Festive Season for International Students at HSE
In Nigeria, December arrives with a familiar rhythm. From the first day of the month, Christmas songs fill the air, Joy to the World, Jingle Bells, Mary Had a Little Boy, played in buses, markets, churches, and homes. These sounds are more than music; they are emotional signals announcing the beginning of a three-week journey toward December 25th, a globally recognized day of celebration, rest, and togetherness.
For many Nigerians, Christmas represents a pause from obligation. Work slows down, schools close, and families reunite. There is food in abundance, laughter in excess, and an unspoken agreement that serious responsibilities can wait. It is a season of ease.
When I arrived at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in the autumn of 2024, I carried these assumptions with me. I expected that even in a different country, the emotional atmosphere of Christmas would remain intact. I was wrong.
Back home, Christmas has always meant being surrounded by people, family members dropping by unannounced, friends staying over late into the night, conversations stretching without urgency. It is a period when one does not think about school, deadlines, or exams. Relaxation is not negotiated; it is assumed.
At HSE, however, the academic calendar follows a different cultural logic. My first encounter with this difference came unexpectedly. While checking the HSE app during my first year, I noticed that I had an exam scheduled for December 25th. At first, I assumed it was a mistake. Surely, there could not be an exam on Christmas Day.
The realization was deeply unsettling. Never in my life had I imagined spending Christmas Day in a classroom, discussing social issues and writing an exam, while my family back in Nigeria was celebrating. As messages, photos, and videos flooded my phone, images of food, laughter, and shared moments, I sat at my desk preparing for assessment.
There was no exaggeration in the contrast. While my relatives were merry-making, I was taking notes. While they were resting, I was revising. The emotional dissonance was sharp.
In an attempt to preserve some sense of tradition, I cooked what I considered a proper Christmas meal: rice and chicken stew. I shared it with my roommate, and for a brief moment, the ritual felt familiar. Yet, something was missing. The food tasted right, but the atmosphere felt wrong. Celebration, I realized, is not only about what we do, but also about what our environment confirms.
This experience pushed me to ask a broader question: what exactly is celebrated here?
Through conversations and personal research, I learned that in Russia, the emotional weight of Christmas is largely transferred to New Year’s celebrations. December 31st and January 1st carry the festive intensity that December 25th holds for me as a Nigerian. Gifts, family gatherings, symbolic rituals, all appear later in the calendar.
This discovery was illuminating. It did not erase my disappointment, but it helped contextualize it. What I had experienced was not indifference, but difference. My expectations were shaped by one cultural timeline, while my environment operated on another.
As December draws to a close in Moscow, the city slowly transforms. From the end of November, metros, parks, offices, buildings, and major landmarks are decorated with lights and ornaments, already wishing everyone a Happy New Year. The city begins to prepare its residents for its own festive atmosphere, one that mirrors what Christmas represents for us in Nigeria.
Just as Christmas structures the festive season back home, New Year’s celebrations structure the Russian winter calendar. On the night of December 31st into January 1st, fireworks light up the sky, marking the symbolic transition into a new year. Metro services run longer and more frequently, allowing people to move freely across the city as they visit family, friends, and celebration spots.
Families gather, meals are prepared, and there is a shared sense of pause and joy, only on a different date. In this way, the cultural logic is not absent; it is simply displaced.
At the city center, particularly around Red Square, the atmosphere becomes striking. The usually busy space feels calm, beautiful, and joyfully resonant. People walk slowly, take photos, and linger in the moment. The city breathes differently. Experiencing this helped me realize that what I missed on December 25th reappears, almost intact, a few days later.
This parallel between Nigerian Christmas and Russian New Year allowed me to see festive season disillusionment not as loss, but as delayed recognition. Celebration was present all along, just written into a different cultural calendar.
This gap between expectation and reality is what I call festive season disillusionment at HSE. It is the moment when one’s internal calendar clashes with the institutional and cultural calendar of the host country.
For international students, particularly Africans for whom Christmas holds deep communal meaning, this disillusionment can be jarring. Dates that signal joy and rest at home may signify academic intensity here. Without preparation, the emotional impact can be profound.
Over time, I adjusted. When the calendar shows December 25th now, I no longer expect the environment to mirror my internal sense of celebration. The disappointment has softened, replaced by understanding. Yet, the difference remains.
Recently, I shared my academic transcript from my first year with my sister. She was visibly confused when she noticed that I had an exam on December 25th. Her reaction mirrored my own initial disbelief. I laughed and explained that it had become normal.
In fact, I told her that this year, I would likely be giving a presentation on Christmas Day again. While she would be at home celebrating, I would be presenting a project to an academic audience. The contrast still surprises those who are accustomed to a different festive rhythm, and perhaps it always will.
Studying at HSE has taught me that intercultural experience is not limited to language or classroom interaction. It extends to time itself. How societies mark importance, rest, and celebration.
To every African student newly arriving at HSE who celebrates Christmas: hold your traditions close, but adjust your expectations. December 25th will likely not feel the way it does back home. This does not diminish your culture, nor does it invalidate the host culture. It simply reveals difference.
December 25th may not carry the familiar emotional weight, but the period still offers meaningful ways to engage with the city and the university.
For newcomers spending the festive season in Moscow, here are a few things worth doing:
- Observe New Year decorations across the city: From late November, metros, parks, offices, and major landmarks are illuminated and decorated, offering insight into how the city prepares emotionally for celebration.
- Visit the city center and Red Square: During the New Year period, central Moscow feels calm yet vibrant. Walking through Red Square allows you to experience the city at its most reflective and visually striking.
- Attend New Year events and fireworks displays: The night of December 31st into January 1st marks the emotional peak of the season, with fireworks, music, and public gatherings across the city.
- Make use of extended metro services: Longer operating hours during New Year’s Eve make it easier to move freely and explore Moscow without pressure.
- Create a hybrid festive tradition: Prepare a familiar festive meal, invite classmates or roommates, and blend home traditions with local practices.
- Explore cultural spaces: Museums, exhibitions, winter fairs, and seasonal markets remain active and offer a quieter but enriching festive experience.
- Rest intentionally: Even if the academic calendar remains active, take moments to slow down, reflect, and observe. Festive learning often happens outside the classroom.
Festive season disillusionment, while uncomfortable, is also instructive. It forces us to confront the limits of our assumptions and invites us to grow beyond them. In that sense, even a Christmas spent in a classroom becomes part of the education.
What I once experienced as shock has gradually become understanding. The festive season at HSE may not mirror the warmth and pause I associate with Christmas in Nigeria, but it has offered something else: a deeper awareness of how culture structures time, meaning, and expectation.
And perhaps that, too, is worth celebrating.
Shared by
Okpleya Richard junior
