As one of the two faculty leads, this was a great trip for us and the students. The measure is always upon return if you would do it again. I happily would. Having an on the ground guide to handle arrangements with museums, restaurants, and tour guides made the language difference very easy and allowed us to focus on the academic portions of the program. The support we received from Ed Odyssey was stellar. This is particularly true when some students became ill with strep throat or contracted minor cases of COVID. Irene was able to manage this with Stefano and the hostel staff with minimal contact with us in the first case and a bit more appropriately needed input from us when three students tested positive for Covid. Doctors were called to examine the ill students, which gave them some piece of mind and which was more than we expected having worked with other providers in different countries. Rooms were changed to ensure uninfected students stayed that way. I was impressed with how Irene and Stefano prioritized the students health and comfort. Irene was also able to act as a go-between for students and hostel staff in one case of miscommunication-easily resolved - and another instance of tension between an older student and a member of the cleaning staff. Having a person close to the majority of the students’ age provided unexpected student support and allowed them a window into Italian life they would not have otherwise received, which was quite special for their experience. Irene became akin to the cool older sister, allowing the students a trusted confidant to help them navigate their experiences. A handful accompanied her to her hometown over a long weekend—renting their own accommodations—which was really above and beyond on her part. With that said, working with someone who was also similar to a graduate student did introduce initial challenges when it came to scheduling some classes and adhering to and communicating the festival schedule I created for the students, as well as following through on expectations concerning basic language instruction to provide a little confidence to our students, most of whom do not have Italian. While it is true that English is ubiquitous in Bologna, it would have been nice to have had our request honored for some basic instruction *with practice* over two sessions. Having a person with a bit more experience with such expectations could have been helpful. The train travel to Padova and Firenze went very well. For the latter, Dr York and I should have either planned more structured events over both days as we arrived quite early in the morning yet had tours scheduled for later in the day or requested later train travel. All the guides in Bologna, Padova, and Florence were knowledgeable, open to suggestions from us to connect to course work, were friendly and seemed delighted with our students—who were truly rapt during most tours. The scheduled welcome and farewell dinners and regional Tuscan dinner were extremely fun and gave us all a chance to experience some of the many regional culinary differences. Irene facilitated these planned events very, very well. This took pressure of me (and I presume Harry) allowing us to enjoy this time with students and our spouses who each attended the Tuscan dinner-mine in her capacity as the dean of the college present to assess how well this new program was managed. The accommodations and scheduling of our classes at the hostel allowed for a minimal amount of friction in helping students attend class. There were other travelers and student groups staying there who attended the film festival, so, as expected, this provided an opportunity for our students to escape their own bubbles. The hostel staff was lively and always helpful if we had any requests concerning rooms. As this was the first time I have taken students abroad as a faculty lead or attended Il Cinema Ritrovato, part of this experience for me was seeing what was possible. I plan to do this again and am excited to perhaps integrate more interaction between our program and the festival after it closes—conversations with staff and programmers for example.

Great experience, one that I'll remember for the rest of my life! Irene, our guide, was amazing. She was super on top of all of our travel and incredibly helpful with researching things to do or restaurants to eat at, plus was great to hang out with and very welcoming! I would travel with her again anytime.

This trip was amazing! The students selected, the professors, and our guide were incredible, and it all created an insightful experience.

It was a really well organized and delightful trip! Stefano Parenti with EdOdyssey helped us plan and execute our study abroad program. He advised us as we sought to create an experience where students could take part in the Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Bologna and also to plan for excursions to Padova and Firenze as part of our historical studies. Stefano’s advice in terms of planning the excursions and scheduling made everything very easy on our end. Stefano also found Irene Sacco to be our on-the-ground guide in Italy. Irene was fantastic! I would strongly advise EdOdyssey to work with Irene with future programs in Italy, especially those linked with film studies courses. Irene helped us navigate any language barriers and coordinated all travel, entrance tickets, and other course related elements. As an instructor in the program, I always appreciated being able to go to Irene with questions and requests for some details (for example, asking about topics for the guest tour guides at museums could focus on). She helped implement course programming as we wanted. Irene was invaluable in cases of medical needs. She helped coordinate trip to a medical center for a student with strange rashes on their legs early in the trip, working (I’m sure) with Stefano to connect the student’s insurance to pay for the visit. She also coordinated with doctors who saw students who tested positive fro COVID later in the trip. This kind of assistance navigating medical services was immensely appreciated! Above all, however, Irene was a valuable resource for students. She shared cultural advice and suggestions for places to eat in Bologna and different activities students could engage in while in Bologna (for example, she helped organized a group of students to join in the Pride Parade). Students saw her as a friendly and approachable guide and knew they could count on her. I heard repeatedly from many students how much they appreciated her! Hiring her as an on-the-ground guide was one of the best decisions we made for this program! Thank you for the suggestion to do this and for finding Irene, Stefano! I believe that PSU will want to run this program again. We will likely make this part of our study abroad program rotation, so we’d want to return in 2-3 years. Next time, we may make some adjustments based on the faculty who lead the program and the nature and destination for our excursions, but we are certain that we’d want to work with EdOdyssey as a provider for any future study abroad programs in Italy. We’ll certainly be passing this advice on to PSU’s Education Abroad Office as well! Thank you to Stefano and Irene and everyone behind the scenes at EdOdyssey who worked so hard to make this an unbelievably successful trip for us!

The trip is well organized and my son had a great experience with his classmates.