With spring around the corner, we are now busy planning our study abroad programs for next year. Check out this link: http://international.udel.edu/studyabroad/programs/Programs.asp
More than 60 programs are in the plans for winter 2010. Where would you like to study abroad with the University of Delaware?
Our presentations of the Art of Nursing in Italy is planned for Monday, February 9th at 12noon. Please join us in 222 McDowell to see our team programs.
We left Venice just before a storm. The city was preparing for flooding as we headed by ferry to our bus. This city is very much like New Orleans in that it is built at sea level and they celebrate Mardi Gras! At any rate, we boarded a bus for Lake Como -- known as THE resort for the rich & famous, but pretty much a ghost town in the winter! We looked for George Clooney's house, but even the tour guides were gone for the winter!
We traveled from Siena to Venice for the weekend. Because this is a city made up of hundreds of islands, we had to ride a boat to our hotel. Even the taxis were boats! Our hotel was on the main promenade of the city in front of the main canal. Cruise ships could be seen navigating this canal in the mornings. This city has been captured in movies over the years and, to our surprise, a movie was being filmed in our hotel while we were there.
We are living in Siena this week -- all within the walls of this ancient city. One of our classes was at the first known hospital of Europe. Santa Maria della Scala is a hospital that was just recently closed to treating patients. Over the last few years, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of more than 60,000 people who were buried in layers after dying from the plague in the 1360's. Because people were so afraid of catching the plague, it was thought that burying them in layers with sand would prevent further spread of this deadly disease.
For one week of our study abroad program, we stayed on an estate in Tuscany in small villas. What we noticed is how quiet our surroundings are compared to all the other places we have traveled -- and how disconnected we felt from Delaware and our families! We worked on this in our Women's Health course, discussing how emotional baggage can hold us back from our aspirations in life.
This is our free weekend on our program. We had the choice of staying in Tuscany to explore the area or travel to a place of interest. About half of our group stayed at the villa -- we made dinners together, celebrated Christina's birthday, walked into town for their famous 1 euro cappachino, and relaxed. Others traveled to Paris, Madrid, and Sorrento to explore... we are waiting to hear their stories!
We took our classroom on the road this week -- okay, so maybe it was on the train -- traveling to Pisa to challenge ourselves in several ways. First, getting on the right train both ways, but more importantly, getting off at the right stop was a primary challenge. Then following the map through Pisa to the Leaning Tower was yet another challenge, but not nearly the challenge of climbing the steep, narrow stairs to the top of the tower!
Our group stayed in Florence for 4 days to explore the art and people of the area. Of interest, we found a monastary a block away from our hotel where monks continue making "remedies" that we call complementary medicine in the US. In looking through the museum there, we found that many of the herbal remedies used in the 1600's continue to be used today!
We stopped at a farmhouse in Tuscany to learn the Tuscan style of cooking and how this relates to health. This is an active farm, harvesting olives and grapes, and producing olive oil and wine that is known globally. The owners were so sweet... they kept worrying about their English, yet we had no problem understanding them. We made a small film to show you what you can experience on a study abroad program with the University of Delaware:
