Giro di Macchina Vecchia.

A glimpse into another world.

Italian Rotary:Wine and Cars.
So, This past weekend, I attended my first Italian Rotary Meeting. As a Rotary Exchange Student, I was expected to give a little speech about myself. I spent the day preparing, and was very nervous about giving a speech in a foriegn language. The Rotary meeting was held in a 5 star hotel. It officially began at 9:30pm. Everyone was dressed in their finest; men in full siuits and ties, women in long evening gowns, high heel, and precious jewels of every size. At the meeting I met another Exchange student, Nathan(although everyone calls him Natan because the can't pronouce the ’th’) He is from Chicago and lives about an hour outside of Brescia. The two of us were welcomed by the president of the club and taken to sit at a special reserve table. The night was wonderful. Nathan and I gave our speeches, and the festivities began. We were served a very upscale but very long 6 course meal:gnoke, risotto, beef, cheese, dessert, and coffee. At around midnight, the meeting finally ended. The next day, the real fun began. The president had invited Nathan and I to the annual rotary wine tasting. Unfoutunatly, when I woke, it was raining hard, and I was begining to wish I could just stay in bed. The president piked me up, and after about an hours drive, we came to a gate with a giant golden sun on it: the enterance to the Winery. I was in awe of the beauty that awaited me. Even on such a dreary day, the beaty of this italian vineyard was quite apparent. We drove though a maze of roads winding through the grapevines. All of the roads lead to the same place...a beautiful building at the perched atop a grassy slope. Umbrellas in hand, we made our way up the hill and into the building. Once inside, we socalized for a few minutes before making our way toward a door at the back of the room. One by one, the rotarians filtered inside. I felt a bit out of place, Nathan and I were the only two that were under 60 years old.
When we made our way through the doorway, I nearly gasped out loud. THis room was much larger than the previous, and completely filled with wine barells. I would have liked to stop and explore, but our group kept on moving, and soon we went through another doorway and into a long dark hallway. The walls were lined with dusty wine bottles and hanging lightbulbs flickered on and off overhead. I felt as if I had stepped into another world.At the end of the hallway, we decended into a stone chamber, lit by the same flickering light. Tables filled with delicious pasteries, wine glasses, and the wineries famous sparkling wine lined the walls.
It was so cool.

After eatting so many pasteries, I thought I was going to burst, we moved back upstairs, and out into the rain. Waiting for us outside were 50 or more old cars. We got in and proceeded to have races through the vineyard. Then, once we reached the golden gate, we began an annual procession through all of the villages in the region. Despite the rain, everyone came out of their houses to wave at us as we drove by. The last stop on our tour was a home for the mentally ill. The rotary donated something like 30000£ to them. Everyone was hugging, singing, and laughing. It was so much fun. We ended our day back at the hotel were we ate another delicious meal. Its funny how different the Italian Rotary club is from ours. We have rubber duck races and they have old car races.

Vineyards surround Brescia. They are famous for their wine, and have senic bike paths twisting through them. Many people enjoy a day of riding from vineyard to vineyard, tasting delicious Italian wine and enjoying the beautiful country side

My home. Bellisimo. It overlooks Piazza Arnaldo and is right in the center.

This is mia mama italiano, and one of the Twins, Camilla. I am so happy to be living with them. They have made me feel so welcome.

Umm. Italian Cappichino. I am in love