SPb vs. Moscow
Oct. 28th, 2005 01:43 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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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.
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Date: 2005-10-28 06:57 pm (UTC)Re: flamebait
Date: 2005-10-28 07:05 pm (UTC)Re: flamebait
Date: 2005-10-28 07:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:09 pm (UTC)Re: flamebait
Date: 2005-10-28 07:09 pm (UTC);)
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Date: 2005-10-28 07:11 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2005-10-28 07:17 pm (UTC)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.
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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? :-)
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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?..)
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Date: 2005-10-28 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-28 07:30 pm (UTC)But, anyway, Spb would be definetly a very interesting city for an excursion.
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Date: 2005-10-28 07:31 pm (UTC)I haven't been there myself yet.
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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:)
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Date: 2005-10-28 07:37 pm (UTC)What are digger groups? Is that something like urban exploration? I'm obsessed with such things.
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Date: 2005-10-28 07:40 pm (UTC)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.
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Date: 2005-10-28 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2005-10-28 08:10 pm (UTC)