My name is ‘Olya’, this is my ‘Russian nickname’. Actually I am Lin Qiuqi. I arrived in Minin University and the city of Nizhny Novgorod in 2014 as a member of the pilot group of students from the Anhui Normal University (P.R.C.) to study at the s.c. ‘double diploma’ program. The Faculty of Humanities gave us a hearty welcome. Professors and students have been very helpful, Russian students were taking us around the city, explaining the names of streets, telling stories about old houses. It was our first joint practice of communication in Russian.
I was pleased to learn that the Faculty provides a prep training program that teaches Chinese and the culture of China to Russian students. We often took part in phonetic contests as judges and participated in competitions as well. For example, me and my classmate Mischa (Li Min) participated in a competition ‘Who knows Russian movies best’. Another classmate, Nadia (Wang), also participated in this competition. She sang beautifully and accompanied herself on a guitar. Nadia is now a master's student of Beijing University. Professors there think that it was in Nizhny Novgorod Novgorod where Nadia made such a big progress, she could speak Russian well, showed interest in Russian literature.
Of course, I wanted to return to Nizhny Novgorod after graduation. And here I am again at Minin University. Now I am a student of the master's program ‘Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language’. My future master thesis is about the specifics of teaching classical Russian literature to Chinese students. The program includes many subjects devoted to studying Russian culture and the culture of other Slavic countries. Our professors say that I have a talent for studying Slavic languages. I dream of becoming a good teacher, to teach Russian and literature to Chinese students, and to teach Chinese to Russian students. Russian people show high interest in China and our culture, therefore I am engaged in teaching Russian school children. I teach Chinese, of course, free of charge. These lessons are fine practice for me, useful for my future career. I advise everyone to come and study at Minin University, to reveal your talents in Nizhny Novgorod, a wonderful city on the Volga River.
