According to Elena, who lives in a dormitory belonging to the Higher School of Economics, attendants check in on students every night at 9 pm. “They ask how you are, if your flat is dirty, they tell you what to clean,” she said. “If [the attendant] doesn’t see me for a while, she will make note of it and report it to my parents.”
Nigerian students Christopher Onoja (top), 22, and Issac Ismaila (bottom), 24, both came to Russia on a scholarship. “Honestly, I don’t like anything about this place because the rooms are full of roaches and bed bugs. We renovated— the lighting, the wallpaper, everything — but it was a mess when we arrived,” Onoja said.
24-year-old Zalkar Toktogulov from Kyrgyzstan, who studies painting, training in the gym. "Life here is good, I go to the gym almost everyday to stay in shape, but I'm not a professional boxer," he said.
Security is tight at the dormitories. To enter a dorm in Russia, you need to be accompanied by a resident, provide your passport and register your entry and exit.
"I don't have a problem living with roommates but I would like to get my own place someday," said Dinara Vafina, 26, student at the Moscow State Pedagogical University, who shares the room and piano with her two roommates.
Yang Zhao, 25, a psychology major from Beijing, encountered her fair share of xenophobic landlords. "I don't like the obshezhitiye, but I don't think I have another option,” Yang said. “It is pretty difficult to rent a room in Moscow. I made phone calls for two months and when someone would hear my accent and discover I was Chinese, they would say nyet!”
Elena Gasyukova, a 24-year old student at the Higher School of Economics, is looking at a sign in the elevator that says, "The general cleaning days on Saturday and Sunday."
![According to Elena, who lives in a dormitory belonging to the Higher School of Economics, attendants check in on students every night at 9 pm. “They ask how you are, if your flat is dirty, they tell you what to clean,” she said. “If [the attendant] doesn’t see me for a while, she will make note of it and report it to my parents.”](/static/upload/galleries_photos/Obshaga_Dumont_DEC_018.jpg)
