Twelve Black Code Monkeys

I began studying the Russian in my sophomore year in college. At the time my major was journalism and they required 2 years of a foreign language. I’d taken Spanish in high school but was never very good at it, and not very interested in learning it. But somehow Russian was different. It was more of a challenge, more “exotic” and besides I was really interested in the initial churnings of democracy that country was going through - this was back in 1988 and I was listening to Radio Moscow on short wave if not every night then at least a few times a week.

Anyway, I really took to Russian and eventually switched my major to it, but I did this somewhat late and would not be able to graduate the year I should have - 1990. So I determined that I would get my last credits while on a study abroad program at Leningrad State University. Luckily my professors let me go through the graduation ceremonies even though I hadn’t fulfilled all my credits.

So at the beginning of September, 1990, I headed off to the Soviet Union (as it would still be called for a couple of years) along with about 30 other 20-22-year-olds (and maybe a few who were a little older). The program we were on was sponsored by the Council on International Educational Exchange, or CIEE (It was SMOO in Russian, so that’s what we called it). Most of us spent 4 months there, but some of my classmates became so entranced with the place (or at least with the men/women they met there) that they ended up going back and staying for much longer periods of time. I longed to return for a long time even though my time there was not always “fun.”

It was definitely a growing experience in a lot of ways for me. I mean of course culturally I got a flavor for a very different (and yet in some ways very similar) environment to where I grew up. I somehow got it that despite language and cultural differences, people were basically the same at heart. But at the same time those language and cultural differences can be a big barrier for some in actually communicating with others.

Other then this, I had started to come out of my own shell a bit. I was painfully shy during much of high school and college and really stuck to a very small circle, didn’t really venture out all that much, although I think given the chance I would have. But being in a foreign country without any good friends kind of forces one to either withdraw completely (which I probably did for the first few weeks), or actually put ones self out there and start actively trying to make friends.

Although some of the places we went to within the USSR were then considered part of it - “Republics” - I thought it would be better to address them seperately since they are now countries in and of themselves. So I will try to mention a little only about the places that are still within the borders of Russia. As I mentioned, we studied at Leningrad State University, which is in Leningrad, of course, but Leningrad is now referred to by its older name St. Petersburg. Our dorms were on Vasilevsky Island, right next to the beach that looked out onto the Gulf of Finland. We were only a few blocks away from a big hotel called the Pribaltiskaya where I would go every night to get dinner from one of the many “bufets” on almost every floor of the place. They would take rubles and even at the government rate at the time (which was much worse than the black market rate), you could get a good meal for next to nothing. It was much better in any case than going to the cafeteria at our dorm where you had no idea what exactly it was you were eating! The holy grail at the Pribaltiskaya was getting into one of the restaurants and getting actual restaurant meal items like roast chicken, blini, etc. But this was next to impossible it seemed. They only wanted to serve guests at the hotel, and we were only able to trick or cajole them a few times during our stay. Of course people who weren’t guests were not supposed to be in the hotel at all, and often some of my friends would get asked to leave as soon as they came in. For some reason I was usually allowed to come in without any hassles but I think I did a good job of looking like a dumb tourist so they just assumed I was a guest.

Aside from Leningrad, we went a few other places in Russia proper. We went to some outlying areas of Leningrad which I can’t remember exactly now, but they were sites of royal homes of various tzars. We also took a trip to Pushkin and Pskov to visit some very old churches. Actually, this turned out to be so much of a theme of our trips outside of Leningrad that we all proclaimed we never wanted to see a church again! Finally, we went to Moscow. Once we went with our entire group and another time I went on a type of weekend excursion that a few of us had designed and repeated a number of times to different locations. Basically we would get on a really late train and get a sleeper car and sleep on our way to Moscow (or wherever). We’d spend the next day at our destination and then do the same thing going back. Thus we never needed to arrange sleeping accommodations. Hey, we were in college! I don’t think I could do that sort of thing now! I remember once we even decided to play hookie and took off on Tuesday night and returned the following night!

They had just started opening some western places when we were over there and we of course had to take advantage of the McDonalds where everything was sold in Rubles. If we were able to exchange dollars for rubles on the black market, we could basically get everything on the menu combined for a couple of dollars! Generally food was cheap there at the time, although it was hard to find quality unless one went to one of the farmers markets where people were selling produce that you might want to eat. If you went into a “grocery store” one tended to just lose one’s appetite, either that or you just didn’t see much of anything on the shelves. We did go once a week to the top of the Pribaltiskaya where they had a foreign currency bar and we’d buy draft beers for $5 and feel like we were throwing our money away since that could have been a week’s worth of dinners bought with rubles! But I think the most expensive “meal” I had while I was there was in Moscow at a place where they served about 15 different dishes at least, banquet style. This extravagent meal came to all of $2.50. I know this is no longer the case in Russia or Eastern Europe. Westernization has brought a much greater leveling of the currencies. Still it was nice to feel “rich” for once in my life…

The only regret I have about the program is this. One of the stated goals of the program is to immerse you in a foreign culture. With this aim, there was a rule that you weren’t supposed to speak English to your classmates with the possible exception of in your dorm room. I tried to obey this rule and even as others spoke to me in English I would still speak Russian, but after a while this became absurd. It was either speak English or cut myself off even more from the people I had much of any chance of becoming friends with in this foreign place. Because of this, my Russian proficiency during this period may have improved slightly, but not nearly as much as I had hoped. I met people I still call my friends on this program and yet sometimes I wonder how much deeper of an experience I would have had if I had done a home-stay and really was not able to speak English with anyone.

Addendum: Siberia! Sorry, somehow I completely forgot about this one! In the middle of our stay I, along with my two American roommates (Jason Pontius and Bill Reichert) and one Russian roommate (Igor Savelev) travelled to Syktyvkar which was in the Komi Autonomous Republic of Siberia. I’m not sure if Komi still exists in any kind of administrative way anymore. It was a cute town, but the only thing I remember doing is getting shuttled back and forth between Igor’s Parents’ Apartment (that’s where he is from) and his Wife Sveta’s Parents’ Apartment. We just kept getting fed all this great food wherever we went, but after a while it almost got to be too much! Thankfully we did actually make it out cross-country skiing at one point which was great exercise and fun, and probably burned of half of what we ate. It was a very memorable part of my trip even though it was just a weekend. Thank you Igor and Sveta wherever you are (unfortunately I’ve lost touch with them)…