By: Lian Bunny
Photo Editor
Gain a cultural education outside of the “Bona Bubble.”
That was one of the main messages of Michael Chiariello’s talk Wednesday night in the Thomas Merton Ministry Center.
Chiariello, Ph.D., a philosophy professor, is the director of Bonaventure’s Franciscan Heritage Semester Study Abroad Program at the Umbra Institute in Perugia, Italy.
Lizz Schumer, ’08, an online market manager for Resurgence Brewing Co., also joined the conversation. Schumer participated in the first Bonaventure study abroad trip to Perugia in 2007.
Schumer said teaching at other colleges showed her the flexibility of Bonaventure’s study abroad program. She said often it’s harder to transfer general credits at other universities when students study abroad.
“Studying in Perugia is awesome because you have a lot of advantages,” Schumer said. “At Bonaventure it isn’t exactly a raging metropolis. There’s not really a lot of cultural advantages to being here. When I came to Bonaventure, one of the reasons I came to Bonaventure was because of its strong study abroad opportunities.”
Chiariello added the program offers students cultural experiences, potential internships, service opportunities and potentially the opportunity to save money.
He said studying in Perugia is about $2,000 less than a semester’s tuition at Bonaventure. But, only federal aid transfers to the trip to Italy; any scholarships or financial help from Bonaventure don’t apply.
Schumer said she fell in love with Italy and has traveled back periodically ever since. She said she wasn’t sure what area of journalism she wanted to do when she first went to Perugia. But she took a photography course there, and it helped her determine she wanted to work with images.
Also, Schumer added traveling to Perugia gives students the opportunity to explore other cultures as well.
“When you’re in Italy, you can travel virtually anywhere in Europe incredibly inexpensively,” said Schumer. “It’s going to be difficult to do here (at Bonaventure), but it’s easy to do there.”
Chiariello said students can still apply to study abroad in Perugia in the spring semester. Students interested can contact him at mchiarie@sbu.edu.
“If you really want to become extraordinary, you will go to a place where people don’t speak your language or follow your culture and the way you learn to adapt,” said Chiariello. And you’ll achieve the kind of educational skill necessary in this world.”
bunnyla13@bonaventure.edu
