Eurochocolate 2009

This past week, Eurochocolate consumed the streets of Perugia. Eurochocolate is the International Chocolate Festival of the World, located in the chocolate capital of the world--Perugia.



Every year, more than 150 chocolate brands and 14 million tourists come to the festival in hopes of discovering new techniques, ideas and delicious tastes. I was unaware of this number when, on the opening weekend, I took a trip to Florence. Upon returning, I took the MiniMetro up to the center and discovered that as I was exiting the MiniMetro I would be herded like I was a cow-away from the coming mass multitude of people sprinting towards the MiniMetro. And as I finally was able to go up the escalators, I realized how big of a deal this festival really was. People were running down the stairs and jamming themselves and their families onto the downward escalators, and of course it was clogging down at the bottom of the escalators. I looked behind as I was headed up (with maybe three people on my escalator) and I laughed, wishing I had brought my camera to take a picture. As I reached the top of the escalators, I was herded again away from the thousands of people waiting at the top to go down. Luckily, Perugia was better prepared the next weekend by providing free buses to the train station... What will they think of next!
Here is a photo of what the city looked like on the days during the festival. Yes, I stole it--but only because I avoided the center to try and stay out of it.



During the nine days of the festival, the city itself turns into a chocolaterier and as one writer says: “The Food of Gods becomes the present protagonist of human existence, influencing costumes and practices of common people and their daily life style.”

Every street in the center is packed with stands, crowds, and vendors--each wanting something the other has. You can find almost anything you could ever want made totally out of chocolate.

Here are some photos for proof:




As my friend Ian and I walked the rainy streets last Thursday, we discussed whether Eurochocolate had a deeper mission than just the celebration and selling of chocolate. Once I got back, I found this quote and sure enough--there was a deeper purpose. “Eurochocolate is also the instrument for promoting protection of important values as solidarity, biodiversity, traceability and sustainability of the production process of cocoa, aiming to guarantee a sustainable future based on the decrease of the differences between developed and developing countries.”

Well, on top of the festival, last weekend marked the first day of Cioccolata Calda. Which is my FAVORITE thing to have in Italy (actually it has a close tie with gelato) But, I know this because I had it on the opening day eventhough it wasn't that cold outside. This next photo is for Caroline... Here's what your missing out on ;) You can come get some if you'd like.... Just ask Mom and Dad to let you fly internationally and come and see me... I'm sure they wont mind....



Until next time,
E

BARCELONA- A little overdue.

Have you ever wanted to go somewhere so badly, that when you finally do, your excitement overwhelms you and everyone else around you? Well, that was definitely me when we went on our Barcelona adventure. Actually I take that back, that’s normal for me—I have that excitement every time I go somewhere new, but this time, I was told that it was overwhelming others lol. Anyways, this blog is way overdue—about three weeks overdue. But, I will try my best to give you the best possible summary of our trip and of what’s happened since then.

I went to Barcelona with my roommate Brooke, and my new friends Kevin and Andrew. Here is a picture of us looking at the National Museum and Barcelona’s fountains…


Of course the background isn’t as beautiful as what we were looking at—But here is a pic of the National Museum of Catalonian Art.


We arrived Friday evening, road an hour Bus into the city, found our Hostel and left for the recommended All-You-Can-Eat-Buffett. The boy’s loved it (because it was all you could eat) but I wasn’t too much of a fan. I left full, but very nauseous hah… I prefer the baguettes we got the next day.

After dinner, we went to the center where there was a weekend Festival—this festival included Music at night, but during the daytime, activities (rides, shows, etc.) for kids and global awareness for parents. There were also a few stages set up during the day for local bands. Here are some photos from the festival.





My roommate Brooke took us on Saturday to the Beach and I’ve never seen so many naked old men before in my life—nor would I like to see that many ever again. Barcelona’s beaches are known for this (because of the gay scene) but typically its only in specific places. Normally there are topless women almost anywhere you go in Europe, but this was the first time I experienced this.... and hopefully the last. It was pretty raunchy. I only took one photo while we were down there—and only because it was hilarious and the note in the photo was in English.. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.


Also on Saturday, we walked the city, seeing the port and a few of the local statues, monuments, and some works from the local graffiti artists. Here are some photos from our walk:




I would like to dedicate this Blog to Antonio Gaudi because he created Barcelona. Almost everything that tourist go to Barcelona to see is something that he created—such as the Catedral, Sagrada Familia, and Guell Park. And not to mention his many scattered touches on historical homes around Barcelona. Everything that he constructed was original, modern and unique. He used original ideas that many rejected 125 years ago, but now, he’s an inspiration to many architects around the world. To just give you an example of how influential he was, the Church Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s unfinished cathedral, was going to take several hundred years to complete, but with the improvements in technology it only has 20 years left. But after Gaudi died in 1926, he trusted that his life work would continue to be built even after his death. And still to this day, the people of Barcelona (and the many tourists) are still supporting—and completing his work. That’s what I call admiration. It was a great reminder of how we could live our lives as so, so that we could give back a little of the gift we’ve been given.

(^Catedral)

Here are some photos from Sagrada Familia.


And also from Guell Park--If you don’t know much about Guell Park, it’s known because of the windy-mosaic seats and the rocky-architectural lookout points .






Here is a photo that I wanted to get, but I never could because of the many tourist (I stole it from google, but it’s beautiful and I’m still upset I never was able to get this photo)


One of the last places we visited was the church at the top of the hill. It reminded me of the stories of the nations that would build very tall temples to be closer to the Lord. On the very top of this church is a HUGE statue of Jesus with his arms wide open, looking on the city of Barcelona. It was absolutely beautiful. Inside there were well-preserved mosaics and frescos—and there was a service going on in one of the levels of the church. Outside of the church, there’s a small carnival that hasn’t changed since the 50’s. Even the rides were a little rusty—but, it was definitely a place to observe little Catalonians at play. Here are some photos from the top.







Overall, the trip was a blast. But, we definitely experienced some frustrations while there. Ahem. The only one really worth mentioning is our hostel situation... Which I'm not giving the name, because it was a great hostel, in a great location... we just happened to be booked in a room with the most inconsiderate people I have ever had to stay with. Talk about one roommie (quick note: 10 person room) keeping the balcony door shut THE ENTIRE NIGHT when there's no air conditioning and 10 sleeping bodies. And then the 5 other roomies were all friends and stayed out till 3 & 5 at night only to return at all hours, invite their friends into our room to hang out on the balcony, yell in the hallway (while the door is open) and the list goes on. All night long, for our three night stay--it was miserable. And then the last night we were their, they didn't wake us up, but they had their friends stay on our floor, so our 10p room turned into a 12 person SAUNA. Brooke said she woke up at one point that night and saw steam coming from our room--outside of our balcony doors. Ah. It exhausts me even thinking about it.....
Anyways, when we returned to Perugia on Monday, Brooke and I dropped our stuff off at our apartment and then sprinted to our Lingua class—which we had already missed two hours of at that point. But when we arrived, we had a surprise test—one section from the advancement test from the week before our teacher forgot to include in the test. This was just perfect because we didn’t even have a chance to look over our notes or get a chance to study before we took the test. But after we took it, she graded our tests and told us whether we passed to the next level or not… and I passed! I got a 23/30 which isn’t great, but it was good enough to go to B2.
I wanted to share with you guys my weekly schedule so that its easier to understand what exactly I’m doing over here—
Lunedì
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Martedì
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Mercoledì
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Giovedì
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Venerdì
8:00 am - 10:00 am
It’s 25 hours a week of Lingua Italiana—and only in Italian Language. My entire class is international and our common language is Italian. And when I return to the states, I will have a minor in Italian :) I’m very excited about this, but I’m already starting to get sad about my year-adventure-abroad ending.
But, that’s another story for another Blog. I hope and pray that all of you who are reading this are learning so much from the Lord. And I can’t wait to see all of you guys when I return in December. It’s been a long time.
With Love, Hope and Prayer,
-Elizabeth