Kathryn: Russian Gap Year course

10 week course.

I decided to learn Russian for pleasure! I thought it was a beautiful language and like nothing I’d ever studied before and I really wanted to get a good grasp of it; and where better to do that than in Russia?

I found the Russian language school staff really friendly and learning was the best bit! The college was central, so after school you could go pretty much anywhere — a museum or a bar, depending on how the lessons had gone!

The family I lived with were friendly and very patient with me, which was great because my Russian at the beginning was non-existent. When I arrived I could not form a sentence, when I left, I was comfortable with the language and could hold conversations without stressing! It was really total immersion in the language and culture and I would love to go back.

A Gap Year course enabled me to combine going to a different country and experiencing a different way of life with actually learning the language and living there. I was not a tourist who ‘does’ St Petersburg in a day, but a student. You feel as though it’s your town towards the end and because you’re learning the language, you feel so much more comfortable and welcomed, rather than just imposing on everyone.