Last weekend we went on an excursion to the cities of Vladimir, Suzdal, and Murom. Saturday was spent entirely in Murom, a city of roughly 100,000 people located about 300 km east of Moscow (Yes, Russians use kilometers. Additionally, things are sold by grams and liters in stores, and our teachers don't understand Fahrenheit. Dylan highly approves.).
Murom is one of the oldest cities in Russia, dating from at least the 9th century. It gives its name to the famous folk hero Ilya Muromets, who according to legend was crippled and unable to walk until he was healed at the age of 30 by traveling pilgrims. Afterwards, Ilya became a mighty warrior and protected the people of the Kievan Rus until taking monastic vows as an old man. He later became a saint of the Orthodox Church. Murom was also home to Saints Peter and Fevronia, a wedded couple who entered different monasteries late in life but died on the same day and were later found in the same coffin. A church in the city holds the relics of Peter and Fevronia, who represent happy marriage and the value of family. Murom was closed to outsiders in Soviet times for security reasons, but is currently an open, if not particularly popular, destination for visitors and tourists.
The city is also the site of the Murom Institute Branch of Vladimir State University. Roughly 5000 students study at the institute, which was founded in 1957. A major part of our trip was visiting a group who were studying English there. They gave us a presentation in English about Murom, and we in turn tried to describe Carleton College to them. We also performed a rendition of “Don't Stop Believin'” by Journey, but perhaps it's better to simply forget about that. After lunch we left with the students to go explore the city, which included seeing a monastery, church, and a giant statue of Ilya Muromets himself.
Talking with the students about their experiences with school and studies was particularly interesting. The Murom Institute is very focused on technical skills, which of course makes a striking contrast with the liberal arts approach of Carleton College. When asked about majors, all of the students gave very specific responses, such as programming and computer engineering or law. Meanwhile, roughly half of us Carleton students had just declared our major a few short weeks ago, and hadn't even begun to think about a career. One student in particular asked what a “mathematics” major meant, wondering what specific field of math Dylan was interested in, such as mathematics relating to semiconductors or radio waves – apparently here, the study of pure mathematics is rare, if not unheard of. The Murom Institute also differs from Carleton in that the vast majority of students were from Murom and lived in apartments with their families. For this reason the school didn't seem to have the campus culture that Carleton does. The Institute, being spread throughout the city, lacked the cohesive campus common to most American schools.
Another interesting point to consider is the aspirations of the students we talked to. Most, if not all, of the students have plans to leave Murom once they graduate, even though their families have lived in Murom for generations. Though most of them have never traveled abroad, many hope to find work in America, or in other foreign countries. For example, one of the students plans to participate in a foreign exchange work study program in the United States. We're not sure how reliable a sample this is as far as the population of Murom goes, as these students were all studying English. Those not enrolled in English or in college in general may have different goals. We feel like the students we talked to, in their hope to travel abroad, are indicative of growing international ties and a more global view.
Our experiences with the students of Murom Institute really opened our eyes to the lives of Russians not living in Moscow. It was exciting to see another side of our generation in these students. This excitement could only be paralleled by theirs to see us, and in their interest to learn about our American culture. One of our favorite moments was hearing one of the students use the phrase “totes m'goats” after asking us to teach her American slang. It was a truly rewarding experience, and well worth the early morning wake up call and hours of bus rides.
