I realistically expect to maintain my Russian language proficiency over the Summer. This will be my first trip to a Russian speaking country, meaning that it will be the first time I can productively use my Russian language skills to communicate. This is no longer a classroom, meaning that communication is key.
My lived experience has to this effect been very insular. A teacher and a major can only take you so far, and at the end of the day, I must be able to apply what I have learned to the real world. My lived experience is comparable to that of an infant, and it is daunting to know that it is a world of unknowns in which I voluntarily enter, passing the threshold that is the plane’s walkway. In a sense, this trip will be a test of my education, and it will be a test of my preconceived notions of Eastern Europe.
I have written extensively on Eastern Europe, on NATO, on Russia, and my unconscious bias, my frame of reference as a member of the Western community, will of course seep through into my writing. I can only hope that my world will widen.
Я желаю чтобы мое мир ростил.