Simone Papa

Pursuing a study program in Romania is a good option for foreign students, whether they study the Romanian language or they opt for such widely spoken languages as English, French or German.

România Internațional, 19.02.2015, 13:54

Pursuing a study program in Romania is a good option for foreign students, whether they study the Romanian language or they opt for such widely spoken languages as English, French or German.

Some of the foreign students decide to take up a study program in an internationally-spoken language, yet most of the students who come to our country also learn Romanian, all the more so since they may have personal reasons for that. One such student is Simone Papa, a young Italian, who took up a study program with the University of Bucharests Faculty of Political Sciences. We asked Simone Papa where he came from, how he heard about Romania and why he opted for coming here.

“I am from Turin, in northern Italy, close to France, where everybody says were French, but were not. We are genuine Italians, you can have a good meal there as well. Ill be 21 this year, I am in my 2nd year at the university. My ties with Romania began in 2012, I was close to Belgrade, in a town called Kragujevac, and there I met a Romanian girl I got along with very well. She is four years older. I was a senior high school student in my final year, and as soon as Id graduated I decided to come to Bucharest to do my studies, it was an emotional decision.”

From the very beginning he wanted to study political sciences, a programme that can cover several disciplines, just like he said. Simone Papa.

“That was one of the main criteria for my option. I thought it was a good idea to go there, I did not have such an opportunity in Italy, except for Rome. But I had my girlfriend Florina here and its here that I wanted to be. I believe the fact that I spoke English helped me, I was kind of good at English in high-school as well. But here in one year and a half I improved my English a lot. If I look into the future, a diploma in a foreign language is better than a diploma in Italian or Romanian. I dont know where Ill be in one year and a half from now, but I very much want to travel to several countries.”

International academic experience is a big gain for the students who want to further their education in an environment which is different from the one they come from, or who simply want to broaden their knowledge of science and culture. We asked Simone Papa if Bucharest offered him the academic excellence standards he found in other universities.

“I dont have a hands-on experience, but I can make sense of that in comparison with other faculties. Bologna is very famous, precisely because professors with a practical experience in their field go there. The faculty in Bucharest stands in line with what I would have got if I had remained in Turin. There are positive as well as negative aspects to the system here. Education is a problem everywhere. I sort of scored a success in my baccalaureate exam because I wanted to write about alternative education. I got a bit of experience in that, I got involved in several projects financed by the European Union, Youth in Action being one of them. I really liked the idea of some sort of education that was more interactive.”

In Romania, they say any Romanian can understand Italian. We asked Simone Papa whether it was easy for him to learn Romanian.

“It was very difficult in the beginning, but everything went quite fast. Six or seven months after Id taken up learning Romanian from scratch, I could even speak the language. However, in the beginning I said to myself it would be very difficult. I understood nothing, actually, words came all together and although Romanian has more vowels and its nicer this way, we Italians are more musical, still. But now I have begun to speak it quite well.”

I asked Simone Papa what places hes been to, in Romania.

“I traveled to Brasov, I traveled to Sinaia, I went further up to Maramures, I reached as far as Craiova. What I want most is to be in Timisoara, Ive heard its a wonderful place. I have a couple of friends who also arrived from Italy and who came here with several international projects and they recommended Timisoara to me.”

Simone Papa is positive his stay in Romania will benefit him, and not only professionally. And even if he chose a career that would no longer tie him to Romania, he is convinced that memories of his young age would remain unique.