Student Bloggers
Community Engagement at the Umbra Institute
Date
December 4, 2018
Hello everyone! Sorry, it has been so long. A lot has been happening especially with the semester winding down. I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about community engagement opportunities at the Umbra Institute, where I am currently studying in Italy. Before studying abroad, I had no idea that my institution was going to emphasize community engagement as much as it has. Many of the classes have specific projects built to interact with the community. My experience was through my STFS 330 class (Sustainability and Food Production in Italy).
We had a project where we traveled to a synergistic garden, Gruppo Famiglia Taralla Residency, in Perugia. This program was started to help a man named David with his work of using gardening to help those recovering from various incidents. We took four total trips to this garden and planted saffron, garlic, fava beans, fennel, cabbage, and lettuces. We learned so much about gardening, but even more about some of the people living in Perugia. It was hard at first with the language barrier presented because all of the people working in the garden, besides us students, spoke solely Italian. However, as the semester progressed, and our grasp of Italian was heightened, we were able to communicate a little easier with everyone. Standing around drinking coffee was always a great way to see how locals interacted with one another. We were also usually gifted with produce such as leeks and tomatoes any time we left the garden. On our last day at the garden, which was a bittersweet moment, David gifted all of us with saffron plants so we could admire the beauty of the saffron flower in our own apartments in Perugia.
These were some of the nicest, most caring people I have ever met, and it has forever changed my life. Whenever you are looking at studying abroad somewhere, I highly recommend an institution that emphasized community engagement. It is one of the best ways to immerse yourself in the culture and to make a difference in people’s lives. It was a great way to see Perugia and to have a wholesome study abroad experience.
Goodbye for now!