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Month: September 2007

“Go Griffin!” Imagine hearing twenty thousand Perugia soccer fans roar this at once, then break out into one of the songs that honors the city’s soccer team and its mascot, the Griffin (symbol of Perugia since the 1200s). Though Perugia is no longer in the highest league (Seria A,) like the glory days of the ‘90s, the the team still has a huge and devoted following. For the last Perugia home game, Umbra Institute staff member (and program alum) Tyler Pace organized a group of sixty-two students to take part in Griffin-mania. The lively troup went down to the soccer stadium by bus and watched a great game against rival Crotone. The Griffin prevailed and students came away with new Perugian friends, bright red scarves, and a sense of belonging in this soccer-crazy city.

Click here to watch a video of the goal

Last night, after meeting at the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia’s main piazza, students and staff members Mauro Renna and Zach Nowak went to one of Perugia’s hidden gems, the pizzeria “Pizza e Musica.” After finding their way through back alleys to the pizzeria (unannounced by any sign), the students met the Neapolitan pizzaiolo (pizza man) Felice. Nowak gave some of the history of pizza – from simple Neolithic grain cakes cooked on rocks to the story of the name “Margherita” – but the workshop really got fun when students Tiffany Bass and Stephanie Schmidt got to try to actually make the pizzas. After a few focaccia, the students turned the wood-fired oven back over to Felice and then all enjoyed a pizza of their choice, followed by dessert (panna cotta and tiramisù) and of course caffè. Buon appetito!
For a walk back into the Middle Ages in Perugia, it turns out you don’t even have to go outside the city walls. On this bright Friday morning Altra Umbria tour guide Daniela led a group of Umbra students on a tour whose path was set by the locations of artisans who still make their living with medieval trades. The first stop was a ceramics store just up the street, where the owner carries on the proud tradition of Umbrian majolica pottery. Next up was a bookbindery which, except for the gas stove used to heat up the embossing dye, had tools which could have been used eight hundred years ago. Students watched as the owner and master bookbinder created a small leather journal from pages sown together by hand and a calfskin cover.

The trek continued over the twelfth-century aqueduct to the deconsecrated church of Saint Francis of the Women, so-called because it belonged to the Benedictine sisters. Here, inside the church, an eighty year-old company handed down from mother to daughter makes Perugian-style sheets and tablecloths from cotton, linen, and Damascus silk. Students were shown looms from 1836 with which the craftspeople could make only 50cm of cloth a day. The trek ended up at a surprise location, the Augusta Perusia cioccolatteria, where the owners make their own chocolate from the raw cacao, one of only nine ciocolatterie in Italy who do so. Students learned some of the steps in chocolate-making and were able to sample delicious white, dark, and milk chocolate.

The Urban Trekking is one of several planned offerings and is another aspect of Umbra’s integrated curriculum and extracurricular activities.

Italy is a must-see destination for anyone who studied art history. A full third of UNESCO’s world artistic treasures is crammed into this peninsula, and for this reason guidebooks and tours in Italy focus on sculptures, paintings, frescoes, and the occasional Notable Building. But Italy (and Perugia in specific) is much more than simply artwork. Buried under mountains of commentary on vaults and brushstrokes are little stories and anecdotes that are not only amusing but also may help a student anchor a particular historical event in their head better than learning dates.

This weekend Umbra staff member Zach Nowak did his “Perugia Nooks and Crannies” tour with two groups of Umbra students. This guided walk around the center went down the main corso of the city but also ducked into the back allies, where Nowak showed students the former city orphanage with its revolving baby-leaving door. Students also heard about Perugia’s battle with the Pope in the Salt War, heard some not-often-recounted stories about Saint Francis, and found Perugia’s only remaining fascist symbols. An encore presentation of the tour will be held in several weeks.

L’appetito viene mangiando, “Appetite comes to you while you eat.” This saying is a convenient justification for the fantastic Italian tradition of the aperitivo, the apertif. Around seven in the evening, all across Italy, friends sit down at a streetside café or inside a pub and order a drink whose price includes an array of delicious little snacks.
Yesterday the Perugia student organization eGeneration organized the first of their Fall aperitivo dates at the local wine bar Cinastik, and a number of Umbra Institute students attended. eGeneration President Luca Gatti, a Perugia native, explained the tradition at the beginning of the event, after which Umbra students with other foreign and Italian students who had come for a glass of prosecco (a light Italian champagne and traditional aperitivo favorite) as well as olives, crackers, and gorgonzola with honey over it. The aperitivo was the one of many of the opportunities that Umbra students have to get to know their Italian and European counterparts, some of the forty thousand students in Perugia. Alla salute!!!

In the photos: The logo of Cinastik Wine Bar in Via dei Priori; on the right, Hannah Fenlon of Kenyon College “smiling” at the camera; Umbra staff member Zachary Nowak explaining the Italian custom of the aperitivo; Umbra students mingling with international students in Perugia.

Under the frescoed ceilings of our Via Marzia academic building the Umbra Institute’s weekly Tandem kicked off last night with an enthusiastic bang, drawing a hearty sized group of both Italians and Americans ready to test (albeit a bit nervously) their linguistic prowess. After a series of ice-breakers, conversation ensued in earnest, touching on a multitude of topics raging from the finer points of Italian soccer to the similarities (or differences) between two fascinating cultures.

“It was a lot of fun”, student Tracy Hall remarks with a laugh. “It was nice being able to meet Italians our own age, in such a laid back atmosphere. We talked about all sorts of things: how education works in Italy, even how many peddles there are in cars…”

For the Umbra Institute, cultural exchanges like Tandem are of the utmost importance. And, given Perugia’s well earned reputation as a “student city”, facilitating an exchange like Tandem has never been easier.

“In a lot of places, it can be really tough to make friends. Either people are too old, or too young, or already have their niche. But in Perugia, there are literally thousands of students concentrated in a tiny amount of space. Last night I met three girls who actually live one street over. They were totally nice, and even invited us to dinner this Saturday. Hopefully they’ll do the cooking!”

On Sunday September 2 in the large frescoed ballroom in Perugia’s town hall, the famous the Sala dei Notari, Umbra’s newly arrived students began their orientation for the fall semester.

Starting with Director of Academics, Dr.Carol Clark, each of the Umbra staff members had the opportunity to introduce themselves and to speak briefly about their area of expertise. Professor Antonella Valoroso introduced her newest courses at Umbra, an honors course entitled “Constructing a National Identity: History, Culture, Art and Society in 19th Century Italy” and “La Civiltà Italiana Teatro e Opera” taught entirely in Italian. The lively Officer Canseschi of the Polizia di Stato spoke about Italian laws and safety. And Chris Callas, from Arcadia University Center for Education Aboad, topped off the presentations with a welcome congratulations and welcome speech to all participants.

Orientation is just that, an opportunity to “orient” students to navigate in a new culture, and to assuage unfounded fears and encourage independent exploration. Despite jet-lag, the students were excited and the orientation ended with the traditional photo on the steps of Perugia’s cathedral.