Kostareva Evgenya. Studying abroad experience: You can often get an invitation to “go read together”.

I learned about this program only by mere chance, my course mate in a postgraduate school e-mailed me a link. There was an article on the HSE website, where the terms and conditions for participation in the program were specified.

I was rather skeptical about it at first, because I already was a postgraduate student on my third year, and such programs are good in the beginning of the studies, when it is essential to accumulate material and when you have an opportunity to think about the research topic and specify it. Nevertheless, I filled in all the essential application forms and wrote a short resume in English. Then I got a phone call and I was told that Harvard University had accepted my application for the spring semester.

I started filling in the paperwork. The American side was preparing an invitation which is necessary for getting a special visa for young specialists that go to the USA on a short-term scholarship. Along with that, I was re-issuing my passport, because my old one was going to expire before my planned return from the States. So, for all those, who is applying for this program – re-issue your passport in advance.

I have collected all the essential documents by December, and the US embassy was at rush. Finally, I handed in my documents in the middle of December, but I got to the interview only by the middle of January because of the Christmas holidays in the USA and New Year holidays in Russia. There were no complications in the interview, but I had trouble getting my passport with the visa . It had not been ready for six weeks. I had to cancel my hotel bookings and flights. There were comments from the embassy on my situation. Nobody would answer what had happened and why there was such a delay.

Luckily, I finally got my visa and in the middle of February I flew to Boston. By that time there already was another participant in this program from HSE, Denis Shershnev, postgraduate second-year student. He had already settled in and shared his experience. So my adaptation process went a lot faster.

One of the first difficulties I had to face was my struggle with finding an apartment, which takes a lot of time. It is hard to find a place in a short while, with furniture, and within walking distance from university. I would not recommend to rent an apartment in a house in Victorian style. They all look very nice from the outside, but there is no heating, it smells ancient inside and everything creaks: floor, doors, furniture, windows...  There is usually only one bathroom per floor, even though several people might live there. I was lucky to find a two-bedroom apartment in a brick building 2 blocks away from Harvard Yard. And my colleagues from the Davis-center helped me to find an intern, who I ended up to rent an apartment with for reasonable price.

And now let’s talk about Harvard itself, and my study process there. The topic of my thesis was "Mass Media as a Soft Power Factor of the Global Politics". And I was mainly interested in this program, because Joseph Nye, inventor of the terms " soft", "hard" and "smart" powers, is a professor at the University.

The program participants are assigned to Davis Center of Russian and Eurasian Studies, which is a part Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), but they can also attend classes at Kennedy School of Government, Business School etc. There are also library stocks available, or you can apply straight to the professors, come for a consultation or meet in a more informal environment (cafeteria, per say), if you are not discouraged by that. Professors at Harvard University are really outgoing, and they are eager to provide consultations even for those students who did not attend their course. It is a lot easier to choose courses with a smartphone app, but you can also find information online. The problem is that each school has its own website, while through the app you have access to the curriculum of all of the activities and lectures, contacts to all of the professors. You can also put a hold on a book in the library, find out its status, learn if it is available in a reading hall and which one.

Davis-center provides its interns with a workplace with Internet access along with the office equipment, but you should have your own PC. You can work in the Center at any time you please, it is opened 24/7. Of course, during night-time you can only enter it by using special passes, which you will certainly get. In the beginning, when you are not totally over the jet-lag, it really nice, because at night you can work without any problem, and believe me when I say that you will never be alone there. People study at Harvard all day and all night long. The Harvard Library is located in several buildings, many of which also work at night. The whole learning process is organized in such a way that students do not study at home. The go to reading halls, libraries, lawns or they simply sit on the benches in the outside. They only come home to change clothes and to get a sleep. You can often get an invitation to “go read together”. As I have already mentioned, you should not be shy to invite people for lunch or a cup of coffee if you want to get a consultation. If you do mind, then a good way to get acquainted to someone might be attending big seminars or presentations, after which there usually is a small buffet, where you can have an informal talk or ask any questions, that were not mentioned during the actual event.  I had no communication problems. Nobody minded my accent, the helped me to understand something or to put my thought into words if I had any complications. But all the insecurities disappeared soon and after time I became a lot more confident.

It is nice that there is a gym available for the students, the fee for the school year is about 20$ and the visiting hours are not limited. There is also a big pool. Swimming in particular attracts much attention at Harvard. In memoriam of Harry Elkins Widener, a Harvard student who died in the Titanic accident and devoted his books collection to the University, in 1920 there was a compulsory swimming exam implemented at Harvard. Harry thought that if everyone could swim, more people could have been saved from this tradegy. There is a reading hall devoted to him in the library, which was called after his name.

There are meetings or open lectures run in Harvard every week, and you should keep updated on the information placed on the website, information stands or mobile app. Some of them require getting tickets, and some of them are not sold but played out because of large amounts of volunteers. So happened to admissions to the meetings with Henry Kissinger and the President of Brazil.

In Cambridge you can meet not only famous politicians or scientists but also sport stars, supermodels and actors. During my stay I once spoiled a shot in a Ben Affleck’s movie while walking down the street when they were shooting there, and I also was sitting right next to Tyra Banks while having lunch in one of the cafés. But the most precious thing about my stay at Harvard was, of course, going to the lectures and courses, meetings with authors of the articles I learned by, like Joseph Nye, Tim Colton, Alex Jones and many others. It was a unique opportunity to communicate with colleagues from many other countries who have a different point of view than you do and bring up arguments and sources that you have never heard of. But they also have a chance to learn something new out of our conversations, there is an exchange of knowledge happening. It is an amazing experience and I recommend everyone to try to participate in this program.

This was not my first trip to the USA, so I was not crazy about exploring the country, However I still took a one-day trip to New York, and for a couple of times we took a car to go to the ocean. A bus ride to New York takes about 4 hours, so it is better to take night rides, so there would not be much traffic.

And yeah, a piece of advice for all those who go to the States for the first time – smile and say hello to everyone everywhere: in shops, cafes, subway, libraries, on the street, to your neighbors, in the elevator. In Russia a smile is considered a sign of affection (private face), while in the USA a mile is a public face, a standard of communication. Being silent or ignoring a question about your mood might be considered as a personal insult. But you should always be careful. Even though Cambridge is a quiet student town, you should not go for walks late at night.

All in all, I really enjoyed my stay there and I wish all those who also applied for the program best of luck!