Russian Internship: My Story
My name is Regina, I am 26 years old and live in Germany. I grew up in a small village which is so small, that every citizen knows each other, but hardly anyone from outside has ever heard its name. Admittedly for some time I have been living in the wonderful city of Düsseldorf in the west of Germany. I studied Technical Management and Marketing, which I graduated with a Bachelor of Science diploma.
I’ve been in Moscow for a few days now and may blog for you about this extraordinary city as well as about the multifaceted Russia. Maybe I can inspire you for one or the other sight or tell you some interesting facts about Russia or Moscow that you didn’t know before?
But why did I decide to do an internship in Russia at all?
First and foremost, I made the decision because I have my roots here. My mum is Russian and my dad is Russian-German. I was born in Kazakhstan which I was only supposed to experience the first year of my life, as we then moved to Germany. Although I never lived in Russia and of course have no memory of Kazakhstan anymore, I grew up with the Russian and Kazakh culture as well as the German culture. Besides German homemade food, there was пельмени, манты, борщ or бешбармак served on the table and I grew up with the typical sentences like “Не свистеть дома!” (Don’t whistle in the house!) or ” Постучись три раза по дереву!” (Knock 3 times on wood to avoid bad things!).
I was also educated bilingually. Unfortunately, as a child I was often ashamed to speak Russian. On the one hand because of my German accent when speaking Russian, on the other hand not to differentiate myself from the rest of my schoolmates. After a few years this point fortunately changed. I had a large acquaintance circle with people from different cultures and was allowed to learn a lot about them. They were also interested in my Russian culture and suddenly I appreciated growing up with several cultures and especially with two languages.
Over time I was able to improve my Russian language skills – even if I can’t get my German accent off (this will never happen). A trip to the country where a part of my family comes from should improve my knowledge of Russian. But this is not the only reason for my stay here.
I love the diversity of cultures in the world and to travel to different countries. After my studies and my activity in the field of marketing, I wanted to live abroad for a few months before I would sign a permanent contract with a company in Germany and possibly no longer have the opportunity to do so. In connection with the above-mentioned reason, it quickly became clear to me that my stay abroad should be in Russia and especially in Moscow.
Therefore, I went to Moscow for two months at the beginning of the year. With the support of Liden & Denz, who arranged this placement for me, I was able to do an internship in a company and spend an exciting and instructive time. In addition, I took lessons at school one day a week to learn Russian grammar.
Moscow is like an enchanting fairy that has cast a spell over me. After one month in Germany, I am now back in Moscow for another two months and can do my internship at Liden & Denz.
I am looking forward to my time here and am glad that I have decided to do so. Maybe I can give you a quote what some of you may know, but never really thought about:
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
Let’s read at least part of the book together.
Regina
