Passignano, Italy

So i'd like to start off by apologizing for the no photos, I am trying to figure it out however currently, my camera uploads my pictures about 200 megabits too small for this program. That said, I have more stories :)

This weekend the roommates and myself got to know each other a lot better and had quite a few bonding experiences. Ariel, Aisling, and myself were all exaughisted on Saturday and pushed the beds together and fell asleep watching twilight, it was apparently hilarious to see when Maddie and Alexandria came home. The three of us went out on Saturday night (Ariel, Aisling and me) and for some reason thought it was a good idea to be out until 530 in the morning. We unfortunately woke up at 730 sunday morning for our mandatory day trip to the country. Let me tell you, we were grumpy and did not want to go; it was cold, raining and of course a lack of sleep helped the grumpiness as well haha. However we arrived in Passignano about 25 minutes later and we were chirped up right away. Passignano is a small farm/reservation right outside Perugia and it overlooks the nearby lake. This farm is completely self sufficient and lives off of their land. We were served a small breakfast upon arrival, small sweet biscuits with fig and plum jam (of course all from the farm there) The farm is worked on by the community and it is a volunteer process however they are paid in a way by the benefits of the land. AFter breakfast, we headed up to the main house that had a gorgeous view of the lake. The main man here running the farm explained to us the process of picking their beans and their process for their olive oil. The farm is part of the 'slow food movement' and their olive oil has won against 1,000 other olive oil a few years in a row now!

After they were done talking about the beans and olive oil, they taught us how to make our own pasta! They make it with flour and eggs and mix it all together without a bowl (I got up and tried it and it was way more difficult than they had made it look!) AFter they get to the right consistency ,they roll the dough out until it is thinner than paper thin--you could look right through this dough! AFter those two grueling processes, the dough is supposed to dry for about 20 to 30 minutes and then it can be cut in long pieces for spaghetti like pasta or they have a cool cutter for cutting tortellini etc. The entire process is very difficult, however we had the pasta for lunch, and let me tell you, i have never had better pasta in my entire life!! Their olive oil was also absolutely amazing! I of course had to purchase some to bring home, and my roommates and I bought three just for our apartment :)

Well thats it for this weekend, however I'm starting classes this week so I will let you know how it goes! MIss you all! xoxo Ciao