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Regular version of the site

Our Students at the XIX World Youth and Students Festival in Sochi

Our amazing students share their opinion about the most incredible festival of young people from all over the world.

Elena Zaitseva – Interviewer (Q)

Alexander Skomorovskiy – Respondent (A)

 

Q: What was your experience from the festival? Did you have any expectations? 

A: I have arrived at the Adler International airport without any expectations of this event. I took my bag from the luggage belt and went straight to the shuttle, which would bring me to the hotel I was living in, and I had no idea what had God prepared for me. However, actually I had a goal to find the representatives from North Korea, and I have succeeded: I even purchased a pin from them. 

 

Q: What is one of the things that you will remember the most after the end of the festival?

A: LINES. THEY WERE EVERYWHERE. I had to wait in a line for more than six hours to get the necessary accreditation. The lines were so ubiquitous that the local hashtag #яочередь became one of the trademarks of the festival. Nevertheless, queues were one of the ways to see the diversity of people at the festival. Lines became a place for making new acquaintances, pin trading and even a hub for political discussions.

 

Q: Did you take part in any of the educational panels?

A: Oh yes, indeed. My favorite section was devoted entirely to economics. It united politicians, top managers, entrepreneurs from all over the world, who have shared their experience on several vital issues, such as cryptocurrency or economic development of the world. Arkady Dvorkovich, Igor Shuvalov, German Gref, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Dmitry Chernyshenko, Michael Evans (note: CEO of Alibaba group) and Maksim Oreshkin were among the notable speakers in this section. However, Nick Vujicic, who spoke about personal challenges and struggles, delivered the best speech.

 

Q: Did you have time to make new friendships with students from other countries?

A: To a certain extent, yeah! As an International Relations major, I was more interested in talking to representatives, whose countries are engaged in some conflicts or are currently in a peculiar situation to understand their perspective on the present issues. Once I met a citizen of Syria, and we have talked about the Syrian War, then I had also spent some time talking about the political agenda and immigration policy of the Great Britain with the representatives of the British communist party. Furthermore, I have discussed the rise of right-wing parties in Germany and Austria with German left-wing party members and also the problem of free education in Spain with the students from Spain. And I have made some friends, too, but mostly from other parts of Russia.

 

Q: Were there any activities which did not have an educational purpose, such as musical concerts, sports games, etc.?

A: Every night they had a party at the Medal Plaza (note: the central scene of the festival), with artists from all around the world. Somewhere around 1 a.m., there were always best Russian DJs playing some hard techno or house tracks. Overall, the music program was outstanding. I know that there were screenings of some movies during the festival, but I did not have time to visit any of them. There was a lot to do and a lot to see.

 

Q: Did you take part in the opening or closing ceremonies?

A: Unfortunately, I did not see the opening ceremony (although I wanted to: OneRepublic were performing there), but I have visited the closing ceremony. It sparked bright emotions and was very energetic. I am very sad that I cannot describe my feelings with the help of words, I guess it is necessary to see or experience it with your own eyes. (shows a video). Awesome, don’t you think? I was fortunate to win a ticket to the ceremony: they were limited.

 

Q: The festival took place a week before the midterms. Did you have any time to prepare for the exams?

A: Haha, that’s a tricky question. I have been studying every day in the morning and evening. I hope that I did well on the exams; I’ve tried my best.

 

Q: How was Sochi? Have you taken any trips out to the mountains or to the seashore?

A: We lived right near the sea. The water was too cold to swim in, but I loved to spend evenings watching the waves hitting the rocky shore. I have visited Roza Khutor twice during the trip. Both times it was a fantastic experience, genuinely sensational. One could feel the power emanating from the icy peaks. Yes, there was snow in the mountains while at its foot it was 20 degrees Celsius!

 

Q: Would you recommend me to visit WFYS in the future?

A: If you have an opportunity to participate, you must certainly do so. I am very grateful for the given opportunity. It was a once in a lifetime experience, and I will not forget my time in Sochi.

 

Q: Were there any other people from the Higher School of Economics at the festival?

A: We had four representatives from our parallel program with the University of London, and I think we were the only sophomores from our university.  I guess that the university made an exception for our program because we are majoring in International Relations. All other students from HSE were mostly juniors, seniors or even graduate students.