A month in Siena
Does the thought of living in Italy for a month and attending an
Italian University, all as the guest of the Italian Government, appeal
to you?
This dream is about to become a reality for Maria Papalia and Angela Parisi, who started studying Italian externally at UniSA through Open Universities Australia some years ago, and have now won Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs scholarships to study in Italy.
The scholarships provide a stipend and travel costs to enable Parisi and Papalia to attend the Siena University for Foreigners for a month, early in 2006.
“I am very excited about it,” Papalia said. “When I first found out we had won, I wanted to leave straight away!”
Parisi and Papalia are both teachers in other subjects in Victoria and a few years ago they decided to retrain as teachers of Italian.
“Italian migration has made a huge contribution to Australian life,” said Papalia.
“The evidence for this is all around us. It is so important for Australia to maintain links to the wider world, and Italian culture is a very good place to start because it is such an accessible culture for Australians.”
Parisi agreed, adding that there were also well recognised cognitive benefits in learning another language, that could enhance all aspects of children’s education.
“It has been a wonderful experience for me over the past few years to regain and strengthen my Italian,” said Parisi.
Siena, where Parisi and Papalia will be living and studying, is in central Tuscany, south of Florence. They will be living in university accommodation in the historical centre of Siena. They are looking forward to meeting the locals, as well as other students from around the world.
Parisi and Papalia set out on this new direction in life by enrolling in Italian units offered by UniSA through Open University Australia.
Both are enrolled in UniSA’s Graduate Diploma in Languages and Culture Studies.