The North Star Project, 2013-2014 Report Number Thirty-Seven, Petrozavodsk in the Republic of Karelia, Russia

The North Star Project, 2013-2014 Report Number Thirty-Seven, Petrozavodsk in the Republic of Karelia, Russia

I visited Petrozavodsk in the Republic of Karelia, Russia during the summer of 2012 to study Russian language and culture. Compared to some of my fellow students, I think I had a couple of advantages (and disadvantages, of course, but let’s ignore such unpleasantness). I had never left the US before, but I had lived in and traveled in different regions of the US so I had some experience observing and adapting to different cultures. Many of my fellow travelers seemed more thrown by the differences and were less aware of the distinctive characteristics of Minnesota culture. Also, it was possible to participate in the program without any previous experience, but I’d already studied Russian language for a year at that point so I could read quickly and had a fair working vocabulary that allowed…