Blog: an MSc student abroad

Dr. Stephen Kershaw and myself at Moscow state University

During my time as an MSc student in the Institute for the Environment I was offered the opportunity to go to a foreign country and give a presentation to an audience of experts. This opportunity came about as part of the ClimSeas Project and I also had the chance to work as an assistant for one of the Institute’s faculty.

I had never been to Russia before or to a country with such a different culture or language. Before leaving I tried to learn some of the basics to at least get by but upon arriving it was obvious this was not going to be enough. At the hotel for dinner, after realising English wasn’t as widely spoken as I had imagined and after some elaborate hand gestures and the help of the phrase-book, I managed to get a chicken kebab. So with those words learned it left me wondering if I would be fated to eat chicken kebabs for the rest of my stay. The rest of the journey wasn’t without difficulties but the numbers of people I met all were interested to teach me Russian and practice their English, even down to the man working in the supermarket who invited me to come back and practice when he was next working. They also showed me the best way to enjoy vodka.

Aside from these random meetings there were also meetings with Russian academics both in Moscow and the southern city of Gelendzhik. Nervous at first to be speaking to these experts in their field, I gradually realised that they were more than willing to share their knowledge and discuss our work. Then, after fieldwork at the Black Sea coast, it was my turn to give a presentation describing my dissertation. I was worried at first as this was the first presentation I would give to a foreign audience. But the practice of giving presentations during my course paid off and the audience were receptive and interested in what I was doing, which was a relief and gave me confidence that I was on the right track.

The experience was fantastic and by the end I had met a number of interesting people and was able to at least read the language, even if I did have to resort to chicken kebabs every once and a while.

Max McGuire
MSc Environmental Science: Legislation and Management

Dr. Kershaw (left) and Max (right) outside Moscow State University