Psychology – DEV – The Umbra Institute – Study Abroad in Italy

By Angelie Roche, St. Mary’s College of Maryland

On October 11, Umbra’s Multicultural Psychology program held a workshop entitled “Can you meet me halfway?” which taught students to use their similarities and differences as “a starting point for inclusion” through cross-cultural conversations. Students in Umbra’s Multicultural Psychology program and the University of Perugia’s Psychology program split up into small groups and held guided discussions wherein they asked one another questions about their hobbies and interests, their reasons for pursuing psychology, as well as their home culture. Ultimately, they were tasked with finding five similarities and differences between group members as well as a song and an image that represented their group. In the end, everyone met back up and shared what they discussed.

This workshop was different from other Multicultural Psychology workshops because it did not include any sort of lecture; the entire class was focused on building students’ connections and fostering discussions. Students’ conversations brought together two very different cultures and helped both Italians and Americans learn more about one another. University of Perugia student Maria Mirandi shared, “I always thought that Americans were very open-minded, and this experience confirmed my impression,” and Giulia Gizzi added, “I felt at ease as if I were talking to people I already knew.” Even casual conversations about cultural differences became very lively and involved; according to Umbra student Katya Scott, students discussed everything ranging from Italian vs. American coffee (they agreed that Italian coffee was superior) to differences in schooling systems. She said, “We talked a lot about the differences between our universities, and how long it takes to get a degree. For instance, undergraduate programs in Italy typically last only 3 years, compared to 4 in America.”

Of course, one of the main difficulties groups faced was getting over the language barrier, as students’ English and Italian skills varied significantly. Antonio Casenza, another University of Perugia student, said that he was surprised by Umbra students’ friendliness; he had thought they would be “much more reserved in relation to the language barrier,” and instead found that they were extremely open-minded and willing to communicate. The students also enjoyed talking about which areas of Psychology interested them, and which fields they wanted to go into. Katya’s group shared a passion for research in clinical psychology and discussed the importance of listening in therapeutic settings.

Umbra’s Multicultural psychology program is just as much about giving students the knowledge they need to understand other cultures as it is about giving them real-world cultural immersion experiences. Conversations with Italian students are just the beginning! Some classes in the program involve volunteering in community settings; for instance, the Human Development in Culture class is centered around a service learning project wherein students design an English lesson to be taught in an Italian middle school, and Critical Disabilities works with VIVA Sports, an organization serving individuals with disabilities. So far, this program has equipped students with skills they could not have learned anywhere else and fostered unique conversations that students will likely carry with them as they pursue careers in Psychology. Speaking about the program as a whole, Katya said, “the opportunities to connect with Italian culture are exactly what I came here for.”

To learn more, check out Umbra’s Multicultural Psychology Program here.

Last Friday, Multicultural Psychology Program (MPP) students went on a field trip to Florence, where they visited the National School for Guide Dogs. The school endeavors to change the lives of the blind/visually-impaired individuals by training 30 dogs each year.

The trainers explained to the students all the steps that must be taken before giving a dog to the person who requested it. The health of both the dogs and the recipients is given high priority. All of this is possible thanks to a network of psychologists, veterinarians, and volunteers who are constantly taking part in a long-term project that has a huge impact on all the actors involved.

Students were lucky enough to meet Carlo, a blind person – as he calls himself – who shared his experience. Carlo will get his dog in May and is currently training with four dogs.

The National School of Dogs is a public institution that is completely funded by the Region of Tuscany and dogs are provided free of charge to the recipients.

If you want to learn more about Umbra’s MPP Program, click here.

by Emma Albertoni, University of Denver and Umbra Rep Fall ’19

Studying abroad can be one of the most exciting, wonderful, and rewarding experiences during a student’s time in college. Many universities offer programs all over the world for students to apply to and resources to help them get everything they need to get where they need to be. Studying abroad gives you the opportunity to learn in a classroom with talented professors around the world and allows you to learn about different opinions, teaching styles, and ideas while contributing to your education. It allows you to travel to exciting places seeing beautiful landscapes, architecture, and history everywhere. By living in a different country for a semester, you get to learn about a new culture while living in it; seeing local people interact with their environment, listening to their language and how they speak it, their thoughts and opinions on things, what they value and what they don’t, how they do things differently than your own culture, and more. You learn just as much (if not more) about yourself as you learn about the culture, too. Trust me when I say if I could do this again, I would do it in a heartbeat.

I don’t believe that it is a surprise to anyone that, while studying abroad can be an amazing experience, it can also be very challenging. You’re in a foreign country, where you might not know the language very well, if at all. The culture might be very different from your home culture, which can be very shocking and can take a little while to get used to. You may not know anyone in your program and feel isolated from your friends and family back home due to time changes and physical distance. However, all of these are completely normal feelings to have. I can guarantee you that if you asked any student who is studying or has studied abroad, they would agree that they felt these feelings at some point during their semester abroad. I definitely felt feelings of homesickness and anxiousness while I have been abroad, which is why I wanted to write a blog post for future study abroad students to give you some advice for your time abroad!

1. Listen to yourself!

I first want to reiterate that it is completely normal to feel homesick/sad/anxious/nervous/etc. leading up to and during studying abroad. It is also okay to not have any of these feelings. Everyone prepares and reacts to new experiences, new environments, and new obstacles differently. You are the only one who knows what’s best for you, so listen to yourself. Take time to figure out what works for you and seek out what you need. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from advisors, professors, administrators, health care professionals, friends, or family during the process leading up to going abroad and during your abroad experience. No matter where you go or which program you select, you will most likely have someone that you can go to for questions, help, or just talk to when you need an ear.

2. Let it out

The day I left for Perugia, I was so excited and ready to jump into it that I couldn’t sleep the night before, and I kept imagining all the amazing things I would be able to experience. I also sobbed all the way through security in the airport to my gate, to the point where strangers asked if I was okay. I look back and laugh about it now – and yes, you can laugh at me too – because I knew I would be just fine, but I couldn’t stop crying. It was how I was feeling at the time, and it was how I wanted to handle the emotions I was experiencing. I knew I would be okay, and I knew I would have an amazing experience abroad, but I was nervous to be away from my family and in a new place on my own. Completely. Normal. Feelings. I just needed to let them out.

Time magazine’s Hilary Jacobs Hendel wrote an article about how ignoring your emotions can be bad for your health. She discusses how a person’s brain processes emotion and how it affects your body. Not acknowledging how you’re feeling can lead to increased chances of anxiety, depression, or stress, as well as physical symptoms like insomnia, headaches, or intestinal issues. It’s better for your mental and physical health to acknowledge your feelings and release them in some way than to keep them bottled up and festering inside your head. You can draw them, talk about them, write about them, scream, hit a pillow, or release them in whatever way you prefer!

3. Take Care of Your Mind and Body

We all have been told that eating well, staying hydrated, getting enough sleep, and exercising is good for our health. Studies have shown how these aspects of health improve mood and promote mental wellbeing!

When you first get to your program, adjusting to the time change is important. Try not to nap during the day and go to bed between 10:00 pm and midnight so you can get at least 7 hours of sleep. Try to stay consistent with getting 7 hours of sleep throughout the semester as well, as it can help your productivity and focus as well as your mood. And then, instead of napping, you can explore new places!

Make sure to stay hydrated by bringing a reusable water bottle and drinking safe drinking water. Here in Italy, the tap water is safe to consume. In many Italian cities, there are fountains with signs that say “Acqua Potabile” that you can drink from as well.

While pizza and pasta are plentiful and delicious in Italy, make sure to eat enough and eat a balanced diet that includes vegetables and protein. My roommates and I love to make pasta with pesto sauce or red sauce and add in prosciutto, Italian sausage, eggs, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic or onions, depending on what we have and what is in season. We’ve also made big batches of vegetable soup and chicken noodle soup that we can store in the fridge and eat throughout the week.

Exercise is also shown to be greatly correlated to mood. If you study abroad, especially in Europe, you’ll be walking a lot. However, take opportunities to go for a run, follow yoga videos on YouTube, or look up exercises you can do in your apartment without equipment. In Perugia, there are also some nearby gyms that you can buy memberships to if you prefer. (See Kate Donati’s workout tips.)

Also, participate in self-care! Do a facemask, listen to some music and scream along to the lyrics, watch a movie, eat a cupcake (see Taylor Feehan’s post on the student favorite restaurant Pinturicchio, they have delicious cupcakes).

4. Bring Comfort Items

Bringing something from home might provide you comfort when you are feeling homesick, anxious, or lonely. I personally brought a stuffed animal bear, a blanket, and some letters and notes from loved ones that I have collected and saved over the last couple years. At the beginning of the semester, I would curl up with my blanket and call my mom or read through my notes before I went to bed. It wasn’t exactly home, but it was a piece of it, and it reminded me that home wasn’t as far away as it seemed at the time. Saving room in your suitcase to pack something small from home might be something you could consider, especially if you haven’t been far from home before and are anticipating homesickness.

5. Stay in Touch

As much as I wanted my family to come live in Italy with me for the four months I was here, it wasn’t a possibility. But for me, it was incredibly important that I had the ability to call, text, Facetime, Skype, email, send snail mail, or get to talk to them in some way on a regular basis. I made sure before I left to research and get a phone plan that worked for me. I ended up using the phone plan that Umbra offered at the beginning of the year in a partnership with Vodafone. It gives me 500 minutes of international calling, unlimited calling within Italy, and 35 GB of data a month (which for me is plenty, especially if I try to stay on Wifi during the week so when I travel on the weekends I don’t have to worry). I try and keep in contact with my family and my friends who aren’t here with me and talk to them a few times a week.

Find a way to keep in touch with your family, even if it is just Skyping over Wifi a couple times a week. It will help you feel less isolated, less lonely, and feel like you aren’t missing out on things going on at home. Plus, you’ll get to share all the amazing things you’re doing and seeing with the people you love!

6. Surround Yourself with Positive and Supportive People

Everyone that you’ll be studying abroad with is in the same situation; in a new place and culture with new people. Everyone will be somewhat unsure at first, and chances are they’re afraid they won’t make friends, just as you might be. I was worried about this at first too. However, a study abroad opportunity allows you to make friends in this unsure situation, which brings you together with people in a different way and makes you closer as friends in the long run. I can guarantee you’ll find friends who will travel and do things with you while you’re abroad! But also make sure that you surround yourself with good people who will support you while you’re here, so that you have someone to talk to who might be feeling a similar way. You can help each other work through any emotions and problems you’re having, and keep each other accountable throughout the experience!

7. Find Structure

Structure in your day to day activities can provide you with a sense of normalcy and expectation, especially in a setting like study abroad where everything can feel radically different. You can start to feel like you have control of your surroundings and begin to plan out what you want out of your abroad experience as well. Starting classes, planning out activities with your new friends, and scheduling time to explore the city you’re living in is a great way to start living in a new place.

8. Keep Busy and Go Places

One of the best ways I found to feel better when I first got to Perugia was to keep busy with school or activities, as well as leave my apartment to explore Perugia, Italy, and Europe. I found that by immersing myself in the culture, seeing amazing places, and sharing experiences with people, I kept myself from feeling lonely and homesick, and distracted myself with excitement and wonder. Sure, I still missed home while I went out and did things, but it reminded me why I came abroad in the first place; to gain independence and prove to myself I can do things on my own.

9. Try New Things

It’s always scary going into the unknown, but it’s an important part of personal growth, because it forces you to learn about how you handle different situations. Try to move just outside of your comfort zone (in a safe way) and experience new things while you’re abroad. This could be interpreted however you want and in whatever ways work for you! Start small by going to a café by yourself or ordering a new kind of food you haven’t tried before. Don’t push yourself too much and be smart about your safety, but study abroad is a great time to experiment. You’ll learn more about yourself and grow more as a person than any other time in your life!

10. Use Your Resources

Many study abroad programs offer several different resources to help students adjust to their new environment and provide support, advice, or an ear whenever necessary. At the Umbra Institute, for example, they has several very kind, open, and knowledgeable administrative staff members available to students to help them with different needs. Some of the key ones I will mention are Renilda Zajmi, the Coordinator for Student Health and Well-Being (she’s very helpful, she has gone with me to find the right medicine at the pharmacy and she has helped friends of mine get doctor’s appointments) and Alessandro Varazi, the Housing Coordinator (he’s a very nice and patient man, he helps with any housing questions you have, even if it’s getting you a new lightbulb or fixing the Wifi several times).

I can’t mention Umbra Institute’s fabulous resources without mentioning the counselor and psychologist who partners with the Umbra Institute to provide students with an outside resource that doesn’t answer to the school and will keep any and all information private. She holds open office hours at the school for anyone who needs them throughout the semester, and she’ll set up appointments with you through your insurance if you would like more support. I can’t express to you how much I appreciate her help; she’s very supportive and open and is happy to help any student with any issue at any time! She has helped me immensely by working and talking with me through some of my homesickness and anxieties since being abroad.

If you don’t feel comfortable with anyone at Umbra (or end up at a different program), International SOS (ISOS) has some amazing resources all over the world and are available 24/7 over the phone or through email. They offer resources for both doctors and counselors and are very nice and helpful when you call them. My school required students studying abroad to call them before we left to open a ‘file’ with them, just by asking a few questions about what they offer, medications we took and how we might find them in the country we were going to, and any other questions we might have had.

Bonus tip

Pet the dogs! There are many studies on how animals make us feel better. Plus, who doesn’t want to pet a cute dog on the street? In Italian, you can ask the owner, “Posso accarezzare il tuo cane per favore?” or just ask, “Posso?” and wave your hand near the dog. I have found the dog owners here in Perugia are very nice and will let you pet their dog for a couple minutes!

https://time.com/5163576/ignoring-your-emotions-bad-for-your-health/

https://www.mhanational.org/helpful-vs-harmful-ways-manage-emotions

https://aspiria.ca/maintaining-mental-health-studying-abroad/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-works-and-why/201803/how-your-mental-health-reaps-the-benefits-exercise

https://www.nopanic.org.uk/dehydration-anxiety/

https://www.umbra.org/about/onsite-staff/

https://www.internationalsos.com

Rocco Catrone (right) and some students after their art therapy clinic at the Umbra Institute

An article by Rocco Catrone— adjunct faculty and Behavior Analysis practitioner at Elmhurst College, visiting professor and alumnus of the Umbra Institute.

It has been 7 years since my life changed in ways I never thought possible.

Some days, it feels like a lifetime ago but in even more ways, it was as if it only happened yesterday. In the Fall Semester of 2011, I studied abroad at the Umbra Institute in Perugia. A fairy-tale dream of a medieval town in Central Italy – a place you most likely never heard of beyond those delicious Italian chocolate kisses called Baci. Little did I know that the stone walls, warm welcome from the community, Italian lifestyle, and excellent education would leave me wanting to come back.

So I did.

This summer, I am teaching a course called PSYC 260: Radical Communication which looks at how language affects the way humans behave in politics, education, and religion. Each week, we learn our topics and then apply this to the community through observations in schools, participating in clinics, or simply being integrated in the town we call home for this time.

During one of my favorite observations, my students and a local high school class were able to talk about and compare different idioms used in each of their cultures. The differences between “break and leg” and “into the mouth of the wolf” having the same functional meaning which is not immediately clear just looking at the words. My students and the high schoolers enjoyed this activity so much that we were asked to come back and further look at cultural differences through interviews to learn more about the differences and similarities in Italian and USA culture. This information was learned first-hand and not in some textbook.

The nuances of a culture are more apparent when you are directly living there, surrounded by others who did not grow up in your own cultural context. This is something, which was taught to me during my time here, that I try to bring to my students. We learn in class lectures and class activities how to be more culturally competent – How are choices made? How does different learning histories affect this? How does language factor in all of this?

Perugia is a perfect classroom to learn these topics as it is unlike the more popular Naples, Florence, Milan, or Rome. You live here and are a part of the community. We live in apartments in buildings with other local Italians – not dorms. We learn Italian by ordering food at the grocery store and connecting with the local merchants in the giant open-air markets. Evening walks with friends down the main drag while enjoying gelato. All of this without being glued to a phone or computer.

Perugia has its hold on me and a piece of my heart will always be here. The Umbra staff have been instrumental in my coming back and I thank them every day for giving me this opportunity to do so. I hope to return next year and every year after that to share this wonderful place with my students.

Be sure to check out my students blogs posts during their experiences here tying what they learned in class to the observations!

Click here to learn more about Umbra’s Multicultural Psychology Program and opportunities to study similar topics during a semester abroad.

On February 19th, the Umbra Institute hosted “An Evening with Idanna Pucci,” author of The Trials of Maria Barbella: The True Story of a 19th-Century Crime of Passion. The novel tells the compelling story of Pucci’s great-grandmother, Cora Slocomb, who in 1895 read about the case of Maria Barbella, a 22-year-old Italian immigrant who worked in a New York City sweatshop. Barbella was convicted of killing her abusive lover and was sentenced to be the first woman to die in the newly invented electric chair. Convinced that as a woman and an immigrant, Barbella had been treated unfairly by the legal system, Slocomb took up her cause, hiring an attorney who managed to get his client retried and acquitted. Slocomb, at the same time, launched the first national campaign against the death penalty.

Pucci began her presentation by urging students to embrace their sense of curiosity. She explained that it was two sentences in a short booklet written by her great-grandfather that piqued her own curiosity about her great-grandmother. Those sentences made an obscure reference to Cora Slocomb’s role in a legal case from 1895. With only this information in hand, Pucci began a journey of research and discovery that took her from the New York Public Library to a cemetery in Queens, New York! Over many years, she came up against dead ends and made unexpected connections—for example, the role of Thomas Edison in the introduction of the electric chair. Through this extensive process that required great perseverance, Pucci unearthed a remarkable part of her own family’s history while also tracking down Maria Barbella’s descendants. Pucci’s curiosity and perseverance paid off as she eventually located Maria Barbella’s own great-granddaughter and traveled with her back to the southern Italian village of Ferrandina, where Barbella’s story began and where a large mural now immortalizes her.

This event was one of the co-curricular activities sponsored by the Institute’s Multicultural Psychology Program (MPP). It was a great opportunity for students to enhance their exploration of how cultures perceive and treat people who are different from them. For MPP student Natalie Lozito (University of Connecticut), what was especially fascinating about the presentation was seeing that Pucci was able to unearth the stories of her great-grandmother and Maria Barbella through “such an impressively persistent research process that led her to an absolute gold mine.” Similarly, what impressed MPP student Katherine Sokol (University of Connecticut) was “how one woman’s curiosity helped an entire family come together.” She found it “eye-opening to see that if you have a curiosity, and remain persistent, then anything is possible.”

To learn more about the Umbra Institute’s Multicultural Psychology Program, click here.

How does study abroad prepare students in terms of their employability?

Dr. John Dennis, a professor in Umbra’s Multicultural Psychology Program, is currently engaged in research to uncover how educators can help close the divide between students and employers. Through his research, he has discovered that while international education researchers often focus on the development of ‘social intelligence’ – how students relate to others – what he has found was a deeper link to cognitive skills. “Skills like ‘quick thinking’, ‘learning agility’, or ‘creative insight’ are employability skills that develop the most, post-international student experience,” elaborated Dr. Dennis when asked about the most recent results of his work.

In addition, Dr. Dennis and his team have identified ‘team work’, ‘customer focus’, and ‘diligence’ as key employability skills developed during and after the study abroad experience.

To analyze cognitive skill development, Dr. Dennis and his research partners have been using game-based analytics, as a way to limit self-reporting bias and discover what employers value the most. Their research will be presented in detail at the upcoming NAFSA annual conference through their presentation ‘Local employers and globally aware graduates: Creating the perfect match.’

Where should we focus our pedagogical methods to ensure that students get the most out of their experience?

“Community engagement is the number one thing that Umbra does that supports employability skill development,” shared Dr. Dennis. Though students may initially resist some activities because the experience requires them to step out of their comfort zone and beyond the pages of a textbook, they later communicate with Dr. Dennis to let him know how these experiences have become invaluable to them as they reflect on their education and prepare for their careers. For this reason, Dr. Dennis regularly integrates community engagement into his classes. Past examples include the class partnership with a local winery, Chiesa del Carmine, to help improve their corporate culture, and with a local non-profit that works with immigrants, CIDIS, to help with integration and intercultural differences.

“I really enjoy working with students so that they can make ‘data-driven decisions’,” shared Dr. Dennis when explaining how he evaluates written and oral assignments and selects readings for his syllabi. The goal is to have students study key concepts of Organizational Behavior or the Science of Behavioral Change and develop those skills that will maximize their potential to flex their higher order cognitive skills so that they are ‘so good they can’t be ignored’ by future employers.

Umbra invites you to contact us at [email protected] to arrange a meeting with our staff during the NAFSA annual conference this spring, and to ask for more information regarding Dr. Dennis’ presentation at the conference.

Click here to learn more about Umbra’s community engagement efforts.

An article by Dalton Provost

Perugia welcomes students each semester to learn about themselves and the world around them

As the intent of the programs goes, the study abroad experience presents students with a chance to immerse themselves in diverse cultures without forfeiting their academics. It is a time for personal growth and internationalization, but as many students may share, the scholastic elements tend to become less emphasized once overseas as they pursue travel and other opportunities. I, Dalton Provost, as a student at Umbra in the Fall of 2015 found myself considering how to manage school around travel and not the other way around. It was one course, however, that unexpectedly gave way to connections and experiences I had left unconsidered. The course, Community Based Research in Psychology, now known as The Science of Behavioral Change: A Community-Based Approach, led by Dr. John L. Dennis, provided me and other students with opportunities to engage in local research projects designed to benefit the Perugian community. Engrained into the course was experiential learning – known as the flipped classroom – where lectures became collaborative meetings with student-led discussions. Students formed data collection methods, used scientific readings to create materials, and in the end, those that performed highly were invited to continue the work, with the opportunity to become co-authors on the published product. I quickly became thoroughly engaged with the class, and eventually continued working with Dr. Dennis after my time abroad. Two years later, I returned to Perugia, this time dedicating my experience to my academic and career goals.

Upon returning, I published articles in peer-reviewed journals, attained a position as a freelance scientific manuscript editor, and was invited to speak at TEDxPerugia. I feel that without the connections I made at the Umbra Institute, an element of Study Abroad often overlooked, my academic, professional, and personal life would likely not be as promising as they have become.

It is easy to reduce the size of the world when you only see your future in your home country. We fail to consider how many opportunities and experiences are out there, found only when we embrace that they could be ours and forget that the world is only as large as norms suggest.

Dalton Provost, a graduate student at George Washington University, studies Industrial Psychology and engages in research on a variety of topics, including team dynamics, character traits, and personality. In addition to this academic work, he is a freelance editor and reviewer for Melioravit, a Perugia-based company helping international scientists get funded, published, and discovered. He attended the Umbra Institute in the Fall of 2015, coming to us from Santa Clara University.