Berkley Center

I have been living in St. Petersburg, Russia for almost two months now. As a girl who grew up in Texas, I expected my biggest problem to be the weather. I didn’t expect to be quite so culture shocked by just how different life in Russia actually is.

I grew up in a slightly more international and diverse environment than your average American; my father is Canadian, my mother is Hungarian, and we moved to Texas when I was 10 years old. To say I’ve experienced my fair share of diverse cultures is an understatement. My mother’s whole family still lives in Budapest, and we visited Hungary every few years. My parents also ensured that we saw quite a bit of Europe along the way; over the years we’ve traveled to Italy, France, Spain, Czech Republic, Austria, and Poland.

I grew up speaking Hungarian with my mother and sisters, and for a very brief period of time, even attended a Hungarian night school run by some very intimidating nuns. Hungarian culture has played an enormous role in my life, with everything from its amazing food to its convoluted history impacting and broadening my understanding of the world. I even lived with my grandparents in Budapest last summer while I interned at the US Embassy, staying in the same bedroom as my mother did while growing up in a high-rise, Soviet style apartment building.

In short, I had relatively few qualms about my decision to spend four months of my life living in Russia. I obviously expected it to be a very different experience, but I thought myself to be better prepared than the average college junior embarking on a semester abroad.

After living here for two months, however, I can decidedly say that nothing could have prepared me for life in Russia. Sometimes, especially here in St. Petersburg, it seems very similar to life in the other Eastern European countries I have visited. The Soviet-style buildings are mixed in with beautiful old European-style palaces, some of them built before the United States even existed. The metro is clean and efficient, and millions of people go about their everyday lives normally: shopping, running errands, and working.

But underneath the surface, it is clear that Russia is an entirely different kind of country. Women retire at age 55, and bus drivers can kick you off the bus so they can have a smoke (and then make you pay your fare again to get back on). Meat sold by street vendors is commonly known to contain cat or horse meat. Smiling at strangers on the metro is the equivalent of announcing that you are crazy. All television channels are somehow owned or controlled by the government. Cheating on tests, even in university, is rampant (and quite feasible, as teachers often conveniently leave the room for incredibly long bathroom breaks). Drinking alcohol is permitted at all times of day and is permissible in seemingly every location imaginable. Bribing officials is paradoxically everywhere yet still somehow covert. Many Russians don’t follow traffic rules because it is easier to just bribe the cop. My professor casually mentioned to the class that he knows three different ways to avoid federal income taxes. It costs upwards of $2,000 to bribe the right people to ensure that your son will avoid military conscription. I have heard numerous, terrifying stories about how the police look the other way when certain crimes are committed because they themselves are part of the crime ring. I have only lived here for two months, yet I already know all of these things; they are just facts of life that are out in the open.

Living in Russia has made me realize how thoroughly American I am. It has also made me appreciate how entrenched rule of law and democracy are in our country. The idea of bribing a police officer in America boggles my mind; even if I knew how to go about it, I am sure that I could be arrested on the spot just for trying. I would be too scared to avoid income taxes, as I’m sure that the IRS could easily track me down. I’m fairly certain that a police officer would pull me over if I was wandering along Pennsylvania Avenue with an open beer at 7 a.m. in the morning. I am also reasonably confident that food from a food truck in Washington, DC won’t contain cat meat.

Maybe I am naïve and optimistic, but I think Americans have a certain level of trust in their government and in society as a whole. We smile at each other on the streets, hold doors open for each other, and make small talk with complete strangers. We have many different television channels filled with talk shows and political analysts bickering loudly about every topic under the sun. But most of all, we have hope and optimism. Americans believe that they can make a difference in their political system; whether its political activism for a certain issue, running for office, or simply casting a vote, Americans believe that they can do something if they are dissatisfied. Talking with Russians about politics makes you realize just how defeated most of them are. Most Russians seem to be thoroughly indifferent, almost apolitical; they insist that nothing can be done, that this is just how things are in Russia. At first, this attitude seemed irritating and fatalistic. However, living in Russia has shown me that there is absolutely a kernel of truth in these sentiments. Just as democracy and rule of law are entrenched in American society, evasion of rules and authoritarian traditions seem to be entwined with the Russian way of life.