It is already our last full week of classes here in Moscow! I feel like our academics are wrapping up right as I’m starting to feel really comfortable and confident in class, and just as my group is developing a solid rapport with our teachers. Just like with classes in the States, my group’s rapport with our teachers has changed and evolved over time as we got to know one another.
Recently, I’ve really been enjoying my speech development, phonetics, and literature classes. These classes feel less like a traditional classroom environment, and more like sitting down and having interesting conversations with my classmates and teachers. Since I really want to target my conversation skills this summer, I’ve absolutely loved this chance to practice speaking and expanding my “conversation comfort zone” in an academic setting. Never would I have imagined I could hold intelligent conversations about Gogol and poetry, poverty and economics, gender inequality and stereotyping in Russian! It’s been a huge boost to my confidence and language skills to converse about more abstract topics like these, even without knowing all of the relevant vocabulary.
Since my group is only four students, it’s been much easier to form a personal relationship with the teachers. All the teachers demonstrate through their actions and how they conduct class that they genuinely pay attention to each student, and their strengths and weaknesses. While I myself haven’t felt much improvement in my Russian day to day, I’m proud of myself because several of my teachers have independently commented on my progress and improvement in class. During orientation, the program staff told us this would probably happen with our language skills. Just like you don’t notice yourself growing up each day, it’s easy to look back over a larger chunk of time and see your progress.
Outside of class, volunteering at the Museum of Cosmonautics continues to be a highlight of my summer. Everyone in the office is so incredibly kind and knowledgeable, and genuinely excited about the work they do at the museum. They are very hard working, and usually work until 7 or 8 in the evening. I’ve found this to be typical of Muscovites – they are hard working, passionate, and busy folks.
At the museum, I’ve been translating documents, press releases, website pages, and even descriptions and texts for the main exhibition hall (currently undergoing modernization). It means so much to me, that my translations might help inspire someone else to pursue engineering and space exploration! This museum played a large role in inspiring me to pursue aerospace engineering, so I’m happy for the chance to give back!
I’ll close with a tip for any other Russian language learners, especially from my generation: watch Spongebob in Russian. It sounds a bit silly, but I’ve started watching Spongebob in Russian if I need a break, and it’s been a great language learning tool! First of all, since it’s a cartoon for kids, the language is very simple and oftentimes repetitive. Secondly, Spongebob is also popular in Russia, so the quality of the dubbed Russian is very good. Finally, my siblings and I watched Spongebob growing up, so I’m already familiar with the plot of many of the episodes. I can watch an episode of Spongebob, catch most of the words, and understand the plot in a very low-stress environment. Going forward, I think this will be a great way for me to work on communicating in Russian more naturally, without having to translate back and forth into English in my head.
Do vstrecha!
Piper
RLASP in Moscow 