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Health & Fitness

What's Oktoberfest?-- Eurochocolate Festival 2011

A post by a Marist student from Ellington studying abroad in Florence documenting her trip to the Perugia Eurochocolate Festival 2011.

Ciao, tutti! This week of classes was filled with nothing but review and pressure for our midterm exams next week. At Lorenzo de'Medici, the institute I am studying at in Florence, we are required to have a midterm of a certain length in every single class. However, at Marist College, my home institution, it is up to the professor as to what they wish to do for midterms. I've always been lucky enough to have a few papers instead of tests (or a few professors choosing to ignore the midterm altogether) at Marist. Studying for five tests all at once is something I've only experienced during my finals weeks, so I've been trying my best to prepare and study for the entire week leading up to Monday evening (my first fateful test). However, I did get a bit of a break thanks to my favorite class that I have ever taken, Topics in Nutrition: Italian Style Cooking. My professor, Marco (one of my favorite people at LDM), canceled Monday's class so that we could take a field trip on Friday to the Eurochocolate Festival in Perugia, Italy for the day.

As many of you know, I've held on tightly to the founding morals of Rise Above (SHOUT OUT) that I was an original member of in high school. I still don't drink, despite the two sips of wine and limoncello I've had here in Italy to show my respect for the culture. So while many people studying abroad spent September partying it up at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany (Fun fact: Oktoberfest doesn't take place in October. At all. Only in September. Isn't that logical?), I eagerly awaited this trip to Eurochocolate. I'm not ashamed to say that I am an avid consumer of this wonderful treat, and I'm sure many of you feel the same way. Eurochocolate is an annual festival held in Perugia, Italy, which is located in the region of Umbria, one of the few areas in Italy that does not have any coastlines. It is a central region, specifically known for its chocolate production. I mean, I thought that visiting St. Moritz, Switzerland was an unforgettable chocolate-consuming experience, but this festival was on a whole 'nother level.

Vendors from various companies who make chocolate and chocolate products set up stands for chocolate lovers to explore, purchase chocolates, watch demonstrations, and even get free samples. Through the fee we paid for our trip, we received a "Chococard," which granted us free samples and treats at certain booths around the festival. The funny thing was, the festival was literally set up throughout the entire city of Perugia, and so finding the places where we could feast for free turned into a kind of scavenger hunt. My friends, Kate and Amy, and I wandered the city, mouths watering, searching for whatever the next booth was that was going to provide us with something delicious. When we arrived at all of the booths, typically, there was only one person working them, and they were set up in a square shape with each side being open. There were no lines. Just masses of hungry people waving their cards in the workers' faces from all angles. It was a gamble every time we went to a booth as to how long it would take to possess our samples because the poor workers were always confused as to who was there first. I felt bad for them, but hey, I just wanted my chocolate. Is that so much to ask? We went on the opening day so it wasn't as crazy, but apparently, on Saturday and Sunday of the festival weekend, over 100,000 people visit each day. If they were struggling on the slowest day, those booths better step their organizational game up!

Anyway, we eventually grew tired of hunting for chocolate (probably because it was weighing us down), and so we decided to just walk around the town of Perugia. I snapped a few photos of the beautiful medieval town and the views from high atop the hills where the festival took place. We popped into a couple of shops, browsed, and then headed back home in the late afternoon with the rest of my class. At the end of the day, I'd accumulated samples of Toblerone and other chocolate products by that company, a free faux-chocolate picture frame with a huge bite taken out of it, a giant Toberlone that I purchased myself, a free Lindt truffle, free hot chocolate, and a Milka Pear and Almond Mousse candy bar. I thought pear chocolate sounded odd yet strangely appealing, and so I purchased it just so I could ease the curiosity (and it was quite tasty, for your information). I encountered chocolate pasta, chocolate covered salami, chocolate liqueur, and all kinds of other bizarre chocolate-flavored things, but I'm pleased with what I ended up with. It was an overall successful day. I got my chocolate fix and was able to break up the monotony of midterm study marathons!

To see the rest of my posts and more pictures from earlier in the semester documenting my travels please visit the following link: http://goingwiththefloinfirenze.blogspot.com/.

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