Smorodina
Study & stay in Batumi · school rooted in Tbilisi · tour across Georgia
Russian that becomes part of your life
A premium immersive season: Ivy-informed teaching, a Russian-speaking host family, and Georgia lived day by day — not a catalog of classes.
The season film — currants, immersion, Georgia
Named for a painting that taught Europe to see the Russian berry
In the nineteenth century, trompe-l’œil still lifes were rare in Russia. Count Fyodor Tolstoy brought the genre to perfection: his watercolor Berries of Red and White Currants (1818) astonished viewers with the illusion of living fruit. Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna admired it so deeply that she commissioned the motif again and again — a diplomatic gift of refinement.
That is the spirit of our school: Russian through art, history, and lived immersion — language that stays with you like a taste you cannot forget. Watch the film: the berry returns as living image, not a copy of the museum piece.
Count Fyodor Tolstoy — Berries of Red and White Currants, 1818. Tretyakov Gallery
Built for ambition with taste
Professionals, heritage speakers, and serious learners who want Russian with cultural depth — not a tourist course.
Professionals & diplomats
When clarity in Russian matters for work, travel, or negotiation — and you want structure without a campus timetable.
Heritage & family ties
Reconnect with relatives, literature, and identity through living speech at the table and in the city.
Students & scholars
Intensive progress before a degree, research, or a career path that needs real Russian — with small cohorts and personal feedback.
One immersion, three layers
Study at Euro-2000 in Batumi, live with a Russian-speaking host family, and travel Georgia with a guided landmarks week.
Study in Batumi
RFL and culture hours on site — the same school network that has hosted Yale Study Abroad in Georgia since 2023.
A home, not a hostel
Private room, breakfast and dinner, and a Google Meet introduction before you arrive — so the match feels right.
Georgia as curriculum
Masterclasses in season, and an optional country tour shaped with guides who know both the map and the story.
Three pillars of a Yale Study Abroad–informed experience
Full immersion
Since 2023, Yale University’s summer language school has run Study Abroad in Georgia with local host families and classes at Euro-2000. Smorodina partners with that school and works with the same families — so you enter the same hospitality circle and learning environment.
Ivy-informed rigor
Our founder spent three years teaching and coordinating inside Yale’s Study Abroad in Georgia — RFL and Culture courses shaped by Ivy standards of structure, deliberate practice, and articulate feedback. As an independent accredited school, Smorodina carries that discipline forward with more room for your pace, goals, and personal experience.
Rooted in Georgia
Everyone involved in the program is a local expert: coordinators, guides, teachers, and host families have both Georgian and Russian roots and connections — which makes their work highly effective on the ground, while still preserving strong language competence so our students can reach their desired level of Russian in a short time. Warm hospitality, stunning landscapes, and a vibrant international community — the perfect stage for growth.
Two seasons — one clear path
Start with a flagship immersion, then refine weeks, family stay, and the tour in the atelier if you wish.
Clear orientation before the call
Flagship packages set the frame; the atelier and a private proposal refine the exact path.
from $5,400
Autumn flagship
Full autumn track orientation — study weeks, family, and landmarks tour as composed.
from $6,400
Summer flagship
Full summer package orientation — online prep, Batumi weeks, family, and tour.
from $450 / week
Host family
Russian-speaking home stay with breakfast and dinner — add weeks to match your study block.
A conversation with Anna
How Smorodina was built from the Yale Georgia network — and what a private immersion feels like from the inside.
Read more about the school →“I started with almost nothing. Now I can hold basic conversations with my wife’s family entirely in Russian — and that has given me a deeper connection to my family.”
Ready to begin your season of Russian?
Tell us your goals — we will craft a program around your calendar and your voice.
Start the conversation