Activities and Events

Now I would like to talk about having rest in Tomsk. Tomsk State University provides a lot of activities and events for you to take up or visit. Here are some of them.

TSU Culture Centre

The ones, who love arts, will appreciate the possibilities of our Culture Centre. It is situated in the main building of the university and has a lot of clubs, for example, the Violin Orchestra, the Theatre of Drama and Comedy “In the University Wood”, and Dance Theatre “The Mirror”. All the clubs are also performing. Citizens of Tomsk love to visit performances of the jazz orchestra “TSU– 62” and the “Estus” Theatre. You can visit them too; the tickets are extremely cheap ($2-6).

The Club of the Funny and Inventive

This event is also hosted by TSU CC and worth mentioning. The CFI is the traditional Russian competition since 1961. It is extremely popular among both youngsters and adults. Tomsk has its own University Championship, where you can listen to different jokes and try to understand, what Russian sense of humor means. However, to enjoy the performance you need to know Russian pretty well.

Sport activities and events

They are hosted by two places: the TSU Stadium and TSU Sport Centre. Here you can keep fit using different sport facilities, like swimming pool and gym. There are clubs of volleyball, basketball, football, etc. For instance, I often visit the Chess Club. Naturally, there are many sports competitions hosted by TSU. All of them are completely free for any visitor.

Other theatres, museums, and cinemas of Tomsk

TSU is not the only place of culture in our town. There’s a lot more to visit. Our university usually provides different activities for the foreign students. But you certainly can choose any place. Find some Russian friends, who will give you some advices about entertainments in our town, or look for anything yourself. Anyway, there’s a lot of activities you may love.

Where to live in Tomsk?

Imagine that you have decided to study in Tomsk. Where are you going to live in this town? Here I want to tell you about some variants.

1) With a Russian family

If you have some relative in Tomsk or if you find a family, which will agree to host you, you will have a great opportunity to taste Russia. Literally. Russian family is a good way to try Russian cuisine. Borshch, shchi, plov… You will certainly know, what all these mysterious words mean. In addition, you will learn all about the peculiarities of ordinary life in Russia, meet ordinary Russians, and will be able to talk to them and know everything about Russia from the people, who live here.

2) In students’ dormitory

Foreign students of TSU live in the new dormitory called “The Sail”. There are rooms for two or three students, each room has its own bathroom, and there’s one big kitchen for one floor. Life in the dormitory is good for the ones who enjoy hanging out with other students, visiting different places, which young people love, and feel all the peculiarities of student’s life. As for me, it’s the best way to live in Tomsk. I live in a dormitory too. But it’s not as good as the one for foreign students.

3) The TSU Hotel

Big rooms, breakfasts, free Wi-Fi, all the modern conditions you can imagine. But it’s too expensive to be a permanent variant. The TSU Hotel is like a very comfortable dormitory, and no-one wants to pay a lot for living in the same room with two other people.

4) Your own rented flat

If you don’t like sharing room with someone else, you can rent a flat to live there on your own. I think, it’s extremely expensive (at least 8,000 rubles a month). In addition, you can get pass all the things you can experience while communication with Russian students or family. Also, it may be lonely to live in another country without anyone by your side.

Anyway, it’s your choice, where to live. You can choose one of these opportunities or find your own way. The most important is the town you’re going to visit, and the university you’re going to study in.

The Faculty of Foreign Languages

As you have already understand, I’m studying at the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the Tomsk State University. And today I want to tell you about it.

The first person, who decided that there should be some classes of foreign languages in TSU was professor A.K.Geyle. After he told his idea to the academic council, the new foreign language teachers started to appear in the university. Some of them came to Siberia because of the Revolution and Civil War. But there was no faculty or department of foreign languages. Only three languages were taught: English, German and French.

Here she is, our Svetlana Constantinovna

The Department of Foreign Languages was opened in 1931. It stayed so for more than 50 years. Even in 1980s nobody in Tomsk State University could imagine that this department can become a faculty one day. The person, who changed that, was Svetlana Konstantinovna Gural. She was persistent enough to prove the academic council, that there should be the Faculty of Foreign Languages having different departments on its own (for example, of Germanic and Roman Languages, of the English and the Chinese Languages). So, in 1995, our department finally became a faculty. Since that time there is also a traditional international conference “Language and Culture”, which is annually conducted by our faculty.

Nowadays we have 5 departments: of English, German, and Chinese, of Roman Languages and of the English Language of Non-Linguistic Faculties. There are two specializations: “Linguistics” and “Translation”. Also here you can study up to three languages. You can choose from this list of languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese. I study English, German, and Portuguese, and I would be glad to talk or write to the native speakers of these languages.

Good bye! Auf Wiedersehen! Tchau! See you soon once again!

How Is It to Be a Student?

This is the question many school graduates ask themselves. I want to tell you about student life in TSU.

At September, 1 you come to the university. You’re full with dreams and ambitions about the future year of study. A few days before your new schedule is announced. You look at it and think: who are these professors? Are they nice? Will these classes be interesting?

If you’re a first-year student, you will have a matriculation ceremony. It usually happens during October and November. Matriculations in our faculty (of Foreign Languages) are usually on October, 31 and are celebrated together with Halloween. I don’t think it’s important to have a matriculation. As for me, you become a student only after your first examination period.

This is a very exciting time. After the term is over, you have about a week or two to relax during the holidays, and then you will cram a lot to pass the first real exams in your life. In our faculty the first examination period is rather easy.

Then comes the Tatiana Day (January, 25). It is also called the Day of Russian students, as St. Tatiana is like a godmother of students. It is usually celebrated in different cafes, bars, clubs, and so on. Usually the winter exam period is already over, and this day is a good reason to relax.

The second term has a lot more holidays than the previous one. The 23^rd of February, the 8^th of March, the 1^st and the 9^th of May – these are the days everyone is looking for. Especially the time between May, 1 and 9. If you’re cunning enough, you’ll manage to come home for the whole 10 days! What a rest!

And then comes the hardest. The supper exam period. It’s difficult to pass not only because of the abundance of exams, but also because of the warm weather at that time. You’d like to go for a walk with your friends after a long winter, but you all have to study as much as you can.

When the exams are over, you can come home and have a rest. Some of the students work, some just relax and do nothing, some conduct the researches, others revise the material (especially if they haven’t pass some of the exams). As for me, this is the best time a student can have.

Top 5 Things in TSU Worth Visiting

Talking about the reasons to come to TSU I should mention the places, which are interesting enough to come to Siberian tow to see them. Here are the ones, I find exciting:

• Information Center 24/7

This room is located in the Scientific Library of TSU, and it is a perfect place to study. If you study in our university, you can come here any time you like and study. It’s quiet and cozy, also the room is fitted with many computers you can use during your study. Furthermore, here we have a lot of books you can read sitting on the comfort chairs or lying on the sofas staying all over the room. Here you can have a rest after a long day of studying.

• Siberian Botanical Garden

It’s one of the biggest botanical gardens in Siberia having a lot of exotic plants. You think that bananas cannot grow in Siberia? You’re wrong! If you enter our university and join the Faculty of Biology and Soil Science, you will visit it quite often.

• Museums of TSU

Museum of the History of Tomsk State University, of Archeology and Ethnography, of Zoology, of Mineralogy, of Paleontology, of the History of Physics, Herbarium – whatever you find interesting, we have a museum to visit. Here you can now everything about Siberia: its flora, fauna, abundant natural resources, people, culture. On the Museum Day (May, 23) these museums are opened for everyone, so there is a lot to see.

• “Chambers of Secret”

Our university is very old, so we have many study rooms, which are difficult to find. Some of them can be entered only if you use a certain staircase. If you want to get to another one, you should get down to the basement and then come to the 4^th floor. Others cannot be found at any maps, but still exist and host lessons. We call these rooms “Chambers of Secret”. While you are a first-year student it’s funny to seek for them.

• The “Sail”

It’s out new dormitory. It’s near the Tom River and has 15 floors. A beautifully designed block of spacious rooms with common kitchens, where students can chat and have a meal. Every student in Tomsk dreams to live there. If you are a foreign student, you will definitely live there. Everyone will be jealous.

Why You Should Visit TSU?

Today I want to tell you about the advantages of entering Tomsk State University.

• One of the best universities in Russia and the world

I suppose, it’s written about every university. Even in Tomsk we have two more universities, situated nearby TSU, which claim to be extremely good. The rector of one of them says that his university is the best in the world. The rector of the second announced that his university is the best in our country. Our rector is realistic, so he says that our university is the best on this street. And this statement is true. TSU can be found in many different top lists, and it’s definitely above all the universities of Tomsk, trailing only to the universities of Moscow and St.-Petersburg. Looking at QS World UniversityRankings, you can see TSU at the place 491-500. Not bad, isn’t it?

•  Long and interesting history

In my previous message I mentioned only the main thing about TSU. You’ll definitely learn a lot more if you visit our museums. For example, at the end of the 19^th century one of the graduates of Blagoveshchensk Seminary, Vasily Manuilov, came to Tomsk to enter the university. Literally! He walked through the whole Siberia from the Pacific Ocean to Tomsk just to study!

• The beautiful town, TSU is situated in

Tomsk is lovely. It has only about 500 000 people, so the town is small and cozy. It’s about 400 years old, so you can find here a lot of lovely narrow streets with small wooden houses with a lot of beautiful carving. Also here you can see many old stone and brick buildings. The riverside of Tom River is also worth visiting, just like the museums of Tomsk history. It’s much more exciting and long, than the history of TSU.

• Studying Russian

If you want to learn the Russian language properly, you should come to Siberia. It’s the region with the most neutral language. Moscow, St.-Petersburg, Ural, Central Russia, Far East – they all speak different dialects, and Siberia is where they all are mixed together. It is difficult sometimes for the people from Moscow to understand people from Vladivostok, but everyone understands a Siberian guy (if he will speak twice slower than usually).

• Learning about Russia

Life in Siberia is the best reflection of Russian culture, nature, and character. Harsh weather and warm-hearted people. Also life in Tomsk is much cheaper than in many other Russian cities.

Excellent university, excellent town and excellent people. Why not visit this place?

The history of Tomsk State University

Hello, everyone!

I’m a student of Tomsk State University, and I want to tell you, why you should enter this university or just to come and visit it.

Firstly, I want to tell you about the history of TSU. The university was opened in 1888. It was the result of many claims and donations, made by wealthy people all over the Western Siberia. At that times Tomsk used to be one of the biggest trading town in Siberia. No wonder, it was chosen to host the first university in Siberia.

At first, the First Siberian Imperial University in Tomsk had only the faculty of medicine, other faculties were founded later. The university had its own botanical garden, dormitory, water supply system, and (later) scientific library.

During the Civil War many professors from the universities of Kazan and Perm came to Tomsk. The university was growing bigger and bigger every day. The new faculties appeared: the faculty of Biology and Soil Science, of Geology and Geography, Chemistry, MilitaryEducation. In 1934 the university was renamed after its former student, a well-known revolutionary V.V. Kuybyshev.

During the Second World War the university was almost destroyed by government. Its main building was occupied by Krasnogorsk Mechanical Works, an evacuated optoelectronic factory. Only the courage of Tomsk scientists made the university to survive this: after three years of total standstill they wrote a letter to Joseph Stalin and asked him to move the factory away and restore TSU.

Also TSU gave birth to several Tomsk universities: Tomsk Polytechnic University, Siberian State Medical University and Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radio-electronics. They used to be the faculties of TSU, but decided to separate from their “Alma Mater”.

Now TSU has 23 faculties and institutes and about 23 000 students. The rector is Eduard V. Galazhinsky. It’s one of the best universities in Siberia and Russia.