Alyssa Roby
Hometown: Louisville
Academic Year: Sophomore
Major: Biology; Minor: Russian Cultural Studies
I began studying Russian because I love to learn languages and I had never learned any Russian before. I also thought it was a beautiful language, and one that not many Americans learn. I thought it would also prove useful if I ever have a career in biological research, since research is usually done with the cooperation of many laboratories around the world.
Before I went on the trip to Russia, I thought that Russia would be a very dangerous place with lots of crime and gang activity. After being in Russia, however, I found that life there was no more dangerous than it is at home, given that one doesn’t do stupid things, like walk through dark alleys in the wrong parts of town.
I enjoyed so many things about the trip. Mostly, I enjoyed getting to know my host family and meeting a lot of new people. I enjoyed learning how Russians view Americans and also sharing my own opinions with them. It started many interesting and eye-opening conversations.
I believe this trip definitely enhanced my learning of Russian and about Russian culture. There is no way I could have ever wrapped my mind around Russian culture without having been there. There are so many things I learned in Russia that could never be described in words.
My host parents, Vitaly and Vera, had two daughters; Dasha, a year older than me, and Sasha, about my age. Vitaly is a manager at a factory that makes airplane parts, and Vera is an ultrasound technician at one of the local hospitals. They live in an apartment, as most people do in Russia, but they are in the process of building a large home in a part of the city (Perm) that is sort of a developing suburb.
The idea of a suburb is very new in Russia, I believe, so there are only a few houses being built there. They took me to visit the house, and it was very much like a typical American home, with two stories and a basement and a lawn enclosed by a fence. They also have a dacha in the country, like most of the people who live in the city.
My host parents were so kind to me, and I had a lot of fun going to clubs and meeting people my age with Dasha and Sasha. Dasha goes to the University of Perm and is a British literature major. Sasha goes to a special institute in Moscow, and as I understood, the institute is especially geared toward teaching economics. Sasha was on a break from school during the first part of my stay, but about two weeks into my stay she had to go back to Moscow for school.
Their daily life is slightly different from mine in America. The parents’ work schedules seemed more sporadic — some days they would leave for work at noon, some days early in the morning. The mother usually came home at around 3 p.m. to walk the dog, named Ronald Reagan (“Ronya” for short), and then she would either come home or go back to work for a while. Vitaly usually got home late in the evening, between 6 and 8 p.m. Dasha, who either had classes or worked at a news station most of the day, would usually come home between 9 and 11 p.m. after going out with friends.
I had daily classes from 9 to 3. I would eat dinner with Vitaly and Vera around 8, and we would talk and turn on the news or some Russian TV show. Some evenings I would also accompany them on their errands to the grocery or the hardware store or to run at the track. We discussed a lot of things when we were together, and they asked me many questions about life in the USA and were shocked much of the time by my answers. I believe many Russians have a rather distorted view of what the USA is like, but who can blame them? All they really get to see is what the media shows, which is not always representative of the majority of Americans.
The father was really interested in talking about cars and driving. He and Vera both almost had a cow the first time I rode in their car with them because I put on a seatbelt. Vitaly said, “You are the only person in Perm wearing a seatbelt.” It bordered on being an insult to them. I found this very strange, especially since the driving situation in Perm is incredibly dangerous compared to that in Louisville. The roads are terrible — full of huge potholes — and they are not divided into lanes. Driving is basically a free-for-all, and though there are stoplights and some signs, there seemed to be basically no rules. I also learned from Vitaly that to drive a non-Russian car offends some people, and often when a driver sees someone in a non-Russian car, they will honk in disapproval. This was also strange to me. I had never given the least thought to the nationality of cars. Vitaly was very comfortable about asking me questions that would seem too personal here in the US, such as how much money my father makes and how expensive our car is. These are not rude questions in Russia — and he meant no offense by them — but at first they bothered me.
Another eye-opening conversation for all of us was in regards to childbirth, of all things. Tom (Dumstorf) had told our class that when his children were born in the USSR, only women could enter the hospital and men could not come in and see their babies or be with their wives. They also could only deliver a limited number of items to their wives, depending on whether the medical staff approved of the items or found them fit for nursing mothers and babies. I assumed this was a relic from the Soviet times, and asked my host family about it. I was surprised to learn that this is still the standard procedure in Russia, and they were all shocked to hear that in America, husbands are allowed to be in the room when the baby is born. Vera and Dasha thought this was especially backward.
I talked to Dasha and Sasha a lot about their lives. I had found that Russian boys and men were much more forward than American boys. They were downright rude to women, in my opinion. I have to remind myself that their culture is just different, but memories of my encounters with them still make me angry. Dasha tried to explain to me why Russian boys act that way. She said they know that there are more women available in Russia than there are men, and they assume that they can afford to treat women however they please because, of course, the women must be desperate for anything they can get. My opinion is probably very unfair, and of course I met many nice Russian boys. I guess this is a firsthand example of how one foreigner’s bad experience can generate unfair criticism. A valuable lesson painfully learned.
We were constantly learning these kinds of things from each other, about all topics imaginable. In general, though, I found the Russians to have more in common with Americans than not. They want the same things in life: to provide for their families and find a good job, have a place to live and just be free to live their lives. I am so glad I got the opportunity to go over there. I was in Perm for a little over a month, and I would love to go back again next year, if it will be possible.
