Stereotypes, pre-disposed ideas, face-value judgments and first impressions are thoughts we form and develop every single day. Sometimes they are correct, other times they are wildly wrong. Our own human nature leads us to draw conclusions because it’s an instinctual mechanism of our brain to connect the dots. I try my best to minimize and crush all judgemental thoughts and not form solid opinions until I have personally experienced something myself. This week I flew from Adelaide to Moscow before heading into Siberia (Centre of Russia) to a city called Krasnoyarsk.
As I just stated above, our mind is full of stereotypes and ideas that are what we believe to be true. Hence, going into Russia there were a few stereotypes I had in my mind about the country and people, despite really knowing nothing about the country at all. The three things I knew for sure, were that Russia just hosted the world cup, it is the largest country in the world and a man name Vladimir Putin always seems to be banging heads with someone in the political world. Moving on to Siberia, well I knew absolutely nothing about the place. I wouldn’t have even been able to point to it on a map or tell you the countries or cities that surrounded.
Why am I going to Siberia?
Whilst travelling a couple months back, I caught wind of a competition to win a trip to Siberia. It was simple enough to enter; Post a photo from your hometown or wherever you were at that stage in time that you thought resembled any part of Siberia and write a caption explaining why though this. I was in Panama at the time, which definitely made it difficult because at the time I didn’t think the environment of Panama would even remotely resemble any part of Siberia… I was wrong, but I’ll get to that later. In 2019, a city called Krasnoyarsk are hosting the winter unversidad games. The ‘Universidad games’ is a huge event comprised of winters sports with countries and athletes from all over the world but particularly eastern Europe. The competition and trip ‘Follow Up Siberia’ had a main goal of breaking down stereotypes, developing international cross-cultural relationships and informing the world that Siberia is far different to what many people probably think.
Questions leading into the trip:
Please tell us shortly about your idea of Siberia!
I imagine Siberia to be very cold, which could be troublesome for me because I really don’t own many warm clothes. I also think it will be a very vast landscape and potentially baron. I’m not sure where to expect snowcapped mountains or harsh desert-like environments. I think the culture of Siberia will be rather old, holding onto parts of the Soviet era with influences from Mongolia.
3 things that I will take with me to Siberia because I think they will be useful there.
Camera, to document the trip. Running shoes, to explore my local surroundings. Passport with Russian Visa.
Challenge: during my trip to Siberia I promise to learn___________, to see___________, to get to know___________, etc.
I promise to learn about the culture and immerse myself in the environment I am placed in. I will do this by asking lots of questions, trying as much food as I can and engaging in conversations with an open mind. I also want to learn some Russian words
I promise to see a sunrise or a sunset, this is my favourite time of the day so it only makes sense I see a different part of the world at these hours.
I want to get to the people. People fascinate me more than anything. What they do for fun in Siberia, what a day in their life consists of, their favourite parts of Siberia and much more.
Do you expect to see a bear during the tour?
No, not at all. I’m sure there are bears in Siberia but this hasn’t ever crossed my mind.
Who are they, Siberians?
I imagine them to be similar to Mongolians. People that can handle the cold a lot better than I can. Potentially from smaller groups of smaller towns or cities.
How did your relatives and friends react to you winning a trip to Siberia?
They were shocked and in disbelief that I was going to Russia. They weren’t surprised that I was going somewhere ‘random’ as it seems to be a common trend in my life according to them. They were very curious and kept telling me to pack cold clothes.
Flying Adelaide to Moscow
Flying Adelaide to Moscow with Emirates was very smooth sailing. I was exhausted getting onto the plane after finishing up a few late nights of book signings, so I crashed hard when I hit the seat. It may have been a smart play staying up late the night prior leading into the flight as it resulted in me sleeping most of the flight and arriving in Moscow feeling fresh. With a stopover in Dubai, the journey time all up was just over a day from my home to the hostel. In Dubai I met up with my friend Nic Morley from the Sunshine Coast who was also a winner for the competition. Nic and I decided before the trip that we wanted to do some exploring of our own on either end of the Siberian journey. We hit the ground running, well I did anyway, getting out for a jog as soon as I dropped my bags at our hostel in Moscow.
Moscow Part 1:
Before starting the tour to Siberia, Nic and I had three days to zip around Moscow and see what we could discover. I had an astounding first impression of Moscow. From the moment we jumped on the Aerotrain from the airport to the main train station, the Russian people were already helping us. A local Russian man helped us with directions and swapped some cash with us for some Russian Ruble to get off the mark.
BOOM! Already within a few hours, my first stereotype of Russian people of being very hard people that don’t smile was broken.
Then onto Moscow, as a city. Wow. An overly spacious and grand city. The buildings stood extremely tall and the streets were extremely wide. I was told that 25 million will be in Moscow on any given day, which blows my mind considering that is Australia’s entire population but all in one city. It doesn’t have a crazy, busy and bustling feel to it like other cities I’ve visited. In fact, it’s rather relaxing to hire a velo bike, scooter or run around whilst soaking up all the bright coloured architecture and impressive cathedrals.
Overall, I was very impressed by Moscow and I look forward to spending some more time there before I head over to Europe.
To read about my entire experience in Siberia, you can click through here!
Hope you did something wild today.
Big Love,
JL
“When you vibrate at such a high level, you’re only going to bring in great people to your life.” – JL
