| HOUSING AND MEALS
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» meals
» special diets
» field trips
HOUSING
Living conditions for UGA students are similar to those experienced
by European students in pensiones or one-star hotels. Monasterio
S. Antonio (Albergo Athens), a 15th-century monastery that is the
permanent residential facility of the UGA Studies Abroad Program,
has been recently renovated with modern conveniences. The monastery
has multiple-bed dormitory rooms and shared bathrooms. A large courtyard
provides students an opportunity to gather outdoors to study, draw
or tend to personal chores such as laundry. Downstairs is a large
kitchen. In an adjoining room , a continental breakfast is served
between the hours of 7:00am to 9:00am. Most students wash their
own clothes by hand in outdoor sinks in the courtyard. There are
2 washers and 2 dryers available for shared use. However, this is
an expensive option (approximately $3 for each wash or dry cycle.)
There are several common rooms available for studying or reading.
The monastery doors remain locked but each student is provided with
a personal key. Linens are provided and are changed weekly by the
staff. During the summer session, some students are housed at the
Convento della Santissima Trinita, an active cloister of nuns on
top of the hill near the ceramics and sculpture areas. Doors at
the convent remain locked and students carry their own keys.
MEALS
A continental breakfast is served every morning at the Albergo Athens
and, during the summer session, at the Convento della Santissima
Trinita. Continental breakfast consists of bread, jam, fruit juice
and coffee or tea. Students who want or need additional food for
breakfast may buy groceries and keep them in the student refrigerator.
Lunch while in Cortona and on field trips will be
on your own. In Cortona, there are many options for an inexpensive
quick lunch at local grocery stores and bars, as well as numerous
full-service restaurants.
For lunch sandwiches are available at most bars
and grocery stores in town. A "toast" in Italy is a grilled
ham and cheese sandwich,
and most bars will offer other choices as well. Any of the grocery
stores in town will prepare a sandwich made to your specifications
or you can buy your own fruit, cheese and bread. The range of restaurants
in Cortona varies from first-class full menu restaurants to more
inexpensive places where you can order a pizza or a plate of pasta.
If you would like to go to a full-service restaurant
for lunch, the prices will generally be higher and you will pay
for service. A cover
charge is automatically added to your bill and you are also expected
to tip your waiter. Sitting down in a restaurant means possibly
waiting times, as food in Italy is cooked only after you order it.
In Cortona, smaller family-run restaurants are usually fairly inexpensive
and provide an opportunity to make friends with the Cortonese.
Evening
meals in Cortona (Monday-Friday) are typical Tuscan fare prepared
and served at Tonino's Ristorante, one of the most well-known and
respected restaurants in the region. The University of Georgia group
gathers for dinner at 7:30pm in the downstairs dining room. The
dining room seats approximately 100 people and is serviced by the
professional staff of Tonino's. The restaurant has a balcony with
a bar on the upper level providing a spectacular view of the Val
di Chiana and is a relaxing place for a before or after dinner coffee
or aperitif.
Dinner at Tonino's consists of three courses:
the first course (primo piatto) is usually pasta or rice, the second
course ( secondo piatto) is usually meat or fish and a selection
of salad or vegetables, and dessert (dolce) is usually fruit or
cake or pastry. A different second
course is served to those who are vegetarians.
All meals while in
Venice are on your own.
SPECIAL DIETS
VEGETARIANS
There is a vegetarian table at evening meals. Vegetarian students
must declare themselves as such at the beginning of the semester
and sit only at the vegetarian table in order to be served.
FOOD ALLERGIES:
Students with severe food allergies are asked to take into consideration
that, as part of our residential program, dinner is prepared by
Italian chefs Mon-Fri at Toninos for the entire group. Eating with
the group Mon.-Fri. is required (students may cook for themselves
only on Sat. and Sun.). Food is typically Italian, with pasta and
pizza integral parts of every meal. Those with allergies to wheat,
tomatoes, nuts, among other common ingredients, may experience difficulty
at group meals. Special accommodations can be made only with written
explanation of the allergy, plus severity and consequences of allergy,
by a certified doctor.
FIELD TRIPS
Throughout the program, field trips may be made to several of the
following major historical and artistic centers. Florence, Siena,
Perugia, Urbino, Sansepolcro, Arezzo, Assisi, Pompeii, Paestum,
San Gimignano, Montepulciano, Ravenna, are some examples of sites
visited in the past. Overnight trips will be made to Rome and Venice.
Most field trips occur on the weekend and vary per session. The
buses for a typical field trip leave Cortona at 7:30 am and travel
to the destination. In the company of professors whose classes require
visits to a certain site, students have an opportunity to visit
monuments, museums or other works of art first hand. At the end
of the day, buses meet the group at a pre-appointed place and are
re-loaded typically between 4-5pm in order to return to Cortona
in time for dinner. Lunch
while on field trips is on your own. If you fail to meet the return
bus at the pre-appointed time, return travel to Cortona is on your
own.
All meals while in Venice are on your own.
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