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Ilya Galkin, final year Russian and History
My name is Ilya Galkin, I am a final year student at UCL SSEES studying Russian and History. I started at UCL in 2021 and have thoroughly enjoyed my experience so far and I’m hopeful of potentially continuing my time here after this year through a MA course.
How did you find out about SSEES?
I first learnt about SSEES through a virtual open day I attended in 2020 during lockdown and since then my respect, recognition and pride for the department has kept growing.
What is it like to study at SSEES and to be a SSEES ambassador?
I'm very proud to be a SSEES ambassador which gives me the opportunity to help prospective students, parents as well as many other learn about and experience what it’s like to study here. SSEES provides the platform for its students like myself to succeed as its teaching spans all over central and Eastern Europe, an area of the world which is progressively growing in importance.
What have you learnt about and studied at SSEES so far?
Although my course is Russian and History I have learnt about the history and culture of countries that I’d never really thought about studying before starting at UCL. For example I have studied the history of countries such as Hungary, Yugoslavia, as well as this year learning about the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth while continuing my studies of Russian language and culture.
What opportunities and skills does SSEES provide?
Plenty. One such example was that I was able to spent my last academic year abroad in Tallinn, Estonia, giving me the opportunity to live in the Baltics while improving my understanding of Russian. You can read more about my year abroad here. SSEES also teaches skills that are critical for employment such as critical reasoning and analytical skills, the ability to construct and develop arguments as well as many others that are very important in the world of work.