On the 2nd day of our visit, we took two lectures and visited museums.

This morning, we took lectures about history and culture of Tatarstan and Kazan. The Russian lecturer talked about it in Russian and another person interpreted it into English. So, we learned about complicated Russian history in English. However, it was still interesting for me both in the contents and English expression by the interpreter.

Russian history is not so much familiar to Japanese because Japanese high school lecture doesn't discuss it so much. We learned about specific history of Tatarstan. For example, Tatarstan was a country which was governed by Asian style emperors "Khan." Famous historical person Ivan the Terrible change the history drastically and so on.

I was also interested in the English expressions. For example, 'Ivan the Terrible,' he is called 'イワン雷帝' in Japanese history lecture. However, his name is 'Ivan the Terrible' in English. After get back to our dormitory in Kazan, we talked about this English expression. Maybe, this is closer to original historical name of him. However, someone translated this word 'terrible' to '雷帝.' This translator had an excellent sense in language.

By the way, do you know an English word khanate? It means a country which is governed by khan. This was used in the lectures repeatedly. You should remember this word, though you teacher never ask it in the next exam.

We went to a Russian restaurant near to Kazan Federal University. Some Russian students brought us to there. We ate some Russian food. Piroshki, borscht, fried cutlet Kiev style etc. Russian food was delicious, you should go to Russia and try it.

This afternoon, we went to Russian history museum and IT-park, IT-park was a museum of Russian information technology and industry. However, I came down with fatigue and other unknown reasons, so I took a rest and didn't attend this museums visit.

In Russia, everything is different from Japan, language, food, people, building and others. Even if Russian coldness will be a fresh experience for you. If you are bored in Japan, you should come to Russia. Maybe, it will be amazing experience for you.

Lecture about history and culture of Tatarstan and Kazan

With Professors at Kazan Federal University

Russian history museum