Look, Listen, Taste, Hear, Touch, Intuit

What do we do each day?

We adventure from sunrise to sunset so it is logical to wonder what we do in all of this time. A sample of our daily routine in the city:

Simple breakfast (la colazione) consisting of a pastry and coffee, typically a croissant with marmalade or chocolate and a cappuccino.

Each day we are hosted by a Rotary Club, who organize visits to cultural sights and/or their members’ places of work. Cultural sights include: churches, castles, museums, natural beauty, etc. Vocational sights are tailored to our particular interests; during our visits we have conversations about how we each practice our field, meet with colleagues, and tour facilities to see the infrastructure.

Between 13:00 and 15:00 we eat lunch, this meal will definitely vary by region. In Naples we had antipasto platters – mozzarella, articokes (sautéed in olive oil), and variety of fried treats (rice balls, potatoes, and zucchini) and pizza (typical toppings include tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, arugula, and proscuitto).

We continue in the afternoon with cultural and/or vocational sights, but also include a stop for a caffe, typically an espresso or macchiato, and occasionally a gelato - exemplary creaminess.

As the sun begins to set we return to our ‘homes’ to rest, shower, and dress more formally for the evening.

Around 20:30 (8:30 p.m.) we head to dinner. Dinner is at a Rotary meeting, with Rotarians, or with Rotaract members. Dinner consists of antipasto (similar to lunch), a pasta course (always freshly made), a meat course (fish is common here), and dessert (typically light cakes that the area is known for).

The evenings linger with conversations and perhaps a stroll afterwards.

By midnight dinner winds down and the pillows beckon us to rest for the upcoming day.

As we transition into some more rural areas we will see how the schedule and meals compare! We keep all of our senses opens to absorb the excitement of cultural exchange to see the differences between countries, regions, and even neighborhoods.