Liberal Arts students study culture and language in Salerno, Italy

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — This summer, 12 Penn State students spent six weeks in Salerno, Italy, through a faculty-led College of the Liberal Arts summer program that allowed them to immerse themselves in Italian culture while living with host families, visiting historical sites and partaking in various cultural activities.

The program, “Salerno, Italy: Language and Culture," led by Eleonora Sartoni, assistant teaching professor and assistant director of the Italian language program, and Emily Hagan, an art history graduate student, provided students with the opportunity to travel abroad — some for the first time ever — and improve their Italian speaking skills.

Samantha Jagerdeo, a second-year student and Paterno Fellow majoring in global and international studies with a minor in Italian, called the trip a once-in-a-lifetime experience. After Sartoni presented the program to one of her Italian classes, Jagerdeo said she had to take the opportunity.

“I have always dreamed of traveling to Italy,” Jagerdeo said. “I think studying while visiting Italy, I was exposing myself to the culture, language and ideologies that are so different than my own here in the U.S.”

The Sterling, Virginia, native embraced the independence that came along with traveling alone to a different country. At the beginning of the trip, she knew none of the other participants, but she said slowly but surely, she made new friends and could enjoy the trip with them. 

Students enrolled in two courses totaling six or seven credits. Some options were more language-focused, while another was an art history class that explored some of the most historic Italian sites. The faculty-led aspect was what enticed Katelyn Garcia, a third-year student majoring in print journalism and Italian with a minor in digital media trends and analytics, to participate in the summer program.

“I liked knowing who our professors would be, and I had the same expectation for how the classes would go,” said Garcia, of Reading. “The language classes helped us while we lived with our host families and while we went about the city.”

Although there was a specific Italian art history course, art history and culture were incorporated throughout the language courses as well so that students had the opportunity to apply what they learned in class to their outside-of-the-classroom field trips and activities.

These cultural activities included visits to such iconic historic sites as Pompeii, the Colosseum in Rome and many more. However, Ella DeCecco, a third-year student double majoring in comparative literature and English with a minor in Italian, said she particularly enjoyed partaking in the food-based activities like visiting a buffalo mozzarella farm and learning how to make authentic Italian pizza.

When the students were not in class or participating in group activities, they spent their free time enjoying Salerno or taking quick trips to Capri or Positano.

Although DeCecco had visited Italy when she was younger, she said this experience was completely different. Her idea of the country changed drastically after immersing herself in the culture.

“I was incredibly self-sufficient and independent, and it was a period of time where I honestly had to use every muscle in my brain just to communicate a word or a feeling,” said DeCecco, a Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar. “Assimilating to the culture and the language was something that I always hoped for but never expected, and I am proud to say that I did just that.”

Spending six weeks in a foreign country can be costly, but many of the students participating in the program received financial support with funding from the College of the Liberal Arts Career Enrichment Network.

“I could not be more grateful for the College of the Liberal Arts and their constant financial and physical support,” DeCecco said. “It was wonderful having a place to answer my questions and to develop a better understanding of what I was getting myself into. They honestly made my dreams come true.”

This is one in a series of 10 stories about College of the Liberal Arts faculty-led course trips that took place this summer. Summer 2024 programs will be posted before the end of the fall 2023 semester. Read additional stories and learn more.