By Eric House

What do the crystal-clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea and the rugged landscape of the Star Wars planet Tatooine have in common? They’re two of the stunning scenes you’ll see on SIT’s Tunisia and Italy: Politics and Religious Integration in the Mediterranean study abroad program.

Not only will you study the interplay of migration and identity across Tunisia and Italy, you’ll immerse yourself in different cultures, strengthen your foreign language skills, feast on fantastic cuisine, take in magnificent sites, and experience personal growth.

Here are just five of the many reasons to study abroad with SIT in Tunisia and Italy.

Live in the picturesque coastal village of Sidi Bou Said

Picture-perfect cobbled streets, bohemian cafes, and bleach-white houses with Mediterranean-blue shutters characterize the Tunisian town of Sidi Bou Said. This seaside oasis—at the crossroads of the Mediterranean and the birthplace of the Arab Spring—is where you’ll live during your homestay.

Learn about Tunisia’s transition to democracy while taking in sites that seem straight from a movie scene. In fact, during a southern excursion you’ll encounter troglodyte dwellings and traditional Berber villages used as the set for the planet Tatooine in Star Wars!

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Embark on unforgettable excursions to holy sites, ancient villages, and more

Planet Tatooine isn’t the only otherworldly site you’ll see. History and culture come alive when you visit Turkish and Spanish forts, Africa’s oldest synagogue, and the holy city of Kairouan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was the first Muslim settlement in North Africa.

You’ll also cross the Mediterranean to Palermo, the capital of Sicily. During this three-week excursion, you’ll take in the medieval splendor of Taormina, the volcanic grandeur of Catania, and the 18th-century Baroque beauty of Bagheria. Punic, Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman, and Spanish civilizations magnificently collide here.

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Step out of your comfort zone with cultural immersion

True global education often comes from authentic experiences with different cultures in their local communities. Both Tunisia and Italy have experienced migration and colonization over three millennia. The result is a unique intermix of cultures to learn from.

As you experience everyday activities that take you to the heart of these cultures, their similarities and difference will come alive. Hear from migrant youth as you help them make garments for a local Sicilian market, or from young Tunisian bloggers who participated in the Arab Spring—perspectives that will help you understand Mediterranean politics and identity.

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Enjoy a mouth-watering culinary paradise

Bring on the Pasta alla Norma and couscous! Tunisia and Italy have distinct flavor profiles and traditional dishes characterized by vibrant colors and aromas. The two countries’ cuisines will take you to a culinary paradise.

Cooking and food preparation are blended into weekly language activities that strengthen both your language learning and your kitchen skills. At the end of the program, you’ll receive a cookbook as a farewell gift—and a chance to amaze others when you cook for friends back home.

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Sharpen your Arabic or French language skills

This study abroad experience straddles North Africa and Europe, so prepare to study and practice multiple languages. Led by language experts, you can study Arabic or French. Take what you learn in the classroom and apply it in everyday conversation during your homestay and excursions.

If you’re ready to embark on a life-changing educational and cultural experience in Tunisia and Italy—andiamo!

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Click here to learn more about applying today and discover more of our academic programs.

Registration now open for nearly 40 SIT summer programs

If you haven’t yet begun planning for next summer, this is a great time to start.

Registration opens Wednesday, Sept. 15, for 38 SIT summer 2022 study abroad opportunities. Included are new programs that encompass art and social change in Eastern Europe; hip-hop music and decoloniality in Senegal; climate change in Jordan; peace-building and human rights in the Balkans; human trafficking in the Netherlands; food security in Italy; epidemiology in Argentina; and urban design and social justice in Spain.

“SIT has historically expanded the frontiers of international education, creating global opportunities of learning and cultural immersion for thousands of students a year across all continents,” notes SIT Dean of Faculty Dr. Said Graiouid. “The summer 2022 portfolio maintains that tradition with programs that focus on social, political, economic and scientific arenas and in diverse historical periods and geographical settings.”

Students are challenged to embrace a human-centered, comparative approach …”

SIT’s immersive programs next summer will take place in sub-Saharan Africa, the Asia Pacific region, Europe, and the Middle East/North Africa.

SIT will also once again offer virtual internships that allow undergraduates to build invaluable professional and academic experience on a range of subjects. These include two Jordan internships, in counseling and humanitarian action, and in community empowerment and climate change; women’s rights in Cameroon; education and social change in Chile; sustainability in India; public health in Kenya; human rights in Serbia; diplomacy and international relations in South Africa; and development and gender in Vietnam.

Regardless of which program they choose, says Graiouid, “students are challenged to embrace a human-centered, comparative approach in which they engage with resources and the competencies needed for the development of the skills of critical literacy, intercultural communication, and intellectual polity.”

Alix Swann, an international studies major at Spelman College, did a virtual internship on the Chile program in fall 2020 in which she worked with a women’s collective that fights street sexual harassment. Alix’s task was to teach about U.S. laws and policies on sexual harassment in the workplace and digital sexual harassment.

“Before this internship, my viewpoint was solely from a U.S. perspective, and I now no longer try to relate everything to the U.S.,” she says.

Yardena Meyerhoff, a physics and astronomy major at Whitman College, also did the Chile program, interning with the Colegio de Profesoras y Profesores de Chile to conduct a comparative analysis of Chile’s standardized testing system and the effect of standardized testing on student learning and development.

“My meetings with my internship advisor were very organic and natural and would often go in fascinating and sometimes unexpected directions. Our conversations made me think about my own experiences with education growing up in Minnesota, and how education systems around the world suffer from similar inequalities,” Yardena recalls.

SIT’s virtual language programs have also been popular during the pandemic. Language options for summer 2022 include all levels of Arabic (from Jordan); Swahili (Kenya); Hindi (India); Nepali and Tibetan (Nepal).

New SIT programs for summer 2022 are:

Argentina: Epidemiology and Healthcare Management—Through SIT’s close partnership with ISALUD, the nation’s top health university and think tank, examine urban epidemiology, health inequalities, and the challenges of managing health services and policies to expand access to healthcare.

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Czech Republic: Studio Arts—Explore photography, creative writing, or contemporary dance through an intensive arts workshop while examining debates around art, politics, and society.

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Italy: Food Security and Nutrition—Delve into sustainable agriculture on a Tuscan estate and explore how international experts are confronting challenges of food security, nutrition, and health.

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Jordan: Community Empowerment and Climate Change Internship—Gain professional experience with a UN or government agency or NGO working with youth and vulnerable groups on community empowerment and environmental sustainability.

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Netherlands: Human Trafficking, Sex Trade, and Modern Slavery in Europe—Examine diverse areas of human trafficking and the sex trade, including the relationship between sex workers and broader societies.

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Senegal: Hip-Hop, Resilience, and Black Struggles—Examine how young Africans use hip-hop to question traditional representations of Africa, imagine the continent’s future, and raise consciousness of globalization and (in)equality.

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Serbia: Transitional Justice, Human Rights, and Memory Activism Internship—Look at justice, human rights, and memory in post-conflict societies and contribute to the work of an important organization with a meaningful internship.

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Spain: Sustainable Urban Development and Social Justice—Explore the approaches Spanish cities are taking to pursue sustainable urban development within a social justice framework.

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Switzerland: Global Health and Development Policy—Compare public health systems within the framework of international and sustainable development, humanitarian action, human rights, and social justice.

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For more information about these and all SIT Study Abroad programs, visit www.studyabroad.sit.edu.

Rached is professor of English Literature at the University of Tunis El-Manar. He earned his PhD in literature from Essex University. He is interested in Irish studies, comparative literature, and literary translation. He has published numerous articles and books on W. B. Yeats and other modernists. He has also published three books in translation. He is currently working on a collection of comparative essays on modern poets.

Geoffrey is the manager of Zistinthe Farm and Community Garden in the Ntcheu District of central Malawi. He began his work in food security with the Permaculture Network of Malawi and as a counterpart to Peace Corps volunteers. Over the last two decades, he has been a research assistant and translator for researchers from numerous universities and development projects. Most recently, Geoff worked alongside medical students studying food security and examining the relationship between seasonality and exclusive breastfeeding of infants in rural Malawi. Geoff was born in Blantyre, the “industrial capital” of Malawi, and raised in Gowa Village, the site of this program’s rural homestay. He studied computing and information technology at Skyway Business College in Blantyre and enjoys being a catalyst in the learning and transformation students’ experience studying in Malawi.

Estefi is an urbanist and educator who worked as a Trustees’ Fellow in the International Honors Program Cities in the 21st Century. She is Executive Director of Balance Works to carry out educational programs and cultural exchanges. Estefi has a master’s degree in urbanization and development from the London School of Economics and a BA in policy studies and Latin American studies focused on education from Lafayette College. Her passion for food security merged with her dissertation at LSE, “Cities of Knowledge,” in which one of her main themes of study was the effect of urbanization on agricultural land and the livelihood of farmers in Ecuador. While in Ecuador, she worked as an urbanist specializing in emergency response and planning processes for cities suffering from disasters, particularly strong seismic events. Furthermore, she has developed within the social sphere inter-sectorial projects with international and local NGOs, public institutions, and private enterprise in Latin America. Estefi is an alum of SIT in Chile and Argentina (2009) and of IHP in Canada, India, and Mexico (2008).

Dr. Joseph Lanning is an educator, practitioner, and researcher active in sustainable development and food systems with a regional focus on southern Africa. His research focuses on the mixed livelihoods of rural Malawians as they navigate climatic, environmental, and economic risk and uncertainty in their efforts to achieve food security. He has conducted extended ethnographic research with farmers in Malawi examining agricultural decision-making. His recent collaborative research examined food insecurity and mental health among post-partum women in Malawi. Dr. Lanning is the chair of the Sustainability PhD program and oversees the Global Master’s program in Development Practice and the undergraduate International Honors Program in Food Systems. He has been involved in teaching agroecology in Malawi with the Zisinthe Farm and Community Garden, where he serves as a planning partner.

See Dr. Lanning’s full list of publications

Nesrine has an MA in applied linguistics from Manouba University and an MS in education from Mercyhurst College in Pennsylvania. She has taught English at the Tunis Business School and Arabic in the Critical Languages Scholarship Program. In addition, she is an ACTFL OPI tester of Arabic with full certification from the American Association of Teaching Foreign Languages, a certified practitioner in neuro-linguistic programming from the International Neuro-Linguistic Programming Trainers Association, and a meditation coach with World Peace Initiative foundation in Thailand.

Dr. Golaz is a physician and epidemiologist. She holds an MD and a doctorate in medicine (DrMed) from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and a master of public health from the University of Washington. She completed the Epidemic Intelligence Service program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta and the CDC Preventive Medicine Residency program at the Indian Health Service in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was a visiting epidemiologist for the CDC and a regional immunization advisor seconded to the UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia in Kathmandu; the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office in Cairo; and the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office in New Delhi.

Dr. Golaz teaches public health in humanitarian emergencies at the University of Geneva’s Center for Education and Research in Humanitarian Action and at the Global Studies Institute. Before joining the University in 2012, she was a UNICEF senior health advisor for humanitarian emergencies. She has contributed to many scientific publications.

Alexandre Lambert is Swiss and holds a PhD in international relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. He has been an academic director and lecturer with SIT in Geneva since 2007. He has been lead researcher for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe at the Graduate Institute, project officer at the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, and a civil servant at the Swiss Federal Department of Defense. He belongs to nonprofit civil society organizations including the Swiss Foreign Policy Association, the European Consortium of Political Research, and European Research Group on Armed Forces and Society. He is a fellow of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society in Chicago and frequently provides policy advice to the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation, often regarding operations in the Western Balkans, South Caucasus, and Central Asia. Dr. Lambert has published in international politics and history, international security, and security sector governance.

Dr. Lambert is member of the editorial board of Diplomatic Service, a scientific periodical issued by the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. He has been publishing on various aspects of social science, international affairs, and strategic studies, in German, French, English, and Russian languages. He just published two new books, with Cambridge Scholars on the geo-economics of the Silk Road, and with Routledge on the geopolitics of India.

See Dr. Lambert’s full list of publications