It's late on Friday night and we've finished our first full week in Perugia. Monday began with news of a timetable change prompted by an influx into the class by a group of French-speaking African medical students. In typical style, this caused both the Lingua (ie the grammar one) and the Esercitazioni orali (ie the speaking one) teachers to go into major dramatic performances about the shortage of available photocopies and other administrative matters which were sent to vex them. Italians do love a bit a drama, as anyone who has ever observed Italians watching soccer would agree. However, the plus of the timetable change also meant that the classes finished early, Jasmyn could relax with her visiting family members, and everyone else could enjoy the sunshine, and catch up on exciting things like washing after our busy weekend away.
Tuesday brought an early start (quite a shock to the system!) and a full day of lessons, but then of course, there were mutterings of yet another timetable change, which happened on Wednesday. The girls also got their first session in the Language Lab where they were able to record themselves practising different sentences in Italian. It may look like a call centre, but really they're not moonlighting as telemarketers.
Honestly, just when you think everything is sorted, things go haywire. In between all this, the realisation hit that we have less than a week left in Perugia and some contemplation of luggage needed to take place. Plans for next week were sorted, including our train ride back to Rome on Thursday and tickets so that we can skip the line at the Vatican Museums. The girls also began the process of organising their certificates for the course - like anything, this is not a simple task, but rather one which involves collecting various signatures and handing the forms in to the Segreteria in a timely fashion so that they can be printed before our departure. This of course is further complicated by the somewhat erratic opening hours of the Segreteria. At least the girls found success in the uni shop and are now proudly wearing hoodies emblazoned with the Università per Stranieri logo.
Given the multiple timetable changes, today's excursion to the Baci Perugina factory meant skipping the last hour of classes - not that I heard any complaints. Well, it had been booked when the first timetable was given out, and we couldn't change it. We pottered off down to the urban sprawl of San Sisto in our little red tour bus, bumping over potholes and train lines and careening around corners, until the all-pervading scent of chocolate in the air signalled our arrival. Along with an Italian couple, we visited the Perugina Museum under the guidance of Valentina, who told us afterwards that this had been her first tour in both Italian and English. Complimenti! We learnt about the beginnings of the business and how the famous Baci had come to be invented (clever recycling of the leftover chocolate and hazelnuts) and how the owner thought that the original name of the 'fist' really didn't suit the chocolates. Hence, Baci (kisses) were born instead. We saw the Guinness World Record winning Bacione replica - all 6 tonnes of chocolate - created for the Eurochocolate Festival. It took 100 hours to create, and then after they built it they discovered that it was too big to take it out of the factory so they had to take down a whole wall to shift it. All that chocolate was then given away in less than four hours. Speaking of eating chocolate, the next part of our tour involved tasting a variety of different chocolate lines, from the three versions of Baci to tablets of chocolate, and new tiramisù nudi - delicate little cups of chocolate with coffee-flavoured cream. Having gorged ourselves on chocolate, it was then time to see the production line in action. It was fascinating to glimpse the different parts of the production, especially of the Baci. Over one million are produced every day, for their delectation around the world. Thoroughly sugared up by now, we looked in on a lesson taking place in the Scuola del Cioccolato before hitting the shop. Before we knew it, it was time to head back up the hill in our little red bus once again, clutching our bags of treats and thinking about just how many were going to make it back home.
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