Quote:
Originally Posted by grindy
Russia is a fascinating country. The only time I've really been there was a week I spent in Moscow about ten years ago. It's an incredible city and it was one of the best trips abroad I've ever had.
I was born in the Soviet Union and Russian is my first language, but I've lived most of my life in western Europe.
I might not know lots of current things, but my Russian is still perfect and I'm still quite immersed in the culture, so I still might help you out.
I guess people are bemused because it's not really a country for tourism. No, the evil Russians are not all out to get you, but the authorities love to **** with foreigners, many cities have parts one shouldn't go to even during the day and the current political climate is very tense. Try not to pass for an American.
And for god's sake, don't buy food from street vending babushkas or those shawarma joints
Don't let that sour your expectations though, I'm sure you'll still have a great time.
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Ah cool, I was torn between staying in Moscow or SpB. Settled on SpB because it seems more balanced and cultural but I still intend to visit Moscow and Kazan if I can.
I think a major reason people negatively judge Russia is that they fret too much over corruption and over-estimate its effect, imagining people living in constant fear. I can't speak from personal experience (never been outside Aus/NZ), but I suspect that corruption is simply the status quo in many countries as it's just the way things are done and people accept it. If you live in India, you probably have to pay off people every now and then in order to get things done. Sure it's not ideal, but I imagine it's no biggie for the most part. Of course, if you're a foreigner, it's much harder to know how to play the game. I guess it's just something you have to learn, just as you'd have to learn how much to tip a waiter if you go to America.
I'm kinda curious about the political opinions of Russians and I've been trying to gauge them from reading Russian forums etc. But at the same time, I think it's probably sensible not to discuss politics while I'm over there.
Haha, from what I've heard, I don't have high expectations of Russian food... dill on everything and spices on nothing! But I might be pleasantly surprised. After all, I've cooked solyanka and shchi and liked both.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Batlord
Be sure to try krokodil and tell us all about it.
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Haha, my brother said the same thing
Quote:
Originally Posted by DwnWthVwls
Russian is actually not that difficult to learn. I took two years of it in high school.
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Yeah, I'm not too worried as I've studied French and Latin, so I should be mostly ok with the grammar.
Though I've actually heard from a few people that the learning curve becomes a fair bit steeper after a couple of years. I remember seeing some meme about it somewhere. I'm trying to find it, but all I can turn up is
this 