Parma

After four days in Paris, I packed up and headed to Parma, Italy.

I consider Parma – a small city in the Emilia-Romagna region best known for its production of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and Prosciutto di Parma – my second home.  My junior year of university, I studied there for a semester.  I’d opted to live in a homestay with an Italian family and was placed with Marco and Paola, a Parmigiano couple who do not have children of their own but who have hosted multiple Boston College students over the years.  I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing experience.  They are incredibly special people, and over the past six years, they have become two of the most important people in my life.  I love them like my second set of parents.

And I love Parma itself.  The city is small but very affluent, with plenty of windy little streets and colored buildings and cobblestones and unbelievably charming nooks and crannies. Biking is one of the primary ways Parmigiani get around, and the city is small enough that you can get almost anywhere on foot.  Parma was where I first fell in love with Italy, and it will always feel like home. During the year I spent in Firenze, it was so nice to know that Marco and Paola were just a two-hour train ride away and that I could go “home” whenever I needed a break from my life in Firenze.

New Chapter

For the past sixteen months, I’ve worked as a chef at The Farmhouse at Veritas, a bed & breakfast in Afton, Virginia adjacent to Veritas Vineyard and Winery.  I decided recently to move back to Boston, where I lived for six years during and after university.  Central Virginia is a beautiful area, but I’ve missed living in a city; and Boston, where I still have an extensive network of friends that remained in the city after school, feels in many ways like home.  I’m excited about the move, but the decision to leave Veritas was also very bittersweet.

Yesterday was my last day at the winery.  The experience I had there was absolutely incredible.  I can’t even begin to put into words how grateful I am to have had that opportunity.  I learned so much in my year and a half at the winery, and I had the immense privilege of working with (and for) amazing people that not only taught me a great deal, but also made me truly feel like family.  I am so grateful for all of the experiences I had during that time, and for the wonderful friendships I formed.  So thank you, Veritas, and to everyone that made my time there what it was.

At the end of October, I’ll be starting a new job at Sportello, part of the Barbara Lynch Gruppo in Boston, which serves trattoria-inspired Italian dishes.  Until then, I’ve taken a month off to travel in Europe – primarily in Italy, but a few other countries as well.  This will be my first time back in Italy since leaving in May of 2014, and I’ve missed it… so unbelievably much.

I’m beyond excited for the future – for Europe, for Boston, and for whatever else it may hold.  More soon!