Dreams Come True

While Samara University’s students recovered after the session, having rest on the vacations, foreign trainees of the Russian Language Promotion Centre continued their preparations for entering Russian universities. Future engineering students from China, Africa, Latin America and Turkmenistan, led by Natalia Dormidontova and Aleksandra Ruda, staff members of the Russian Language Promotion Centre, visited Samara University’s Aircraft Engine History Center, which contains one of the world’s largest collections of aircraft and rocket engines, numbering 85 items.

This tour was not only the opportunity for the young people to see with their own eyes the real engines of airplanes, tanks and missiles, but also to listen to the fluent speech of the specialist who spoke the language of their future specialty. Most of them understood the basic essence of what the guide was talking about, asked questions and, of course, actively photographed the unique exhibits.

The rocket engines aroused the greatest interest among them. Future engineering master’s degree students from China said that they had never seen them before, but dreamed of it because they studied them at home. Liu Yuheng was surprised that the museum exhibited not models, but real engines, “It is unexpected for me to touch a real rocket engine! I’ve only seen them on TV before”.

The excursion was a present for the young people from the University on Chinese New Year, because the tour coincided with the holiday, which they celebrated for the first time away from home.

But students from other countries also appreciated the tour. For example, Jean Sanchez, a student from Venezuela, was also impressed by rocket engines: “There are no rockets in my country, so they are very unusual and interesting for me”.

Text and photo: Natalia Dormidontova