February 2012 – Page 2 – DEV – The Umbra Institute – Study Abroad in Italy

Starting on March 3rd , there’ll be a new show, titled Americani a Firenze or Americans in Florence, at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. It’ll run until July 15th but, as you’d know if you read our other post about visiting Florence, it will almost certainly be extended.

As Prof. Adrian Hoch put it: “It’s pretty, it’s glamorous, and it’s when America became rich; it’s the beginning. It’s all about Henry James and the grand tour [of Europe].”

The painters featured will be many, including: Winslow Homer, William Morris Hunt, John La Farge, Thomas Eakins, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and many, many others.

You can find the official posting for the show on the Palazzo Strozzi website.

While apparently our friends and family back home are experiencing unseasonably balmy temperatures, Italy has been hit with some of the coldest weather in years. It started snowing yesterday and hasn’t stopped yet! Via Bartolo is blocked off for all traffic, and local schools have closed for the day. Bundle up and watch out for snowballs in the piazza!

snowday1 — February 2nd, 2012: Snow covers the University for Foreigners and Corso Garibaldi.

Montessori School Visit — Education Interns meet with local teachers at Montessori high school to prepare their first workshop with English language students.

This time in the semester marks an exciting period at Umbra. Volunteer opportunities, service learning projects, and internships are well underway.

Volunteering:

Students interested in volunteering with Monimbò, a local Fair Trade cooperative had an informational session yesterday with Milena, the volunteer coordinator of the Perugia bottega, Michele, the cooperative’s very own president, and Francesco, a fellow volunteer. They discussed what Fair Trade (equo solidale) is, how it looks in an Italian context, what student volunteers’ tasks will be, and the local and national events they can help with. The next meeting will take place tomorrow beautiful, newly remodeled bottega in the city center.

The Unicef workshop, where Umbra and University of Perugia students will make Pigotta dolls with the guidance of Italian volunteers, begins next Tuesday and will continue throughout the semester. The workshops are held in an old convent with lovely frescoed ceilings, a shot distance from Umbra. It creates the perfect energy to design and sew a unique, life saving Pigotta doll. Each doll is adopted and raises enough money to fund a vaccine kit for a mother and her child in a developing country.

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