The ecology program was chosen by chance, but, fortunately, I never regretted entering. I can’t say that the lectures are incredibly interesting, but I found a couple of subjects quite fascinating. The classmates were very good, you can always find something to talk about with them (in this case, if you enter the program according to your desires, there will always be like-minded people). Unfortunately, hostels are located far from the city if you do not enter as foreign students or taking into account Olympiads in specialized subjects. I can note that St Petersburg University is indeed in cooperation with other universities, including foreign ones. This allows you to study in European and Asian countries, which I can personally confirm.