September 2013 – DEV – The Umbra Institute – Study Abroad in Italy

Our ever-eager and intrepid students dove nose-first last night into an integral part of Italian culture – wine tasting! Local enoteca ‘Enone’, located in Perugia’s most ancient district, Borgo Bello, played host to the evening of sniffing, swirling, and savoring, which was masterfully guided by sommelier Silvia Bartolini. Silvia (and her adorable assistant/daughter) demystified the wine-making process from the very first grape to the very last drop in the bottle and everything in between.

Having been enlightened to the ways of glycerin content, “aged” versus simply “old,” and what to really pair a hardy red with, the audience then practiced proper tasting technique. They appreciated the color, aroma, and texture, as well as taste, of three wines (a white, a red, and a dessert wine) which had been paired with appetizers chosen to balance and enhance their flavors.

The evening concluded with students attempting a quiz decidedly less stressful than those in the classroom – matching different drinks, from whiskey to grappa, to the appropriately shaped glass.

Silvia left the group with some parting words of wisdom: “It’s not, ‘expensive is good, cheap is bad.’” Perhaps then the old saying should be amended – life is too short to drink bad wine. Salute!

This weekend marked another run of Umbra’s thrice-yearly optional trip to the south of Italy. Accompanied by staff members Laura Fronduti and Marco Bagli, 37 Umbra students embarked on the excursion of a lifetime to Pompeii, Ischia, and Naples to soak up just a few more precious rays of summer sun.

The weekend commenced bright and early Friday morning with a bus ride from Perugia’s bustling center to the tranquil and breathtaking ruins of Pompeii. The group toured the site with the aid of two local guides before taking a short lunch break in the modern-day city center.

The next stop of the day was Ischia, a place whose beauty defies description. (Let’s just say it would make a fantastic desktop background – seriously, Google it.) This floating postcard of an island was the students’ home base for the duration of the weekend and from which they traveled on Saturday to glamorous Capri.

Time in Capri was spent riding Vespas, boating through the famous grotti, and swimming in Tiberius’ bath, a slice of the Tyrrhenian Sea below the villa where the infamous Ancient Roman emperor whiled away his days with his notorious nephew Caligula.

Sunday was spent enjoying a guided tour of Naples on foot, followed by a lunch of arguably Italy’s tastiest pizza. After a weekend of surveying the South’s greatest locales, students returned home to Perugia with memories to last well beyond the Facebook album.

Conversation flowed freely during the fall semester’s inaugural Tandem language exchange, a much-anticipated and invaluable language-learning opportunity. American Umbra students met with their eager-to-learn-English Italian university counterparts during two lively hours at local haunt Il Birraio. The relaxed, informal setting allowed students of any proficiency to improve their conversational skills in small, mixed groups of Italians and Americans.

Umbra student Sathvika R. described the atmosphere thusly: “It didn’t feel like typical studying. It felt really natural, and the Italians didn’t judge you. I learned so much just from one night.”

Participants debated matters of international significance in both English and Italian, such as the merits and pitfalls of the Italian and American university systems; the worldwide reach of American pop culture; and the Sophie’s choice of our time, peanut butter versus nutella, before heading out into the night with a newfound clutch of friends.

You’ve heard the best things in life are free and so Tandem will continue to offer ingresso libero (free entrance) for Umbra students learning Italian and Italians studying English. See you for the sequel, Wednesday, September 25th, 7:30 p.m. at Il Birraio!

This weekend Umbra’s Arcadia University students participated in an orientation day with Arcadia’s Italian Resident Director. The day was far from ordinary, allowing for open student dialogue and a chance to see the daily life of a rural farmer at a local Agriturismo.

The gracious hosts were the Orsini Family of the Orsini Agriturismo in Massa Martana, who greeted students with a traditional farmer’s breakfast of sweet bread and white bread drizzled with olive oil (made right on the farm). Following breakfast, students sat in on their orientation event which consisted of discussion on being a global citizen and the significance of being an American student abroad. Dialogue included reflections on student’s decisions to study abroad, their selection of Italy and Perugia as the destination and the responsibility of these decisions.

Students were then taken out to the vineyards to experience a grape harvest. Blue skies and sunshine enhanced the experience as participants collected tubs of the ripe fruit. A demonstration on various pressing techniques followed, showing the methods that traditional winemakers use to release the juices and start the fermentation process. The demonstration also included grape stomping, allowing students to try their hand (or foot in this case) at the process.

The day ended with a traditional four course meal prepared by members of the Orsini family, complete with bruschetta, homemade pasta, a pork dish, poor man’s dessert and a glass of red wine crafted by last fall’s Umbra Arcadia students. It was a wonderful day thanks to the beautiful weather and the wonderful hosts!

The Umbra Institute’s Food Studies Program (FSP), now in its fifth semester, has always had an active faculty. Two of the professors, Elisa Ascione (Sustainable Food Production in Italy) and Dario Parenti (The Business of Wine) traveled in August in preparation for this semester’s teaching.

Ascione, the lead professor and coordinator of the FSP, attended an intensive, week-long series of seminars in Tours, France. The seminars were coordinated by food studies scholars Peter Scholliers and Allen Grieco and hosted by the Institut Européen d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation (European Institute of Food History and Culture), the premier European organization for scholars who study food. Ascione presented her paper on the second day of the round of seminars and received a certificate of participation at its conclusion.

Parenti, who is in addition to being a professor is also an enologist and a consultant for exportation and marketing of Italian wines abroad, was invited to be a judge at the International Beverage Exposition and Competition in Shenzen, China. Parenti participated in eight-person panel, which judged wines from all over the world.

Above: Elisa Ascione with Peter Scholliers (l) and Allen Grieco (r). Right: Dario Parenti (first from right) at the IBEC.

After enduring (sometimes several) long-haul flights and a bus ride through the Umbrian countryside, the Umbra Institute’s Fall 2013 students have arrived! Perugia’s new foreign contingent was eagerly welcomed to the “green heart of Italy” with a night at the Hotel Gio’ and a traditional Umbrian meal. Students then made themselves at home in their apartments in the city’s historical center while getting acquainted with one another.

The semester kick-off weekend continued with a practical walking tour of essential locales: everything from pharmacies to supermarkets to the best place to sample the iconic aperitivo. Orientation capped off with a two-day open house, health and safety meeting, and group pizza night at local spot Merlin’s.

Next up for Fall 2013 is Intensive Italian Week, when students will be immersed daily in Italian language study while familiarizing themselves with their new surroundings. We wish them all the best as they learn to navigate the ins and outs of Perugia’s ancient roads, cappucini versus espressi, and of course how to properly live la dolce vita. In bocca al lupo!