Why Russia? Sometime in middle school, I grew an interest in Eastern Europe communities. Aside from being unique than what was available to study at my school (french, spanish, german), I was drawn to what I percieved as group trauma and the community resilience to the various upheavels that had occurred to such a large region of the world.
As a disclaimer, I personally have gathered very limited information about Russian history and I do not claim to be an expert by any means. These are my mental wanderings and I hope they inspire imagination. There is so much history that can never be fully explored and explored over a single life-time, much less this single blog post.
It was December 23, 2016 and we were packed and ready to fly. A few months earlier, my younger brother and I took a spontaneous spring break trip up to Boston, MA from our small suburban town in NC. While still in our sibling-only travel fix, we talked through possible other trips to take. I knew that my brother loved the winter and we never got very much of it in NC. What if we went to Russia? Now, that would be a winter to experience! During that same time, my brother was getting into the same kind of Eastern Europe obsession and specifically wanted to visit Lake Baikal in Siberia. In the excitement of the idea, my mother decided she could trust me enough to take my brother across the globe to a region where none of us could speak its language. Throughout all the connecting flights, my emotions were reeling. I was so excited to share this adventure and love for Russia with my brother, and I was so scared of what to do if something went wrong. Whether I was ready for this responsibilty or not, we were finally here.
We arrived first in St. Petersburg. Thankfully my mother insisted that we sign up for a group tour instead of foraging on our own. As the bus took us to the hotel that we would stay at, I tried to take as many pictures as I could despite how fast the bus was driving. My heart was expanding as large as it could and I just could not hold all of my excitement and wonder. I staring in amazement at the large lighted Cyrillic letters on buildings, the beautiful architecture that have been inspired by thinkers and artists before my time, and wondered if there was anyone like me, some young-hearted multicultural kid, wandering around the streets of Russia for no other reason than pure wonder and curiousity.
To be continued…