Olive Harvest!

Today we got up, and after a hearty breakfast of cocoa puffs, we crammed 13 people into a 10 person vehicle, and took off to the country. We went to the farm of a nice old man named Sergio and his wife to help them harvest their olive trees. It was a ton of fun. We set up nets underneath the trees and then started picking. Unlike the vendemia where we had to taste the grapes and only cut the good ones, today we picked all the olives without tasting them. If you didn't know, olives straight from the tree are disgusting. We climbed on very tall, very old ladders to get the olives at the very top. If you know me, you know I'm afraid of heights..but I managed just fine on the ladders (or in Italian, scala).


John was kind enough to bring his guitar along and play for us while we picked. Sergio and his wife prepared lunch for us, which was delicious. We had penne pasta and bread with white wine for the first course, followed by wild boar, cheese, potatoes, and sausage with red wine for the second course. Then came salad, finished off with biscuits. After the harvest, we were served more wine, with the option to have grappa or brandy as well (none of which I had any of).
By 5pm we were tuckered out and ready to go, but I think everyone had a wonderful time.

Also, yesterday I talked to Dr Skillen and convinced him to cut the last 12 lines that we had to memorize. Now we only have to memorize the first 18 lines of the Inferno! Grazie mille, professori!