The First Meeting

No sooner had the summer of anticipation and excitement come to a close than the academic year in HSE-NN finally began.

No sooner had the summer of anticipation and excitement come to a close than the academic year in HSE-NN finally began. Equipped with masks, ALaTA first year master students came together at 25/12 BolshayaPecherskaya one warm evening. Though having vast experience of bachelors, they still felt it was a special day promising something new. And everything was new, indeed: groupmates, professors, lecture halls. Gathered in the hall, the students did not linger to meet and greet each other. Awkward silence and curious glances soon gave way first to a friendly talk, then to common laughter at someone’s joke. The ice was broken. Everything was alright. It was time for the first class to begin.

“And where are we supposed to go? Aren’t we coming late? Is this the right floor?”

The lecture was conducted in quite an unusual format, since our foreign groupmates are still waiting for the borders to be opened to come and join us all. For the time being, we can contact each other online only, but we are looking forward to their arrival.

At the lecture all eyes were staring at the screen while pens were scribbling. There is no time to waste – we have so much to master, so much to learn.