Things here in Russia are very quirky and definitely have a distinctly Russian flair to them. Some of the things I've noticed are:
1) The internet here is FASTER than the internet I get at home in both London and Oxfordshire. This is internet my dormitory calls their "slow" internet and it's free for my use.
2) The water pressure here is better than that which I got at my flat in London so showers are super quick!
3) There's no initiative of recyling here or anything about "saving the planet". It's so odd to put plastic in the regular trash.
4) Traffic doesn't stop for pedestrians, even on a small one way street and especially not at pedestrian crossings. I need to check that my travel insurance covers being hit by a car/bus/tram/Lada etc....
5) You can buy large bottles of vodka here for about £3 or £4 whereas if you go out to a bar to drink your drinks will cost you upwards from £10. Illogical really. All alcohol bought in shops is utterly cheap as are cigarettes.
6) Similarly bottles of water are cheap and large in supermarkets (or what they call supermarkets, they don't really match up to Tescos or Waitrose) but in restaurants a small bottle of water is extortionate.
7) They don't really have a concept of queuing and you can easily just get stuck whilst being all British and polite.
8) The stations in the Metro are literally like works of arts purely by themselves. Each one is ornate and looks like a palace or opera house of its own right! They're massive affairs with huge ceilings and grand lighting.
9) The cars here are from 2 ends of the spectrum. You either get the expensive, top of the range blacked out Range Rovers, BMWs, Mercedes and Audis or the old bangers such as Ladas who are slowly rusting into nothingness.
10) Whereas in England if you asked anyone for directions, even if they didn't know they'd be reasonable friendly and offer you an alternative location to seek help, no-one does that here. They just grunt and point. So if you get lost, you ain't got a hope in hell and don't even think about asking the Police for directions, that'll just mean they'll ask you for your papers and grill you.
11) The Russian students in the dorm just spend their evenings sat outside smoking and drinking and just stare at you as you go by. It's a national pasttime to stare.
12) The men here have a weird love of mullets. I have seen SO many mullets. On grown men, young boys and teenagers. It's like being in the 80's.
13) The women here dress up for everything. Literally all the girls are in short skirts, dresses, fancy blouses and heels too. Some of them can't even walk in their heels! They totter along with the boys who are all dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt. This is during the entire day, not just in the evening. We all look so out of place as girls in our jeans, converse and baggy t-shirts!!
Peace out y'all xxx
