Bates Fall Semester Abroad

Professor Costlow (Russia); Associate Prosessor Ásgeirsdóttir (Politics)

During the fall semester 2009, Bates students, including entering first-year students, can experience the excitement of living and learning in Russia. The program is based in St. Petersburg, known as Russia's "window on Europe," and includes extensive travel. Courses consider the opportunities and challenges of contemporary political, economic, and cultural life, exploring how Russians' sense of self and national identity is shaped by history, place, and rapid change. No prior knowledge of Russian is required.

The program begins in late August with intensive Russian language study. In mid-September students travel to Irkutsk, founded in the sixteenth century when Russian trappers made their way across Siberia. Classes on the shore of Lake Baikal combine natural history, an introduction to local indigenous cultures, and language study. In late September, students return to Petersburg to begin regular classes and home stays.

St. Petersburg has a rich and dramatic history: cradle of revolution; epicenter of industrialization; heroic survivor of the longest siege in modern history; and home of artists, poets, dancers, and musicians. Students take trips to Moscow, a city fast on its way to status as a major world capital of finance, culture, and politics, and to the ninth-century city of Novgorod, one of Russia's most beautiful and well-preserved medieval sites. The program ends in mid-December. The program fulfills the requirements of General Education concentration C078, Russian in St. Petersburg.