The students of the International Management class IM12 went on a study trip to Russia. The study trip took place from the 11th of October until the 18th of October 2014. This study trip was an elective module and the students had to decide until late February if they wanted to join this study trip or not. Anna Nikoulina, head of the IM program at ZHAW, with the help of Hanka Heimpold and many other involved people have organized an interesting trip to the Russian Federation. The days were packed with company visits, sightseeing, and newly gained impressions!
As the largest country in the world, inhabiting approximately 142 million citizens from different kind of ethnic groups, Russia was since ever one of the leading nations in historical and political events. The proud country has seen many up and downs. The Tsars shaped the country with rich and pompous buildings. Poets and Writers gave Russia its soul and introduced the world to Russia. Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, or Pushkin are world famous authors, regarded as important figures in the Russian history. The Second World War, followed by the Sowjet era has to great extent destroyed the beauty and spirit of the nation, but also formed a new image of Russia. This was all Russia, and we could literally feel and see the Tsar era in St. Petersburg and Sowjet Russia in Moscow!
Our first real impression of Russia was at the train station in Moscow where the Airport Express arrived. We realized at the train station how many different Ethnics live in Moscow. There were of appearance Chinese, Turkish, and Mongolian ethnics, but they were all Russian.
We were excited to see the metro in Moscow, as it seems to be the most beautiful in the whole world. The metro was first opened in 1938, nearly 75 years after the London Underground was opened. During the time in Moscow, we used the metro nearly every day jumping from one tube station to another one. The central and most used stations are extremely beautiful with paintings on the walls, while stations in the outskirts of Moscow are rather unspectacular. Whenever we left a new station we looked forward to what we will see next and how the station will look like.
In the evening, the class went out to have some drinks and dinner. We hoped to gain new impressions of the country and have a good learning experience! 🙂