All cultures day at HSE Psychology department
On December 19, the Master's program in Applied social psychology and the HSE Centre for socio-cultural research held the 6th annual "All cultures day", a celebration for the entire multinational community of HSE students and teachers.
Foreign students and postgraduates from different faculties of the HSE, as well as other Moscow universities came to celebrate the end of the semester and the end of 2019, to get to know each other and talk about their culture.
Traditionally, the students prepared a diverse festive program, in which there was a place for any creativity and self-expression: on the stage they sang, danced, answered tricky questions about Russia, presented business ideas, read poems, joked and took part in competitions. In addition to the concert, guests of the day of cultures could taste dishes of different national cuisine, take part in a fun Dutch game and make photos for memory in the new year's photo zone.
The concert program began with aa speech of the event's hosts - first-year students of the Master's program "Applied social psychology" Damir Ramazanov and Sepase Kingsley Ivande. The young people stressed the importance of dialogue and friendship between different cultures and thanked everyone who decided to take part in the festival. The guests were also greeted by the academic head of the program – Professor Alexander Tatarko.
The program of the evening was opened by a student from India Srikanth Janardanan, first performing a beautiful and melodious song in Hindi, and then, to the delight of Russian-speaking guests, reading a poem by Alexander Pushkin "I loved you".
The next speaker – a student of the Department of psychology Maria, also performed a song, this time in Ukrainian. At the end of her speech, Maria expressed hope that soon the relations between the two countries will become better.
The next performance was attended with pleasure by the whole hall: it was necessary to answer questions about Russia, prepared by students of the Master's program "Applied social psychology". Guests of the holiday had to remember what Dostoevsky wrote about and what dishes are prepared for Maslenitsa.
Students from Colombia Claudia and Alejandra Santoliva conducted a master class on Latin American dances for the guests of the all cultures day. Participants of the festival were happy to learn the movements of reggaeton and salsa.
The next was also a dance, but only men took part in it. This time the guests were shown the energy and fervor of the East: Afghan students from the Russian University of people's friendship performed on the stage with a national dance.
An unusual format for the day of cultures, which caused a great response in the hall, was the presentation of the startup from the students of the Master's program "Applied social psychology" Gasimova Nelly and Pandharkame Omkar. Nelly and Omkar explained in an interactive format how their new professional social network for students and teachers will work, where it will be possible to find partners in competencies and interests.
After the presentation, the guests enjoyed a beautiful Tatar song performed by Svetalna Zaremba-Paik. And then with pleasure took part in competition of national dances. In each round, it was necessary to repeat the movements shown on the screen, and the couple who received the least support from the audience was forced to leave the stage.
Another song sounded from the guest of the holiday Sep. Expertly accompanying himself on the guitar, Sep performed a Persian song. Finally, Indian students Joshita and Raya read from the stage an Indian poem in two languages.
At the end of the day of cultures, according to a good tradition, all the guests and participants sang together the song "Wind of Changes" by Scorpions, singing about change and friendship.
This year, along with the day of cultures, a special event was also held - the collection of new year's gifts for the children of the integration center "Kids are kids". The center is engaged in educational and psychological assistance to children of refugees and migrants, helping them to quickly integrate into Russian society. Thanks to the students and staff of HSE, the children of the center will receive wonderful new year gifts.
The day of cultures has already become a good tradition for international students of the Higher school of Economics and next year it will certainly open its doors to the entire multinational community of our University.