What better place to study food than Italy?! Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

This program tries to balance classroom learning with hands-on experience! The material was not very rigorous. Professors and other staff were always there to offer their help with any issues.

On-site administration of your program

The Umbra Staff are wonderful and so helpful!

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Apartments are shared only with other Umbra Institute Students unless requested otherwise.

Of course, in the Food and Sustainability Studies program the food was amazing!

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

It was difficult to integrate sometimes, because Perugia is a city where people have been living for generations. They know immediately who is an outsider. They are very nice, though! It can also be difficult to integrate if you are not particularly outgoing.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

The other students in the Food and Sustainability Studies program were definitely the highlight of this program. I made some lifelong friends there! The staff and professors were so friendly and supportive. They are excited to teach you and show you real-life examples of what you learned! Perugia is a really great city to study abroad in, because it has a small-town feel while still being a university city. By half way through the program, Perugia felt like home.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

It really depends on what you would like to do. Of course, if you're eating out all the time and planning a lot of travel, you're going to spend a lot. The amount I spent per week varied depending on what I did that week. If I stayed in Perugia and cooked most of my meals, then I spent about $50/week, but if I traveled then it could go up to $200 for all the food and travel expenses. It was easy to cut down on grocery costs by cooking together with my roommates and splitting the groceries 3 ways. A plus is that breakfast is cheap there (a cappuccino and cornetto costs about 2.20 euro)

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

There is a Solo Italiano challenge that is a challenge to only speak/write in Italian for around 36 hours. We were required to take an Italian language course, but it was not a full immersion program.

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• Apartment

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• Americans

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• Americans

• Food program people!
• Field trips
• Small-town atmosphere

• Roommate choice
• More immersion opportunites
• More practice with the language

The Avid Adventurer