An Introduction to Human Geography in Italy
From August 2018:
Throughout the year, students participate in education abroad programs to enhance their studies and gather perspective from many countries around the world. Faculty from the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Kennesaw State University routinely offer study abroad opportunities to a variety of destinations.
In Summer 2018, Dr. Paul McDaniel, Assistant Professor of Geography, and over a dozen Kennesaw State University students from a variety of majors, along with several faculty and many students from other colleges and universities around Georgia, participated in the KSU in Tuscany summer study abroad program based in Montepulciano, Italy. Montepulciano is a medieval and renaissance hill town in the Italian province of Siena, in southern Tuscany, about 1 hour south of Florence and about 2 hours north of Rome. The town sits high on a limestone ridge (1,985 ft.) overlooking the surrounding region. Class meetings took place in the renovated Fortezza di Montepulciano.
Dr. McDaniel offered Introduction to Human Geography (GEOG 1101) and Geography of Europe (GEOG 3312). Studying geography while being immersed in a different landscape, culture, and society presented an exciting experiential learning opportunity for students participating in this program.
After arriving in mid-May 2018, Dr. McDaniel and students visited many places in and around the Tuscany region and further afield. These included full-day field trips to Orvieto, Pisa and Lucca, Lake Trasimeno, Siena, two day trips to Florence, and an overnight field trip to Rome. In addition to the classroom meeting in the Fortezza di Montepulciano, other learning experiences included short hikes into the countryside out of Montepulciano, as well as introductory Italian language workshops, a cooking class, and a workshop about local viticulture, viniculture, and olive and olive oil agriculture and production.
Students also had weekends free to travel and explore more broadly beyond Tuscany in other parts of Italy, as well as to other areas of Europe.
