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14 random things about Russia
Dec. 22nd, 2011 07:02 pmAll of these are subjective. I'm not an expert, I'm just living in Moscow since September.
1. Old buildings look nicer from the outside than from the inside, new buildings the other way around.
2. All the horrible things you might have heard of the Russian winter are probably true - but not everywhere. Moscow in December is not that cold.
3. There are lots of small shops set up on the streets or in Metro stations where people sell books, from poetry to cheesy romance/science-fiction. Mmmm, books.
4. Russia has the best sweets. I like their pralines, but the best thing are the сырки: small pieces of quark with chocolate glazing, with coconut or caramel or nuts or other flavors. Delicious.
5. Depending on where you shop, Moscow is not more expensive than Europe, except housing.
6. Russian students have an extremely high workload, but their lectures seem very inefficient.
7. The most popular social network among Russian students (from what I've seen, I have no numbers) is вконтактe, but Facebook is gaining popularity.
8. Russians find it very hard to learn English. Surprisingly many of them (maybe a third or even more) learn or have once learned German.
9. Many if not most students at my university (MSU) have either iPads or iPhones, but nevertheless they are very slow to answer emails. (I find this baffling.)
10. Russians find their politics (and many foreigners' uninformed opinions) very frustrating (this is extremely unsurprising.)
11. Russians love fireworks. Since I've been here I've seen at least five of them.
12. New Year is a much bigger holiday in Russia than Christmas (7th January.)
13. The Moscow Metro is very punctual and reliable, and the stations are beautiful. It can take more than 10 minutes to change your line, especially during rush hour, and in places where you cross from one line to another the station is named differently for each line (there are exceptions, of course.)
14. Russian bureaucracy is unpredictable: very complicated, nobody smiles, you have to visit ten different offices, and just when you think you there is no chance to get this stupid thing done someone will be unexpectedly nice at the last second and save your sanity.
1. Old buildings look nicer from the outside than from the inside, new buildings the other way around.
2. All the horrible things you might have heard of the Russian winter are probably true - but not everywhere. Moscow in December is not that cold.
3. There are lots of small shops set up on the streets or in Metro stations where people sell books, from poetry to cheesy romance/science-fiction. Mmmm, books.
4. Russia has the best sweets. I like their pralines, but the best thing are the сырки: small pieces of quark with chocolate glazing, with coconut or caramel or nuts or other flavors. Delicious.
5. Depending on where you shop, Moscow is not more expensive than Europe, except housing.
6. Russian students have an extremely high workload, but their lectures seem very inefficient.
7. The most popular social network among Russian students (from what I've seen, I have no numbers) is вконтактe, but Facebook is gaining popularity.
8. Russians find it very hard to learn English. Surprisingly many of them (maybe a third or even more) learn or have once learned German.
9. Many if not most students at my university (MSU) have either iPads or iPhones, but nevertheless they are very slow to answer emails. (I find this baffling.)
10. Russians find their politics (and many foreigners' uninformed opinions) very frustrating (this is extremely unsurprising.)
11. Russians love fireworks. Since I've been here I've seen at least five of them.
12. New Year is a much bigger holiday in Russia than Christmas (7th January.)
13. The Moscow Metro is very punctual and reliable, and the stations are beautiful. It can take more than 10 minutes to change your line, especially during rush hour, and in places where you cross from one line to another the station is named differently for each line (there are exceptions, of course.)
14. Russian bureaucracy is unpredictable: very complicated, nobody smiles, you have to visit ten different offices, and just when you think you there is no chance to get this stupid thing done someone will be unexpectedly nice at the last second and save your sanity.
