Meet Ryan, who is just starting his internship in Russia
Hello everyone, I am a new intern here at Liden & Denz in Saint Petersburg. My name is Ryan, and I am from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. This is my second time in Saint Petersburg, while doing my undergraduate degree at the University of Victoria (Uvic), in 2017, I had the opportunity to do an exchange semester at Saint Petersburg State University. Currently, I just finished the first year of a dual degree masters program. My program is split between the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (МГИМО) and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California. My fields of study are global security, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and nuclear policy. As part of my program, I am required to do an internship in the final semester and it is suggested to do one during the summer as well. I knew that I wanted to do at least one of my internships in Russia, and Liden & Denz has given me the perfect chance to do so.
I first became interested in Russia, and the Russian language, during my undergraduate degree. My major was Slavic Studies, and my minor was EU studies. I wrote my honours thesis on how/why the USSR was so successful at the Olympic games. The Russian language courses at UVic were always a favourite of mine, and after doing the exchange semester in Saint Petersburg I knew that I wanted to come back to Russia at some point, and being able to study and do an internship in Russia is more than I could have asked for. In addition to living and studying in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, I have also had the pleasure of visiting Kazan, Veliky Novgorod, Maloyaroslavets, and Kaluga.
Being Canadian, of course I love hockey. I was able to see the championship parade of SKA Saint Petersburg in 2017 after they won the Gagarin Cup, and this past November I was able to watch a KHL game between SKA and CSKA Moscow. In addition to hockey, I also quite enjoy reading; some of my favourite books are “We” by Yevgeniy Zamyatn, “Level 7” by Mordecai Rashwald, and Jack Whyte’s “A Dream of Eagles” series.
I am looking forward to the next 6 weeks here in Saint Petersburg, and am excited to share my experiences.
