Last summer I took a trip to Russia with my family which changed my view on the world forever. I got to experience a completely different culture than the one I was accustomed to. Now, before I even left for Russia a lot of my friends would ask me, “Why go to Russia?”, and the whole reason goes back many years. Back in 1985, my dad went on a school trip to Russia with his high school Russian class and my grandparents went along. And as you might have already known, at this time Russia was still considered the Soviet Union and was still battling against the U.S. in the Cold War.

My dad was 15 when he went, making me the same age as he was when he went to Russia. Because of this, and because of how much they loved Russia the first time they went, my Grandma really wanted to take me there. My Grandma took the time to plan everything and saved enough money to take us. The planning took months, we had to get a visa, hotel, plane tickets and so much more.

The first step was getting a visa, and since there was no Russian embassy in Puerto Rico, we had to ship our passports to the embassy in NYC. After a few months, we got our visas and got to plan our trip. The reason why we had to wait for our visas is that airlines and hotels needed to make sure you had a visa before you made any reservations. And even when we got there, some attractions required us to show them a passport to enter. But anyway, after a few months everything was settled and we were ready to head to Russia. The plan was to start in Moscow and spend a few days there and then move on to St. Petersburg. Our trip to Moscow would take about two days’ travel time. On the morning of the flight, we arrived at the San Juan International Airport of Luis Muñoz Marin, which would be where we completed the first step of our travel. From San Juan, we would take a plane straight to Frankfurt Airport in Germany. Once we got to Germany, things started to seem strange.

The first thing that seemed strange was that we had to do security twice in order to get to our gate, and once we did, airport security had to check our visas. Immediately we realized we were the only Americans there, all except for an American man who was there on business. The man was relieved that we spoke English and began to warn us about staying in Moscow. “They are always watching you,” he would say. His warnings scared me, but nevertheless, I was sure it was only conspiracies.

Once we arrived on the plane everything became drastically different, everything was in Russian and strangely Chinese, nothing in English. I noticed the plane was filled with locals and that Russians have a distinct look that I had never seen before. After hours, we finally arrived in Moscow, and it was time to go through immigration. The officer looking at our papers was very pleased to see we are Americans, or at least that was what his friend, who translated, said. He took our papers and tried to communicate with us as his friend made fun of him for his accent. It was actually a very casual process which was surprising to me as I was so worried about hearing all the horror stories of the Russian immigration system. We then got our bags and met the taxi driver that would take us into the city. The airport was big and totally different from anything I’d ever seen before. Everyone around was Russian, which was strange because I’m used to seeing many tourists in airports and we were the only ones in sight. Once we got in the cab it would be about 4 hours until we arrived at our hotel. Throughout the trip, I noticed the poverty between the airport and the city, the closer we got to the city the more urbanized and modern our surroundings got.

Moscow: 

4 hours later, we arrived at the hotel, and it was the strangest vibe I had ever gotten. The hotel seemed to be very old, in fact very Soviet, which created a mysterious feeling rising in my stomach. The receptionist was surprised to see we were Americans and checked us in and gave our bags to the bellboy. Now, I will never forget the way the bellboy looked: he was dressed in an old-fashioned uniform with velvet trim. He was extremely tall, yet extremely thin. I soon realized this was the common look for Russian men. The rooms were dark and old-fashioned; I had noticed they had tried to modernize the place, but their concept of modern differs from our own.

Outside of the hotel, my family and I were like an attraction for Russian people. You see, most of them had never seen an American outside of their TV. They would laugh surprised at our English, stop at the streets just to listen and even ask me questions about America. I wasn’t only interesting because I was American, I was also a Latina with tan skin, brown hair, and brown eyes which were rarely seen in Moscow. Locals would even talk to me to practice their English, as they did learn English in school, but were not able to practice afterward. Although there were some locals who disliked Americans, most of them were really open to us arriving and thrilled we were there.

Another part of Moscow I got to see was the religious side, my dad took me to many Russian Orthodox churches which were decorated in 90s decor and beautiful ancient domes. The 90s decor was because most of them were destroyed during the Soviet Union and rebuilt in the 90s. The food was also amazing. I had Serbian, which was a lot of raw meat, and it was my favorite. The desserts were also amazing, but my favorite was the Povlavah which is a passion fruit meringue topped with exotic fruit. Moscow was beautiful, the people were great the culture was amazing and the food was divine. 

St. Petersburg: 

After a few days spent in Moscow, we were finally ready to take the train to travel to St. Petersburg. When we arrived, the city seemed like something out of a movie, it didn’t seem real. The city was completely covered in cobblestones and was surrounded by huge ancient structures going back to the 1700s. The interesting thing about St. Petersburg is that unlike Moscow, the entire culture of the city is based on European ideologies. What I mean by this is that when you arrive in St. Petersburg, you think of Europe, but when you arrive in Moscow, you think of the Soviet Union. Unlike Moscow, the people were used to English-speaking tourists and people who spoke all kinds of languages. The city, built by Peter the Great, was completely walkable, which is good because we did not want to take away from our experience by traveling in taxis. In St. Petersburg, we went to see a Ballet, which is a must as it’s one of the Ballet capitals of the world. While we were there, I noticed how serious everyone was. First of all, no one stood up at the end and everyone clapped their hands in unison. It all seemed very military-like. We also got the chance to visit one of the most amazing palaces in the world, the hermitage. The hermitage was a palace built in the times of Peter the Great but is now used as a museum. The museum holds some of the most famous artifacts in the world and is one of the largest structures I’ve ever been in. It is said that if a person was to see everything in the entire museum, and was to stay there from the second the museum opens until the time it closes, it would take that person at least a week and a half to see everything. In other words, it’s nearly impossible to see everything in this grand palace. In conclusion, I loved my time in St. Petersburg and I hope I return someday in my life. 

Closure: 

My entire experience in Russia was one I will never forget. I highly recommend if you ever have the chance to go to Russia, to check out these two beautiful cities. And, of course, to contact me for any suggestions.