Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Ya shiga matsayin sajan a cikin Semyonovsky Regiment na Tsaron Tsaro na Rasha a 1781 yana da shekaru 12. Tsakanin 1782 da 1786 ya yi karatu a makarantar Furotesta a Strasbourg don ya inganta ƙwarewar harshen Faransanci da Jamusanci. Ya yi sha'awar Goethe da Friedrich Schiller kuma ya rubuta wa na ƙarshe wasiƙa a Jamusanci sa'ad da yake ɗan shekara 17 kawai. Ya kuma yi nazarin kiɗa da rawa sosai, ya sami sunan barkwanci "Boris-Vestris" bayan dan wasan Faransa Auguste Vestris. Ya ci gaba da karatunsa a matsayin mataimakin laftanar a makarantar soja a Paris a cikin shekarun da suka gabata na Ancien Regime; bai sadu da Napoleon Bonaparte wanda ya bar makarantar a watan Oktoba na shekara ta 1785 ba. Makonni biyu bayan mamayewar Bastille
an rubuta umarni ga Golitsyns don yin sintiri a cikin birni a matsayin masu gadi. Wasikun dattijo na 'yan'uwan Golitsyn sun tabbatar da sha'awarsa sosai wajen yin nazari da fahimtar abubuwan da suka faru na Juyin Juya Halin Faransa. Boris ya yi tsokaci game da shawarwarin Dubois-Crancé a Majalisar. A shekara ta 1791 Catherine Mai Girma ya umarci dukan iyalin su bar Paris kuma su koma Moscow, amma sun fara ziyarci Roma, inda Hugh Douglas Hamilton ya nuna 'yan uwan.