University of Helsinki
As the new board of Sasha has begun their 2024 term, we thought that it is only fitting for us to introduce ourselves on the blog. The new board consists of many Aleksanteri Institute’s own international Master’s students in the Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Studies (MAREEES) program. We look forward to providing an international perspective to Sasha and aim to contribute to the broader community. With that shift, we have adopted English as the operating language. We will continue to offer Finnish as a contact language and will strive to maintain being a bilingual organization but would appreciate the use of English in our events in order to include a wider audience.
This year Sasha aims to offer a diverse set of events and activities and we hope that we meet many new and old members! We have already organised a movie night, pub nights, and joined the Remembrance Day of the War in Ukraine. Upcoming events include excursions to numerous cultural institutions and embassies across Helsinki. We want to continue the well established monthly pub nights but at the same time, bring some new regular events that foster an inclusive environment to those who do not drink or necessarily enjoy the pub setting.
In the future we hope to offer a possible excursion outside of Helsinki as an opportunity to those who otherwise were not able to attend an excursion due to Covid-19 or other events. This year, the ExpREES students will be going to Uzbekistan and the MAREEES students will be going to Estonia for their study trips.