The year 2024 has been declared the Year of the Family in Russia. This decision was made by President Vladimir Putin "in order to preserve and protect the traditional values that underlie our state and unite all its citizens".
As is well known, many families are born while they are still students. Young people come to a new city, get acquainted, fall in love, get married and create really strong unions that are not subject to any problems and crises. However, there are many pitfalls waiting for such couples, and the first of them is the need to rent a place to live.
Prices on the market, of course, "bite", and offers are mostly such that it is not so easy to find a clean apartment with good repair and furniture. Either you need to be lucky or you need much more money than you originally planned. This situation often leads to a situation where the romance of the past is gone in a matter of months.
How can young families carry the "fire of love" through all their years of study and keep it alive for many decades to come? This year the management of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University has allocated seven brand new studios especially for its students and graduate students who are legally married. The price of their rent is lower than the average in the city, and the level of comfort is noticeably higher.
"Our management's position is that all facilities, including those where the kids spend their free time, should have a comfortable environment conducive to their development. That is why we almost never stop renovating old buildings or constructing new ones," said Kirill Vyatkin, administrator of Mining University dormitory No. 9, which was commissioned this academic year.
Dmitry and Anastasia Bratskikh, who are in graduate school, live in one of his rooms. He - at the Department of Organization and Management, she - at the Department of Production Safety. The guys say that they met almost immediately after they entered the university, it happened at the Freshman Cup - one of the largest student events of the fall semester. It is organized specifically to help young men and women adapt to their new environment.
And then fate began to bring them together on a regular basis. The guys led an active student life, tried their hand at various hobby clubs, of which there are about eighty in Mining. They even signed up for one of them, the Mentoring Institute, at the same time. Once again they met in the dormitory of Mining.
"It turned out that we live on the same floor. Nastya liked me, and I began to seek her attention. I looked for excuses. The first time I went to her for salt," recalls Dmitry.
"To be honest, I did not even realize at first that it was a pretext for a meeting. I did not understand his pretexts at all for a long time. Therefore, we began to date only after a year", - smiles Anastasia.
During his studies Dmitry helped his future wife with technical disciplines, she helped him with humanities. In their free time, the young people together went to training in shooting and rock climbing, skating and rollerblading, walking in the parks and squares of St. Petersburg. During a promenade on a boat in the Central Park of Culture and Culture Dmitry made his chosen one an offer. However, they got married a little later, as they soon went on an internship abroad - in Germany and Austria.
"None of our group had any thoughts of staying in Europe, but at the same time we all understood that this trip was an opportunity to increase our competitiveness and value in the labor market. So we plunged into studying abroad with our heads. I think that the experience obtained there was very useful for us, because today we continue to do research in the areas we worked on, including under the scientific guidance of German and Austrian professors. My husband - digital solutions in the oil and gas industry, and I - implementation of a risk-based approach to hazard assessment in the mining industry," says Anastasia.
By the way, thanks to the internship abroad, the young people managed to get married twice. The "civil" wedding was organized in the Austrian town of Leoben, but in compliance with all Russian traditions. And the official registration in the registry office - on their return to their homeland. In St. Petersburg, the newlyweds signed and organized a big celebration with parents and friends.
Dmitry notes that a huge plus of living in Mining University apartments is the fact that they are fully equipped with furniture and appliances. So there was no need to make any big purchases upon arrival.
"A table, a chair, services, shelving, two sewing machines. Of the large utensils, this is probably all we brought with us. Good conditions have been created not only in the studio itself, but also outside it. The dormitory has a gym, a laundry room, and a security system. There can not be random people here, the entrance to the building is carried out through turnstiles with passes. The location of the building is very successful - close to the city center, subway, university. In addition, the cost of rent is lower than that of realtors. There is another important factor that influenced our choice - good neighborhood. After all, we know a lot of people from the university," said Dmitry.
After graduating from graduate school, the couple intend to develop their own startup related to digital technologies. In addition, Anastasia wants to try her hand at teaching at Mining University. However, this plan may be postponed because of another - the birth of a child.