Monthly Archives: September 2014

Master thesis

This year is my last year with Master degree that I am doing at WU. So it is the time to start thinking about my Master Thesis.

During the summer I addressed one of the professors, who kindly agree to supervise me during my work. He asked me to do some literature review just to get a feeling of my writing style. He also asked me to write an abstract already. I was a bit lazy during the summer, though I have implemented what was required. Then I told my supervisor that during August and September I would like to enjoy the last opportunity to experience summer holidays.

Today, after 2 months of break we had a new appointment. Frankly speaking, I was quite scared to go to talk with professor as I haven’t done a lot. Surprisingly, he was really understandable and the only thing we discussed is how to pursue and what expectations he has. I was relieved. I told him about my scares before our meeting and he laughed as an answer. “I believed that I am not that scary!” – He said.

I didn’t know whether there is a strict deadline for writing Master Thesis here in Austria (in comparison to Russia). I had worries that my supervisor wanted to finish by the end of 2014, and I didn’t have enough time. In reality he suggested that I can take as much time as I need and the only thing he is interested in is the quality of the final material.

The morale of this story is that you don’t have to be afraid of uncertainty. First, find out the information and then it could turn out to be positive for you. In addition, quality – not speed – is one of the most important drives for whatever you do.

Volksgarten

Did you know about trees of roses in Volksgarten?

There are many kinds of different trees of roses and it all looks more than beautiful and magnificent. Also, there is a possibility to buy a tree like a present for someone special in your life or for someone you just simply like.

On every of these roses there is a little board with various wishes or just whom it belongs. I have never seen anything like that in my life before, so I could read many of these boards and still was interested in. So, if you have no clue where to go for a walk to Vienna, my advice for you is to visit Volksgarten.

fotka-9

Shpock and I

Before my studies officially begin I still have two weeks to go. My German course is almost finished and my Salsa lessons haven’t started yet. So I was thinking how to occupy myself for these couple of weeks as I hate doing nothing and having lazy days. Suddenly the opportunity popped up. Shpock, which is a start-up company in Austria, decided to launch a new promotion campaign. It was very convenient of me as I could improve my CV, earn some pocket money and help the company to develop. That is why I decided to join this campaign.

Let me tell you a bit about the company itself first. Shpock is a flea market for your mobile phone. It is an application that you can download for free and sell/buy different things through the online platform. The new campaign was related to the fact that Shpock has opened a new category of goods specifically for WU students. In order to get an access you have to verify your WU e-mail account. That is how the safety guarantee is maintained.

We had a promotion stand near WU Campus. We were also provided with several souvenirs from the company and brochures with explanation. I and other promoters had to attract students and get them to download the app and to apply the category. The job turned out to be harder than it seemed at the beginning. Apparently, it is not that easy to persuade people to do something they don’t feel the need to, or to raise interest in something they don’t actually know. This was exactly my task. So I tried promotion jobsmiling at passing by students, I was offering them brochures while singing, at the end I even turned on music and started dancing a bit. All measures were not effective enough: students were either in a hurry, or bored and irritated. By the end of the day I was really exhausted, I didn’t know what else I could possibly do. And I have to do promotions for 2 more weeks.

I guess I will have to sleep on that and try to figure out something tomorrow, but if someone knows a secret, I would love to know it.

Sing!

I have been singing for whole of my life, well, at least since I was 6 years old. Singing is something I cannot live without. I do even have a small tattoo in a shape of heart that means music is always in my heart. So this post I would like to dedicate to singing and music.

For the past 7 years I was a part of Jewish Choir in St. Petersburg. When I was on exchange in Canada, I joined Glee club of York University there. And when I arrived in Vienna last year I immediately searched for clubs here and found Uni Wien Choir. So at the moment I am a participant of Advanced Singing Club. I would like t say that no matter which organization you join, you are always welcome, because those clubs/organizations consist of people whose soul is singing and thus music unites you all immediately.

In May 2012 when I haven’t been enrolled at the University here, I went to a singing competition with my Jewish Choir. More than 10 choirs were participating in a first in Europe festival among Jewish clubs. The opening ceremony was at Odeon Theater that is located at Taborstraße. The atmosphere was warm and cozy. Everyone supported each other despite the competition. There were 3 days of performing. The closing ceremony was held in United Nations’ concert hall at Donau City. This was a huge event for my choir and no matter of the final results we were all happy to be in Vienna and to participate in such an event. At the end, the hosting choir became winners. What was a surprising factor for our choir is that the local TV decided to take interview with us. And could you imagine my surprise when in a couple of weeks I received messages in Facebook from my friends that they actually saw me on the TV. They were all so curious, how come I was in Vienna and what was going on.

That competition was one of my favorite ones. And I would keep the memory of it for the whole of my life. Sing!

WU Campus

Vienna university of Economics and Business opened a new campus last year and this year there are already some modifications and innovations.

There are several buildings on the territory of Campus: D1, D2, D3, D4 and additional installations. Moreover, there is a D5 building that is still under construction and will be finished by next year. However, students always mix up which building has which number, so as a result the alternative names appeared. These alternative names represent the associations with the outlook of each building.

There are Muchacho, Spaceship, Zebra, Tetris, and Rusty. Muchacho is D3 + AD (the administrative building). It received its name due to the fact it has yellow and orange colors and represents the Spanish culture in its design. Spaceship is the Library building which is most popular and famous building at the Campus. The architecture of it is well-known Zaha Hadid who is also the author of such amazing projects as London Aquatics Center (the UK), Bridge Pavilion (Spain) and many others.

Zebra is related to D2 building which represents the Japanese culture and demonstrates beauty in its simplicity and minimalism. Tetris is the finance building D4 which has received its name due to the complicated shapes of windows. Finally, Rusty includes D1, Mensa and TC (teaching center). The building is enormous and has a distinguished color of rust. Most of the largest rooms are located in that building, together with the university canteen.

In addition to the buildings, there are several areas for rest, a lot of benches, fitness studio and offices of several student organizations. There are also Spar and ATMs, playground zone, book store and several cafes.

Everything is prepared so that students could almost live there. There is a Computer room that is opened 24 hours 7 days per week. And together with the vending machines it creates the opportunity to sleep and to eat there. So if you are strongly determined to leave no stone unturned in your studies, you are very welcome.

WU Campus was recognized as one of the most beautiful construction complexes of the past year according to some ratings.

So, please, if you haven’t been there yet, you should definitely pay a visit….

Sport,sport,sport

Nowadays sport became an essential part of our lives. No matter whether you are a 15 years old teenager or a 50 years old grown-up, you should do some sports in order not only to feel healthier but also to look better.

Frankly speaking, I am not a big fan of sport. When I was in school, my only relation to the sport was lessons of Physical Education. First time I purchased the contract for gym when I was 17. The whole purpose of it was to prepare myself for the prom night and the graduation ceremony. Once I started I actually got passionate about it and was visiting gym at least 3 times per week. As a result, I lost some weight, became fitter and generally I was satisfied with the results. That’s why when I started with University and suddenly all the workload appeared that was incomparable to the school one, I stopped with my visits to the gym. Two years I had a break and didn’t even consider renewing the contract. However, by 19 years old, I realized that doing sport became a trend and each and every person at the Uni was a member of some fitness club. In addition, in comparison to other girls who were doing sports I felt disadvantage in the way I looked. So I bought a new contract from a new club. But, the studio turned out to be a group of fraudsters, so together with my money I lost my hope.

Only when I came to Vienna finally I decided to come back to sports and recover our “relationships”. And honestly, I don’t regret. Now I understand how important sport is. It helps to get rid of negative emotions and energy that you have. It facilitates better look. After a couple of months you get really involved and start buying better quality clothes for fitness studios, some equipment, maybe event gadgets. I do even buy special drinks.

To sum up, fitness or any kind of sport is not about latest trends or fashion-waves. It is about you feeling better, about living longer and pushing yourself harder. It helps not only your health, but also your spirit.

Treffe and Naschmarkt

Friday evening is a perfect time for a date! The only question is what to do. And this was the question I faced yesterday. While I was puzzling my brain with different ideas, my date (a really nice Austrian guy) suggested going to Naschmarkt. As I didn’t have anything better, I agreed.

At the beginning I thought that it is a bit weird to walk through different so-called corner shops and answer “no, thanks” to any proposals to try either cheese, or meet, or some sweets. But in the end, my date suggested to stay at some cozy café/bar. The place turned out to be really nice actually. I cannot remember the name, but I can describe it. The music was truly relaxing, not too loud but not too quiet. The place offered Sturm: the seasonal Austrian drink which is made out of grapes and contains some percent of alcohol. You can choose either to sit inside or outside, but in any case the service would remain good. From one hour to another, time passed really quickly.

After such a promising beginning, my date and I decided to change location and we moved to Wein & Co, which is another pleasant place with specific atmosphere. Frankly speaking I liked Naschmarkt more as it has a very unique environment. One can even call it a special spirit that you wouldn’t expect to find in the heart of Vienna. But don’t get me wrong: Wein & Co is also a good way to spend your time, but just in a more classical way.

To summarize, the date went great and I guess we will meet again with this young man. Whether Naschmarkt was one of the factors that determined it, I cannot claim with assurance, but definitely it is a place worth visiting in Vienna.

Shopping and Ermaßigung!

Shopping is a wonderful thing that is necessary for every girl on this planet! And Saturday is a perfect day to go shopping in Vienna. Mariahilferstrasse is almost done with the construction works and soon enough it will turn to the walking area without buses or cars, which would encourage even more intense shopping atmosphere and provoke even more buying desires.

Today at 12 pm I went there for a simple purpose of buying fitness gloves for my gym sessions. There is a big shopping mall with a sports store where I bought my gloves only for 5 euro. The mission was completed and it was the time to go home. If only!! Unfortunately for my wallet, it is the sales season at the moment in most of the stores. So I couldn’t calmly pass by the shop windows and not to go inside.

Firstly, I went to Deichmann, which offers truly affordable shoes with a relatively good quality. The new collection caught my attention and I just wanted to try one pair of shoes for the later purchase. But it was a mistake! The boots set perfectly and I bought them immediately for a modest price of 29.99 euro. “What a catch!” – I thought. Now it was a time to go home. In reality it was not that easy to implement. After a shoe store I went directly to Forever 21, H&M, Bershka and other well-known brands’ stores.

After 4 hours of shopping I realized that I bought only the necessary stuff that I couldn’t live without: one scarf, one jacket, accessories, and a skirt. Still there was something missing, but I couldn’t understand what exactly. Then in order to help me out, my friend arrived at Neubaugasse: together we realized that the appropriate nail-polisher was missing. So we went to Bipa, where finally we were satisfied with the results.

After such a hard day, everyone needs a rest – so my friend and I went to Illy to get some nice lunch/dinner and show each other our purchases. It was a wonderful day and I advise every girl from time to time to schedule such an amazing day for herself.

Me and the city. Happy End!

me and moscow

“Moscow never sleeps” – these are the first words of a really popular song in Russia. To conclude my posts about Moscow and its atmosphere I will talk a bit about night life though I will also mention one of the latest architectural developments in the city.

Just last year the construction works of Moscow City were finished. The architectural ensemble is similar to the one in Vienna (Donau-City), but has bigger scope. The buildings are representing the modern style and have the facades that mostly are made out of glass. The headquarters of the hugest corporations are located there, for example – IBM, VTB Capital, City Corporation, Microsoft, and others. There is a huge shopping mall with cinema, gym and different restaurants. Also, there is a living area with one of the latest technological developments for houses and apartments. The prices, of course, reflect the advances that living complex is offering. Only in Moscow city you could spend the whole day, and there are other places in Moscow worth visiting (from previous posts). So prepare yourself.

Finally, we came to the night life of Moscow. Forget what you know about Vienna night life, because it is so incomparable with what Moscow can offer. Wherever you go you will be astonished. One place could be Vogue Café with white couches and fancy service where the bottle of wine costs 60 Euro. And right next to it there is Kamchatka Bar which reminds of Dick Max or Look Bar in Vienna, with cheap drinks and simple interior. There are several streets where one club is located just after another one. Moreover, I have been in Moscow only for short period of time and that is why I haven’t enjoyed the night life to the fullest, but I can already name at least 20 clubs that pop up in my mind. Isn’t it the proof?

To summarize, if you want to have adventures and experience another culture, then visit Moscow for sure and it will charm you.

 

Me and the City. Part II

Continuing my story about Moscow, I would like to highlight that this city can easily pull you to its flow and never let you go. I know so many people who come there for, let’s say an internship and then don’t want to leave the city, so they stay there for indefinite period of time.

I should admit that this is also almost the case with me. If I have to leave Vienna for some reasons, I would go to Moscow to pursue my goals there. Moscow is a huge cosmopolitan as it was said in my previous post that offers not only various career opportunities, but also different options for your leisure time and personal life. In the first part of my story I mentioned art galleries and churches, but there is so much more.

The Moscow State University offers a significant variety of educational fields that you could focus on. There are also programs in English so there are opportunities for international students also. In addition, the building of the University is one of the official places for sightseeing as it catches your breath with its tremendous size and general look.

Moscow offers a lot for students, including alternative lounge places where they could chill and relax after studying days. Such places are called co-working zones: there you pay for minutes spent in the café, not for snacks or drinks or Wi-Fi. The atmosphere of these places is unique, filled with energy, creativity and spirit of the youth.

Parks are another alternative for spending your free time. For the past couple of years the condition of parks was significantly improved and at the moment there are a lot of entertainments within parks’ territory. You could rent a bike, skates, ping-pong sets and other stuff for different kinds of sport. You could also lie on the grass (which was not allowed before in our country in general) or sit on the benches.

Even with what I have just described there is still so much to do, but I promise to finish in my next post for sure. Enjoy!

Me and the City!

Moscow

I thought it could be an interesting thing to write about different cities as a new city means new emotions, new experience and new adventures.

I am originally from Russia, but Moscow is not my city, that’s why when I first arrived then I was amazed. So I decided to share my feelings about this City.

And the city is actually huge: only within the city frame there are more than 12 ml people, and if we take also the suburbs area then the population could be counted as 20 ml. Just to compare there are 1.5 ml people in Vienna.

Moscow is extremely big and breath-taking, however it is hard to move there from point A to B if you are a pedestrian.The roads are really wide and transportation system is more adjust to cars rather than to people. The prices are also quite high. You could easily spend there 200 Euro per day without even noticing. However, if we deduct these two factors, then I should say that Moscow definitely deserves visiting.

Kremlin is of course the most well-known and popular sightseeing place in Moscow. The territory it occupies is truly giant, so be ready to spend there at least 4 hours. Next to Kremlin there are several shopping malls, the governmental buildings, the most luxurious hotels, and may other interesting places.

If you are a church-lover, then Moscow is your city: personally I haven’t been yet in another city that has more churches than Moscow. The entrance to all of them is for sure for free and there you could not only take beautiful pictures and enjoy the originality of Russian architecture, but also learn a bit of the Russian history as there are always so stories that you can read.

If you are an art-lover, then Moscow goes for you too. Simply, take Tretiakovskaya Gallery – the hugest art exhibition that collects not only the most famous paintings of Russian artists but also treasures of other cultures.

Wow…Seems that I could write much more about this city. So let’s stop here for now, and I will continue in my next blog.