Sunday, February 05, 2006

4 Week Countdown

Welcome to the Slow Food Sabbatical weblog. Today marks the 4 week countdown to my departure for Parma, Italia to begin my year at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Colorno. I will be studying the food and wine products of the Mediterranean for a year and hope to recharge my batteries, meet new people from around the world, learn a new language and exercise that portion of my brain which has become too sedentary during my last 25 years in surgery. I await my student visa and continue the study of Italian, a language quite unlike the two I have studied before, English and French. Hopefully, once there, the immersion and necessity of that learning will bring me fluency quickly since my classes will mostly be in the native language.
Thanks to all for their support and tolerance through the last 20 years of my private practice and stay tuned for more of my musings as they occur.
Special thanks to Jasper Mirabile for my letter of introduction and recommendation to the school and to The Honorable Robert Serra for helping me with the requirements of the Consulate of Italy in Chicago.

Slow Food Sabbatical