Tag "leisure"

Xenia Trotzky is an HSE international student who came from Austria to study management and explore Russia. Her grandfather was born in Voronezh but left Russia during the Revolution of 1917, fighting for the White Army. ‘I hope people in Europe – including my friends – would one day stop believing all the stereotypes about Russia and would stop seeing Russia as a dangerous and retrograde country. Concerning all the big cities I’ve visited in Europe, Moscow is definitely the safest of them.’

In July, students from the HSE Extreme Sports Club planted the university’s flag at the top of Mount Elbrus, one of the world’s highest peaks. Garry Rutberg, one of the club’s leaders, and Alexandra Oleinikova, an HSE alumna and the club’s guide, tell us about the complicated nature of the mountain, ways of fighting hypoxia, and what it’s like to walk amongst the clouds.

Antti Viktor Rauhala is from Finland. He came to HSE this January as an exchange student. As a politics student who has been studying Russian politics in London at UCL, he has found it refreshing to get a 'Russian perspective' on the current political situation. With his friend Christopher he set on a journey through Russia and Kyrgyzstan.

Katherine Alberti came to work as an intern at HSE’s Faculty of Economic Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin. During the May holidays, Kat’s Russian friend invited her to come along on an adventurous journey. Kat had taken a medieval Russian literature class so she was prepared for Russian peculiarities. Visiting Veliky Novgorod gave Kat an opportunity to feel the foundations of Russian culture. Kat has shared her experience of exploring the city with Read Square, HSE online student magazine. She recommends going to Novgorod to discover how Russians of old used to live.

Laura Gather came to the HSE to study Social Science. She is from Germany and studies in Cologne. This May, her friends and she travelled by the Trans-Siberian railway. From Moscow, they went by train to Ekaterinburg, then to Omsk, Novosibirsk, Ulan Ude, and Irkutsk. Laura spent two nights on Olkhon Island and one night in Listvianka before she finally returned from Irkutsk to Moscow by plane. She has shared an account of her travel experiences with Read Square, HSE online student magazine run by Russian and international stuents.