HSE Students Invite Everyone on a Trip
The first ‘I Like Trip’ festival was held at HSE Media courtyard, 2/8 Khitrovsky Pereulok.
During the day, visitors had the chance to sample national dishes cooked by HSE students from all over the world, learn folk dances (and other kinds of dance), find the job of your dreams in tourism at the careers fair, and get some inspiration from open yoga classes. You could also choose how to spend this summer with the student travel club ‘I Like Trip’ or HSE Tourism Club.
We go to places where we can get away from the world
‘MIEM Tourism Club was founded in 2002 when Grigory Magit, a 5th-year student, started delivering lectures on camp life for his friends,’ says Leonid Postovsky, MIEM graduate and Club Chairman. ‘He had enjoyed travelling since school, so had a great deal of knowledge and experience in that area. Grigory is still a club member, and sometimes organizes trips and gives talks. Since then the club has expanded a lot, and MIEM has become part of HSE, so HSE students are also able to join us on our trips. Today the club has branches in St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod. There is also a group in Perm, and I hope someday it will develop into a branch too.’
Everyone is welcome to join us as we go hiking, skiing, mountaineering, boating, or cycling, even if you are not HSE or MIEM student. You need just to sign up to a club sport group and attend training before the trip. Information about the trip organizers can be found on our website (in Russian).
We travel to Altai, Caucasus, Elbrus, Polar Urals, the Kola Peninsula, the Crimea, and all over the place, really.
‘Every year we organize the School of Tourism for beginners and everyone interested in improving their skills,’ says Leonid. ‘During trips we give talks, conduct workshops on medicine, working with maps, knots, teach the participants how to kindle fires, go rafting and much more.’
‘At weekends we arrange outdoor training, then we go hiking (difficulty class: 1), after the hike the students pass an exam and receive a diploma to say that they have completed basic training, a requirement before they can attempt more difficult trips (there are six different levels of difficulty).’
‘Basic training provides the skills and knowledge needed for hiking trips classed as being levels 1 and 2 in terms of difficulty. Advanced training is for those who go on trips classed at levels 3 and higher. Where do we go? We travel to Altai, Caucasus, Elbrus, Polar Urals, the Kola Peninsula, the Crimea, and all over the place, really.’
‘Why do we do this? On trips you get to tune in to the beauty of the natural world that surrounds you, untouched by our civilization, and you start to see the world in a different way. For me personally this kind of travel is closely connected with people, I can’t explain what makes them different from other people, but they are good.’
‘When we don’t go hiking, we take part in a number of different competitions – club members have won a lot of prizes in international contests in sports tourism, in championships organized by the Federation of Sport Tourism, and in the Moscow sports tourism championships (hiking and skiing) among others.’
From campsites to crazy journeys
The student travel club ‘I like trip’ was launched by HSE and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology students and graduates in 2014. Each trip has its own unique programme.
‘For me the most unforgettable journey was our ‘Crazy Europe Trip’, when we decided not to plan anything beforehand and set off with just one goal – to visit 5 countries in7 days and to spend just 500 euros on the whole journey,’ says Konstantin Myazin, MA Business Informatics graduate.
‘No one knew which country would be next, but we managed to keep within our budget and visit Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Hungary. We traveled by car, train, and bus.’
‘Our first surf camp on the Atlantic coast was really active: we spent each day learning to surf, and only took time out for dinner after the contest between participants was over. We also attended yoga classes, and took a tour around the city of Porto. And we don’t just organize trips, we also organize quests, strikeball games, cycling and all kinds of things.’
‘This summer the club is organizing a tent camp ‘Summer Ville’ in Crimea. ‘We hold themed weeks, so that people with different hobbies and preferences will feel at home during their time there. We will have a quiet lounge week, a party week, and many more,’ said Maria Deshina, MIPT student and club organizer.
Everyone interested is welcome to join the club ‘I Like Trip’ - you don’t need to be a student at HSE or MIPT, all you need is a positive attitude. For more information about the club please visit the Vkontakte group.
Moscow’s leading dance schools (5 Life Dance, Zavod Dance and YouDance) organized master classes at the festival ‘I Like Trip’. OneTwoTrip, Education First, CluMed, Inter Air representatives took part in the event and discussed career opportunities in the travel industry. Mosigra organized a gamezone, QuestPlanet conducted a fest quest, and contests, and prizes were provided by Philips beauty.
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