News and Blog

Yesterday was a perfect day for a traipse around Perugia’s historic center and about thirty Umbra students did just that, taking Umbra staff member Zach Nowak’s nearly world-famous “Perugia Nooks & Crannies Tour.” The tour started at the iconic Fontana Maggiore in the center of the main piazza but wandered into back alleys (like Via Alunni, where Perugia’s orphanage was) and even into the only vineyard inside the city’s Etruscan walls. Light on history but heavy on great views and semi-true historicalish anecdotes, the tour was just the right event for a Sunday afternoon.

Volcanic eruptions had made the weather here in Perugia spotty but the Umbrian sun smiled on the new crowd of Umbra Institute students, whohad their Orientation yesterday in the main room of Perugia’s beautiful fourteenth century town hall. Most of the session was dedicated to introductions of the staff, each of whom explained their role in the Umbra team and gave advice and special instructions for all students.

The last part of the Orientation meeting, however, was dedicated to a special lecture on being safe in Italy. State police inspector Michele Canneschi gave an amusing but very to-the-point speech, one that no student will soon forget. The Orientation was followed by a second open house and the Italian placement tests, and today classes begin. Welcome, studenti dell’Umbra Institute, and all the best for this summer session’s adventure!

The Umbra Institute is putting all the chairs in order in the classrooms, preparing for Orientation and the first week of Survival Italian for the new students. The planes landing at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport on the 16th of May will find Umbra staff members waiting for them. Want to know what to expeect from those first days? Check out our Umbra Views channel on YouTube, especially the Arrival and Orientation Video. See you soon, a presto!

For a few days after the official departure date there were still some Umbra students around Perugia: you’d see them having their last panino con pollo at Ciao Ciao’s, or on the Steps, soaking up some Umbrian thermonuclear radiation (sun). But now the group, having said their goodbyes at the Farewell Aperitivo at Eden, are all back in the States. It was a bittersweet end: most students were ready for enormous pizzas, potato chips with flavors, and 24 hour stores. Who will really miss the pausa, the three-hour truce in commercial hostilities when all Italian shops close for lunch? Or will they miss it, along with la dolce vita that they tasted here on this Umbrian hilltop town? Who knows. All we know is that while we miss Spring 2010, we’re looking forward to the new group for Summer!

Every American study abroad program has computers, digital projectors, and a server, but the Umbra Institute, lead by IT expert Mauro Renna, has leapt into the 23rd century. After having read an article on new forms of electromagnetic reception (actually Jules Verne’s From The Earth To The Moon), Renna decided to introduce some new technologies to the Umbra Via Bartolo Building. The jury is still out on whether or not the aluminum foil will improve wireless reception on the roof of the school, but at least Umbra will save money on lighting in Renna’s office.

Jokes aside, the Umbra Institute would like to thank Umbra staff member (and amico del cuore) Mauro Renna for his five years of IT genius, emergency phone-call response, good spirits, and a ready smile. We wish you luck in Boston and hope you’ll come back soon, Mauro!!!

Last night’s vernisage was a welcome break from the hectic, end-of-semester sprint to study for exams and put the finishing touches on papers. Most of the student body attended the art opening, held in the Via Bartolo building. On display were not only the works of the drawing classes (still lifes as well as full-scale human portraits), but also the photographic marvels wrought by students armed with Photoshop. This semester for the first time Umbra gave awards for the best photo overall and two honoroable mentions.

Laura Houd’s photo of a gondolier in Venice took the top award, and Max Young and Christina Kavanaugh received honorable mentions. All three picture will be framed and hung in the halls of Umbra. And last but certainly not least, students in Umbra’s fresco painting class finally unveiled their completed works from the semester. This last contribution sets out Umbra from most other study abroad programs, and is a perennial crowd-pleaser during the art show. Congratulations and benfatto to all student artists, as well as to professors Stannard and Pettit.

“Writing is hard work,” quipped Hemingway famously. Yesterday was a chance, though, for the students of Professor Cynthia Clough’s “Italy of the Imagination” creative non-fiction course to relax, and to listen. The twice-yearly Umbra Institute literary anthology reading was last night at Argentina and provided the perfect venue for students’ best material from their semester’s labors. Professor Clough was the emcee for readings that ranged from first impressions to final musings on the city (and country) that have hosted them for the past four months. Kudos to our Umbra writers and their professor!

Umbra alumna Kelly Murtagh sent us news that she had just recorded her first song with a record label. Umbra is proud of alumni talent and invites any former students to send us news and links and we’ll add them to the Umbra Facebook page.

Dr. Francesco Burzacca presented on the role of community engagement in enhancing second language acquisition.

The Umbra Institute was represented at the sixth annual Forum on Education Abroad, which took place March 24-26 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Francesco Burzacca, Director of Italian Language Programs at Umbra, was part of a team of educators who discussed the principles of effective community engagement for study abroad students. The talk, “Global Community Engagement: Lessons from the Field and Discussion on Best Practices,” focused on the innovative range of activities whose aims are both to enhance student learning and to contribute to the work of community partners. All five panelists stressed the importance of collaborative partnerships with the community in order to achieve both objectives.

Burzacca’s presentation highlighted the creative ways in which community engagement informs the Italian language learning experience at the Umbra Institute in Perugia. From the practical application of the language in the “Survival Italian” program, which runs during the first week of each semester, to the use of interviews with Italians and the Tandem program of language exchange, experience shows that interaction with the locals facilitates the acquisition of a second language. After the presentation the team led a roundtable discussion on the topic, citing other examples of the Institute’s methods of teaching Italian in a more organic, holistic manner.

Umbra Institute students (and staff) confirmed this binomial last night at Il Paiolo, a pizzeria located in the historic building where the Perugina chocolate factory had its first small kitchen. Il Paiolo had to run two pizzaioli(pizza maker/bakers) to keep up with the demand. The fare was the classic Margherita pizza, named after Italy’s fin-de-siecle queen, and the brick vaults of the Paiolo gave the whole affair an old-timey feel. Umbra’s next food event is (weep) the Farewell Aperitivo: students, see Rachel’s list of Things To Do Before You Leave!