Jeremy Himmelstein-A Semester In Rome

Jeremy Himmelstein '15 studies abroad in the MD-in-Rome program in Italy for Spring 14 term and completes courses that satisfy ARHU's Global Engagement and UMD's graduation requirements.

Jeremy Himmelstein (Class of 2015) is a Communication major. He studied abroad through the MD-in-Rome program in Italy during the Spring, 2014 semester, where he was able to take courses toward graduation and complete his Global Engagement (GE) requirement.

In fulfillment of his GE requirement Jeremy participated with the Bridgesport program, which teaches basketball to Italian children.

As part of his experience, he found that it can be a challenge to “recruit” the kids since soccer is overwhelmingly popular in Rome, and since the basketball court was located right next to a soccer field. However, every Monday and Wednesday afternoon Jeremy and the other students found kids to participate with them for an hour and a half of basketball, teaching them how to shoot free throws, take layups, some simple dribbling skills, and even had some scrimmages with kids who were more advanced.

Jeremy really valued the opportunity to meet and bond with the Italian kids through basketball. He found that just like American kids, Italian kids “are very active and enjoy having fun.” He also found that working with Bridgesport was a great way to practice his Italian in a real world environment.

His final thoughts on the experience: “This program, Bridgesport, has been an unbelievable experience as I am not only able to teach these children the game of basketball, but I am also able to learn a bit of Italian as well, while teaching [the kids] English.”

Click here to watch a video about Jeremy’s experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfDD6_SlN70&feature=youtu.be