Home Economics Tour Italy

Home Economics Tour – Italy

By Sinéad Travers and Eimear Whooley

We all met bright and early in the airport at 5am. The excitement was crazy. We checked in our bags and had a wander around duty free for 40 minutes. We all met back at the gate at 6.30am to get ready to board to plane. After our short flight to Rome which was about 3 hours long we got on our hired bus and headed to the city of Rome. We had a tour guide for the day and her name was Judy she brought us to see the Piazza Navona, Trevi Foundation, the Pantheon the Colosseum and we climbed the Spanish steps. We also had free time to go around Rome to do some shopping. It was so interesting to see all the historic buildings and tourist attractions. After our lovely tour of Rome we got on the bus for our 3 hour bus journey to Sorrento. At first we thought it would be a really long journey but we were all so tired that we slept for most of it. Once we arrived in Sorrento we went to the cookery school where we would have our dinner each night. We made our own tiramisu which we got to eat for our dessert. After our lovely meal we headed back to the hotel where we were going to stay each night. As soon as we got to the hotel we were so tired we went straight to bed.

Starter: Bruschetta

Main Course: Spaghetti Bolognese

Appetiser: Chicken Salad

Dessert: Tiramisu

By: Sinéad Travers Day 2

On Friday morning, we woke up early and met for breakfast. We left the hotel at 9.00am and got the coach to Pompeii! We had a 3 hour tour with a local guide; we were all amazed by the beautiful city. When the tour finished we had some free time to buy souvenirs and eat gelato in the sun. We got back on the coach and drove back to Sorrento where we ate our packed lunches on a viewing area over Sorrento and the sea. After lunch we drove to a Mozzarella farm, deep in the hills of Sorrento. We had a tour of the farm and a demonstration of Mozzarella making. It was really interesting to see how passionate the locals were of their food. We tasted the mozzarella on a bruschetta and after their homemade orange and lemon marmalade! We then made our way to the centre of Sorrento, where we had free time. In the evening we attended the cookery school to prepare our dinner.

Starter - Gnocchi with a Tomato Sauce

Main- Veal and Chips

Dessert- Chocolate Chip Muffin

After dinner we returned to the hotel to rest. Day 3

On Saturday morning we were all exhausted. All our travelling was beginning to catch up with us, thankfully our first stop of the day was a coffee factory. We learnt about the history of the family run factory and how coffee is produced. After the short tour we were all given espressos to taste. After the espresso gave us the burst of energy we needed, we went to the back of the factory where the family owned a honey farm. The bee keeper showed us the bees and explained to us how they are kept. The bees on the farm feed off the lemons which gives the honey they produce a citrusy flavour. We did some honey tasting before we headed off to our next destination. We drove up into the hills again to visit an olive oil factory. We toured the farm where the olive trees grow. We then saw all the machines that are used to produce the olive oil. Then we did olive oil tasting, they had lots of different flavours like lemon oil, chilli oil, truffle oil, garlic oil and plain olive oil too. After we had stocked up on the 100ml bottles of oil, we drove back down to the centre of Sorrento again where we were given time to eat lunch and pick up some souvenirs to bring back with us. After lunch we all met up and visited a gelato shop. We had a demonstration on how lemon sorbet is made and we even had one of our own girls serve it to us! After the demonstration we all got to choose two scoops of gelato to have for free! After all the food we had eaten throughout the day, we needed a rest. We returned to the hotel for an hour to have showers and pack our bags for the next day. That evening we had our last meal in the cookery school!

Starter- A selection of Traditional Italian Sandwiches

Main- Stone-Oven baked Pizza

Dessert- Nutella Pizza

At the end of our meal we were all presented with certificates for our participation in the cookery course. We then returned to the hotel to finish packing and rest for the trip home the next day. Day 4

On the last day of our trip we spent the first part of the morning packing up and tidying our rooms. The teachers checked our rooms at 9.30am and then we all gathered downstairs in the front hall. We left the hotel and got on the bus. We drove for about an hour and a half to a shopping centre where we got to shop. There were shops like Hollister, Zara, Pull and Bear, H&M and a Disney store. We had such fun shopping and eating of course! We got on the bus once again and headed for the airport. We were all so sad to leave Italy as we had such great time. Our flight was at 8.35pm (Italian time) and we landed in Dublin at 11.30 pm. We were all wrecked for a few days after but we had such a great time.

On behalf on the girls who went on the Italy trip we would like to thank Ms.Collins, Ms.Karpick Ms.M Murray, and Ms.N Murray for putting so much effort into the trip and making it so memorable.

Pompeii Tiramisu and pizza

Spanish steps Rome Honey farm

Ice cream, ice cream and even more ice cream