My Journey to Italia

A Typical Long Monday

September 29, 2006

Last Monday was a long day. Not only did I have school in the morning and afternoon but also directly after class ended at 6:00 we had an excursion. The excursion was actually part of our Italian Food and Wine class and we thought it would be during the actual class, but instead it was directly after (they failed to tell us this important detail until that morning.) The excursion was to a local winery called Enoteca (enoteca actually just means “wine cellar” in Italian, so you can find enoteca’s all over, but this is the most famous and special in Siena.) It is located inside the old fortress and is within walking distance of the school. Our teacher, Antonio (who is also the Director of the Siena Study Center Program as well as heavily involved with our theater class) seems to know everyone in town, especially those connected to wine making, and of course knew the man who was to be our server.

Our group of forty students, all still carrying their backpacks and books, shuffled into the Enoteca and filled up the tables in the back of the room. Each seat had three glasses in front of it and some crackers for palette cleansing between tasting. We were also supplied with this gigantic book listing all the different kinds and qualities of wine designated to be official wines by this Italian wine organization, as well as given a map of where to find all the different kinds of wine in Italy.

Before we could start the tasting we were instructed on how to open a bottle of wine. The key is to not make a “popping” noise or to twist the cork so much that it crumbles into the wine. First the professional guy opened a bottle, flawlessly, then two guys from class tried. The first did ok on his own but the second guy needed help getting the cork out! Both were funny though, because instead of twisting the corkscrew, they twisted the bottle! Then our teacher had to show off his mastery of wine bottle opening.

The wine was good, just like last time, but stronger. We had to take note of the acidity and the different smells the wines triggered in our mind. The last glass was the best; it was some kind of sparkling white wine. It tasted just like sparkling apple cider with a hint of alcohol.

After that was over I had only about an hour until the theater class. The same for the other two guys who were also part of both classes (coincidently, now that I think about it, both Sacco and Bryan were the ones who opened the wine bottles as well, strange…) So Antonio invited us to dinner with him. Thinking it might be fun to eat with our teacher, we agreed. Getting to the restaurant was quite the adventure. He drove us in his little car to what seemed like was a place far out of the city, but in fact wasn’t. To get there though we had to leave the city, and then come back at it from a different direction because most the streets inside Siena’s walls are one way! The little restaurant he took us was really good. We got some kind of pasta type dish, more wine, and he paid for our dessert. It’s always fun when teachers take you out, and its probably a good idea to get to know Antonio. He already remembers me just from these events. He’s a strange guy, likes to talk about his life a lot, but nice. He lived in the US for 13 years and just moved back to Italy to take this job in Siena two years. He studied at UCSB and got a Master’s in Piano Performance. He also has degrees in Philosophy and Musicology. Interesting right?

Dinner made us really late to the theater class though, for which I felt bad, but we were with the teacher so what could we do?

I keep mentioning the theater class and now I’ll explain it. I’m going to be in an Italian play. Six of us students, with the help of our teacher Antonio, are working with an Italian director, Luigina, to put on “la nuova casa” (the new house) a new Italian comedy. The entire show will be in Italian. In order to put on a good show, we have to translate, learn to pronounce everything correctly and most difficult of all, learn where and when to stress our dialogue. It should be difficult but not horrible. My part is pretty small so I’m not too worried. Our rehearsals haven’t been going too well though because we still don’t know what we’re saying and we don’t have a translator most of the time, so things are really tedious. Anyhow, on Monday we had some mini auditions and we got to see the theater we’ll be performing in. It’s beautiful! It’s a cute little thing, in an old building, but the stage, although small, is adorned with carved angels and arches. And the curtains are red! It should be a beautiful performance space.

That said, the day was long. I didn’t get back home until 11:00! Luckily my teacher was able to give me a ride home as well. Then I still had homework, and then Andy called! (Which was a pleasant but unexpected surprise!) What a long day though, out of the house at 8:30 and not back until 11:00!

posted by Madeline Faye @ 4:09 PM