The SRAS Newsletter
A Resource for Students, Educators, and Anyone Curious about Eurasia
 

Georgian mchadi (corn bread) served with various traditional accompaniments. Georgian Foodways will study national identity, cultural diplomacy, and more this summer in a travel-seminar to Georgia!

SRAS is proud of our smart and adventurous students!

Study abroad is about being on the ground. Students should experience a country in its wide diversity – seeing what the local population sees, eating what locals eat, and learning from interactions with as many people abroad as possible. Student travel is invaluable to this process. Thus, many SRAS programs include travel components and SRAS generally encourages students to safely and independently explore their host countries and the surrounding region.

This month's newsletter focuses on student travel abroad. Our Students Abroad section is a bit longer than usual – and the other sections a bit shorter – to highlight these articles.

As we have recieved many questions about how the recent expulsion of diplomats and closure of the St. Petersburg consulate might affect student study abroad, we have posted a statement on our site. (Short answer: it will not affect study abroad.)

A few of our summer programs are still accepting applications! See below for details.

SRAS students attending St. Petersburg programs this fall may wish to add the Baltic Energy in Changing Energy Landscape summer school to their program start. Contact SRAS for more information on adding this program to your SRAS experience.

Fall study abroad deadlines are also coming up in May! See our wide array of programs online - including Home and Abroad, which offers up to $10,000 to help fund your study abroad.

Lastly, happy Orthodox Easter! Христос воскрес!

Table of contents
GeoHistory     Students Abroad    Russian Language
PopKult     Museum Studies Abroad     Books

Study Abroad in Eurasia!
Study Abroad in Cuba and Russia! Study Abroad in Poland!

- Summer Study Abroad -
Application deadlines for these programs: April 15
See individual program pages for more info
Statement on the St. Petersburg consulate closure

In Warsaw: Security and Society  (Contact us about New Media scholarships)

In Bishkek: Central Asian Studies (mid summer program)
                  Tajik Intensive

In Georgia: Georgian Foodways  (alumni scholarships available! Contact us.) 
                  Continuing Education Abroad (+Ukraine - for educators) 

- Fall Study Abroad -
Application deadlines: Start May 15
See individual program pages for more info
Statement on the St. Petersburg consulate closure

In most locations: Russian as a Second Language
                            Internships
                            Challenge Grants (funding!)

In Warsaw: Security and Society

In Bishkek: Central Asian Studies

In Kiev: Policy and Conflict in the Post Soviet Space

In Russia: Diplomacy and International Relations at MGIMO 
                Society, Business, and the Arts
                Russia and the Environment
                The Russian Far East

GeoHistory.today
History and Current Events in Perspective

Russia on the Ground     Foreign Affairs     TV News (Elections)
What do Russians think about issues that matter? What is going on in Russian foreign relations? How does Russian TV really report on the main issues of the day? These free monthly resources from GeoHistory.today are meant to keep you informed.

President Putin's Acceptance Speech
Shortly after Russia’s Central Election Committee announced the official results of the 2018 Russian presidential election, Vladimir Putin made a nationally televised acceptance speech. It is presented here with subtitled video and side-by-side translation so that students of language can better use it as a learning resource.

 Students Abroad
Travel, Study, Volunteer, Work Abroad

Learning Through a Passport: The Undeniable Importance of Travel 
SRAS Challenge Grant recipient Charlie Bacsik shares her experience of traveling through Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia in this new article on our student site!

Trip to Krasnoyarsk from Irkutsk 
Why should you go to Krasnoyarsk? In what ways is it similar to other Russian cities? What is the best season to go? Find out all this and more - in this new article by our Challenge Grant recipient Alaina DeLeo! 

Make the Most of a Layover in Moscow
Did you know that layovers can be a convenient opportunity for extra travel? Home and Abroad Scholar Rylin McGee saw Moscow on her way to Irkutsk in about 17 hours - while adding less than $100 to her total travel bill.

Trip to Vilnius, Lithuania from Moscow
Home and Abroad Scholar Katheryn Weaver took advantage of her time in Moscow to visit Vilnius, Lithuania for a weekend.

Trip to Osh from Bishkek
Kyrgyzstan is split in half by mountain ranges - which has cultural and political implications. Home and Abroad Scholar Eirene Busa decided that she would see both halves while studying in Bishkek.

Eurasian Languages and Cultures
Lessons and Resources from around the Web

Между нами - Free Russian Textbook
This free, web-based textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to Russian language and culture. It is organized around the experiences of four American students, each spending the academic year in a different Russian city. Their interactions with host families, roommates, fellow students and teachers create a universe of contextualized information that motivates the use of the target language in the classroom.

#MeToo in Russia
This new entry from Luch Sveta gives video as well as transcripts in the original Russian and in English translation that examine recent sexual harassment scandals in Russia and the accompanying dialogue they have opened in Russian society.

PopKult.org
Contemporary Eurasian Popular Culture

Nashe Radio    Polish Pop Hits    Russkoe Radio   Top Russian Movies
Find out what local language hits are playing on local radio stations in Poland and Russia and on Russian silver screens with these free monthly resources from PopKult.org.

Five Russian Movies about Love
Here are five modern, romantic movies in Russian that you can watch for free with the help of Kinopoisk.

Featured Book!

MuseumStudiesAbroad.org
High Culture, Museum Science

The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center 
The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center presents a history of Russia through the eyes of its Jewish population, highlighting Jewish contributions to Russian history and emphasizing how Jews have suffered through the same tragedies as the rest of Russia. 

Pilsudski Square in Warsaw as Microcosm of Polish History 
Take a walk through Polish history by walking through Pilsudski Square with SRAS Home and Abroad Scholar Josh Seale.

Books from Amazon
New Releases!

Have the Mountains Fallen?
This true story follows two Kyrgyz men in aftermath of WWII. Azamat Altay escaped two Nazi prison camps but was later banished as a traitor from his native land. Chinghiz Aitmatov, meanwhile, became a hero of Kyrgyzstan, writing novels about the lives of everyday Soviet citizens.

My Chernobyl 
Alexander A. Borovoi, an atomic physicist with the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow, was ordered to Chernobyl to help measure and control the release of lethal radioactive materials. He stayed for twenty-three years. This book is his telling of the accident and its aftermath.

With God in Russia
This is the memoir of an American-born Jesuit priest imprisoned for fifteen years in a Soviet gulag during the height of the Cold War.

Monday Starts on Saturday 
New translations! The science fiction of the Strugatsky brothers, which influenced the now-better known (to the West) Isaac Asimov and is often included in anthologies with Ray Bradbury. These new translations are being praised as more fluid and literary translations than those that came before.

Russian Science Fiction Literature and Cinema: A Critical Reader 
Informed perspectives on the surprisingly long and incredibly rich tradition of Russian science fiction are hard to come by in accessible form. This critical reader aims to provide precisely such a resource for students, scholars, and the merely curious who wish to delve deeper into landmarks of the genre, discover innumerable lesser-known gems in the process, and understand why science fiction came to play such a crucial role in Russian society, politics, technology, and culture for more than a century.

Swimming Pool
In this collection of photography, Maria Svarbova looks and synchronized swimmers in Soviet-built swimming facilities. The result is hypnotic, futuristic, and beautiful.

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