[Gopnik]

(05-11-2019 07:53 PM)elrubionordan Wrote:  

Gopnik im trying to message you but i cant seem to find the message option ??‍ Im going to minsk this summer to study russian at the university and I was wondering if you could share some tips(or.private message me) about "things" that you would do differently if you went to study russian there again and how was life at the doorms and also how much you spent per month on average.. spasiba

Sure, no problem.

Things I'd do differently: do more cultural stuff, go see some WW2 museums, chat to random locals (not just fit girls that is), do a weekend trip to Gomel or perhaps some smaller provincial town. Pretty much all the cool stuff you see BaldandBankrupt do in his youtube channel tbh. Not knowing Russian at the time made things harder.

Life at the dorms - it was alright I guess, you get what you pay for. Considering how cheap they are they're pretty good value. I was placed in the modern dorms which took like 20 minutes by metro to get to uni, the old ones that are near the centre were basically falling apart I was told. The only downside is that you have to share a room. My roomate was a belarusian student. He was cool, I even met his gf and coursemates. I guess it depends on who you're paired with.

I can't remember how much I was spending but I was a student back then so I lived pretty frugaly. My guess is around 500$/month.

If I went back now I'd also try to get a long term rental on some russian-speaking site and pay local prices for a studio flat in the centre. Not sure how much rent is in Minsk these days but I'm sure one could live there comfortably for under 1500$/month.