The most difficult for me was actually not being able to use my bank card in Russia because of the sanctions. I'm mostly struggling in my home country were people see me as a traitor and as a crazy person because I decided to move to Russia on my own. I have been treated like a terrorist or like one of these women who were joining ISIS and going to Syria, this is insane! One thing I have noticed though, is that Russian men can never admit to being wrong

Most Russian people live in the 21 st century being stuck in the 16 th. That is, they behave like there is no other civilisation beyond the borders of Russia. For this reason, they are not friendly with other nations and culture. They think that every one should live and stay where they were born. They don't understand the concept of globalisation in the sense that the world is just one country and every one has the right has to settle down where they feel comfortable. Most of them are stuck at the USSR era, where Russian were not allowed to go abroad and where Russians were cut off the outer world. As result, most Russian people have problems fit in or to accept others who are different to them in terms of culture , skin colour, etc.

My main problem was dealing with university administration. Unfortunately they didn't speak English in general, and there were many steps involving visa, registration, dormitory and so on, which no one could explain to me. (My Russian was not sufficient then) I don't know any other Irish people who have come to Russia. There are several Irish pubs! But no Irish people are working there haha! It's a big tragedy for Russia that so many young educated people are leaving. Of course I guess this means that there are opportunities for employment here and people from poorer countries would be very interested in getting those jobs

I definitely think that it's necessary to be at least conversational in the language of the country you live in. Not knowing the language is rude and uncultured. Everything was difficult when I first arrived in Russia! The language was challenging, the sense of isolation when everything around is a mystery (not knowing the language), certain people's judgemental attitudes, adjusting to a new country and work regime, etc. I have now adapted, and I even have Russian citizenship! Now I spend part of the year in Russia, and part of the year traveling, while being self-employed.

The daily racism might occur in different ways. For example, you order a taxi. The taxi comes and refuses to take you just because you are black. And state that : « Я не буду взять тебя , ты черпая жопа» . Or some even come look at you, and drive back and cancel the order. This happened to me , to my friends and acquaintances a lot of times. Plus , sometimes you call for jobs , they bluntly tell you they don't hire black people, just slavic people.

About Russians being too judgmental, I've heard and seen all kinds of stuff. In my first few years, I was criticised for being lazy/ unsuccessful for not knowing Russian language. Some women also seem to think that the most interesting guys have corporate jobs and a Mercedes, and obviously I don't. What else? Some Russians interpret being tactful in speech as a sign of a weak character… and a few other things.

I have been living abroad for ten before, including 2 in Uzbekistan, 1 in China and 2 in Oman. So Russia was new, but not even the strangest place I've lived I am leaving Russia in the summer [2023]. Covid and the special operation have taken a lot out of me. I do love Russia and Russian people but all the good ones are leaving. I'm married to a Russian, so my wife is joining me. She was ready to leave Russia when I met her. We've already applied for her UK visa so we're just waiting out the clock to leave

I like Russian people. Compared to the middle east for example where everyone is trying to be your friend, Russians tend to try and understand if someone is an idiot first I see it as a healthy skepticism of people, but others see it as being hostile. Once you get past this barrier, Russians are amazingly caring people. I also like the Russian sense of humour which I see as similar to the British. You can make fun of yourselves and your predicament. Americans and the Chinese cannot

I lived and worked in Moscow from January 2022 to March 13 2022. I previously visited Irkutsk 5 times as well as Moscow and Spb on separate occasions. The main difficulty for me was having to force myself to use Russian all the time. I visited medical clinics and the dentist quite a few times and they use much more detailed language that was harder to understand. I adapted to living in Russia really quickly, I was previously living in London, so getting around on the metro was very familiar to me :)

Getting a work permit is the most long winded and painful experience. First it's the mandatory medical exam and then I had to go to Sakharovo [the main office in Moscow, which provides immigration and naturalization service] and wait an entire day surrounded by other foreigners for a process that should really last 10 minutes. I left Russia in March 2022 because of my career… I'm not sure what other foreigners have in terms of roles, but I can't risk a bad reputation, especially in my field (Cyber Security).

Travel and learn languages, so infinite worlds will be inside you and you won't be the same anymore ©️ Leonardo
Я изучаю русский с 2008, с начала учебы в университете. После окончания курсов, в 2011 как раз, у меня был примерно уровень В1, а в 2016 уровень был уже выше, продвинутый В2- начальный С1. Я так долго хотел переехать в Россию, что просто радовался. Можно сказать, что были некоторые проблемы связанные с работой, так как я переводчик и раньше в основном работал с иностранных языков на мой родной итальянский, а тут получается, что нужны переводчики на

А так, конечно, пришлось еще привыкнуть к немногим жизненным ситуациям, которые отличаются от итальянских, даже например как заправляют машину в России. Кажется ерунда, но это как будто научиться жить заново. Но я относился довольно позитивно к этому всему, поэтому не считаю, что это сложности. Лично я не понимаю, как можно переехать заграницу и общаться только со своими соотечественниками. Никого не сужу, но это не для меня. Я постараюсь по возможности общаться в основном с русскими и контактироваться с итальянцами как можно реже.

Из-за работы придется общаться с итальянцами чаще, чем хотелось бы и этим я немного недоволен. У меня есть русские друзья, родственники (жена русская) и даже крестная дочь, можно сказать, что погрузился полностью в русскую жизнь. Стараюсь и общаться с другими иностранцами (не итальянцами) для практики речи, или просто потому что мне интересно узнать о их культуре.