Rome Red Wine

Rome Sweet Rome! With the help of the RAs, we took public transportation into Rome and explored there awhile before beginning our scavenger hunt through the Eternal City. The churches were just breathtaking, particularly Santa Maria Maggiore and San Giovanni. If I hadn’t seen St. Peter’s Basilica, I would have thought these to be the biggest churches in existence. Not even my camera could capture the sheer size and grandeur of these sacred houses.

 

The scavenger hunt went well for the first 15 minutes or so, until our group ended up horribly lost on some deep south side of Rome. We ended up walking for the most part, and found only 8 items in the end. With all that sun and heat, I ended the trip with a mild headache for the rest of the evening, though I did continually drink plenty of water. I wish there were a next time for the Rome scavenger hunt, but I had to remind myself that there wouldn’t be a next time. But at the very least, our team had gained plenty of practice in crossing the precarious streets of Italy and navigating through the metro stations. Heading back to catch a charter bus ride home, I gave the remains of my lunch (including an untouched juice box, apple and bag of crackers) to a man begging on the street corner. I’ve always wanted to do that, but I’d never had any food on me.

 

 

After we arrived back on campus, we took fast showers, dressed up and enjoyed a fine evening of wine tasting. The Rome staff talked us through the history of wine and the art of wine tasting using the senses. I didn’t realize how much went into drinking wine. It really is an art form of its own. The symphonies of smell and flavor were just incredible. I was even amazed at how a single glass of wine could be one flavor in one sip, and an almost entirely new flavor on the second, third, fourth sip and so on. I think that each bottle of wine should have its own poem inscribed on the back label describing the experience of tasting that particular wine. We tasted three different wines: a white wine from Castel Gandolfo, another white wine from Campania (Amalfi Coast), and the third was a deep red wine from our local area. Now, knowing me, I’m the kind of person who is incredibly antsy about the idea of drinking. I mean, I know how to space out the drinking and the importance of having food with it and whatnot, but I think it would have been pretty comical to see me on my first attempt of drinking:

RA pours wine into my glass filling it about 3/5ths of the way.

“Oh wow! That’s…a lot.”

*getting all nervous about drinking so much wine. I’d barely been able do drink a milliliter of wine earlier this week for crying out loud!*

Ryan Reedy of the UD staff then proceeds to explain to us the steps of enjoying a drink of wine.

“…swirl the wine around in the glass…get the smell…and drink,” he says.

Eeeps! *first sip* “Mmmm, not too bad.”

This continues for the next minute or two and then…

*PANIC* “I’ve already had four whole sips of wine and I haven’t eaten anything since lunch!! I’ll be tipsy in the next few minutes if I don’t eat something quick!”

*Snatches some nearby potato chips and consumes them quickly, almost without even attempting to taste them*

“Okay, I think that should suffice for the moment. But I need to eat something else! Where’s the cheese? And water! I need to drink some water to help slow my BAC levels.”

 

Yep. That’s me, over thinking it as always. But in the end, the wine tasting experience was an unforgettable one, taking us from the pool to the vineyard and ending with a nice dinner on the back patio with the most amazing desert I’ve tasted so far in Italy - a cream puff doused in chocolate. Delish! After drinking 2 and 2/3 glasses of wine altogether by the end of the evening, I was still completely lucid with only the slightest warp in the corners of my field of vision and a slightly more augmented headache than I’d had when I’d first started drinking. I can’t say I liked the effects of drinking, but then again, I hadn’t gone very far in the drinking process, unless I have an unbelievable capability of drinking without being affected by alcohol hardly at all. I’m inclined to think otherwise. Then again, my being tired already from a long, hot day in Rome didn’t help either. Regardless, I now know the formal method of wine tasting and I’ve resolved that from now on (even after I return home), I’ll be saving drinking for special occasions or as a luxury drink rather than an every day indulgence. Saves me my money and my sanity. Cheers!