July 2015 – DEV – The Umbra Institute – Study Abroad in Italy

We recently got this report back from Cynthia Baur, a Dickinson College student who completed the Food & Sustainability Studies Program in April 2015. “This summer after I arrived home after a wonderful and eye-opening semester in Italy on the food studies program I have been working at Morris Organic Farm, a pick-your-own vegetable farm in Irwin, Pennsylvania. At the farm I am in responsible for weeding, harvesting, and other random farm tasks. In the food studies class Sustainability and Food Production in Italy we learned all about food waste as well as other topics. Every time food is wasted, whether it is during production or consumption, all of the energy, time, sunlight, water, and other natural resources that went into that food is thrown away and wasted.

This lesson covered something I had never thought about before and at my current job I think about food waste all the time. My boss, Randy, works a full-time job and still runs his farm with a lot of help from families and volunteers. He puts in a lot of hours after coming home from a full day of work and so all the time he puts into the farm is truly precious. As a result, it has become my mission at the farm this summer to help Randy have as little food waste as possible. I do this by weeding every day and promoting his business online so that as much of what he grows reaches customers, whether it is at the farmers market or through a local farm-to-table restaurant.”

This summer’s Intensive Italian Language and Culture Program students experienced something even more intense than usual: the first intensive SoloItaliano Challenge. Last week, our courageous students solemnly swore upon holy Italian dictionaries to speak only in Italian for four entire days. They were in Italy to speak Italian, after all!

Students received a bag with eight “perugini” coins of the Umbra Institute’s currency which worked as points. They kept these perugini with them while participating in Perugia for two days and on the program’s excursion to Tarquinia and Tuscania with their Italian professors. If they spoke in English, a peer could take a perugino; in this way, points traded hands over the course of the game.

The three final winners who ended with the most points will be announced at the program’s last dinner, and honor and prizes will be handed out. Congratulations to the Intensive Italian students!

Eight students from Creighton University, accompanied by professors Maria Teresa Maenza-Vanderboegh and Gregory Bucher, are in Perugia for one week of “Food and Sustainability Studies” at the Umbra Institute. Students are studying the history and culture of food in Italy through direct involvement with producers and food experts in Perugia.

The students visited Agriturismo Le Due Torri, near Spello. Next to an agriturismo, it is also an organic and biodynamic farm.

The Umbra Institute_Perugia_Creighton — Creighton Students Learn About Biodynamic Farming

“Today was very interesting to me because I’ve never heard of biodynamic farming before, but I’m interested in a holistic approach to life and food. It was amazing to see the difference that it made in the barn. I’ve been around a lot of cattle, but the barn here smelled wonderful. I couldn’t believe it, the cattle must be very healthy. The idea that farming is about life and not only machines resonated with me as well. I also find the culture of hospitality to be wonderful. It’s so relaxing to just sit and chat with producers, I learned much more about people than I would have otherwise. The respect everyone has for tradition and history is ever present. It’s such a different environment from the US. Perugia is also the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen.”

– Tessa Fulmer