2017-2018
MARCO POLO FUND
Study Report
This form needs to be completed by every student who has received a scholarship from the Marco Polo Fund.
Last name*Please write your name as shown in your
passport Vranceanu
First name*Please write your name as shown in your
passport Ludmila-Dragalina
RUG Student Number S2904268
Please enclose a 2 page report on your experiences abroad, using the following headings:
1. Your study programme or your internship programme 2. Language
3. Finance and other conditions
4. Preparation and contacts with the faculty before, during and after your stay 5. Housing 6. Culture 7. Free time 8. Travelling 9. Other Signature Participant ……… Date: 30.01.2018
1
Your study programme
I am a Bachelor student of International Relations and International Organization and during my third year of studies, I spent my semester abroad at the National Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia. As an exchange student we are allowed to take on a wide range of subjects, both Bachelor and Master, from different faculties. The Higher School of Economics, or HSE, has a wide choice of subjects, specifically in the field of economics, yet still, I was rather content with the options I was able to choose from in the field of international relations. Altogether, the courses were quite flexible in terms of scheduling, attendance and communication with the professors, so never hesitate to discuss any issues you have with the professors; they tend to be understanding towards exchange students. The education system is quite different from that of the Netherlands. An international student should be prepared to take on more courses and spend more time at the university. Due to the smaller amount of credits per course, to fill out the needed 30 credits or more, you should expect to have around 7 courses. This can be quite intense at times. Still, the amount of self-study is not as large as at Groningen. At HSE, they really do pay more attention to contact hours, presentations, group work and overall home assignments.
Finance and other conditions
Financially, it is quite obvious Moscow was less of a burden than Groningen. To begin, the accommodation provided by the University has a rather symbolic fee and the conditions were rather good. Living expenses wise, I cannot really make a comparison as, due to the recent embargoes and sanctions, some of the goods and services are more expensive than they were in the Netherlands and other are still cheap. Public transport is affordable, especially after you have received the social card, which grants you large discounts not only for public transport, but in many grocery shops as well. Additionally, with the student card you will receive, you should get a discount or free pass in most museums and places of interest. Overall, students get some really good deals and benefits with either the social card or the student one.
Preparation and contacts with the faculty before, during and after
your stay
The contact with the International Office, they are the one who deal with internationals students, went rather well, in terms of replying and being helpful with information and tips. However it usually takes time and things get settled dangerously close to deadlines. For example, I did not know anything about the dormitory, if I had a room even, until 2 days before my flight; so it was quite stressful. Generally, any process of administrative issue in Russia proceeds in a rather lengthy manner, but this is due to some rather inefficient bureaucratically practices that might seem annoying to an international. Still, the staff from the office had visiting hours every day and they assisted us in every aspect of our studies, both before and during the stay in Moscow. After, the only thing left was to receive my transcript of grades, which they did deliver in the mentioned time frame, although quite late for me to meet the deadline of the Marco Polo After Mobility requirements, so make sure to inform the Mobility Office if you do not get your grades in Progress in time. As for preparation, I don’t believe anything particular comes to mind, except for keeping an eye on your email and follow the instructions HSE staff asks you to follow. Again, this will probably happen quite close to the beginning of the semester, so be patient.
2
Housing
I strongly advise international students to live in the dormitory available for them, as it was indeed an incredible experience. Living together, cooking together and organising parties and different events, all this contributed to getting to know people from all over the world and being exposed to their cultures, which, I believe, should be one of the aims of every student who considers an exchange semester. The conditions were rather good, except for some minor difficulties with cooking from once in a while, because there were 2 stoves available for the entire floor and from time to time it got quite crowdie. I accustomed quickly to the living conditions and made great friends there, with whom we began discovering Moscow and its places of interest.
Culture
Russian culture is rather different from anything you might have experienced so far, nevertheless really incredible. My international colleagues and I have passed through several levels of cultural school, but seeing so many internationals like myself in the dorm and in the university, as well as getting to explore the Russian culture step by step, you get to enjoy it. The more time passed the more I adapted to the way society works and to the differences in how people act, on how for instance they are always in a hurry. You should also probably need to adapt to the food. There are a lot of porridge like dishes made of buckwheat, wheat or other varieties, the amazing borscht, but also a large variety of restaurants with different national cousins, so you might even find your food there and not miss home so much. I, for instance, found a Moldovan restaurant right in the center of Moscow. I strongly advice students to try and learn some Russian, especially because the university offers the course for free, as it might be difficult to get around the city without some basic knowledge of Russian. Moreover, studying a new language shouldn’t be an opportunity to miss.
Free time
Moscow is truly a vibrant city; there is always something you can do. From museums to enormous parks, it took me 4 months to visit not even half of all the places of interests this city has to offer; not mentioning the night life, which is amazing. Still, you should try and balance that with your studies, because as previously mentioned, you will spend quite some time at the university. Moreover, the ESN Moscow Student Organization organizes culture cafes every week, informative events, lectures, trips and occasional parties, so they will make sure you always have an event you can attend. Next to that, there is always travelling.
Travelling
Apart from Moscow, the next must-see city is Saint-Petersburg. It is truly the cultural city of Russia with plenty of places to visit and be impressed with. Make sure to spend at least a couple of days there, as two days was too little for me. As travelling is rather cheap, you should try an visit the Golden Ring cities, ancient places of Russian identity, like Rostov the Great, Vladimir or Yaroslavl. There is no better place to understand the real Russian culture then to go back to the roots. These towns do seem like time did not leave any mark on them. But again, make sure you do not miss too many classes while travelling, as there is mandatory attendance for some courses.
Tips
1. Be present at the orientation sessions, they were of outmost relevance to explaining how both HSE and Moscow work;
2. Sign up for an ESN buddy; they will help settle all administrative stuff and help you with translating while you buy a sim card, for instance;
