More on the real reason I am here

So far, after 8 days of school, here are a few of the classes I have had: Italian literature, Italian language, Food Technology (mostly on preservation techniques and the chemistry and biology behind them), and my two favorites, Cheese tasting, and "The sense of smell." In cheese tasting, a professional cheese taster led us through the process of analyzing the qualities of cheese and quite obsessively had us fill out professional evaluation forms. We examined four cheeses, and somehow we are supposed to be able to sense 20 different scents in each cheese. I can maybe detect 3 or 4, but animal hair and dark chocolate are a little out of reach for me at this time. Regardless, the cheese was tasty, and I learned to appreciate Taleggio, a cheese with which I previously could not get past the similarity to smelly feet. And in "The sense of smell," after a round of blind smelling of essential oils from everything from sandalwood to flint to papaya, I was awarded the "Golden Nose." Apparently I have a good sniffer!
Another big event is the near flooding of the Parma River, which runs right through Colorno and borders one side of the school. Late last night as a group of us arrived back from an inaguration gathering in Parma, a sizable group of spectators were gathered around the ancient bridge that connects the two sides of the town. The normally very low river was about 1 1/2 feet from breaching the barier walls. So we took pictures and went to bed hoping to not wake up swimming in the morning. Being Colorno, this was very exciting! (If I have not yet mentioned, Colorno is a TINY town with not much going on!)