What I Will Miss About Россия (Russia)

On the first day of my Russian civilization class, we each read a list of things we loved the most and things we hated the most about America.  On the last day of class, we prepared and read lists of the things we loved most and hated the most about Russia.  It gave me an idea to post an embellished version of that list (just for you guys!) on my blog on my last night in Russia (can you believe it? I know I can't!).

Things I Will Miss About Russia

1. The Cyrillic Alphabet (love those symbols everywhere!)
2. Drinking hot tea constantly
3. Small Russian children in puffy, mono-colored snowsuits
4. Blini. (Host mom's. Teremok's. Chainaya Lozhka's. With honey. With chicken and mushrooms. With chocolate and bananas.)
5. The Winter Palace
6. Stiletto-heeled boots and Russian women
7. Cheap public transportation
8. Feet of snow on the ground (CRYSTALLIZED snowflakes)
9. The Russian Ballet
10. Продукты (urm, 24hr cheap holes-in-the-wall with food and beverages, found every 20ft in all of Russia)
11. Russian cuisine: warm, filling, appetizing. Potatoes, pelmeni, soup, tea, and cmetana!
12. Lack of copyright laws (read: unlimited, free movies and TV shows without ads or commercials)
13. The Neva, the Fontanka, the Moika, and the Griboedova Canal
14. Orthodox churches
15. All of St. Petersburg

I love 'the Russian patience' which took all semester to adopt - waiting in line at the post office forever, sitting on the number 5 trolley bus in traffic for an hour and a half, accepting that dining out will take hours. "Is there anywhere important I desperately need to be right now?" The answer was always "Not really." After all, if I have to wait, there is no point in freaking out the whole time. I noticed I constantly live in the future, and that is no way to live.

I love the importance of culture in this town.  As my friend Marguerite said, History is a living, breathing thing here. These beautiful buildings and streets have experienced monarchy, Communism, war. This city was founded fifty years before American was.  Literature is more important than politics, art is more important than pop culture. The ballet is four times cheaper than seeing Elton John.  What a refined way of thinking.

I love finding warmth where you least expect it.  Everything and everyone seems cold and harsh in Russia, which made adapting a total nightmare.  Instead of focusing on the frowns, the apparent indifference to my presence on that part of the sidewalk, the grating tone of annoyance by the cashier, by the end of the semester I found absolute joy in unexpected warmth and disregarded everything else.  No, I don't remember if the crowd shoved me into my metro car Wednesday morning (chances are good.)  Yes, I do remember the woman who stepped on my toe and kept tapping my shoulder until I took out my headphones so she could apologize warmly, the man who made room and motioned me into the train car when I looked at the packed space with weak hope, or the waitress who smiled at my imperfect Russian and took the time to understand me anyway.

I don't know what it is, but something drew me to this country.  It was such a wonderful blessing to find 71 other college students who felt the same.  I love the American friends I made here - so many amazing young people so willing to support and connect with strangers who shared class space with them for a mere four months.  It has been amazing getting through this tough experience with them at my side, and I cannot imagine exploring the country without them! (love you guys.)  Our teachers were awesome. Through them I really got to see the warm, caring side Russians share with close friends and family, and they taught us so much about their subjects and about their lives here.  What a semester! Hardest, most enriching, most inspiring, most instructive and, конечно, the COLDEST semester of my life.  I may be leaving tomorrow, but I have a feeling that I will return someday. Russia hasn't quite finished with me yet.

Эмили