Rusland

Russia is different. You need a visa to enter, and a visa to leave. The alphabet is different (cyricllic). The language is different. People are different. Buildings are different. Clothing is different. Food is different. Yes, you can say the same for nearly any country, but honestly, most of Western Europe is the same, and as is most of Canada, America, and Aus. Russia was the biggest culture shock I've ever experienced. St. Petersberg is built to look like a European city, but is still undeniably different. Moscow, on the other hand, was chaotic, with buildings from nearly every century, no organization, giant Soviet looking buildings, and more people.

The guided trip itself was a disappointment, because I was expecting more organization and more guidance, and so did not prepare myself with more knowledge of sights I wanted to see, and since we were in a large group, spontaneous excursions took way more time than they needed (I never want to travel in such a large group AGAIN). I got very frustrated that I wasn't able to see as much were I traveling by myself, and more frustrating that I didn't have my glasses because they were being prepared and that the alphabet was different.

BUT people on the trip were really nice and I made friends easily. Not so many warm fuzzy affectionate bonding that I experience in Jewish and Environmental trips, but interesting to travel with people of different nationalities.

I also have Russian heritage, making this trip slightly more meaningful. Despite my family coming from Minsk and Odessa, it's still a big deal to visit the Motherland. And Russia is COLD.

Some more anecdotes of my trip:
-I love black heeled shoes. This is a country of women wearing black high heeled boots. I was ecstatic.

-I grew up eating "Jewish" foods like kasha (buckweat) and blintzes (crepes stuffed with curded cheese). Then I come to Russia and am frequently served kasha and eat blini (Russian pancakes) nearly every day. Not to mention how much I love beets and how much Russians eat them.... Needless to say, eating familiar foods in a very unfamiliar country is a bizarre experience.

-competed with my friends to see how many times you could get yelled at by old Russian women, in a manner similar to Natalya when she's angry (as Zac said, this is a country of Natalya's <3 )

-Russian Orthodox churches are BEAUTIFUL. I always gasped whenever I saw the colorful onion shaped domes of Church of the Spilled Blood in St. Petersberg and St. Basil's cathedral in Moscow.

-I also thought that after visiting Notre Dame and Versailles I'd never see a more beautiful building. Until I entered the Winter Palace of the Hermitage in St Petersberg.

-After the Hermitage, which is a grand collection of fine art, I followed some Danes to an abandoned barracks with a collection of Non-Conformist art. While wandering the "galleries" I encountered a small room with couches and funky art on the walls, with a pack of cigarettes and a lighter on the coffee table. I decided I needed to smoke one in that room, but while doing so the guy whom they belonged to walked in. So then we had an awkward conversation in his halted English.

-As I walked with a group of my friends on the outer edge of the Red Square in Moscow, viewing the beautiful domed church ahead, all in somber silence as we noted the graves of Russian presidents on either side of us, about to view the entombed body of Lenin in his masoleum guarded by uniformed Russian policemen, my friend turns to me and says, "So you've never been skiing?"