patronymics & formal greetings

Hi,

What do you do if you are going into a formal situation, for example meeting a professor for the first time.
In English you would say 'Hello Mr x' but I think in Russian you would use 'Hello first name, patronymic' but what if you don't know the patronymic? Would you introduce yourself first, or wait for the other person to give the patryomic?
Quite confusing.


And if you are a student in this situation, I assume you would just use your own first name, is that correct?

Thanks

'Hello Mr x' - substituted with just 'Hello, professor!'

Teachers can call students by surname, or first name.

Yep, one should avoid using name without patronymic in such situations. Just name, surname or name+surname require 'lower or same rank' of subject in formal face-to-face speech. So you must avoid using these combinations by substitutes, or just "Hello" in respectful-plural "здравствуйте".