Meeting of "Applied Social Psychology" program students: First real-life impression

The first meeting of "Applied Social Psychology" master`s program students took place on Monday, September 27th — though it would be more correct to say that it was 'the first offline' meeting. As this school year started online, and not everybody was able to make it to Moscow in time, it was a bit challenging to meet up for everybody - however, a few people managed to get together and chat in the downtown of Moscow. Here's what the students have to say about the meeting:

"It was so nice finally to meet my group mates in person!  It’s really cool to build some connections, to know who are you studying with. We’ve just chatted and learned about each other - hobbies, interests, backgrounds but it does matter a lot to me because imho studies is not only about reading books and analyzing articles, it’s also about meeting new people and finding soulmates! Hope we’ll meet much more often in upcoming time!" - recalls Ksenia Isakova.

Eugenia Makarova, who had moved to Moscow from Saint-Petersburg, shared her thoughts and feelings, too: "It was such a pleasure to have those smart and witty conversations. It all made me feel like home and I’m looking forward to seeing all of the people again."

"It was really interesting to connect some zoom-profile pictures and names in the chat to real people. We spent about 4 hours talking about our education, hobbies, likes and dislikes, possible thesis topics, psychology, and so many more topics. The atmosphere was amazing, and when I left the meeting, I felt inspired and filled with joy" - says Polina Sitkevich, formerly a political science student.

Nina Kalabich from Croatia describes her experience as the following: "I had a great time on our first offline meeting!  As our classes are unfortunately conducted online, it was so nice and refreshing to finally meet my colleagues in person. Since I am a foreign student and all my family and friends are more than 2000 km away from me, having meetings like this and knowing that I am surrounded by such friendly and fun people means a lot to me. Looking forward to our next meeting!"

"Personally, for me, the meeting on Monday was long-awaited! It is very unusual to start your studies without ever seeing classmates in real life. No matter how difficult it was to decide on the time, place, and date, we managed it. Especially, thanks to the most committed to organizing it all people. It is unusual to see that classmates have SO different backgrounds (unlike undergraduate level, there are not only recent graduates here). The first time we met, I felt very comfortable with these guys - everyone was open, attentive, and warm", remembers Nadin Makhno.

The first meeting was great, and the students hope that there will be many more such meetings in the future - and not only online :)