visiting Russia

[C. Fields]

I just got back from visiting an American friend who is studying law at
St. Petersburg.  He's been experiencing no worse attitudes than he had
pre-Kosovo.  My general feeling while I was there, was that a general
disenchantment with "America" (and with quotes I mean everyone's personal
idea of what America is), has been growing for sometime like a headache
or hangover. Kosovo seems to have given a focus for some of these
feelings.  But a Russian article I read in Russian, by a Russian
journalist, seemed to describe the mood I feld most--disenchantment, but
without unity.  Apathy towards the situation would probably describe the
attitude of most.  Apathy, however, doesn't make good news on US TV.  Does
Russian TV give air time to American apathy?  Russia didn't feel any more
dangerous to me than it has in recent years past.  And English textbooks
still take up almost all of the foreign language textbook shelves.

My VERY subjective opinion based on a week's observation.

Emily Fields


On Tue, 27 Apr 1999, Tony Qualin wrote:

> The administration at Texas Tech University is currently considering
> cancelling our summer program in Moscow.  I should know if they have done
> so by the end of the week.  I, too, am interested in what other
> universities are doing, as such information could be useful in helping me
> to convince the administration not to cancel the trip or in convincing me
> that they are justified in their fears.
>
> At 01:57 PM 4/26/1999 -0400, you wrote:
> >I have a student scheduled to go to St. Petersburg this summer (he came
> >from Russia 10 years ago) but his parents are frightened because of the
> >situation in Serbia and the possibility of heightened conflict with
> >Russia. Does anyone have any input on this? Is anyone calling off any
> >study abroad programs? It seems to me that it is
> >really impossible to predict what things will be like in a month or two.
> >Thanks, Emily Tall
> >
>