GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY SUMMER ABROAD – L’AQUILA, ITALY
The Georgetown Community Based Learning Summer Program in L’Aquila, Italy offers students an opportunity to combine intensive language and culture study with community based learning. The capital of the Abruzzo region and home to a major state university and numerous cultural institutions, L’Aquila is struggling to recover from the 2009 earthquake that killed hundreds of people, displaced most of the inhabitants and destroyed many historical buildings. \
The course 2009 and Beyond: Stories of Loss and Rebirth focuses on the many publications that have explored this event from different vantage points. All participants will enroll in ITAL299-62: L’Aquila, 2009 and Beyond: Stories of Loss and Rebirth. Classes are held at the University of L’Aquila. This course is based on the reading and discussion of publications that deal with the history of L’Aquila and the political, social and cultural implications of the 2009 earthquake and its aftermath. Georgetown University welcomes participation in this program from all qualified Georgetown and non-Georgetown students.
The program requires that participants have completed four semesters of intensive Italian (or have taken a placement test) prior to departure and have a minimum 2.7 GPA. Students must sign a language pledge to speak only in Italian with the other members of the group during their stay in Italy. This course has a community-based learning (CBL) requirement, as organized by the Center for Social Justice. CBL is an academic course-based pedagogy that involves work with marginalized and underserved individuals or group that is structured to meet community-based needs. In order to satisfy the CBL requirement, students will work at the Mensa di Celestino, a center that provides meals and assistance to the local population as well as housing and counseling for single mothers.
The program cost for summer 2014 will be published soon. The application deadlines are December 6, 2013 and February 3, 2014. To learn more about this program, see http://studyabroad.georgetown.edu Georgetown University contacts for this program are Sara Skillman, Summer Programs Administrator, Office of International Programs, oipsummerabroad@georgetown.edu; and Prof. Laura Benedetti, Department of Italian, lb227@georgetown.edu.