Students travel to Russia; learn more than language
July 10th, 2007
Isaac Neff-Short, Laura Verwest and Joe Lanham in the bell tower of a Russian Orthodox Church in Kungur, Russia. The church was under extensive renovation. During Soviet times it was a warehouse, dancehall, movie theatre and more. After leaving Perm, the students went to Moscow and St. Petersburg.
When University of Louisville Russian language students left for a monthlong stay in that country earlier this summer, most did not know what to expect.
They wondered if they would receive a hostile reception because they are Americans. (They didn’t.)
They thought they might find a dangerous country overrun by crime and gangs. (It wasn’t.)
They didn’t think they would be able to get the things they might need at Russian stores. (They could.)
“I expected it to be some third-world rat hole, to be honest,” said senior accountancy major Joe Lanham. “I was surprised how nice it was, despite the muddy streets and constant rain. Everyone that we met was very accommodating, especially my host family, in making me feel more than welcome.”
The students stayed with families in Perm, a Sister City of Louisville which has many similarities to Louisville, including its location on a river, population size and cultural and academic resources, said UofL Russian instructor Tom Dumstorf.
Dumstorf, a UofL alumnus, returned to teach the language two years ago and helped to reinstate a minor in Russian studies. This is the second group he’s taken to Russia. For him, the trips are something of a homecoming.
“I have spent many years living, working and studying in Russia,” said Dumstorf, who met his wife in Moscow in the 1980s while on a US State Department-sponsored exchange program to broaden relations between the United States and Soviet Union.
Having spent so much time in that country, Dumstorf said what interests him most now is “hearing the reactions of students to the various cultural, societal, infrastructural differences.”
Sophomore Ashley Anderson noted several: “People think you’re crazy if you smile at them when you don’t know them”; “Public restrooms don’t have toilet paper unless you pay to use them”; and “I still wonder to this day why they tear receipts before they give them to you.”
While in Perm, the students took four and one-half hours of language class each day and visited historic and culturally significant sites, such as a police-dog training camp, a functioning Russian Orthodox Monastery and Perm 36, a gulag site notorious from the days of Stalin’s labor camps.
“We have been to a number of sites in the city here, but have spent most of our time just experiencing daily life of a mid-sized provincial Russian city,” Dumstorf wrote in an e-mail from Perm.
“Daily life in general,” Lanham said, is what he enjoyed the most.
“I loved that I felt totally comfortable living there and could honestly see myself living in Russia with few problems,” he said, noting that he plans to return next year.
Biology major Alyssa Roby also liked meeting the people.
“I enjoyed learning how Russians view Americans and also sharing my own opinions with them,” she said. “It started many interesting and eye-opening conversations.
“I found the Russians to have more in common with Americans than not,” Roby said. “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.” (Read more of what Roby had to say.)
“I think that most things that we do in life can impact our chances to learn new and exciting things,” said senior Britt Singer, who has a double major in history and psychology and a minor in Russian Cultural Studies. “Trips like this one just allow a person to get a massive dosage of learning, especially in a new environment and from another country’s expectations of education.
“I would say to anyone who is thinking about going abroad to study, do it! Don’t think about it,” he added. “Just find a way to do it.”
