February 17, 2012
St. Petersburg is a fascinating city, but on rainy days it can be a tough and sinister place. You sometimes end up feeling like one of Dostoyevsky’s characters, trodding the grey pavements with your head down, staring into the black canals, failing to absorb the city’s rustique beauty. When this feeling arrives, it is time to get out of St. Petersburg for a while, and discover another side of Russia.
Do you yearn for lush gardens, the smell of fresh soil and flowers in bloom? Do you pine for the taste of exotic courses like Shurpa and Lagman, the scent of fruity kalyan tobacco and Shashlyk on the skewers, the sound of friendly laughter from fellow students ringing through the dormitory corridors? The serenity of a mosque, the tranquility of a monastery? The splashing of Volgan waves? The taste of beer and dried fish? Would you enjoy discovering the secrets of the ancient Volga Bulgars and feel the pride of Tatar culture, enjoy invigourating conversations with fellow students in late summer evenings? Swim the lakes of hidden-away holiday restorts, understand the complicated relationship between Tatars and Russians?
The Kazan module enables you to do this and more. A welcome change from the everyday life of bustling St. Petersburg, Kazan is a calmer, but still pulsating university city. The topics discussed lead you into a new world of understanding Russia, and the intensive period spent learning about Tatarstan challenges, and maybe changes, everything you knew before.