The Buddy System is a dedicated project of ITMO within the ITMO.STUDENTS club system to help international students settle down in a foreign country, interact with local students, and provide support with the dormitory move-in, medical checkups and all the other necessary administrative procedures. A buddy is like your first friend in Russia who helps you with adjusting to campus life, making new friends, and building relationships with people who can help you navigate your academic and social experiences.
When traveling to a foreign country far away from home, it’s expected to be very new and different. Apart from the culture and food, the weather can be quite a contrast from what you are used to. Russia is famous for being cold and snowy, which can be intimidating to someone from a warm tropical country. But is St. Petersburg really that bad?
In summer, there is plenty to do. Walking, hiking, camping — the weather is better than any other time of the year. You can go swimming, you can do sports, but going out is not the only way to spend your time. Sometimes what you really want is to stay at home and watch a movie or have a nice evening with your friends. Or you can do what I like most — play games.
Registan is the pearl of Central Asia, one of the most magnificent squares in the world, located in the center of old Samarkand. Everyone who is lucky enough to be here cannot remain indifferent: the greatness and beauty of Registan elicits in everyone, without exception, a feeling of delight.
The environmental and financial advantages of employing electrically powered vehicles are undisputed, and these benefits are greater still in the case of public transportation, which, though perhaps not in comfort, in efficiency far surpasses personal vehicles. In this field St. Petersburg has long been at the vanguard.
Here in Russia, it’s incredibly difficult to find traditional Mexican food. You can find a few places here and there, but most of them lack that authentic Mexican taste. Taqueria Don Garcia, a Mexican food stand, serves the most unbelievably delicious tacos I have ever tried in Russia. It’s owned and founded by Gerardo García, born and raised in Mexico, who immigrated to Russia 5 years ago.
The Aral Sea is a drainless salt lake in Central Asia, on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Until the middle of the 20th century, it was the fourth largest in the world, occupying about 68 thousand square kilometers; its length was 426 km, width — 284 km, and the greatest depth — 68 m; but since the 1960s, it has shallowed significantly due to water intake from the main feeding rivers of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya for irrigation.
The Ayaz-Kala archaeological site encompasses the ruins of three ancient fortresses from the time of the Kushan Empire, located in Uzbekistan’s Kyzylkum Desert. The name of the settlement translates as "fortress in the wind." Built when Kushan culture was at its peak in the third and second centuries BCE, it bolstered the empire’s northern defenses and protected those territories from foreign encroachment.
The largest lake in Europe, the second largest in Russia after Lake Baikal, and the 14th largest freshwater lake in the world — that’s Lake Ladoga. Such an enormous lake with 48 species of fish and even its own endemic seal species (the Ladoga seal) seems like it should be in some far away, long forgotten spot only accessible to the most dedicated of travelers. And yet, it’s right outside of St. Petersburg! So easily accessible, it’s the perfect place for a little weekend getaway.
For the architecturally-minded, miniatures are an excellent medium through which to peruse and dissect edifices from a global perspective. As such, here I’ve compiled a catalog of the 4 that can be found in Saint Petersburg and which I think are worth visiting.
