After more than six weeks of travel, time off, aimless wondering and a few aimless summer afternoons at the pool here in Bra, it feels good to be back at school and to have a (semi) permanent home again. I am looking forward to being (semi) productive and structured again once classes come into full swing.
This time of year always lights a fire under my belly. As the new school year starts I always feel focused, motivated, and determined to make the coming year the best ever. After I graduated from college and started working, this reflex never went away. Once summer moves into autumn, a new energy comes to me. I get excited. I feel creative. I feel like starting new projects, reorganizing my time, reinventing parts of my self.
Coming back to Italy, you can't help but feel this same energy. After the whole town (and the whole country) shuts down in August, once everyone comes back in September, it's like everyone starts over and has a new school year ahead of them. And there is much to look forward to. The harvest is coming. The forested hills just outside of town are surely bursting with young white truffles. The weather has changed. It's not hot anymore and we can finally drink all this wonderful red wine they make all around us. The pear trees sag with fruit and seem to beg to be harvested. Before we know it, the mountains will be covered in snow.
But, as Carlo Petrini told us on the first day, "Slow....slow", one thing at a time. Beer class today and tomorrow, a trip to France all next week. Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto festivals around the corner. While the back to school reflexes tell me to push, to dig, to maximize, get more, do more, truly, looking ahead, it is enough to stay calm and try to be loose and ready for all the experiences in store. Take things as they come. Let the year unfold. One thing at a time. Slow.
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