Austria meets Russia: I’m Nicole, a new intern in Moscow!

My name is Nicole, I am a new intern at Liden & Denz Moscow and would like to introduce myself in this article. I’m from Austria and live in a small town, about 20 minutes from Vienna. In the next two months I live in Moscow and will do my part to fill this blog with many interesting, helpful and exciting content. After those two months I’m going back home, but the journey has just begun!

First Experiences

At the moment I’m a student at the University of Applied Sciences in Burgenland, Austria, where I attend the course International Business Relations. I am now in the next-to-last semester and this internship is part of my studies. Basically, I opted for this college and this professional practical training because I had been interested in learning Russian for several years. Besides the fact that I think it’s a beautiful language, culture, architecture and history have been interesting aspects for me too. In addition, of course, Russia is a huge economic size and so I guess that the Russian language will also spice up my CV.

This July I already had the opportunity to travel to Moscow for three weeks. This trip was organized by my university and we were able to get to know the Russian culture for the first time. During our stay we lived in a dorm, each student shared a room with a Russian student to gradually overcome the language barriers.

At the beginning of our stay in Moscow, we all felt a little lost in this big city, but gradually we got a rough overview of interesting places to explore and we started to feel comfortable very quickly. In addition, each day was different to the previous one and full of new experiences. Every day we discovered new places and sights that are hard to beat for their architecture and splendor.

Survival Tips

Lastly, I would like to share some tips with you when planning to visit this incredible city. First of all – don’t panic. Linguistic hurdles are probably more than normal here, but of course there are several applications for your smartphone. Dictionaries and translation applications are going to help you at the airport. Further questions arise after arrival – what now? How do I get to my accommodation? At the airport you will already find small stalls that will help you with this problem and for this you only need to know your address. If you want to take this into your own hands, I recommend the apps “Yandex Taxi” or “Uber”. Once you arrive at your accommodation, it’s a good idea to get a rough idea of ​​your surroundings and locate nearby subways.
Subway is the keyword for my last tip for you. The Moscow subway system is probably one of the most intriguing I have ever seen but due to the enormous size of the city, it is also a little tricky to look through it quickly. Download the app “Yandex Metro” on your smartphone – you will be very grateful for this tip.

If you want to join me on my journey in Moscow, are interested in learning the language and looking for tips for a future visit, I would be a pleasure for me if you follow my blogposts for the next two months.

Nicole, currently studying Russian at Liden & Denz Moscow