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For the past two years (2013/2014) I have led Italian field trips to Jesi, a medieval town surrounded by hills in Le Marche region > Jesi official website

In 2013 I found myself responding to a sudden burst of enthusiasm of my students, who galvanised by their fast learning experience studying on the accelerated Italian course, simply wanted to have a quick full immersion experience in a place where they would be able to actually use their Italian.

“oh well, I am going back to Italy to visit family for Easter, if you wish, you can come and i will be happy to show you around: it is a beautiful place and not many people speak English…”

That was it > …. in few days I found myself in charge of arranging accommodation, flights, transports, visits etc : was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!! 

Going through the admin/health and safety part of the trip was a learning curve, but this is now part of my expertise and one of the many things i gained from the trip, amongst many others.

I could not believe how eager students were to come to such a remote and unknown part of Italy: you would think that, especially if they have never visited Italy before,that they would rather go to Rome, Florence or Venice, but not them: I think they were up to a challenge > they wanted to experience real life in italy, and as experienced travellers as they were, they knew this could be achieved better in a smaller place, engaging with the locals rather than wandering in bigger cities invaded by tourists.

And they were right.  Every year, this is the one comment which comes up frequently when we are back and evaluating the trip.

So, all in all, Jesi has revealed itself as a good choice and the surrounding area offers a lot of opportunities to immerse oneself in italian’s culture, architecture, art, music, food etc. There is plenty to experience from and each year we discover more.

That is why I decided to write this blog and document our experiences : hopefully colleagues and students will found useful resources to learn more about Italy as well as ideas and inspiration for exciting trips and projects involving travelling abroad.

There is a section for each academic year  where you will find resources, pictures etc.

Enjoy!  Browse our Jesi trips by year …