Ben Kovacs

Could you please give us a brief introduction about yourself, including your name, the program you're doing at Monash and in Prato  and how long you've been in Prato.

My name is Ben Kovacs and I am doing a Bachelor of Global Studies and Bachelor of Law and in Prato I am attending the Global Campus Intensive program. I’ve attended four units here: The European Union, Sustainable Tuscany, War and Memory and finally,  Comparative Human Rights. I've been in Prato on and off since around June 2022. I kind of spaced out my programs a bit, so I did the summer module then I took a two-month break and I came back. So I've been in Prato cumulatively for about three or four months.

Can you describe a typical day for you in Prato?

My day in Prato is very different to a typical day in Australia, mainly because my day starts waking up about 500 metres away from the campus, which is a very big thing for me because in Australia I live about an hour drive away and so my day starts a bit later than usual, which is quite nice. I wake up, I go get a coffee from the cafe that's next to university. I highly recommend it. And then I'll go to university and study a bit just on the campus. Or perhaps if there's something a few of us are doing, I will go to a nearby city.

I really like the area just around the river. During the day it's a wonderful place for a walk, very serene and peaceful. And so I can highly recommend that. Also, the castle is very impressive, just having a coffee overlooking a medieval castle is very nice, something you don't get too much in Australia.

Could you tell us one of the highlights of your time in Prato?

I have learnt that I am an awful chef.
Other than that, I've just learnt that I can be a lot more independent. It's really good if you haven't had the overseas experience by yourself just to go here. It's a bit like a training wheel at the start because if anything ever goes wrong you've got Monash staff who are here and ready to help. They speak perfect English. That being said though, it's still great to go out and learn how to be independent, how to take care of yourself, and how to cook your own meals. You get used to a different culture and you embrace it. And yes, that's probably what I've let myself just kind of…being independent.

Would you recommend studying in Prato to other students?

Oh, absolutely, yes. It's one of the best things you can do in your entire degree. I think it's so easy compared to applying for other programs. You come here and you're immediately welcomed by everybody. It's great. You get to meet new people from a bunch of new places, but you've still got Australians around you so you don't feel as homesick. Which is probably one of the best things about this place. And outside of that, as I mentioned, the university is beautiful. All the lecturers that come here and teach - some are Australian and some are international - they all seem to be very happy to be here. They love their job. They love what they're teaching as well. So the units you'll do in Prato are probably some of the best units that you will do in your degree. I can highly recommend them.

What's next for you? What do you hope to do with this experience?

After I get back to Australia, this is the time to put the experience that I had here, in terms of being a little bit more culturally competent than before, to good use and sort of knuckle down and try to find a more relevant job that ties in my interest of working overseas with what I'm doing in my degree.

Units studied in Prato: The European Union: challenges, crises and opportunities; Sustainable Tuscany; War and Memory; Comparative Human Rights | Bachelor of Global Studies and Bachelor of Law

Visit the Monash Abroad website for information on how to apply for the Monash Global Campus Intensives.