International Club Meetings at HSE Nizhny Novgorod

International students gather together to speak about the history, culture and traditions of their countries at the regular International Club meetings at HSE Nizhny Novgorod. Presentations of national cuisine spice up these meetings, which bring together a lot of students and often result in fun performances with singing and dancing. 

Two meetings dedicated to Russia and Armenia were held in September. Some of the students who took part in these events shared their impressions with us.

Polina Zhukova, student of the Faculty of Humanities

‘First, we told the students about the amazing culture of our country with its various holidays, such as the Night of Ivan Kupala or Maslenitsa, and about the seven wonders of Russia, including, for example, lake Baikal, Elbrus mountain, valley of geysers on Kamchatka. The students even learned about the ‘dacha’ tradition and where this name comes from. Though not all international students speak English, they listened to us attentively and even asked questions, for example how to get to lake Baikal or why Red square in Moscow is so named. In line with the famous Russian tradition, the presentation was followed by a ‘feast for the whole world’ with Russian cabbage soup, pancakes, sweet pear jam, apple pies and mint tea. And since no feast is complete without music, we listened to our favorite Russian folk songs such as ‘Valenki’ and ‘Oi Moroz, Moroz’.  The meeting turned out to be wonderful and memorable.’

Asya Vorobyova, student of the Faculty of Humanities

‘On September 27 the Austrian library turned into a real Armenian home. The second International Club meeting was held and this time the students took us to the wonderland of Armenia. The students prepared a great presentation - we learned about the culture of the Armenians, saw their national costumes, dances, and took a virtual trip along Yerevan. The students also shared the secret of their national symbol – the forget-me-not flower. By the way, our Armenian students love their country so much that they always wear this flower on their lapels. The presentation was prepared in Russian, so we quickly translated it in English for those students who needed it.

After the presentation, the Armenian students treated us to real Armenian sweets and Harissa with salted butter and pita bread. Harissa (or keshkek) is a meat dish made of boiled wheat and poultry. It is boiled for about 12 hours, so our Armenian friends had a sleepless night cooking it.

Armenians are friendly, smiling and generous people. We are already buying tickets to visit this country of kindness and delicious fruits!’

The third meeting will be dedicated to France. Students from this country will tell us about their culture and treat us to some French cuisine.