First Impressions of Ufa

It’s funny how first impressions of a country can be completely different than first impressions of a city within that country. My first encounter with a Russian was in the St. Petersburg airport. Rachel and I were just trying to figure out what to do to switch terminals. The woman we had to talk to was very rude, but I kept an open mind for Ufa. I didn’t let her attitude affect my view of Ufa before I even got there. Plus, she may have just been having a bad day. It happens to all of us at some point.

My first impression of Ufa was definitely a good one. I spent most of the first day at Kelly’s apartment until my apartment was ready. One of the first things I remember Kelly telling us was that there were a few of her friends who wanted to meet us as soon as possible, even that night if we were up for it, which we were. They are some great people who we have already gotten to hang out with a few times since then.

There have been so many opportunities to meet people, and they all seem interested in getting to know us. They like practicing English with us, and they also like when we practice our Russian with them. I am blown away at how easy it has been to connect with people.

Going into this trip, I thought of Russia as a cold climate culture. Cold climate means that people tend to stick more to a schedule- they are always on time, people are more independent, etc. I’m sure parts of Russia are very much fit into this category of a cold climate, but for Ufa I get the impression that it is somewhere in between a hot climate (more relationship and time oriented) and a cold climate. In public, it seems more of a cold climate. People don’t tend to smile often in public; they just don’t. They all know where they are going and their goal is to get there. People tend to keep to themselves a lot. But when gathered with friends, it is the complete opposite, at least in my experiences so far.

I’m really enjoying being here in Ufa. I am excited to continue to get to know the people I have already met and can’t wait to meet more people once school starts.

Shannon S.