Russia

About the country

Location: Russia is a state in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. Russia shares borders with the following countries (from northwest to southeast): Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan (by the Sea of Okhotsk) and the United States (by the Bering Strait).
Population: 141 927 296 (2010 est.)
Language: Russian official throughout the country; 27 others co-official in various regions.
Capital city: Moscow
Ethnic groups: Ethnic groups: Russians 79.8%, Tatars 3.8%, Ukrainians 2%, Bashkirs 1.2%, Chuvash 1.1%, Chechen 0.9%, Armenians 0.8%, other 10.4%
Currency: Ruble (RUB)
Time zone: Summer: UTC+2 to +11
Learn more:

National traditions

Holidays:
There are seven public holidays in Russia.

The New Year is the first in calendar and in popularity. Russian New Year traditions resemble those of the Western Christmas, with New Year Trees and gifts, and Ded Moroz (Father Frost) playing the same role as Santa. Rozhdestvo (Orthodox Christmas) falls on 7 January, because Russian Orthodox Church still follows the Julian (old style) calendar and all Orthodox holidays are 13 days after Catholic ones. Another two major Christian holidays are Paskha (Easter) and Troitsa (Trinity), but there is no need to recognize them as public holidays since they are always celebrated on Sunday. Kurban Bayram and Uraza Bayram are widely celebrated by Russian Muslims.

Further Russian public holidays include Defender of the Fatherland Day (23 February), which honors Russian men, especially those serving in the army

International Women’s Day (8 March), which combines the traditions of Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day

International Workers’ Day (1 May), now renamed Spring and Labor Day; Victory Day (9 May); Russia Day (12 June); and Unity Day (4 November), commemorating the popular uprising which expelled the Polish-Lithuanian occupation force from Moscow in 1612. The latter is a replacement for the old Soviet holiday celebrating October Revolution of 1917 (again, it was falling on November because of the difference of calendars). Fireworks and outdoor concerts are common features of all Russian public holidays.

Victory Day is the second popular holiday in Russia, it commemorates the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II and is widely celebrated throughout the country. A huge military parade, hosted by the President of the Russian Federation, is annually organized in Moscow on Red Square. Similar parades are organized in all major Russian cities and the cities with the status Hero city or City of Military Glory.

Maslenitsa -an old pagan holiday a week before the Great Lent, everybody cooks and eats pancakes and burn the big woman-doll, that means saying good bye to the winter.

Other popular holidays, which are not public, include Old New Year (New Year according to Julian Calendar on 14 January),

Tatiana Day (day of Russian students on 25 January).

Cosmonautics Day (a day of Yury Gagarin’s first ever human trip into space on 12 April)

Ivan Kupala Day (another pagan Slavic holiday on 7 July) and Peter and Fevronia Day
(taking place on 8 July and being the Russian analogue of Valentine’s Day, which focuses, however, on the family love and fidelity). On different days in June there are major celebrations of the end of the school year, when graduates from schools and universities traditionally swim in the city fountains; the local varieties of these public events include Scarlet Sails tradition in Saint Petersburg.

Food:

Russia’s great expansions of territory, influence, and interest during the 16th–18th centuries brought more refined foods and culinary techniques. It was during this period that smoked meats and fish, pastry cooking, salads and green vegetables, chocolate, ice cream, wines, and liquor were imported from abroad. At least for the urban aristocracy and provincial gentry, this opened the doors for the creative integration of these new foodstuffs with traditional Russian dishes. The result is extremely varied in technique, seasoning, and combination.

Soups have always played an important role in the Russian meal. The traditional staple of soups such as shchi, ukha, rassolnik, solyanka, botvinya, okroshka, and tyurya was enlarged in the 18th to 20th centuries by both European and Central Asian staples like clear soups, pureed soups, stews, and many others.

Okroshka is a cold soup based on kvass or, less often, sour milk. The main ingredients of both types are vegetables that can be mixed with cold boiled meat or fish in a 1:1 proportion . Thus vegetable, meat, and fish varieties of okroshka are made.

In traditional Russian cuisine three basic variations of meat dishes can be highlighted. Pelmeni are a traditional Eastern European (mainly Russian) dish usually made with minced meat filling, wrapped in thin dough (made out of flour and eggs, sometimes with milk or water added). For filling, pork, lamb, beef, or any other kind of meat can be used; mixing several kinds is popular.

Blini are thin pancakes (very similar to French crêpes) which are often served in connection with a religious rite or festival in several cultures. The word “blin” (singular of blini) comes from Old Slavic “mlin”, which means “to mill”. Blins had a somewhat ritual significance for early Slavic peoples in pre- Christian times since they were a symbol of the sun, due to their round form.

Drinks:
Almost all Russian traditional drinks are original from Russia and are not present in other national cuisines. Those are vodka, sbiten’, kvass, medovukha and mors. Many of them are no longer in use. Long since they were drunk as a complement to meat and poultry dishes, sweet porridge, and dessert.

IADS member info

Type of membership: full country membership
Association: National Medical Students’ State (HCCM)
Address:Moscow, 2-nd Roshinskaya street, 5-403
Website: http://www.hccm.ru (under construction)
Contact: tenyaa@mail.ru
Registration date at IADS: 2007
Number of Dental schools: 16

NEO Contact details:

Name: Vorovchenko Tatiana
E-mail: tenyaa@mail.ru
Mob: +79823877725
Address: Filatova 4-79, Ulyanovsk, Russian Federation, 432059
University/School: Faculty Of Dentistry, Samara State Medical University

Exchange Programme General Info

Availible cities/universities: Moscow, Ekaterinburg, Samara, Omsk, Perm’, Ufa, Izhevsk, Kursk, Stavropol’, Tyumen’, Cheboksary, Chelyabinsk, Arkhangelsk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Saint- Petersburg.

Best period for exchange: depends on the city. February, June, July, August (also other months are possible, we can decide it individually)

Exams period: end of December till end of January and June

Exchange duration: to 4 weeks
Language requirements: english
Deadline for applications: we need your documents 3 months before your arrival to prepare and send the IL for your VISA to Russia. Students from almost all countries need visa to enter Russia. We don’t make ILs by ourselves. They are composed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It takes 1 month to make IL!!!
Form of application required: Regular paper signed or stamped by the NEO and scanned to be emailed. 2 copies of passport and the name of the city where you will apply for your visa. Passport must be valid at least 1,5 years after the last day of suppositional clerkship.
Deadline for confirmation: 2 months in advance
Type of exchange: Unilateral or Bilateral
Bilateral contracts: are welcome
Number incomings accepted per year: unlimited
Clinical work possibilities: Clinical practice is possible as well as observing and assisting, it will depend on your enthusiasm!!!
Social program: organized by LEO, NEO

Estimated cost of exchange:

accommodation: 50 euro per 1 week (free of charge on bilateral exchange)
pocket money: about 10 euro per day (in some LCs lunch is provided)
spare time costs: cinema 5 euro, disco 7-12 euro, coca-cola 0.75 euro per 50 cl, beer 1.5-2 euro per liter, pizza – 5-8 euro, sushi- 5 euro, vodka – 5 euro (for the very good one).

Insurance deposit system requirements: yes. On arrival you have to pay 150 euro. You will get your money back when you’ll leave ( if you won’t break anything (of course) )
Insurance policy requirements: yes (for the whole period of exchange), we will check on arrival.
Sponsorship possibilities: …
Remarks: Accommodation at student’s dormitory, hosting family or hotels (depends on the city)