Since this year, Miona Dinić has been a scholarship holder of the "Studenica" foundation, who decided to continue her educational journey abroad. She has always been interested in the languages and culture of other countries, so her primary choice was to enroll in the philology major at the Gymnasium in Kruševac, in order to study foreign languages in more detail. Realizing that in a small town in Serbia, as she states, she could not realize all of her potential, she decided to continue the two final years of her high school education at the Maribor II Gymnasium in Slovenia. It can be said that this was the backbone of her academic development, which motivated her to further think about her education beyond the borders of our country.
In accordance with that, after graduating from the 2nd Gymnasium Maribor, she decided to go one step further and enroll at the University of Groningen, where she was at the Department of Liberal Arts and Science. Although she is considered to be an open-minded person with a refined intercultural sensitivity, Miona still did not like the organization of the program, as a result of which she decided to return to Slovenia. Then she entered the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana. At this university, Miona was at the language department where she studied English and Italian, which especially occupied her attention. Wanting to learn it even better and wanting to get to know Italian culture even more, Miona decided to continue part of her master's studies in Italy at the University of Milan, at the department of humanities, where she has also been studying English and Italian language and literature since a few days ago.
When asked if she would recommend young people to go abroad, Miona states that everyone who has the opportunity should try their luck outside the territory of Serbia, as she believes that going to another country means a new, significant experience and a broadening of horizons. Miona especially points out that studying in another country allows young people to understand what opportunities their peers have elsewhere, and that such a comparison helps a person understand whether they are satisfied with the opportunities offered to them in their home country or not. She also points out that studying abroad helps young people become more open, more tolerant, and that such an experience helps them mature, in addition to undoubtedly enabling direct contact with a new culture and language. In addition, he points out that studying abroad entails the opportunity for young people to be constantly surrounded by ambitious people with similar interests who constantly encourage them to be even better and use their full potential. In the end, Miona concludes that going to any other country also means leaving the comfort zone, and that precisely leaving the encapsulated nest enables a better knowledge of oneself.
When asked how the "Studenica" foundation helped her in her career progress, Miona points out that the organization's financial support helped her a lot, especially when she moved to Milan. She explains that living abroad is extremely expensive, especially in Milan, which is considered one of the most expensive cities in Europe, and that any financial support is welcome, especially in an educational context. Then she goes on to state that studies are also not cheap, and that maintaining a high average and academic achievement does not require a full-time job at the same time, and that she is grateful that she can invest the scholarship she receives in her education. She also points out that the organization connected her with other young and ambitious people, which further motivates her to continue working on herself and improving professionally.
It is worth pointing out that Miona is also successful outside of college and is considered a person with a wide repertoire of interests. In recent times, she started writing literary criticism more intensively, and it should be emphasized that her works were published in two foreign magazines - in "Koridor - križišča umetbosti", where she wrote in Slovenian about the book "Kintsugi tijela" by writer Senka Marić and in "Horizonte", a German-Italian magazine in which she wrote in Italian. She is also an activist for human rights, being a member of the organization "Amnesty Slovenia". In addition to all of the above, Miona manages to be the coordinator of the TEDxLjubljana program for translators.
We are proud to have such a promising member in our scholarship team, who we believe can inspire other young people to pursue the path of education with her example and academic work!
