Week One in Russia (Warning: Long)

There are many odd things about Russia that I have already become accustomed to: there are no toilet seats, soap, mirrors, trashcans, or toilet paper in public bathrooms. The bus stops aren’t announced or very well marked. As a pedestrian, you cross the street at an occasional crosswalk, but mostly you just take your chances and cross while traffic is heading toward you, hoping that it will stop (so far, it has). In the university, schedules change without notice—and apparently, no one owns a watch because students and professors are almost always late. Students talk in class, look off one another, and even answer ringing cell phones or walk out of the room to take a call.

The wonderful thing is—these things don’t bother me. I carry my own toilet paper, bought my own hand soap, and often go to the wrong class because a room was changed at the last second. I have learned to count the stops on the bus to know which is my stop, and pray that I will cross the street without getting hit. I haven’t even been here a full week and already I feel I have adjusted. I carry my own reusable bag to the supermarket—which no one thinks is strange because they buy plastic bags just for this purpose (I saw a stand today selling plastic shopping bags, much like reusable cloth bags).

One thing I have yet to adjust to is Russian fashion. They are all dressed to the nines—all of the time. Never mind the snow and ice—they wear their high-heeled fashionable black leather boots anyway. The clothes are skin-tight and flashy and every coat has at least a trim of fur. Furthermore, they’re all really really skinny at my age. You know how in America we have the freshman 15? This clearly doesn’t happen to you until you hit at least 40. Russian women look like perfectly made-up models, making it easy to spot the foreigner. Although, the other day I went to a new class and was mistaken for a Russian; however, the person who made the mistake was Chinese. So at least to the Chinese I look a little bit Russian.

I’m taking four of my courses with international students who are learning Russian as a Foreign Language (Russian for Business, Russian Stylistics and Cultural Speech, Philosophy, and Russian Language Practice). They are overwhelmingly from China, either visiting or have parents who work here. It’s an experience in itself to be translating Russian into English in my head amidst whispers of Chinese.

One of my classes is with Russian students, Introduction to Ecology. I went to class this week and generally understood what was going on. I had to drop the other one that was with Russian students (The Economy of Wildlife Management). I went to class and the professor sat down, opened a notebook, and started reading from it. We were expected to write it down verbatim--and I just can't write that fast in Russian.

The last two of my classes are individual tutorials: Environmental Problems in a Transition Economy and The History of Siberia. It took a long time to figure out my schedule because the system here is so different. Normally, I would have a set group of classmates and together we would have a set schedule focused in one area of study, but I have been allowed to pick and choose. I hop in and out of courses in four different groups, which I suppose is normal for visiting students. After all, we need credits to transfer.

So far, my favorite course is Philosophy. Yes, Philosophy in Russian. The course is lecture-style with four other Chinese students (yes, they are all Chinese, I’m not just generalizing). I talked to the professor after class about getting books and he asked me if this was my first time taking a Philosophy course. He was delighted when I said “yes”—I suppose he was happy to spread the joy of philosophy to a virgin ear.

Here, you get textbooks on loan from the library. It’s still a card catalogue system, and they don’t have a list of textbooks for each course. You have to come in and ask for the book by the author.

Right now I am writing from my dorm room. I won a three-day long battle with my external modem and Russian internet service. My roommate and I decided to split the cost, and it's working really well (now, after going back to the store twice). Russians don't use Macs, so when I told the tech guy today that I had a Mac his eyes nearly popped out of his head. Together we somehow got the internet to work.

Besides getting my Internet to work, I also took a disc of pictures to the photo store today. I printed some 4x6" glossies to tape to my dorm room wall. I stopped by a store to get some tape on the way home. It's called "skotch," which I thought was funny.

Well, a few of you have asked me to upload pictures, and I'll do one better. Here's a dorky little video-tour of my dorm room:

And here's a few pictures of Kirov Square, which is near my university (to the left of the giant ice slide). I have a video, too, but it takes a ridiculously long time to upload, so I'll include it next time. Until then, enjoy these pics!