Hello! My name is Madeleine and I am from Princeton, New Jersey. This year I am living in Italy studying food and agriculture at the University of Gastronomic Sciences. At my school, we have students and researchers from over 26 countries! Everyone has something meaningful and unique to add to our class lessons and research. I take courses on everything from agroecology to Jewish foodways to fermentation. Food is a great place to start when trying to understand all the different aspects of history, culture, science, pleasure, and art.
Back home I have lived all over the northeast of the USA studying, researching, and working as a farmer. I worked in the Adirondacks, a mountain range in New York, as a vegetable farmer and a butcher. While I was in college, I worked at a CSA (community-supported agriculture) farm that donated half of our harvest to people who couldn't afford food in our city. I love the hard work that comes from food production and the sense of pride it gives me to feed others!
I love living in Italy because I get to immerse myself in a new language, attend many cultural festivals, and go to flea markets all across the country! Though small, Italy is a country stuffed to the brim with cultural differences across food, language, and geography. I can't wait to share some of these insights with you!
Want to know more about how you can study or intern abroad when you are a college student? The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education (IIE). Learn more about the scholarship by clicking here!
