Adolf Wolf
an exchange student of the programme International Economics and Business from European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Germany
Ekaterinburg is a city with a population above 1.4 Mio. inhabitants, so therefore you can not get bored in this city. Theaters, Sverdlovsk State Philharmonic, museums, ice hockey stadium, soccer stadium (hockey and soccer team are both in the 1st Russian league of their kind of sport) and an enormous amount of very good restaurants, bars and coffee shops make this city really enjoyable. Furthermore, there are lots of spaces to take a walk, several parks or the embankment of the Iset river to be named at least. Also a lot of international events are held in Ekaterinburg, like for example I visited the qualification U20 game for Euro 2020 in soccer between Russia and Poland. Ekaterinburg really offers you everything what you need in life to be not bored. Also the architecture of this city is really captivating. New modern buildings mixed up with historical buildings from the times of the Russian Empire. Furthermore, this city is also called the capital of constructivism, a very uncommon but really in a way beautiful architecture.
But before coming to Ekaterinburg you should consider, that the city is located in the area of continental climate, so therefore you can have hot summers but also really cold winters. Prepare for a lot of snow and a real winter, temperatures like -15 are normal, sometimes you can have also -25 but it does not feel cold, because the climate is very dry, so therefore the winter is absolutely amazingly comfortable. But nevertheless, bring some warm clothes with you when you come in winter, you will need it.
I was studying at the Graduate School of Economics and Management (GSEM) and totally enjoyed it. Good equipment and mostly good and very helpful professors. In Russia it is common to do more homeworks, because the whole university is more school-like than in Germany. But to do them or just to study, you have the opportunity to use several new opened coworkings at the campus. Additionally I had the possibility to take part in the very interesting International Autumn School in which I had classes, group projects and excursion to manufacturing sites of locally operating firms like Danone, Russian Copper Company or Coca-Cola. I can only recommend everybody to take part in such Autumn schools.
Ekaterinburg and the Ural Federal University are a really great place to study. Modern, dynamic and big city with a lot of opportunities for leisure, work, eat and lots of young people make the city worth it. I enjoyed my whole semester in this town and at the university, also travelled a lot through Russia and visited mindblowing cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and got a lot of great new friends and in general I can say, it was a lifetime experience. I could mention only a few advantages of the city and the university, but there is a lot more. So for everyone who is considering Ekaterinburg and UrFU for a semester, do it.
Created / Updated: 23 April 2020 / 25 November 2020
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