Michael McNally is no stranger to overseas travel, living in locations far from the usual tourist routes and speaking other languages.
This is just as well as the 29-year-old University of Queensland arts undergraduate is about to pack his bags to take up a two-month scholarship in St Petersburg.
Mr McNally is the inaugural winner of a scholarship established by the Pushkin Circle, a group formed under the umbrella of the Russian Ethnic Association of Queensland to encourage study of the Russian language and culture.
In their efforts to support the study of Russian at the University, association members held a ball which raised close to $1000 and organised a free return ticket through Japan Airlines.
The scholarship was offered to second-year students of Russian, of whom there are about 10, and after considering academic criteria and interviews, Mr McNally took out the award.
He leaves on March 30, travelling via Tokyo, and intends spending April and May in Russia, returning to Brisbane in early June.
Most of his time will be spent studying Russian at a special school for foreigners. However, he is also determined to set aside one or two weeks during his trip to travel to other parts of Russia, such as Moscow.
The school is attached to the University of St Petersburg and Mr McNally will attend 20 hours of classes each week, take part in events such as film nights and excursions, and live in one of the student halls.
His first taste of overseas adventure came when he went on a one-year student exchange to Venezuela. He lived with a family who spoke no English so by the time he left South America his Spanish was excellent.
His interest in languages led him to complete a year of French at Townsville's James Cook University. Four years later he was off overseas again, using his Spanish to work at the World Expo in Seville in 1992.
He then travelled to Eastern Europe and spent two years teaching English in Poland. It was there Mr McNally developed an interest in Slavic languages, learning to speak reasonably good Polish. Back in Australia he enrolled at St Lucia and begun studying Russian.
Mr McNally expects this trip to greatly increase his fluency in Russian. After completing his BA in Russian and Government this year and probably taking honours next year, he would ideally like a career involving travel and making use of his language skills.
For further information, contact Michael McNally (telephone 3254 1442).
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