Travel Tip
If you’re lucky enough to be invited into a Russian home, you should remember three things - take off your shoes upon arrival, bring a small gift, and make sure not to eat for several hours beforehand! Russian hospitality is (rightly!) world-renowned and you’ll need to make sure you have plenty of room for all the delicious food your hosts have prepared.
Memorable Experience
My most memorable travel experience in Russia was the summer I spent working as a teacher in Yoshkar-Ola. A truly unusual city in the centre of Russia featuring a brand-new Kremlin, a European-style riverbank that looks more like the Netherlands than Russia, and a statue of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, there’s nowhere else in Russia quite like it! The region itself - the Republic of Mari-El - is full of fairytale lakes and forests, and it’s well worth a visit for the more adventurous traveller who wants to venture beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg.