Summer Institute in International Communication and Professional Media

In Cagli, you find yourself in an Italian oasis. Free from a natural drive to fill you touristy dance ticket, you take pause in the piazza, savoring you cappuccino which you have learned to properly order and receive honoring the customs of your congenial host. Allowing the slow movement to seep into your sinus, Cagli and its people becomes your Brigadoon.
The course immerses you in village life through communication skills, conversational Italian, enhanced with insight into cultural norms, facilitating your ability to negotiate daily transactions and begin organically building relationships. Photography lesson strengthen your ability to capture the tranquil beauty of the place, here, now and for the rest of your life. Learn to acclimate and negotiate cultural dissonance, drawing down the boundaries that distance us from one another. Gain tolerance developing mutual respect and broadening appreciation for differences, enriching awareness through intentionally experiencing alternative modes of living and celebrating life. Friday night in Cagli, the old town becomes a vibrant street market, alive with traveling vendors, selling their crafts and culinary delights. On this particular clear, moonlit summer night, a pair folk dancers delighted a gathering audience in the piazza as they portrayed life and love through a circle dance, serenaded by a lively violinist and a tambourine player. The light footed lady and gentleman joined hands in the center of the circle for a twirling embrace before parting to trace the circumference, briefly meeting and parting time and again, a breathtaking celebration of the human heart. Take pause for the timeless experiences.

I didn't realize it at the time, but I needed to broaden my view of the world. Through this program, I was forced to examine and understand my environment first, before communicating in a thoughtful, productive manner - a key principle in being an effective professional and an all-around better person.

Two years ago, I joined this program expecting nothing more than just another class in an overseas setting. The program proved to be an investment into the self that continues to pay dividends to this day. Through this program, I learned that many of my views and assumptions of the world were often tunneled to the goal of merely getting through the day, conditioned by experiences of everyday life. I learned that traveling to off-beaten paths was a direct challenge to living day-to-day, as the experience altered my view of the world, therefore, altering the platform of understanding from which I communicated from.

Of all the courses I took as part of the Communications and Leadership Studies program, this study abroad course proved the most valuable. From a personal perspective, the process of the program allows you to set yourself free from what you think you know about life and world, and adopt a wiser view that is closer to the truth.