Hello from Martin, a new German intern!
Всем Привет! I am Martin from Germany, a new intern at Liden & Denz, Saint Petersburg, please let me introduce myself to you. I am currently studying Tourism Management at Fresenius University in Idstein, Germany. This is my 3rd time at Liden & Denz in Saint Petersburg and I have been studying Russian for about 2 years now.
After I finished high school in my hometown, I wasn’t quite sure yet what to do next in my life. As you do, I was binge watching a series in my free time and got really hooked to one called “The Americans”. It is about Soviet spies in the USA during the Reagen era. About 50% of it is spoken in Russian, the beauty and elegance of this amazing language got me fixed right away. From that moment a great journey, that already took me from the Baltic coast of Saint Petersburg to the great plains and forests of Siberia, began.
I started learning Russian with an App on my phone and immediately was fascinated by how different and interesting this language is to any other that I had heard or studied before. From a study year abroad in Australia, I knew how important it is to indulge yourself in the culture surrounding the language that you are learning, so it was clear to me that I wanted to go to Russia as well.
In my free time, I really love traveling and was able to already visit 4 continents, see over 30 different countries and to get in touch with people from all over the world. Traveling by yourself is an amazing way to discover who you are and what is important to you in life. Through traveling alone I learned how to be more open-minded and how to make friends with people from all sorts of cultural backgrounds. Russia has so far been the country where I have been most times, 13 and counting. I visited cities like Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Volgograd, Kazan and even the remote Siberian town of Abakan. In 2018 I was able to attend 2 games of the Football World Cup, it was a blast!
I am a fan of Russian rap music and Hip Hop artists, so you can be looking forward to getting recommendations of my favorite ones. I also enjoy reading Russian literature. War and Peace is probably the largest book I have ever read, in German though, but don’t tell anyone. Football is another thing I love. I try to go to every game of my team “Eintracht Frankfurt”. In Saint Petersburg, I want to attend at least one game of the local club “Zenit”. One of the best things about Saint Petersburg is just walking and exploring the city, as it offers just so many remarkable sights to simply stumble across randomly. I especially love Saint Petersburg and Russia during the winter and can’t wait to tell you about the advantages it has to come here during the cold time of the year.
To me learning Russian is very challenging, as I have never been the biggest fan of studying grammar. However, making progress and advancing in my Russian skills has given me a great sense of accomplishment, one that I never felt before. Maybe it even helped me to laugh about myself a little more easily, as anyone who learns this language is set to make very silly mistakes. I hope during the next 7 weeks of my internship I will be able to show you how great studying Russian is and what this country has to offer.
