Parma...Day 10...and Beth was here!!

After another round of incredible cheese (see nick's Post), it was off to experience another of Parma's most delicious and famous gifts...prosciutto! Langhirano, the "undisputed home of Parma ham" is also home to Italy's Prosciutto di Parma museum. It was here that we had our fill of the best ham in Italy and our last meal with Sabrina, a professor we have all grown to love, respect, and greatly admire. After Rounds and rounds of meat, cheese, lasagna, wine, more meat, more wine, more meat, desert wine, and some very strong liquor (i should probably say liquere), Sabrina left us with some final words of wisdom and was off to change the world. But, we forged on without our fearless leader, a little more somber, and with ham on the brain. Due to safety regulations we spent the rest of the day looking something like a dance troupe circa 1994. It may have been difficult for some to see where all that delicious food we just enjoyed actually came from, but the prosciuttificcio was interesting and very informative thanks to our lovely giude who put up with all of our questions and our failed attempts to hide our shock at the shear number of pig butts throughout the operation. To see the industrialization of a very traditional Parma food helped to put a lot of things in perspective for the class, and luckily we were able to see some great examples of exactly what we had been talking about in class for the past few weeks....you'd think they had planned it that way...or something.

After a quick goodbye to Parma, the one place we all wanted to be was back on the forever bus, with our spirits a little higher than they had been the day before. But, we did what we always do...got a few beers, sang a few songs, and made the best out of our journey back to the one place that felt like home for all of us.

The whole ride back was worth it when we the one person we had been waiting for all month finally graced us with her presence...BETH WAS FINALLY HERE!!! Between our new guest and a delicious meal waiting for us when we arrived, the rest of the night felt was spent telling the same stories and inside jokes that had littered our conversations for weeks. Back at the convent, where the world was a little quieter, the wine was better, and everything was bittersweet as we were nearing the end of our time together.