. When I walked into the cheese room, I really did smell like cheese and I was thinking about Wisconsin, since Wisconsin is the 'cheesehead" state!

Cheese making room!

Me in the shower cap

This was our 'cheese guide' who has been making cheese for 3 years now. 

This is goat's milk and cheese.

They showed us how their cheese farm makes cheese. We even got to make cheese, which was awesome to see. They use a lot of goat milk in their cheese.

Me making cheese!

We eventually ate this cheese with bread

Brittany, Me, Cheese guy and Alexis

After we learned how to make cheese, we got to see the goats that provide the milk for the cheese. The goats were really friendly and they came right up to us. We just had to make sure that we did not step in goat poop. What I thought was pretty cool was that they are all had names.

I made a friend! 

After tasting fresh cheese and bread that were made at the cheese farm, we walked for about 45 minutes to the Greve in Chianti ( a city close to the cheese farm). While we were walking, the sun was so hot and we were walking up hills and everything. Let me tell you, I for sure got a lot of exercise!! The walk was worth it! While we were walking we saw the beautiful countryside. It was gorgeous! I am saw grapes on vines and I even tasted a couple. The grapes were really good and sweet (I wish they were a little bigger thought).

GRAPES!!! They were really good!

Just so everyone knows, I did not eat all of those grapes at the same time!! 

Alexis, Me and Brittany



 Overall the day was really fun and exhausting!! :)

Pictures from the night before on our city walk with Martina:
Our school provides us with a lot of activities such as city walks, connecting culture meetings, zumba, yoga, movie nights, trips and ect. Something city walks about twice a week around the city of Florence (which is really helpful because that is how we get to know Florence) and Martina is the tour guide. She is the best tour guide ever and she knows everything about Florence. She also gets us free food and knows all of the locals!! On this particular night we got free gelato. I got yogurt nutella and dark chocolate and it was delicious!!

Alexis, Alex, Brittany and Me

Martina is the one in the first row and middle!

     

Before the walking tour we went out to my favorite restaurant called "Dantes". This place is cheap and you can drink free wine with your meal!!

Dantes (right around the corner from our apartment)!!! 

Food I made in Class this Past Week: 

I made this in my Food, Culture and Society Class. It is called Coccole. We ate it with ham and cheese.  

I made this in my Mediterranean Diet Class. We  made Pesto, Tapenade (Olive Oil Paste) and Bruschetta. It was delicious!!

Random Picture of the week:

Yesterday (Sep. 20th) we wanted to check out this pub called, "One Eyed Jack" (it is right around the corner from our apartment. We were told specifically to look for this bald guy because last semester this girl who studied abroad from our school, Carly, would always go to One Eyed Jack and she became friends with the bald guy and she told us to meet the bald guy. So we saw the bald guy and Me, Brittany and I decided to stop in  to meet him. We stopped in and once we mentioned Carly's name, he was talking about how he misses her and her roommates and how they would always come and talk with him. He ended up giving us free shots and they were called 'love shots'. We plan on going back again!!! :)