Living the Italian Culture Past Review
By Elizabeth H (HISTORY., Trinity University) for
Arcadia: ISI Perugia - The Umbra Institute
YES! I have a much better sense of self and my abilities. I made so many friends, both American and local, and shared experiences with them that no one else will be able to understand. I learned so much about Italian culture and history, more than I realized until I came home and still caught myself concentrating to people in stores and restaurants until I realized that they were speaking in English and I could understand them without thinking. I learned SO much, in classes but even more by traveling alone, with other people and truly living in the Italian culture.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
I loved the field trips we had. We learned about things, then got to see them firsthand. Although the classes weren't too hard (especially compared with Trinity), I learned a ton! I learned more taking those classes in Italy than I would have if I had taken them in the states. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The Umbra Institute was awesome! They were so helpful and always accessible. Arcadia's staff was pretty much nonexistent in Perugia, though, which was fine. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
My roommates were amazing and my apartment rocked |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I'd have liked Umbra to have one more organized optional trip at the end of the semester, when we all knew each other a bit better as well as the one at the beginning. The optional trip to the Amalfi Coast was AMAZING (Pompei, Capri, Sorrento, Napoli). The class filed trips were awesome as well. My Roman Empire class went to Rome to see all the ruins and we got a bunch of free time as well to explore other parts of the city. Umbra's language exchange program is awesome too, go as much as you can. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
The healthcare was fine and the Umbra staff was SUPER helpful!! |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Keep track of what you spend. If you're worried about money, but really want to go on a trip, just go on the trip. Chances are you will not regret spending a hundred euros for a weekend in Prague. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I definitely used Italian every day, more than I realized until I came home. THe locals in Perugia were all really nice and would speak to us only in Italian if we spoke to them in Italian (some students spoke english, but the people in shops or at the bank or grocery store mainly only spoke Italian anyway). Most people did not speak english and if they did, they'd speak in Italian to you if you tried. Umbra also has a language exchange program called TANDEM, which I highly recommend. You get to help other with English, practice your Italian and meet Italian students. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | If you want to learn a culture and language, this program is awesome. However, you take out what you put in. Living in Perugia, you have so many opportunities to learn Italian and be immersed in the culture, but if you stick only with your group of American friends and go everywhere with them, you're limiting yourself. It is also pretty easy to travel, even to other countries in Europe from Perugia. The city has wonderful, helpful people and has the small town feel. It isn't too touristy - the only tour groups I saw were of other Italians or Germans on holiday. |
