Europe Day in Moscow
31 May 2008
Neso Russia took part in the annual Europe Day Festival in Moscow on 17 May 2008.
Neso Russia took part in the annual Europe Day Festival in Moscow on 17 May 2008. The event, which took place in the city’s famous Gorky Park, drew 20,000 visitors. It was organized by the Moscow Student Center, Moscow City Government, the Delegation of the European Commission to Russia and several Cultural Centres of the EU member states.
This was the fifth time Muscovites had been able to visit and participate in an amazing and informative fair representing all European Union countries. Visitors could stop by the stands of the EU member states to learn more about their cultures, tradition, national folklore and education programmes. It was however the first time that Neso Russia had represented the Netherlands at the Europe Day Festival.
The Dutch stand was visible from far away, with its orange decor, posters, balloons, tulips and flags attracting lots of attention. Two Russian girls in Dutch national costume invited people to visit our stand and offered them Dutch cheese. Visitors could also taste other typical Dutch foods at the Neso stand, including ‘drop’ (salty liquorice sweets) and ‘stroopwafels’ (caramel waffles). Besides Study in Holland material, Neso Russia also distributed other kinds of information, including booklets on the Dutch economy and the Dutch Royal Family and tourism maps provided by the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Moscow.
Neso also launched the new Study in Holland brand, presenting gadgets with the new logo to Russian visitors. ‘Europe Day is a good opportunity to promote Holland in Russia and to introduce the Netherlands to Russian people’, says Nastya Abolina, Education Promotion Manager at Neso Russia. ‘By the end of the day all our brochures and gadgets – and our Dutch food – were gone. Our Jip and Janneke books – translated into Russian and published under the title ‘Sasha & Masha’ – we had on display were also popular. Some even got stolen…’