Anton is a truly versatile personality. On his arrival to Cambridge, he joined about a dozen of different clubs and societies, including, of course, CU Russian Society to which he is so fondly devoted. After some thought, Anton
proclaimed himself as Vodka Officer and eagerly started organising events of Russian Society as Entertainment Officers in other societies do. And he knows about Russian-style entertainment indeed, partly because he learned to play
accordeon and to sing Russian folk songs in a music school back in his home town Mytishchi (these skills of his haunt night Cambridge from time to time!).
Unless woken up at 6am (to enjoy early rowing on the river Cam), Anton sparkles with ideas and impromptu movements (reminiscent of his passion for progressive rock and Argentinian tango). In his spare time, Anton is doing a
PhD in Computer Science.

While holding a PhD in Physics from Saratov State University, Andrey is doing his MPhil degree in Business & Technology on a programme by Cambridge-MIT Institute. Grown on Volga, Andrey is in tender love with the beauty and spirit of Russia. He and his beloved wife Ksenia simply spread this feeling around them. In particular, they do this by cooking tons of delicious pancakes for endless CU Russian Society parties, and Russian dinners with Andrey’s multinational MPhil group.
Accompanied by “Russky Standart”, caviar and “Yozhik v Tumane” the latter are always a great success.

Born in the picturesque Republic of Buryatia, captivated by enchanting Lake Baikal and its breathtaking scenery, Esuna has always been excited about accomplishing challenging things, which makes life even more interesting. In Ulan-Ude city, Esuna finished Linguistic Gymnasium No.3 with a gold medal and Music School, where she learnt to play the chanza
(Buryat national stringed instrument). After she graduated from St. Petersburg State University with BA (Honours), Esuna came to Cambridge to gain new bright experiences. With respect to her research, Esuna is enthusiastic about investigating second language acquisition of Chinese by Russian and English speakers. Esuna has been winning prizes in international competitions and, among others, awarded as “The most charismatic participant”. Esuna loves theatre, art, and, above all, watching the sunrise from the top of the mountains.

Yulia comes from Chelyabinsk, the great city in the Ural Mountains. Despite, or perhaps because of her unusual 12 pm – 4 am daily schedule, she is well known at Newnham for introducing unassuming friends to the delights of Russian vodka. Yulia spends her night hours studying how to connect climate change scientists and normal people – no easy feat as you can imagine. Her many qualities include: abundant artistic ability, with a specialism in hand-painted images of pancakes (available by commission only); a personal matchmaking service offered to Russians and non-Russians alike, with a success rate of 100%; and, much more than that, the warmth of a firm handshake and a sincere smile.

Katya is doing her MPhil in Linguistics investigating the depths of the Slavonic languages. Originally coming from a wooden-laced Siberian town called Tomsk, she has been torn between three countries for the last 6 years: Russia, Germany and the UK. Mad about all things South American (including Brasil, capoeira, Pablo Neruda and salsa). Her pedagogical idealism makes her plunge into the vertex of educational activities wherever she happens to be. She
polishes her teaching skills in the Russian Conversational Evenings and Cambridge Russian School. In recent history of Russian Society she is better known as a member of the ‘Devushki v kokoshnikah’ team.

• UPDATE: Katya is a PhD student at the Edinburgh University and President of Russian Society 2006-2007!

Anja comes from Samara — a beautiful city on the Volga river surrounded by the Zhiguli mountains. Like the singer of the famous Russian song ”

Ah, Samara gorodok” (highly recommended — very Russian!), Anja is restless (bespokojnaya). 24 hours a day is she preoccupied with Russian and British culture. Her main project in Cambridge (aka PhD Thesis in Linguistics) has to do with how cross-cultural differences influence the way the Russians and the
British use language to communicate.

• UPDATE: Vashek is a DPhil student at the University of Oxford