Before I got to Moscow, I spent a lot of time on Google, trying to figure out what my room would look like. I watched a YouTube series by a girl who also studied at MGIMO in an attempt to study the background of her room, but nothing prepared me for what I saw upon my arrival. After having been in Russia in the summer of 2019, I did not expect to be surprised by a dated, slightly run-down living space. Little did I know, I still hadn’t seen everything.
I lived on the ninth floor, accessible by a stairwell with two-foot-tall steps or two dark elevators, probably built during the 1970s or 1980s, with Soviet technology. Our dorm was the nicest at MGIMO because it was the international dorm. It was the only dorm located on campus, only steps away from the front doors of the University. It had a faulty metal detector at the entrance and was constantly manned by two guards who spoke no English and loved making our lives difficult and confusing. We had free laundry in the building, guarded by an old Russian woman who also spoke no English and forced us to sign up each morning for a time slot to wash our clothes. There were four washing machines and no dryers for around 400 international students, so you had to get there right at 8:00 am to sign up.
