The life of first-year sociology students. The first 3 months
December. The first three months of studying of the first-year students of Sociology and Social Informatics Program at Higher School of Economics are almost over. How is their student life? How did they join the friendly community of the campus at Sedova Street 55? What events happened to them during this time? Second-year students Polina Petrova and Julia Morozova share with us their reflections.
The first meeting
It all started on the 30th of August, when at LOFT in Petrogradsky district the curators gathered all first-year students to get to know each other and in order to make the meeting interesting and exciting, everything was done in a game format. Students actively participated in all the prepared tasks: they talked about themselves, united in groups of interest, made creative joint photos, so they could quickly find a common language and make friends.
Polina Petrova: "First-year students were not shy at all, from the very first day they showed their initiative, switched on their music and danced on the stage."
The First of September
In honor of the beginning of the first academic year in their life, first-year students and their curators went out on a picnic to the creative space of "New Holland". In a pleasant and warm atmosphere, students played the guitar, sang songs and danced.
Polina Petrova: "This was not the end of our vacation: after the picnic, we visited the anti-cafe, and also had a great time at the concert of the popular band."
Quest
The quest for the first-year students of Sociology and Social Informatics Program took place on the 10th of September. The theme of the event was the myths and legends of St. Petersburg. Students were divided into teams which moved along its own route and got acquainted with the city and its secrets. The curators who prepared the assignments for the students became the characters of these legends: the architect Auguste de Montferrand, Sofya Lvovna Perovskaya who led the assassination of Alexander II, the officer of the palace guard of Paul I. Students were solving complex riddles and rebuses, portraying Peter I on the horseback, explaining songs, searching for hidden objects.
Polina Petrova: "Even despite the absence of any prizes, guys were very motivated and passed all difficult tests with pleasure."
Vyezd
On October 6-8 first-year sociology students together with their curators went to Zelenogorsk to the boarding house "Teatralniy". Vyezd was full of different events; there was practically no free time for the first-year students, they had it only for the nap.
By the first day of vyezd, guys already had their first homework from the curators - to make a video in small groups on the topic "Sociologist's Days", which they had to prepare in advance. Every group perfectly coped with this task - the videos were filmed with a sense of humor, in different cinema genres, it was interesting to watch them.
Next, guys were involved into a psychological role-playing game on rallying, which, I must admit, did a great job - after two hours of intense play, everybody got to know each other better and began to trust each other more.
In the evening of the first day of vyezd, students received the "Night Task" - they randomly pulled out the name of the telecast and their task was to play a skit in the style of the TV show that fell out to their group.
The second day began with the morning exercises. As the saying goes, "Mens sana in corpore sano", which means "A sound mind in a sound body." Next on the plan was the "rope course", where the guys in the teams tried to overcome various obstacles, helping each other - only this way it was possible to cope with them. Next came the "Funny Quest", performed in the style of "Games of Thrones", the "Night Quest" show and the night "Horror Quest".
On the last day of the vyezd, curators decided to hold a fixing event for the rallying of the students - each had a long string around his\her neck and everybody tied small threads to it, saying something nice and pleasant. As a result, each had a bouquet of colorful short threads on the neck.
(https://vk.com/videos30435287?z=video30435287_456239172%2Fpl_30435287_-2)
Julia Morozova: "In just three days, after all challenges and quests, we became friends, learned many new things about each other and felt like one big family! Such a charge of emotions, positive and drive I hadn’t felt for a long time! And when on the last day we tied each other's threads around our necks, to remember vyezd, I saw those shining eyes full of sincerity, and I felt so pleased and calm that I wanted to stop this moment forever! ".
Polina Petrova: "Everyone liked everything very much: the forest, the bay, almost no people, 3 meals per day. The schedule was full of different interesting tasks. Everybody became truly united. "
Trip to Vyborg
At the autumn weekends first-year students with their curators went to the ancient city of Vyborg. Students walked along the embankment, visited the famous castle built on a small island, and also had a great time at the Monrepo Park Museum.
Polina Petrova: "The trip took all day, guys were walking very long distances and by the evening they were exhausted, but the city impressed everyone and awoke the desire to go to some suburb town again."
Competition "Know our people"
On November 18, 2017 in the building on the embankment of the Griboedov channel, a significant event took place: first-year students of seven educational programs gathered together for the annual event "Know Our People". Students of Sociology and Social Informatics Program coped well with all three tasks and became winners of this competition. More information about the event can be found here: https://spb.hse.ru/ba/soc/news/212404596.html
Morozova Julia: "Our first-year students did their best in preparing for this competition! They won, they became the best among 7 educational programs, we are very proud of them! The competition level was high, each educational program tried to come up with its own style, fascinate the jury with its song or with an original scene. "
First exam
The end of the first module was marked by the first in young students` life exam session. This time students-sociologists passed only one exam - Safety of Life. We asked guys about this experience, and here's what we’ve got:
- More than a half of the students were worried before the exam but in the end everything turned out to be easier than they thought
- almost all coped with the test and got "excellent" mark
Here are some of their thoughts:
● "The first exam session was pretty easy because only one subject was passed, the only thing that bothers is the second exam session!"
● "It was quite easy, if you had been prepared"
● "The first exam session turned out to be easy, most likely because only one subject was handed in. Now I live in fear of the second session! "
● "I was writing it for 9 minutes, it's too easy"
● "It was scary because it was an unknown experience"
● "Everything was too easy to realize that this was an exam"
● "The sociologists were lucky. The test was as simple as possible. Understanding that the session would be easy came at once. I wrote the test on the computer and after 15 minutes left the classroom. "
Morozova Julia: "Fear of an unfamiliar and still unconquered peak in the form of the first exam session is great in the eyes of first-year students, but we, the curators, have done everything to make them calm and motivated! Wise advice, support and old notes helped the first-year students to cope with this challenge! ".
As you can see, the life of students-sociologists consists not only of studying. It is also filled with various events that make it unforgettable. And after all, these are not all the events which took place on our educational program! Many exciting and interesting things are going to happen with our students in the future!