FALL 2008 / Volume 8 - Issue 1
Summer Institute in Russia Open Doors Both Culturally and Educationally for Students
By Desiree Bartoe, ’08
As soon as Betsy Mason, junior Russian and pre-med major, stepped out of the plane in Ufa, she knew she was in for the time of her life — and she was right.
Ufa is the capital of the autonomous republic of Bashkortostan in the Russian Federation. Mason’s first impressions of this robust industrial city were the people’s intense dedication to their historical heritage. Additionally, the citizens of Ufa were incredibly welcoming and kind.
“My host sister, Lena, picked me up from the airport with her best friend, Olya,” Mason says. “I spent four weeks straight with Lena and Olya, and from day one, they were unbelievably kind to me. I soon realized that all of the people in Ufa were genuinely this kind.”
Kent State’s Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies hosts a study abroad program, Summer Institute in Russia, for one month during the summer. Students who participate in the program are immersed in the cultural diversity and natural beauty of contemporary Russia. Each student is assigned to live with a Russian-speaking family, take language classes for five hours a day and visit a number of local businesses in the industrial, oil-rich city of Ufa. Students earn six credit hours for the study abroad experience.
“This is really a unique study abroad experience, because usually when students go to Russia they usually visit Moscow or St. Petersburg,” says Dr. Brian Baer, associate professor of Modern and Classical Language Studies and head of the Russian study abroad program. “But these cities represent only a small part of Russia. Ufa is a place where students get to experience a region inside Russia but one that has a large population of non-Russians who have their own language and culture.”
Founded in 1574, Ufa is located at the point of the Ufa and Belaya rivers on the western side of the Ural Mountain range. The city’s population, which today is over one million, encompasses more than 100 different nationalities and ethnic groups, including Russians, Baskirs, Tatars, Chuvash and Maris. The city also has become a center for oil refinery, the cornerstone of Russian economy today.
One of the main benefits of studying in Ufa is the community’s unwavering commitment to share their language and culture with outsiders. The people constantly strive to create an enjoyable and beneficial experience for the study abroad students.
“Ufa has very few American tourists or American exchange students, so the people were ecstatic when we arrived,” Baer says. “The students and I were greeted by a big welcoming ceremony. We were on TV, and wherever we traveled, we were greeted with ceremonial bread and Bashkir music and dancing.”
During their one-month stay, the students went on excursions to the Ural Mountains and Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. While camping in the Ural Mountains, they explored many caves in the mountainside, some of which had primitive cave drawings from more than 7,000 years ago.
Also while in Ufa, the students visited many local facilities and businesses. Last year, they visited a famous eye and transplant center. Mason, who is studying pre-medicine along with her Russian degree, was very interested in the medical center and sought to learn more about the facility.
“They were more than willing to let me come back for a second tour, which would be much more extensive,” she says.
When she arrived, Mason was shown the viewing hall, a long glass hallway overlooking six operating rooms. Multiple surgeries were being performed, and the center’s employees allowed her to stay and observe.
Walking around from window to window trying to see as much of the surgeries as she could, Mason was noticed by one of the doctors performing an eye surgery. Suddenly, he motioned her to join him in the operating room.
“I was a little confused at first,” Mason says. “But before I knew it, a Russian nurse escorted me from the viewing hall, had my clothes changed, prepped me for surgery and had me ready to enter the operating room.”
As Mason cautiously entered, the doctor, who only knew a bit of English, started talking to her incessantly about what was going on in the surgery.
“The surgeon made room for me in the operating room and actually told his nurse that she needed to move, so that I could use her microscope in order to view the surgery better,” Mason says. “It was really phenomenal. I have never had an experience like that, and it was definitely the most memorable part of the trip for me.”
According to Baer, Russians and the Baskirs, one of the ethnic groups found in Ufa, have a tradition of hospitality. The community members were so pleased the study abroad students wanted to visit and learn about their customs they tried to provide them with every educational opportunity they had to offer, which is shown in Mason’s invitation to the operating room.
“It’s just a part of their nature — to be hospitable,” Baer says. “Anything the students wanted, they were granted.”
Constantly showered with gifts and other memorabilia from the people of Ufa, the students encountered some unusual traditions and delicacies. For instance, kumis, which is fermented mare’s milk and the national drink, was often offered.
“A lot of the students were not thrilled about the kumis,” Baer says. “But it is all about being immersed in a culture that is not your own. The experience allows the students to critically examine their own culture as well as someone else’s.”
Mason says once the students overcame the language barriers and began to understand the cultural differences, they realized they had a number of things in common with the Russian students.
“There was so much to talk about. We had so many similarities, being the same age, yet we were so different, coming from all over the world,” she says. “We would just spend time together, asking questions and getting to know one another.”
Students who embarked on the study abroad trip to Ufa really experienced Russia through a different lens. They were immersed in a culture that was multilingual, multiethnic, multiconfessional and away from the more tourist-filled and commercial parts of the country.
“Learning about the Russian culture was definitely the most important thing that I accomplished,” Mason says. “I was able to see and literally live the Russian lifestyle.”
Mason, along with the other students, experienced the opportunity of a lifetime, one that can never be duplicated or replaced. The trip to Ufa made their textbook and lectures suddenly come to life as they interacted and communicated with a society that a few days before had been only a pinpoint on a map.
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