On Thursday, March 24, students of the pre-university training course of the Institute of International Cooperation from Indonesia, Ecuador, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Syria, under the guidance of teachers Irina Romanova and Elena Peskova, visited I.N. Ulyanov museum, where they got acquainted with the traditions and customs of the peoples of the Penza region from the 10th century to our time.

The students were interested in the stories of the guide about the life of Penza residents and found much in common with their culture. Guaman Yungan Rut Estefanni, a student from Ecuador, was surprised to see wooden spoons, because her grandmother still uses similar spoons. “The tour was interesting, I especially like the different costumes of the 18th century. Earlier, I was already interested in the clothes and jewellery of the peoples of Russia in ancient times, and now I was surprised to find out how important the belts were for the people of that time. I am also curious about ancient weapons and tools,” Ahwani Alyasura Maulana Zuvi from Indonesia shared his impressions. Also in the museum, the students were shown a collection of ancient musical instruments, and the museum staff demonstrated how they play the ancient Russian instrument - the gusli.

“The task of the pre-university training course for international citizens is not only to teach students the Russian language and general education disciplines, but also to organize educational work aimed at formation of a comprehensively developed personality of the student, their social adaptation in Russia, and the development of social activity. With this aim, events are regularly held for pre-university course students in order to acquaint them with the culture, traditions, history of the Russian people, increase their interest in Russian culture and thereby increase motivation to study the Russian language,” commented Gleb Sintsov, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of PSU.