A 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit Italy last Monday, reducing much the small town of L’Aquila to rubble, claiming 289 lives and leaving thousands of others injured and homeless. The tragedy hit close to home for the Georgetown Italian department, which conducts a summer study abroad program in the small medieval town.
Georgetown’s program in L’Aquila lasts about five weeks, and the 10 participating students attended roughly one short excursion or cultural activity per week in the city itself, according to the Office of International Programs Web site. The Centro di Spiritualità Sant’Agostino, the building in which students have resided in the past, has experienced significant structural damage.
Due to the damage caused by the earthquake, Georgetown is relocating the program to Rome for this summer, according to Andy Pino, the University’s Director of Media Relations. Pino said the program will feature the same courses and will be taught by the same faculty.
Haswell said that during her stay in L’Aquila, she developed a strong connection with the town. While she was grateful that the close friends she made during her stay there were safe, she still felt terrible about the tragedy.
“It just makes me so sad because the buildings were so beautiful and unique,” Adrienne Haswell (COL ’11), who attended the program last summer said. “It makes me even sadder to think about the life that was lost because the people there were really welcoming and never seemed to get too frustrated with my Italian.”
Cristina Dinu, OIP’s Assistant Director of Summer Study Abroad, and Laura Benedetti, the program’s director, did not respond to requests for comment.
