UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — This summer, 15 students from the Penn State College of the Liberal Arts traveled to Todi, Italy, as part of the “Italian Language, Art History and Culture” faculty-led course, which allowed them to immerse themselves in a new culture while gaining real-world experience.

The program, led by Giuseppe Bruno-Chomin, assistant teaching professor of Italian, gives students full Italian language immersion and the opportunity to explore the picturesque hilltop Umbrian town of Todi. The students also had the opportunity to visit other Italian towns and cities such as Siena, Assisi, Perugia, Orvieto, Urbino, Pienza, Florence, Naples and Rome.

“In Todi, learning goes beyond the four walls of the classroom,” Bruno-Chomin said. “During the six-week program, students are fully immersed in Italian life. They live with local families, take classes in an historic building and essentially become members of the Todi community.”

Carson Dyck, a third-year student majoring in global and international studies and a current forward on the Penn State men’s hockey team, described the trip as “a good time, with even better people.”

“It was crazy to think that some of the buildings in Italy were made so many years ago and yet still stand today,” Dyck said. “People from all over the world come to visit these sites of art and culture, and yet Italian people live here day to day. I’m grateful for this opportunity to travel to Europe. Not only was it a bucket list item, but I learned so much about each city I visited, both contemporarily and historically.”

The most exciting part of the trip, the Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, native said, was experiencing it with other Penn State students he now considers very close friends.