52 ARCA: Extracurricular Activities
ARCA offered a good selection of extra-curricular activities. Once every two weeks we had an out-of-town excursion. During my four weeks we visited Ferrara and Ravenna. On the non-excursion weeks we were taken on tours of specific locations in Bologna. In terms of excursions and in-town visits ARCA was equal to both Leonardo at Siena and Linguait. However, ARCA interspersed weekly outings to a local bar. We also went out for dinner twice during this time; once as a farewell for some students and the other time during the Notte Bianca, a night where everything stays open all night, or at least very late. I certainly have no grounds to complain about the amount of extra-curricular activities. Compare this to Scudit, where we had one tour and one visit in four weeks!
My reservation is not with the amount of extracurricular activities but with the kind of activities. There was too much emphasis on drinking at a bar for my liking. Doubtless this appealed to the younger students and instructors. Since they comprised the majority, I presume one should not complain. I recognise that the student population defines the kinds of activities held. Nonetheless, there were also older or “mature” students to whom sitting around a table guzzling wine or beer while being deafened by the noise of voices and music is an unsatisfactory way to spend an evening. It’s not that I don’t like a drink – I enjoyed the evening spritzes at Verona where we could talk and be heard. I also enjoyed the two dinner outings although neither could compare with the dinner Leonardo at Siena arranged for a group of us.
My impression, and it is only an impression, is that unlike ARCA, Leonardo at Siena had put a lot of thought into what they wanted to offer to their students. We had the customary out-of-town excursions and visits to points of interest within Siena. However, the school also seemed to have a goal, which was to introduce their foreign students to Tuscan culture. This meant, besides visits to churches and to other towns, an introduction to Tuscan food. Thus we had a lecture one afternoon on authentic Tuscan cooking. We also had a “Tuscan dinner” outside the city walls, and oh, what a dinner! Five years later and I still remember it with great fondness. It could be that Leonardo at Siena had a larger student population with more mature students, which facilitated such a dinner, but as I mentioned, ARCA was not devoid of mature students.
Bologna, besides, is famous for its cuisine, rightfully so or not, and I would like to have had some introduction to Bolognese cuisine. Although at ARCA I did have an instructor teach us how to cook several dishes during the first week when the regular teacher was absent, this was more an impromptu response to a request by the class rather than a school project. True, one could sign up with a separate culinary institution, but Leonardo at Siena took it as part of its mandate to introduce us foreigners to Tuscan cuisine as part of their introduction to Tuscan culture. I would like to have had ARCA do something similar for Bolognese or Emilia Romagna cuisine.
In my next blog I will discuss two minor disappointments I had with ARCA.
My reservation is not with the amount of extracurricular activities but with the kind of activities. There was too much emphasis on drinking at a bar for my liking. Doubtless this appealed to the younger students and instructors. Since they comprised the majority, I presume one should not complain. I recognise that the student population defines the kinds of activities held. Nonetheless, there were also older or “mature” students to whom sitting around a table guzzling wine or beer while being deafened by the noise of voices and music is an unsatisfactory way to spend an evening. It’s not that I don’t like a drink – I enjoyed the evening spritzes at Verona where we could talk and be heard. I also enjoyed the two dinner outings although neither could compare with the dinner Leonardo at Siena arranged for a group of us.
My impression, and it is only an impression, is that unlike ARCA, Leonardo at Siena had put a lot of thought into what they wanted to offer to their students. We had the customary out-of-town excursions and visits to points of interest within Siena. However, the school also seemed to have a goal, which was to introduce their foreign students to Tuscan culture. This meant, besides visits to churches and to other towns, an introduction to Tuscan food. Thus we had a lecture one afternoon on authentic Tuscan cooking. We also had a “Tuscan dinner” outside the city walls, and oh, what a dinner! Five years later and I still remember it with great fondness. It could be that Leonardo at Siena had a larger student population with more mature students, which facilitated such a dinner, but as I mentioned, ARCA was not devoid of mature students.
Bologna, besides, is famous for its cuisine, rightfully so or not, and I would like to have had some introduction to Bolognese cuisine. Although at ARCA I did have an instructor teach us how to cook several dishes during the first week when the regular teacher was absent, this was more an impromptu response to a request by the class rather than a school project. True, one could sign up with a separate culinary institution, but Leonardo at Siena took it as part of its mandate to introduce us foreigners to Tuscan cuisine as part of their introduction to Tuscan culture. I would like to have had ARCA do something similar for Bolognese or Emilia Romagna cuisine.
In my next blog I will discuss two minor disappointments I had with ARCA.
posted by Reynold Harrs at 5:22 PM
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