By Rachel Kimmel
Contributing Writer
The yearly summer study abroad program in Italy is looking for students to join the trip. The summer study is a five-week course where students travel around Italy and earn up to seven credits taking classes.
The program begins on May 24, when students land in Rome. From there, they stay in Perugia, a city in central Italy filled with youth and students. Students live in apartments, which gives them some independence and freedom while living in Italy.
“Perugia is the perfect place to study abroad, it’s a college town and it’s surrounded by Italian colleges,” said senior management major Katherine Bridger, who participated in the study abroad last summer.
Students study at Umbra Institute in Perugia. It provides courses such as photography, history, journalism, art, creative writing and food cultures. Students can also take SBU courses, including science for everyday living, Christian marriage and Franciscan spirituality. All credits go straight onto St. Bonaventure transcripts.
While in Perugia, Bonnies donate their time in helping some of the service programs there.
“Each year we do something different. Last year, we worked in Perugia’s urban gardens, which help support the outreach to immigration centers,” said Robert Donius, the director of the program and a lecturer of theology and Franciscan studies.
Urban gardens are just one of the many programs the Umbra Institute has for its students. Along with St. Bonaventure, other schools from across America come to Umbra to study over the summer.
“You’ll meet kids from all over the country and make great friends,” said junior management major Stephen Foley, a student from the 2018 program. “It was the best month of my life.”
On weekends, the group takes excursions to various places in Italy. They are also given a free weekend to choose where they want to go.
“We traveled to places such as Bagnoregio, which is the birth town of St. Bonaventure,” said junior marketing major Mitchell Dipirro, a member of the summer study last year. “We traveled to Assisi and saw where St. Francis was buried.”
Besides visiting Assisi and Bagnoregio, students also visit Rome, Florence, Lago Trasimeno, Spello, La Verna, Gubbio and Orvieto. They experience different foods, cultures and festivals in Italy.
One such festival is Spello’s Infiorate, otherwise known as the flower festival. Every year on June 22, mosaics made of flower petals cover the streets of the town.
“There are thousands of flower petals used, and there’s always a bit of a competition between the mosaics,” said Donius.
While in Rome, students spend their time seeing places like the Colosseum, the Vatican and the Trevi Fountain.
“We went inside the Roman Colosseum,” DiPirro said. “It was one of those moments when you were seeing this unbelievable place that you have seen in textbooks and pictures your whole life, but never truly thought you would ever see in person.”
On June 29, the group goes back to Rome and students can travel home or reconnect with their families.
“It brought us all together, and we were a family experiencing Italy,” Dippiro said. “My friends and I now have stories and memories that we can share forever.”
To apply, contact Donius and fill out an application. The cost, which is $6,300, covers airport transportation, housing, institute facilities and services, excursions and tuition.
And the best part?
“You don’t need to know Italian,” said Donius.
kimmelrp18@bonaventure.edu
