Tour of FAO

Author: Emily Frey | Majors: Psychology, Communication | Semester: Summer 2025

This summer, I had the privilege of being a part of a 10-week study abroad + internship program in Rome, Italy, studying intercultural communication and globalization. For many girls in their 20s, Italy is a dream destination. It is rich in all facets of culture: art, food, history, norms, and rituals. It became all the more appealing when the opportunity to live and work in Rome for the summer presented itself. Of course my classmates and I got to see all the major monuments and tourist attractions, but I am most grateful for the locals who showed me kindness and made me feel certain I would always have a home in Rome.

This program was introduced to me by my faculty leader, Veornica Mobley, who was my classmate last semester. Truthfully, the opportunity was too perfect to pass up. I was just about to graduate with my bachelor’s degree in psychology after only 2 years of college and I had no idea what I wanted to do next. My love and affinity for people drove me to study psychology, but I later learned I did not want to do clinical work. When I learned I could study and work in Rome while earning credits toward a communication major, I knew I wanted to stay at Arkansas and commit to a double major in psychology and communication. I am still very grateful for my background in psychology; I think it better prepared me for the complex intercultural contexts I encountered in Rome.

The program started with classes and excursions for the first five weeks. Before coming to this program, I had no idea how many special, program-specific experiences we would be able to have. As a group, we were able to have a private tour of the international headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), attend mass with a Vatican priest under St. Peter’s Basilica, see the pope, and meet with prestigious journalists at one of the Associated Press hubs. My experience in those first five weeks was much richer than anything I could have accomplished while on vacation in Rome just as a tourist. Beyond that, the intercultural communications and globalization classes helped put the theories we had learned into tangible, real-life experiences. These classes were specifically useful once I started working my internship with Hummustown.

Hummustown is a non-profit Syrian cooking cooperative that was started in 2018 to aid Syrian refugees during the 2011 war in Syria. It has now expanded its mission to refugees from all over, and even those who are from Italy and are financially struggling. Its main goal is to give these individuals dignified work and help them adjust to life in Italy. As an intern, I was in charge of their social media marketing and charity event planning. My team and I focused on creating a marketing campaign that was youthful, bright, and eye-catching, all while trying to ensure their mission statement was clear. We utilized fun animations and trending short-form videos on Instagram to gain traction. We also organized a benefit concert to support Hummustown and their families, some of whom may still be in dangerous or affected areas in the Middle East. The event ended up being a great success with an estimated 130 guests. Hummustown catered a buffet of traditional Syrian cuisine, and live music played all night long. An estimated $2,000 was made from the event and many guests came to tell us how much fun they had. Even more importantly, we were able to share the mission with all the guests there and urged them to come back and continue supporting Hummustown by eating there whenever they can.

Overall, working with Hummustown as an intern has been the most incredible privilege I could have had while studying abroad in Rome. While I have always been interested in working with a non-profit organization, this experience has solidified this desire. The older I get, the deeper my appreciation is for new experiences. Through this experience, I’ve come to deeply appreciate how essential compassion, patience, and genuine conviction in your work are to succeeding in a professional environment. Hummustown is the perfect embodiment of this, and I feel beyond lucky to have seen and experienced it this summer. Everyone visiting Italy desires an authentic Italian experience, but I got even more than that. I got to experience the love shared through food and the community that has been formed at Hummustown. It is clear that making food for others is a love language in Syrian culture, and I felt nothing but love every time I set foot into Hummustown.

If you are on the fence about studying abroad, just go. The fear of the unknown should never be enough to stop you from experiencing something like this. My understanding of the world is richer, I am more appreciative of the everyday luxuries, and I have seen so much beauty that I will never forget. If the beauty I saw in Italy were a currency, I would have enough money to study abroad every summer.