Perugia Chocolate Festival

As the days go by quickly, my adventures have been continuing throughout my journey here in Florence. I’ve been all around Italy these past two weeks I feel like I’ve barely gotten any time to sit and relax. My schedule has been jammed packed, but everything I’ve been able to do has been so worth it. This past week I planned a trip to the chocolate festival in Perugia. Yes, you read that right, it was a chocolate festival! Chocolate is one of my favorite things in the world so once I heard about this opportunity to go to Perugia for the chocolate festival, I had to take the opportunity. The trip ended up being everything I could have ever dreamt of. Perugia was only about 2 hours away from Florence so, it was really cheap and easy to take a  bus there and back. When I first got to the festival, it was a little overwhelming because there were herds of chocoholics around the area so it was tough to squeeze around people, but it cleared up pretty fast and it didn’t end up being too crowded for the whole time we were there. This chocolate festival ended up being amazing! I was able to try so many different chocolates even this special “ cioccolato clado” they make which is a hot chocolate that is so creamy it tastes like you are eating melted chocolate. I ended up getting a lot of different chocolate bars to bring home like chocolate with cookies, chocolate and peperoncino (hot pepper flakes), and chocolate with dried strawberries in it. By the end of the day I couldn’t possibly eat anymore chocolate, but I was glad I made a lot of chocolate purchases because I knew it would make a great christmas gift for friends and family when I come back.  

In addition to the Perugia chocolate festival, I have also been able to enjoy my time around Florence. My parents came to visit me in Florence. They decided to come visit me for two weeks. I was really excited because I haven’t been able to see them in  a while. Luckily, my dad rented a car and knows Italy well so, he came with an itinerary with a lot of fun and new things to do. The first day they arrived, we went out to a nice dinner to a new place I’ve never been to. It was nice being able to indulge on some good food and gelato while my parents are here because I’m on a student budget while I’m here alone. The next day was even better! We went to a wine tasting at a winery in Sienna. At this winery we were able to learn a lot about specific wines in Tuscany and how they were made. We also learned about the age of the wine and what the differences are between the older wines compared to the younger wines. This was a really exciting experience because not only did I get to see a beautiful winery and try great wines, I had the greatest view of the Tuscan Countryside which is always a nice change of scenery from the busy streets of Florence. The wine tasting also allowed me to meet and talk to new people who were tasting wines as well. This gave me the chance to practice my Italian and talk to people other than the younger study abroad students who I have been constantly surrounded by.

The wine tasting with my parents was a great experience and although I am not an expert on wine, I already feel like I am a lot more knowledgable and can appreciate nicer wines a lot more now. Now that the weekend is over, I unfortunately have to go back to studying and classes because it is midterm week for us. I can’t believe I’m halfway through the semester already! I’m definitely not ready to go back in two months because I still have so much to look forward to. I am leaving for Barcelona this coming weekend with a few friends from here. We were able to find cheap flights and decided we had to take advantage of the opportunity while we are abroad. I cannot wait to go because Barcelona has always been a place I’ve been wanting to visit. I can’t wait to share my experiences from this coming weekend! The week can’t go by fast enough!

-DM 

 Keys made out of chocolate at the 

Perugia Chocolate Festival

Scenery at the Tuscan Winery