Now listen again to
Virginia Parma while you check the transcription of
her talk.
VIRGINIA: Studying abroad is wonderful if you
have the opportunity. I was fortunate to have that opportunity three
times. I studied in France, Canada and the old Soviet Union, in what
is now Russia.
I studied in France while I was completing my bachelor's degree at
home in California. I studied
French language and
literature, which I was in love with at the time.
It was so special to be in the land of
Moliere and Voltaire, Zola and Sartre!! I spent about a year there
and during that time I lived
with a French family
... which gave me lots of opportunity to speak French, as well as to eat the
wonderful food. I was
in a small country town, not Paris, so I was able to enjoy the
beautiful countryside – the big rivers, the forests and, in the
distance, the mountains. I received
a diploma for my
efforts while in France.
Then, after I had completed my bachelor's degree in California, I
went to Canada to do a master's degree in comparative literature. I
spent a year and a half
in Canada, from autumn through two winters to the second spring. I
was living in an apartment
with a friend, who was studying on the same program as me, so
that was very convenient. I really enjoyed the work in Canada
because the classes were so
small. However, I was not allowed to have a job, which made
it very hard to make ends meet.
After I finished my
master's
degree in Canada, I had the opportunity to go to the old
Soviet Union for three months. There I lived in a
student hostel, with
other foreign and Soviet students, and I studied
Russian language and culture.
I found that extremely interesting though it was a very hard
language to learn, especially the grammar and the pronunciation. I
spent three months in
the Soviet Union and received a
certificate at the
end of this time, which I still have on my wall at home, written in
beautiful Russian script. The people there were
extremely friendly,
and the theatre was just glorious. For me, going abroad to study was
not just serious effort. I had a lot of fun too.
