Marina
I have multiple responsibilities but for the most part they are updates- and translations-related and aren’t as exciting to share as the stories I do for our news portal. So, this year, I had the most joy writing articles that required a full-fledged, all-forces-in but fun groundwork.
For one, working on non-depressive Russian books, I got to not only debunk the myth of Russian literature being all doom and gloom but also get back to the stories and read new ones as sort of a writer’s mission, and it was a true joy. The second fun part of this year was starting the Five Paintings series; I’ve got two stories about Easter and school out now – and one more to come soon-ish ;) It takes a deep dive into art history, and I enjoy every second of it. And, finally, stories about movies and series – these are always fun to do, and it’s nice to see that our readers enjoy them, too. For instance, my story about popular Russian series to watch topped this year’s chart.
Elizaveta
One of my favorite stories from 2025 that I worked on is about Russian gestures. I struggled to find images for the piece, so I reached out to my friends, who created wonderful illustrations for it. Ultimately, the article made its way into the top two most viewed features!
As for our English social media, which I’m responsible for, the most fun I had this year was filming a short video where we asked international students to finish Russian proverbs. Their answers were hilarious, sometimes even better than the originals! Check it out if you haven't already, you won't regret it!
Catherine
As always, my favorite articles to work on involve conversations with all kinds of experts at ITMO. This year was particularly rich in this regard because I got to meet and chat with many incredible women: I got to reach out to our researchers for a feature dedicated to the International Day of Women and Girls in Science and was truly inspired by their stories. I was also lucky enough to chat with a now-PhD graduate (yay!) Alena Ermochenko, who is a true expert at juggling many tasks – from managing an educational program to teaching and organizing educational events – and excelling at all of them.
Another fun piece to work on was the healthy eating experiment: first, I talked to Anastasia Antonova, a PhD student at the Faculty of Biotechnologies and the author of an ITMO course on nutrition, and then did my best to implement her advice in my life; you can discover the results here.
Vadim
For me, 2025 was the year of de-TikTokifying my brain and learning once again to appreciate the value of good art. After challenging myself to add at least 100 titles to my Letterboxd diary throughout the year (and if you’re wondering, it’s now at 94 – not bad!), I set off on my quest. And it would have felt unfair not to share my findings with our readers; so, this year I was glad to plug into cyberpunk cinema, talk to an actual expert about eco-horror and its deeper meanings, remind myself of good old Russian sci-fi classics, and find out which films heralded technological breakthroughs.
In terms of having the most fun with research, I was delighted to bring our readers some insights into the weirdest inventions ever concocted in Russia. And for my etymology nerds (I know you’re out there), I found joy in exploring the strange origins of Russian words – and then doing it again!
