Jade Gabri on top of the world

Report from Jade A. Gabri

I was trying to remember all the memories from home that I could hold on to, because I didn’t know what was in store when I was on my way to Russia. Sitting here today I?m thinking that same way I’m trying to hold on to the memories of Russia and the amazing experience I had there.

After a flight out of Syracuse to JFK then a 9 hour plane ride to Moscow we had arrived. We spent two days in Moscow. Moscow was huge with lots of traffic and the city had a odor to it, as every city does. The first day we took the metro to some of the big tourist spots. That night we were invited to one of the White Sea Biological Station coordinator’s house for dinner. We had a traditional Russian meal with fish, dried octopus and some bread and sausage, cheese and crackers. The main course was pierogis with meat. There was also Kvas, fermented soda bread and Piva beer. The next day we woke up and again toured the city, going to the mall and other amazing buildings including Red Square and the Kremlin. Finally that night at 1 am we went to get on the train that would bring us to the Biological Station up north on the White Sea. The train ride took a day and a half and we were housed in a little room with four bunks.

Finally we got to the bio station 2 days later around noon. It was nice be settled in after moving from place to place. The first big problem that was encountered at the bio station was the fact that there was no bottled water or at least good drinking water. All of us were feeling the affects of it. The only freshwater was from a lake that ran through pipes down to the bio station. We ended up boiling the lake water and drinking it.

The next culturally shocking difference was the shower and the toilets. For about10 days I had to use an outdoor outhouse with no toilet paper only the toilet paper you brought with you from home.

The shower or douche, as it was named in Russian was way different than expected. We were told that we had to shower naked but us girls were just too shocked by this concept so we went in our bathing suits.

It was the most awkward thing, naked Russian girls standing all around you washing with soap and buckets of water and we are in our bathing suits. Wow, it felt like hundreds of eyes were staring at us.

By the next douche session we were showering as the Russians did,naked. Showering was limited at the White Sea, it was only offered twice a week, so we went whenever we could because we were constantly sweaty after all the hiking we did.

Another thing that Russia is known for is for the traditional Russian banya, the Russian way of getting clean. It was a Russian sauna. You pour water on yourself then you go in the room with hot steaming rocks and sweat, let it be said again that everyone was naked. After you had enough steaming heat you go pour cold water on yourself. But those who were brave enough went streaking or just in a towel down to the pier and jumped in the sea. I did not do this but I did see many people jump in, some naked some just in a towel. Another time in the banya there was a bouquet of birch branches that were brought in and placed in scorching hot water. These branches were then used to sort of massage another person’s body, by one person whipping the other with the scorching hot branches. I did this; it felt good like a massage.

While at the White Sea we were issued a cup, bowl and a spoon. We had to use these at every meal and then wash them later. We actually had to wash our dishes in the sea with all the algae and dead fish. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds but the only thing that was sort of annoying was the taste of salt in your next meal. It was extra salty.

As for the relations with the Russians our group got the feeling that the administration didn’t like us that much because we got blamed for a bunch of stuff that we didn’t do. They blamed us for washing our dishes at the wash stand, taking the blankets out of our rooms and using them on our hikes, washing our clothes in the douche and saying that we had too much garbage in our room. Don’t get me wrong the Russian students were ok with us but the things the administration blamed on us was outrageous.

On July 4 we celebrated, we went mussel hunting in the morning then that night around 11pm we boiled them on a camp fire. We sang songs, drank some Russian vodka and enjoyed each others company while staring into the fire that seemed to last all night.

Let’s not forget the real reason I went on this trip, I went to study and earn 4 credits for a field Biology Course. We were at the biological station for a total of 10 days. Classes were split up, the first class set was marine invertebrates. During this three days session we went to the sea shore and collected different organisms that were present in the upper, middle and lower tidal zones. These organisms included sea stars, salt water snails and mussels, gammarus, and barnacles. With these organisms we went to a lab room and looked at each under a microscope. Additionally during this time we had lectures on the subject.

The next 3 day session of class was vertebrates and mammals. With this session we focused on birds and their calls. With this session of classes we went on hikes everyday to learn in the forests and the sea coasts of the White Sea, to listen and take notes on the birds in their different habitats. We also set up small mammal traps but nothing was caught. At the end of this session we had an exam. In groups of 3 or more the teacher tested us on the different calls of the birds. My group specifically took the intermediate zone between the sea coast and forest. Others focused on the sea coast and deep forest habitats. Another section of the exam was the identification of bird songs from recordings on a laptop. We pretty much all passed because the teacher was laid back about everything. Besides this we also studied Herpetology of the White Sea which included frogs, toads and lizards. During this session we also saw beluga whales at a diving station on the White Sea. The belugas were in captivity and a trainer along with the whales put on a show for us. We got to touch and kiss the whales.

Finally the last set of class was Lichenology, which is the study of lichens and fungus. Not much was learned in this session because the Russian teachers could not speak very good English, which made it hard for them to communicate with us. During this time period we had short lectures and we also went by boat to an amazing rocky island where we looked at lichen on the very old undisturbed rocks. This rocky island was so beautiful. It was fun to climb and jump from rock to rock or just lie out on the beautiful flat rocks and stare out at the endless sky and sea.

Finally the last three days was devoted to our individual group experiments that we had to present to our Russian teachers and other Russians student who were studying other subjects at the station.

With my group we looked at the influence of a freshwater stream on salt water invertebrates on the sea coast. With this experiment we only collected one set of data because of the limited amount time and our dependency on the low and high tides. We had two test sites, one where a freshwater stream flowed down from a tree line, into a pool then eventually to the sea; then a control site with similar properties. We set up transects at each of the sites and collected a sample from the upper, middle and lower tidal zones at each site. We then compared species richness and abundance at each site by identifying and tallying each organism found. We had to do our sampling at low tide, so we did it at 11pm. That night we stayed up until 2pm collecting and identifying. It was 24 hours of daylight so there was no angst to get it over with because it was dark out. We just took our time and slept most of the next day. The day before we left we were still putting our presentations together on power point and analyzing our data. But that night we had a farewell bonfire with a bunch of Russian students and teachers. It was the most awesome night, but let it be known that we didn’t even practice our presentation yet. Our teacher chaperon from SUNY ESF just told us not to worry about it, just enjoy the last night at the White Sea. So that night we lost track of time again with singing, eating and enjoying each other’s company. That night we stayed out until 4am.

The next day we had our presentation at 9:30 am, with only about 4 hours of sleep we did our presentation and it went pretty well. That day was bittersweet because we knew we were leaving people and a place that we will probably never return to. A feeling that you will never be in the same place and do that same thing ever again, you can try and reenact it but it will never be the same. At 2pm that afternoon we left the station on a boat. Most of the people that were at the fire that night sent us off with a echoing scream. They screamed for as long as they could then we repeated as we left the dock waving until we were too far away to hear each other any longer. Everyone shed tears that day. From that point we were on our long journey home and we couldn’t wait to get back. But now as I sit here I think differently, dreaming every night of the bright white nights at the White Sea, and all the amazing people that I met and left. Only to dream of them there, not knowing where they are now just living out a memory of a time that was the White Sea.

What I learned from Russia is that people are not all as different as you think; all people are biologically the same and have the same characteristics and feelings. The only thing that makes us different is our way of doing things, our cultures and customs. But without these we would not be interesting and we wouldn’t know how to survive in our environments which we inhabit. The only thing that differentiates people is the locations in which they live. Their environment defines their customs, culture and way of doing things.

What would our lives be if we didn’t have these various cultures to experience and learn from? I hope all of you one day will be able to go out into this big world and experience and learn everything that you can, for learning is an endless process in life.