Some time ago, I received an invitation from my Sri Lankan friend Ramani to join a WhatsApp group of Sri Lankans, who had studied Russian at the Pushkin Institute in Moscow at the same time as me. Even though I am a British citizen, I am Sri Lankan by origin, and had befriended some of these Sri Lankans during my time in Moscow. I was therefore happy to accept the invitation to join this WhatsApp group. I am glad that I did so, as I enjoy reading the stories and looking at the photographs of members of this group, reminiscing about the time they spent as students in Moscow.
I myself studied Russian at the Pushkin Institute in Moscow in the late 1980s. As I was studying Russian at a university in Britain, I was entitled to spend part of the third year of my course (the Year Abroad) in Russia or a Russian-speaking country. I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to spend four months of my Year Abroad at the Pushkin Institute in Moscow as a member of a group of students of Russian from British universities.
I decided to spend the winter of the third year of my university course in Moscow. This allowed me to see for myself what a Russian winter was like, and experience cold that I was not used to, growing up in the UK. I bought a shapka and a heavy overcoat. I was a true Muscovite, in my mind at least!
I enjoyed the course. As the Pushkin Institute is an educational institution, which teaches Russian to international students, I met people from all parts of the globe, who shared the same interest in all things Russian.
I am not one to normally advocate spending a lot of time associating with your own people when living in a foreign country. However, I did benefit from my dealings with my fellow Brits, living in Russia. As I was lucky enough to be living in Moscow, the British students on my course at the Pushkin Institute had unique access to the British Embassy in the city. We were allowed to receive post from friends and family there. We were also invited to babysit for diplomats, if they were going out in the evening. This enabled us to do our washing and ironing at their residences. I profited from this.
But, the most important way I prospered from my connection with the British Embassy in Moscow were the networking opportunities it offered British students like me. The Embassy had a notice board, enabling Muscovites to place advertisements on it for British students to give tuition in English to these Russians’ children. I jumped at the chance to meet Muscovites in this way, and again benefited, successfully obtaining a job placement.
I was employed as a tutor of English for the entirety of my four-month Russian course in Moscow. I taught English once a week at the home of my student. My student Dima was good-natured and receptive. It was a pleasure to teach him. Dima’s mother Lyuba was friendly. After every class, she made me supper, making sure that I did not return to the Institute on an empty stomach. Lyuba was one of the kindest and most sincere people I have ever met.
Other highlights of my stay in Moscow were my meetings with Russians from all walks of life, my strolls on the Arbat, my attendance at a performance at the world-famous Bolshoi Theatre, and my visit to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg).
Travelling abroad is always interesting. It allows us to open our minds to new ways of doing things. Further, meeting people with a different background to our own is socially enriching. I have fond memories of my student days in Moscow. It gave me an appreciation of a culture, different to my own, for which I will always be grateful.
