International Students Get a Taste of Russia

HSE Buddies Network is making sure foreign students get plenty of cultural experience while in Russia. This spring they organised a trip to Kazan and introduced foreign students to Russian Orthodox Easter traditions.

On the 12th April HSE buddies took foreign students on a walk in the centre of Moscow which included a visit to the Church of Christ the Saviour, the Easter Gift Festival and various fairs, around the central streets of town.

Students were amazed by the scale of events. Camilla Picchi from Italy said, ‘There were so many people in the streets! I don’t think that so many people go out in Italy even at Christmas. Maybe because after church, we all usually go home to celebrate with our families. We have similar fairs but they are not so crowded. We were surrounded by so many happy people and it’s a new feeling, it’s great!’ The students tried Kulich (Russian Easter cake similar to Italian panettone), made by one of the buddies, and real Russian fruit compote.

‘I’ve never been in such a beautiful place before,’ British exchange student Joshua Levi said about the Church of Christ the Saviour. ‘I was really surprised by the number of young people there. In England, it’s mainly old people who go to church. But here lots of well-behaved young people know the religious traditions.’

Unfortunately they couldn’t get into the Easter service but German exchange student Roman Meng who visited Sretensky Monastery during mass said, ‘The church was packed. There aren’t so many religious people in Germany, but I liked it. The atmosphere was very nice, the choir sang their hearts out and it made my spine tingle.’

Vanessa Reger from Germany added, ‘The fair was fascinating! You could try so many specialities, different kinds of kulich, traditional drinks, and there was lots of fun things for kids — swings, games, egg painting. Russian traditions are different from ours. In Germany we ‘hunt’ for Easter eggs and sweets that the Easter Bunny brings but in Russia people give one another painted eggs.’

The fair was fascinating! You could try so many specialities, different kinds of kulich, traditional drinks, and there was lots of fun things for kids — swings, games, egg painting

In March the HSE buddies took foreign students on a trip to Kazan. For many of them, this was their first proper trip in Russia. The journey itself was as much an adventure as the weekend in Kazan. The night train, the view of the beautiful snow covered landscape through the window, curious travelling companions and the conductor who brought tea in Russian podstakanniki[metal tea glass holders], delighted and amused the foreign students. 

Alina Yakovenko, the HSE Buddies Network coordinator and one of the trip organizers, said that, ‘The weather was fantastic when we arrived in Kazan, a light frost and clear blue skies. It was really impressive and everyone started taking photographs of everything. Kazan is stunning. We went everywhere from the usual tourist sites of the White Kremlin and Kul-Sharif Mosque to the quiet semi-shaded streets of the Tatar suburbs. The foreign students wanted to see Russia’s ‘third capital’ from all sides. The only thing that made the visit difficult was the terribly icy pavements. Unlike in Moscow, the streets in Kazan aren’t cleared regularly. But the students were not put off and decided that sliding on the frozen pavements or waddling like penguins was much more fun than ordinary walking. One of them even tried Michael Jackson’s ‘moonwalk’.  

 The trip revealed to me how incredibly varied Russia is. It was very interesting to be in a city with a completely different language, culture and religion

‘It was good fun for all of us to go on the train and live together in a hostel,’ mused Yaroslav Katkov, an exchange student from California. ‘We all got to know each other much better in those three days. It’s not so easy in Moscow when everyone has their own timetables and commitments. We were together all the time on outings and at mealtimes. It was very interesting to be in a city with a completely different language, culture and religion. The trip revealed to me how incredibly varied Russia is. I liked the Tatar national cuisine, and it was very strange, but cool, how they announce the names of the metro stations in three languages. Tatar sounds really exotic and it was curious to learn how to say just a few phrases.’   

The students were particularly interested in the national cuisine. They insisted on going to the more eastern style restaurants and the little corner shop near the hostel made a year’s takings, selling ten packets of chak-chak [tatar sweets] to the HSE foreign students every day. Even the vegetarians and the gourmets enjoyed the local food.

‘The most memorable part of the trip was skating on a hovercraft on the frozen river Volga. That was unreal! Only Russians could think of something like that,’ said Dutch exchange student Koos van Amerongen, with a smile. ‘And fishing through the ice. I enjoyed the night train journey too. Our Russian neighbours were extremely welcoming although they hardly understood a word of English. We stayed up late and laughed a lot. It was great fun!’

The Buddies are planning a trip to Baikal on the Trans-Siberian railway with stops in Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and the White Nights in St Petersburg at the beginning of summer.

Prepared by Alina Yakovenko, Maria Kholod and Anna Leonova, HSE Buddies Network, for HSE Press.

 

April 16, 2015