I find myself back in Europe six years after spending my first 4th abroad in Switzerland; as I sit on the terrace of a single-family home with bottle of 2016 Nebbiolo d’Alba, a day full of food, knowledge, and connection keeps my mind buzzing.

The fourth of July has always been a marker of anniversary in my life. The fourth of July means relaxation, pure fun, and a renewal and celebration of the past year through good food, good company and new beginnings.

Today would’ve marked my parent’s thirtieth anniversary and it also would have marked my fifth anniversary. Life is transient, though. Relationships are fleeting.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that today doesn’t mark a new beginning and an anniversary… of sorts. The past year has been saturated with the yin and yang of work and play, but with an annoying overindulgence in thought about what am I doing, why am I doing this and most importantly- what next?

Today taught me that it is highly difficult to control the circumstances that surround the what, but I have taken enough chances to allow the what next? to always be as remarkable as I could ever dream.

So, with that, I relieve the contexts of my day. Today I was lucky enough to meet with a person working for Slow Food International at its very heart in the beautiful city of Bra. I was also fortunate to meet with a professor at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo; a place with enough pull to host names such as Alice Waters, Massimo Bottura, and Carlo Petrini. My perception of what I was up against was overwhelming. Today proved to me the scope of what I know, what I don’t know, and how fortunate I am to be able to learn here.

A nontraditional fourth of July to say the least.. as I sip Italian wine and eat salads filled with locally produced goods, I feel farther away than ever from where I come from, but closer than ever to who I think I am, who I want to be. May this next year prove as special as the last.

University of Gastronomic Sciences, Pollenzo

Il Centro, Bra.

-Ayla