Why Russia?

Почему нет? Why not?

      In middle school, I read a biography of Josef Stalin. No, I was not obsessed with war or Stalin's paranoia. I was interested in the story told about the Russian people. Growing up in the 1990s to parents and teachers who had lived during the Cold War, all I learned about Russia was that they were Communists. They were the bad guys and we were the good guys. The biography opened my mind up to the world that I wasn't told about in school or at home. I read about Stalin's mass executions and arrests, but it must be stressed that Stalin was one man and he wasn't even Russian! His actions defined Russia and the Soviet Union, but they by no means are the only definition. After reading this book, I saw that Russia had a bigger story than the one I was being told. From that point on, I decided to look into Russian history on my own. My journey began.

     In 8th grade, I was called a communist and I accepted that rather joyfully. Let's just say my early years of interest in Russia were very boyish. I was captivated by the 'look' or Russia: tanks on Red Square, cool Russian bad guys in James Bond films, and the extensive use of the color red. There wasn't much substance to my interest. It skimmed the surface. I could tell you about what the Soviet Union did in World War II and I'll admit, I had a bit of a fascination with Stalin. Other than that, there wasn't much there. Then in high school I became more acquainted with Russian politics in the 21st century. At that time, Russia's president was Vladimir Putin, a strongman who wanted to put Russia back on the world stage and regain the prestige that it had had under the Soviet Union. For me, Putin represented hope for Russia. Again, I was caught up in a boyhood fascination with Russia  and wasn't really thinking about the bigger picture. But inside, I knew I wanted to learn more about Russia and study the Russian language. I wanted to understand Russia because all I saw around me was a lack of understanding which only leads to mistakes. I didn't realize that I would become so involved with Russian at the time, but when I started my college search, the schools I looked at all had a Russia department. That's how I came to Gustavus.

       Gustavus had a few things going for it: 1. Russian, French, and Political Science. 2. Swing Club. 3. Welcoming atmosphere. 4. I didn't get accepted into Macalester (which I'm thankful for). So I got accepted to Gustavus with the intent of study Russian, French, and PoliSci (that's Political Science). The spring of my senior year (Spring 2009), I had the opportunity to see Mikhail Gorbachev (Михаил Сергеевич Горбачёв) speak in Peoria, Illinois (about 20 minutes from my house). That was an awesome experience. It really made me realize how much I wanted to learn about Russia. Another factor helping me become more interested in Russia was a teacher at Washington Community High School, Dan Reem. He taught in the social science department (I had him for geography and Western Civ). Mr. Reem studied Russian in college, so he was one of the few high school history teachers that knew something about Russia. Therefore, when he taught European history, he remembered to mention the Russians. The most important thing I learned about Russia from Mr. Reem was that the Russians are not European, they are Russian.

     When the Roman Empire split in two and Rome became the capital of the western half and Constantinople the capitol in the east, the Russians were not yet a people. It was through contact with the Byzantines (what the Romans in the east came to be called) that the Slavic tribes developed a language and adopted the Orthodox tradition of Christianity, making them different from the western empire under Rome. When the Church split, Russia sided with Constantinople. This was one of those moments in history which defined Russia and its relationship with Western Europe. Ok, hold the phone Joey. Aren't the French French and the English English, and so on and so forth. Well, yes, they are. But they all share Western European culture which was defined by the Roman Catholic Church and the Latin Language. Russian on the other hand uses Greek characters (plus some unique Russian ones). Russia's traditional faith is not the Roman Catholic Church, but the Russian Orthodox Church. These differences define Russia. They separate Russia from Western Europe, not in a bad way, but in a beautiful way. Unfortunately, this separation has led and still leads to misunderstandings between Russia and the West. But that's a discussion for another day. Back to Mr. Reem.
    Mr. Reem taught us that and it stuck with me. Russia wasn't like any of the other European countries. To study Russian and Russia was to study something unique indeed. That's when my serious interest in Russia started to grow.

   Then I started college. Due to some scheduling conflicts, I couldn't take Russian my first year of college, but luckily, we have a great Russian Department at Gustavus headed my Prof. Denis Crnković (Денис Любомирович Срнкович). I was paired up with a Senior Russian major and got tutored in the Russian language. It really opened my eyes. I learned what I getting into first of all and second I realized the complexities of Russian. At first it seemed a bit daunting, but I got really excited to learn more. The summer of 2010, I did just that. I took beginning Russian language classes at Beloit's Summer Intensive Language Program. It was awesome and very busy. We learned Russian from 8 AM-3 PM Monday-Friday and spoke it all the time. I wanted to scream for the first three weeks, but after that I discovered how great Russian (Русский язык) is. Its complexities are beautiful even when they are annoying. After Beloit, I headed back to GAC and took another Russian language class, two Russian history classes (Imperial Russia and Modern Russia), and 19th Century Russian Literature. All these classes strengthened my resolve to learn more and more about Russia.

     So why Russia? Russia has gone from a backwards peasant kingdom to an imperial power that stretched from the Pacific Ocean to Germany and from the North Pole to Afghanistan. The Soviet Union played a huge role in world history from the 1920s to 1991. And Russia today is back on the world stage. The importance of Russia on a political level should not be underestimated. I want to better understand Russia so I can help build a strong relationship between the US and Russia.


That's why I'm going to Russia.
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