St. Bonaventure University’s new study abroad program in Sorrento, Italy, offers undergraduate and graduate students a five-week immersion in Italian culture.

This year’s pilot group lives independently in shared apartments along the Mediterranean Sea’s Amalfi Coast and studies at the prestigious Sant’Anna Institute.

All students are enrolled in two courses for the summer – international relations, taught by Sant’Anna Professor Marco Caputo, and multi-media communications abroad, taught by Anna Bulszewicz, ’07, Jandoli School of Communication lecturer.

Bulszewicz’s course will charge students with the task of creating digital content by reporting on local issues. This course intends to help students work as a team, enhance emotional intelligence and build trust in a foreign culture – all while fine tuning best practices in broadcast news writing and digital editing.

After 10 years as an on-air announcer, Bulszewicz returned to the Jandoli School with a big goal in mind: She wanted to challenge students to be more ethical and efficient communicators in unfamiliar spaces. After conducting a site visit at Sant’Anna Institute in summer 2018, Bulszewicz knew the program was a perfect fit for St. Bonaventure students.

Through physical immersion into foreign culture, she believes Caputo’s course supports a base knowledge regarding international issues and how culture informs perception, while her course allows expansion of student confidence in reporting, discussing and forming unbiased opinions on those international issues. This two-fold coursework has attracted a variety of majors, including journalism, strategic communication, school counseling and business.

According to Bulszewicz, this program is unlike any study abroad experience offered to students. The program serves as a simulation of life as a working professional abroad, not student life.

Shannon McNulty, a senior attending the trip, said she chose to spend her summer in the program because of its independent approach to foreign studies.

“Not only are we given the opportunity to live as young adults in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, but it’s emphasized we are required to live as young adults in the local town, which really drew me in,” she explained. “I believe we are given the opportunity to learn in a hands-on environment instead of just sitting in a classroom every day.”

To aid in this hands-on approach to learning, the program cost includes a number of mobile lectures, where attendees will learn while on guided tours, in guest lectures and through go-sees in the local community.

Some of these experiences include private tours of a local coffee shop, The Vatican and Pompeii, as well as lectures by employees at the U.S. Consulate, a BBC journalist and a local lifestyle journalist.

People can follow along with SBU students enrolled in the Sorrento program at https://www.instagram.com/studysorrentosbu.

Students, parents and other community members with an interest in the 2020 Sorrento program are encouraged to contact Bulszewicz at abulsze@sbu.edu. For more information, visit the official program website at www.sbu.edu/sorrento.

This week, our students travel to Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) broadcast station in Naples, Italy, to participate in a virtual lecture by a BBC journalist and welcome members of the U.S. Consulate in Naples for an exclusive mobile-learning experience, coordinated by Mary Jo Polidore, ’78.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, we believe in the goodness of every person and in the ability of every person to do extraordinary things. St. Bonaventure University cultivates graduates who are confident and creative communicators, collaborative leaders and team members, and innovative problem solvers who are respectful of themselves, others, and the diverse world around them. Named the #1 regional university value in New York and #2 in the North by U.S. News and World Report, we are establishing pathways to internships, graduate schools and careers in the context of our renowned liberal arts tradition.