Monash Prato Student Report

Ben Jellis

The following report was writen by Ben Jellis (2004 Prato student)

Yes, the statue of David is very impressive, the Amalfi coast is very beautiful. That said, the most amazing thing I have seen in Italy was at the traffic lights at Naples. It was a man on a Vespa, or rather two men on a Vespa, because it was the man on the back who was truly remarkable. He sat behind the driver facing backwards and with both arms outstretched he held the front of a large gas bbq which rested on wheels behind the Vespa. When the lights changed the pair rode off, the man on the back struggling but succeeding in keeping hold of the trailer.

If you are deciding whether to commit to studying in Prato, I encourage you to approach the decision in the same spirit. By this I do not mean gross negligence, but rather, great enthusiasm, a willingness to try something different and undertake a new challenge.

Monash University’s Italian campus, is located in Prato a medieval town which is a twenty minute train ride from Florence. The building itself is a historic gentleman’s club, boasting card rooms, a billiards room, secret passageways and a sunlit terrace.

Monash University’s Clayton campus is located a twenty-minute drive from most locations. Before it became a university the land was used to house a tuberculosis colony.

Of course a comparison between the experience at both campuses is far more complex than that. Both have their own advantages, and indeed I would not recommend Prato because it is better or worse than Clayton, rather its strength is simply that it is different.

Where Clayton has big class sizes, Prato has small, where Clayton has the flexibility of taped lectures, Prato requires you to come in every day. The result is an experience very different to what most students are used to. Studying and Prato is quite personal. After a few classes you will know your lecturer and all of the people in your class. Classes are more interactive, students participate more and the atmosphere is friendly and open.

The campus building is palatial and stands between a medieval fort and a pizza store which sells slices by weight. It is just possible to make out both from the outdoor terrace where lectures are held under umbrellas (but sadly without banana lounges).

Prato, is however, merely the venue where classes take place. Most students do not actually live in Prato, but commute from Florence, a city which I have no hesitation in describing as incredible. Florence can be both infuriating and enchanting, operating at times like a third world city but always retaining a first class history. Florence is a fascinating place to live, primarily because of this history and the incredible art and architecture which remains from the middle of the last millennium.

That said, in the period since the Renaissance, the city has lost its place at the fore of artistic expression and has gained a substantially larger population. The result is a city in flux, with an incredible artistic past but an uncertain, tourist driven future. Accordingly, living in Florence can be a variable but rewarding experience and your relationship with the city (like perhaps all strong relationships) is likely to swing between fascination and frustration.

If you are interested in studying in Italy, you are likely to be interested in technical details such as food, accommodation and transport.

Accommodation is perhaps the easiest of the three to organise, with prices comparative to those in Melbourne and apartments quite easy to find. My advice would be to talk to students who have been on the program and to visit the websites they recommend. Transport is also easy with most of Florence within walking distance of the station and Prato easily accessible by rail.

Compared to the ease of organising food and transport, it is perhaps shopping for food which provides the greatest challenge. As if by magic, the prices of food in Florence decreases as you distance from the centre of town grows. My advice is to purchase food as far away as possible, preferably in the supermarket at Prato.

Unfortunately, any potential food purchase is further complicated by the bizarre manner in which Italian businesses close their shops for large and seemingly random chunks of the day. This would perhaps be manageable if this phenomena followed a discernable pattern, however, seldom do shops appear to close at times which are consistent on a comparative or even day to day basis. The effect is similar to a Mexican wave, where just as one shop closes another seems to open-making shopping a difficult experience. Certainly, I can remember one occasion where I spent almost an hour searching for a place which sold milk for my breakfast. Unsuccessful, my solution was to return to our apartment, take my bowl and ask a nearby café to fill it with milk from the coffee machine. Obviously this is an extreme example, but the moral of the story is that eating in Italy requires shopping in advance when you find the stores to be open.

The final thing which might interest a potential Prato student is the issue of visas. A visa is required for study in Italy and is available for minimal cost, however I will not lie and tell you that I have one. Subsequently I can only give advice on how not to get a visa and to be honest, my experience tells me that the best way to not get a visa, is to go to the Italian embassy with all the required documentation. That said, the acquisition of a visa is certainly advisable and will allow you to enjoy living in Italy without the fear of deportation and without ducking for cover every time your doorbell apartment rings. My advice with visas, try to get one and try early.

I am yet to finish studying in Italy. I have been here one month and will be here for another (potential deportation notwithstanding)-so I should warn you that any recommendation I make regarding the Prato program might have changed by the time I return home. I am, however, quite comfortable in wholeheartedly recommending the program to anyone considering it. The expression "amazing experience" is used too often when describing university programs (usually in earnest pamphlets to earnest VCE students) but Prato is an amazing experience where you will almost certainly make fantastic new friends and enjoy a completely different style of learning.