SPb vs. Moscow
Oct. 28th, 2005 01:43 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
nominals.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
learn_russianSo I have a chance to study at either МГУ, Moscow State University or at St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University. I'm having a hard time deciding. I want to go to МГУ because I know that the school is better and I think I'd get a better educational experience there. I want to go to SPb because I hear that it's less Americanized and it attracts more artistic types. I can't decide. What do you think?
Keep in mind when answering, my main purpose in visiting the country is to learn the language.
Keep in mind when answering, my main purpose in visiting the country is to learn the language.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 06:57 pm (UTC)Re: flamebait
Date: 2005-10-28 07:05 pm (UTC)Re: flamebait
From:Re: flamebait
From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 08:57 pm (UTC)It really does kinda go both ways. Personally, I don't really care, but then I've never really known anyone in Moscow.
-St. Peterburgsian
no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:19 pm (UTC)BTW, what do you mean by МГУ being "Americanized"? In fact I would say that most of its problems persist since the Soviet times.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:19 pm (UTC)If the problem with Moscow is that it is americanized, then it's no problem at all; as soon as you start living in the city, you will see it's not that different, really. That МГУ is a better place may or may not be relevant (and may or may not be true at all, depending on the specialization). However, this is the first time I hear that СПб attracts more artistic types; are you sure you are not talking about XIX century? :-)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:31 pm (UTC)I haven't been there myself yet.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:26 pm (UTC)I have finished MGU myself but I rather like SPb... and the people from there are usually quite nice. Sure enough MGU is Da Best Place in Da World, if you ask me :) SPb is cheaper though :) and there are lots of beautiful bridges over pictoresque channels, and the old city reminds a bit of Europe when Moscow looks a bit more Asian (even Russian poet Esenin agreed on that). Moscow is the most dynamic, most crazy, most expensive of all Russian cities. SPb is different. I only have been there several times and I liked it every time when I was there. I am not sure though how it would be if I had actually been living there. Big things are better seen from distance, and all that...
One more aspect: in MGU, you'll probably be living in the Main Building (GZ) - one of the 7 Moscow skyscrapers of the Soviet period. If you feel like exploring the underground then may be the digger groups are still active there... I remember the rumours that there were many etages below the ground down there, but I've never had enough courage to see it for myself. This big building is a real anthill... 30 thousands or so of people living very close together (quite a few of them with families and kids). It might be quite an unusual experience. (Or may be things have changed during the last 6 years since I had been there?..)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:37 pm (UTC)What are digger groups? Is that something like urban exploration? I'm obsessed with such things.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:30 pm (UTC)But, anyway, Spb would be definetly a very interesting city for an excursion.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:32 pm (UTC)reasons:
1) Spb life is cheaper. If you are planning to earn, go to Moscow, if you want to study and enjoy life with a certain sum on a bank account, go to SPb.
2) SPb people are fun:) City is more beautiful, too.
3) Because they don't have much money there in SPb, they tend to concentrate on science theory, art, things like this. Moscow's very much about careers and moneymaking.
The con:
If you are going to use uni certifications after your studies in Russia are finished, a diploma from MГУ would be more recognizable abroad. It is not a very wise idea to start a Western career with a Russian diploma anyway, but if you go exclusively to study language and not to earn a prestigious sheet of paper then you would be on the right way choosing SPb.
People might tend to speak English to you to practise their own English or simply to make things easier:) For the same resons, it was very hard for me to learn Dutch in Amsterdam - everyone spoke English:)
France and French speaking parts of Switzerland are perfect this way - particularly in wine-making villages, most of people won't answer you in English even if you ask them a question in English:)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:46 pm (UTC)Americanization... hmm, the problem exists in both cities, and the difference is maybe in the life tempo - Moscow is extremely dynamic.
About museums... welle, Eremitage remains Eremitage, but what about the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, for example. Don't forget, that a return train ticket from Moscow to SPb costs less than 80 USD (average train class, with a bed), and a one-way trip takes only one night, so a week-end tour to the Northern Capital is easy. The vice versa is also true.
Hope this helps.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-31 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 08:50 pm (UTC)maybe SPb is cheaper, but Moscow is the capital :) and M. and SPb types of languages (hard to say "languages" but I don't know how to say) differ in some way. for example in Moscow (and all Russia) we say тротуар (sidewalk, pavement) but in SPb - поребрик. the same with some other words.
SPb is a dirty city, rivers (or channels) stink, buildings looks more or less nice only from the front, but from the other side they are ugly, dark and too old. I don't like SPb.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 09:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 08:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 09:32 pm (UTC)The teachers were wonderful, but a couple of them spoke more English than I would have liked. But if you're basing your choice soley on city, then that's something different. Both cities are sufficiently 'Americanized', depending on which areas you stay it. I can't speak as much for Moscow universities, but the area that SPb is in, tends to be Russian enough for my taste.
But do remember, that the cities are a short train ride away from one another, just visit both.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 09:51 pm (UTC)Let me know if you have any questions about the program (if that is indeed where you're looking at!) You can email me at unclebriggy at hotmail dot com if you'd like. Best of luck!!!
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 12:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 10:22 pm (UTC)Weather is worse here, in SPb.
But the city is significantly more beautiful, people are nicer et cetera.
I would say SPb is Boston, while Moscow is NYC. For the west coast they say SF vs LA, but i'm not sure - never been there.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 12:57 am (UTC)Strictly personal opinion
Date: 2005-10-29 05:22 am (UTC)In Moscow, you would get a safer environment and a higher level of a purely academic knowledge. But in many cases you'd be surrounded by snobs.
In StPetersburg you'd most probably make more friends around you who would treat you warmer and show you around - you would see a kind of Russia that can't be seen in any tourist trip.
Moscow is more "classy", SPb is less expensive and closer to a common Russian conscience.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 05:45 am (UTC)What you can get from StP - you will get during a couple of visits there.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 08:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 10:25 am (UTC)It is true that Moscow is more cofortable, the buildings there are it better condition and the climate is better. But you are looking for a Russian experience, not for comfort, aren't you? There are of course a lot of cultural things in both places, but SPb looks as one beautiful picture while Moscow is more like a mosaic. And do not believe those who tell you can see everything in SPb in short visits! I've been living there for 7 years and still have not experienced everything.
To the other hand, the Polythechnic Institute (which nowdays prouduly calls itself the University) is a strange place to study languages. SPbGU (my home university) would be a better choice. Still, SPb is a better place to study Russian. The accent may be almost the same, but SPb-gers are more determined in promoting this "proper" Russian language. I used to pronounce a fricative "g" as most Southerners do and got rid of it in a couple of years in SPb.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 02:04 pm (UTC)I have a short story to tell: I used to know a Massachusets native who came to Russia to study (can't remember the name of his town, but it was small). He chose Yaroslavl over Moscow. When I asked him about it, he told me that, in Moscow, he couldn't cross the street in any place he wanted to. And that was one of the main reasons.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 02:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-30 03:49 pm (UTC)МГУ - твой выбор!
PS^^ I ex-student SPb Politech (3 year, electro-mechanical fakultet).
Spb - beautiful city, however spb - skinhead sity. Good luck! :/