Living and Studying in Samara

Language Link School in Samara is located conveniently close to the city centre (15 minutes' by car), just behind the Television Centre between the two main thoroughfares of Samara - Moskovskoye shosse and Novo-Sadovaya street. It is based in a separate building with its own parking area in front. The modern classrooms can accommodate up to 100 students at any one time. The classrooms have all been renovated and comfortably furnished, with white boards, desks, CD-players and water coolers.

The surrounding area

Shopping - There is a shopping center "Park House" on Moskovskoye shosse (3 minutes' walk from the school), which is one of the main ones in Samara. It is a reasonably large complex with a supermarket, fashion stores, cafes, parking area, etc. There you can find anything you need (from food to household appliances). If you are not willing to spend your time choosing among all this variety of goods there are small shops in the area where you can find the most necessary things immediately.

Eating, Drinking and Dining - The choice of places to eat out in Samara is quite big: from very expensive luxurious restaurants to small cost-effective cafeterias. The cafe in "Park House" (the shopping centre 3 minutes' walk from the school) is quite good for a meal during the day. Cafes "BEERloga" and "Foxtrot", which are situated 3 minutes' walk in another direction from the school, can also serve a good business lunch for you. If you want to enjoy a traditional Russian meal you can go to one of the taverns of "Zhili-byli" branch. There you can find both cold table with great variety of Russian salads and the most substantial hot dishes.
There are also plenty of restaurants in the central part of the city offering traditional cuisines of different countries: "Elisey", "U Palycha", "Marlin", "Bora-Bora", "Mama Cita", "Vakhtanguri", "Cucaracha", "Nautilus", "Kitay", "Dzhin-Dzhu", etc.
And of course, during summer time you have the opportunity to enjoy eating out in open-air cafes just on the embankment.

Keeping fit - the biggest and one of the most modern fitness centres "Planeta Fitness" is situated 10 minutes' walk from the school. It has been built recently but achieved great popularity among people of different ages.

Places of Interest - You can easily get from the school to the heart of Samara with its beautiful streets and squares. Kyibushev square, the central square of the city, is known as the biggest square in Europe. The second square of the city is the Glory square. Here the Eternal fire for participants of the Great Patriotic War (the Second World War) is situated.
During the Great Patriotic War Samara (Kuibyshev at that time) was the second capital of the USSR. The Government of the USSR, many foreign embassies and plants were brought here. One of the new museums is called "Bunker of Stalin" because it was built during the Great Patriotic War to organize the defense of Stalin if he should come to Samara. It was exactly here, away from the front where the best munitions factories with their workers were evacuated. This was an enormous intellectual potential, and there were many who didn't suspect it because Samara was a top secret city until 1990.
Years passed and Samara grew into a large industrial and cultural center. There are many museums and theatres here. The oldest ones are Samara Academic Drama Theatre and Samara Academic Opera and Ballet House. Their creative groups are well-known not only in Russia but all over the world. As for Samara Philharmonic Society, it has the biggest concert organ in Russia, specially commissioned from a well-known German firm "Rudolf von Bekkerat".
Samara museums possess rich collections of unique art works. One of them is The Art Museum, which branched off the museum of regional studies in 1937. The natural beauty of the Volga-river spaces attracted painters since olden times. Artists such as Repin, Aivazovsky, Levitan, Savrasov painted from life on the Volga banks. The world famous writer Alexey Tolstoy spent his childhood and youth in this city. Maxim Gorky created more than 30 literary works when he lived in Samara. Even a French writer Alexandre Dumas paid a visit there in 1858. He wrote the book "From Paris to Astrakhan" in 1859, following his trip, where he left his description of Samara.
Samara with its picturesque sights has been becoming more and more attractive for people from different parts of the world.

Safety - Samara is no more dangerous than any average large city. Main streets are well lit, but yards and side streets may not be. Be on your guard, don't carry obviously expensive items openly and use only official taxis at night. In the event of an emergency, you should contact one of Language Link's Russian office staff.