Russia – My Second Homeland

It has now been four years since that cold evening, when I first stepped foot in Russia. My brother, whom I had not seen for three long years, and his friend were waiting for me at Sheremetyevo International airport. I was so happy on that day that I decided to make the rest of my time in Russia as enjoyable. And I did.

Although someone had told me about it, I really never expected that studying something in a language you had never known before would be a great adventure. But the very first day I went to the university where I was supposed to study Russian language for one year, my adventure had already begun. We, the new students, were in one class when one Russian woman came in and, smiling, greeted us saying: “zdravstvuyte”. As I only knew words like: “privet”, “da” and “net”, I was completely blank as to what the woman’s word meant. While I was caught up in my own thoughts, the other students, who seemed to have had some knowledge of the language, all replied in one voice by simply repeating the same word the woman said.

As if she knew it, the Russian woman came directly in front of me and asked, – “Kak vas zovut?” I thought for a while and then answered, “dd…dd..da”. The woman smiled at me, which made me think I guessed it right. I suddenly gained confidence and started smiling as well. “Otkuda vi priekhali?” – the woman continued, as if to finally make a conclusion about my knowledge of the Russian language. Since I had already used the word “da”, I decided to use my remaining one. “Net”, was my confident reply. This time I answered looking her in the eyes and smiling, as though to say “I perfectly understand you, good woman!”

Ok, enough about that. Four years have passed from that day, and my Russian has improved over the years. I am now studying Publishing and Editing in Moscow State University of the Printing Arts. I study in Russian, but I love every bit of my time here; it’s truly a great adventure. Without a doubt, my good knowledge of Russian has a lot to do with all the great lecturers that have ever taught me since I came to Russia. Some opened to me the world of Russian literature, a world I have come to love and respect. Others gave me the opportunity to look into Russia’s long history, which is full of events. And, of course, I owe much to my Russian friends who take their time to speak with me, helping me to improve my pronunciation and enrich my vocabulary.

Ever since I came to Russia, I have developed an interest in tourism. I love travelling around to near and distant places just for the fun of seeing how people live (or lived) there. I remember the first town I ever visited was Tver. It was obvious I was going to visit Tver, because that is where my brother was studying. Since I was just in Moscow, my brother used to come almost every weekend to visit me. But in winter 2005 (my first winter, which is another story to tell), my brother finally took me to his town. When we got to Tver, I was a little bit shocked. I did not get the fun of being in Europe. Although my brother had already told me it was not like Moscow, my expectations were still quite wild. After a few days, my brother told me that they had a monument to Pushkin near the Volga River. “Did you say Pushkin? The Volga River? Man, when are we going there?” I suddenly became alive! By this time I had learnt a few things about Pushkin, and he had already earned himself the title as my favorite Russian poet. I even learnt some of his poems by heart. Poems like: “I once loved you” (Я вас любил) and “To Chaadaev” (К Чадаеву). Just because of that monument and the Volga River, Tver has become one of my favorite Russian towns.

Saint Petersburg. I had read about this great city and its founder, Peter the Great. But as the Russian proverb would put it, “it’s better to see it one time, that to hear about it a thousand times”. The first thing that caught my attention was the monument to Peter the Great that stood inside the train station named after Moscow. I took a picture of it. I was so eager to see the world famous Hermitage, but before that, my friends and I walked along Nevskiy Prospekt, a street I would liken to Moscow’s Leningradskiy Prospekt.

When we got to the Winter Palace, I went like, “Wow! This is great! It’s so big!” And it surely is. I’ve heard that it’s almost impossible for someone to go around every room of the Palace in one day. Knowing that, my friends and I walked fast inside the Palace and took as many pictures as we could. We really had fun! I even took a picture with queen Ekaterina the Great. Just by standing near her, I suddenly felt like a great man! And, of course, I took a picture of that moment, too. After that, my friends and I went to see the bronze horse rider. Now at this moment I felt like Pushkin thinking: “I will write a poem about the bronze horse rider, and my people will love it!”

Another city that I like so much is Volgograd. Being a great fan of monuments, I could not but love Volgograd for its great Mother Russia statue. Someone told me that it is the biggest monument in the world, and I saw it with my own eyes! Volgograd is much quieter than Moscow, and things there are quite cheap, especially transport. I went to Volgograd in summer, 2007. The place is so hot in summer that even Zambia, my home country, would be found not guilty of such a warm weather! But then, there are places to go swimming in Volgograd. They have the Volga River and the Don passes just near the town. I swam in the Don! It was really cool!

I have visited a number of other towns in Russia like Voronezh, Kolomna, etc. I could spend a very long time telling stories about my experiences there. But I could not end my story without telling you about Konstantinovo! Although one would call it a village, for the fact that it was the home of the great poet Sergey Esenin, it is more than a city. Even Esenin once said that if he had been offered paradise in place of his homeland, he’d have said: “No! I don’t need paradise, just give me my motherland!” Indeed, Konstantinovo is a very beautiful place. I even entered the house where Esenin used to live. I wanted to lie on Esenin’s bed for a minute, but a woman spoke from behind: “Nel’zya!” But I still touched the bed anyway, and I even sat on the stool the poet used to sit on. I really feel like a poet right now! And just outside Esenin’s house there is a big monument to the poet. I, like at any such moment, took a picture of it!

In a nutshell, I have come to realize that the more I learn about Russia and its culture, the more I fall in love with this great country. It feels to me like my second motherland!