Exchange program with Hochschule Pforzheim University, Germany
Bachelor Program
January - June
2019 - 2020 Academic year
My name is Laura, currently an exchange student in the third year of the Bachelor program from the business school in Pforzheim, Germany. My exchange semester started pretty good: I came to Moscow at the end of January and because we were kindly picked up at the airport, we immediately felt very welcome in Russia.
Overall, this semester was an unusual one. Due to the corona virus, we needed to leave Russia earlier than planned, and were only able to stay in Russia for two months. These two months I really enjoyed – the internationality (especially in the dormitory), getting to know the Russian culture a little bit better, its customs and traditions, the Russian language, beautiful Moscow and its sightseeing, and so much more. Concerning the classes, I especially enjoyed the Russian language classes. Even though the courses were overall pretty good organized, we, as the Internationals sometimes felt a little bit left out, as the communication was not always pretty good. However, all in all, studying at IBS RANEPA in Moscow was a really pleasant experience, as we always felt supported by the professors and all the administration staff.
I am very grateful for all these experiences, especially that we were able to be in Moscow for some events, e.g. in the beginning of February there were still some winter markets with many attractions, the Women’s Day, Maslenitsa...
However, as already said, this semester was an unusual one; because of the Corona pandemic we had to leave Moscow after two months. However, at home we were still able to attend classes, as all the classes were rapidly organized in an online format. Even though the situation and the new format was new for everyone, the organization was really good and besides some minor technical problems, like connection issues or some issues with the software, everything went well. Even though we are not able to go back to Russia yet, we still plan to come back to travel. This semester was an unusual, but an adventurous and exciting one, we really liked it to be at IBS RANEPA. That is why I want to thank all the professors, the administration staff, the coffee place in the second building on the campus we always went to and where we learned how to order a coffee in Russian and all the other people working at IBS RANEPA. We felt very welcome. Thank you for making our exchange semester a special one!
