University of Virginia Library

Rubles For Blue Jeans: Cultural Catch Up

By CHUCK REEDY

There is only one
undergraduate student
exchange program between the
Soviet Union and the United
States for Russian studies, and
the University Russian
Department has recently
become affiliated with that
program.

In talking with Ernest
Scatton, of the Department, he
emphasized that for
undergraduates there is simply
no other exchange program
save the Council of
International Educational
Exchange (CIEE) program with
the Soviets.

The CIEE is an organization
whose goal, essentially, is to
foster an understanding and
awareness of cultural and
linguistic differences between
nations through educational
exchange. It is not a political
group, but one with an interest
solely in spreading the
academic stimulation generated
by foreign studies, primarily in
language.

Third year College student
Diane Dougherty (a Russian
major), gives an enthusiastic
account of her summer
adventure. The nine week
program offers six weeks in
Leningrad, a week of west
European travel, a week
sightseeing in the Soviet Union,
and a week in Vienna, Austria.

From New York, the
exchange group lands first in
Paris for three days of testing,
evaluation, and orientation.
The group flies from there to
Leningrad.

Describing some of the
"on-campus" living conditions,
Diane said that most of the
buildings were archaic and
that the food relied heavily on
meat and potatoes. Meat is
relatively scare, yet the
students were given as much as
they wanted to eat, and that
was true for other edibles as
well.

Diane confided that not
unlike our own student
eateries, menu repetitions make
the food somewhat
monotonous after awhile, but
no one went hungry. Dorms
were old, but always clean and
functional.

The water, however, was
different, Diane noted.
Students were advised to boil
drinking water, not because it
was unsafe, but because
foreigners were presumably not
accustomed to bacteria levels
in the water and no one
wanted to take chances. They
did their washing in sinks in
their rooms, and clothing came
out rather dingy.

Diane indicated that
exchange students were
somewhat disappointed that
they did not meet more
Russian students on a
one-to-one basis. Student
encounter groups were
sponsored, but often there
were only 30 Russians for
every 150 allens.

One ticket taker on a bus,
Diane said, told her to convey
a greeting from the workers of
the Soviet Union to the
proletariat of America. There
were a few worrisome
moments, for example, when a
little old lady on the street
blessed Diane and some of her
friends' out for wearing blue
jeans, and thus desecrating the
beauty of Leningrad.

In regard to blue jeans, the
Russian Black Market has an
insatiable craving for them, and
for other articles of Western
clothing. People would
approach exchange students on
the street and plead with them
to sell their jeans, sometimes
offering 50 to 60 rubles for
one pair. Sixty rubles is
thought to be about a month's
wages for an average citizen.
The authorities disapprove of

such sales, however, so most
student refrained from making
them.

A fascinating attraction in
the city is the Wedding Palace,
where the state performs
marriage ceremonies. The
Palace is a large public building
with a series of waiting rooms
on the first floor, and a large
state room adorned with a
portrait of Lenin, a tape
recorder, flowers,
photographers and a state
official, on the second floor.
This is where the actual
ceremony takes place.

Engaged couples make an
appointment at the Palace.
They come with their families
and friends on the prescribed
day and sit in a waiting room
until they are called. The
wedding party goes upstairs, a
taped wedding march is played,
the couple is married,
photographers snap pictures,
and then the group goes off to
celebrate. If a couple desires to
be married in a church they
may do so after the state
wedding.

In the summer, Russian
students are sent out to work
on farms or in factories to
remind them of their
identification with the worker.
The Soviets make a determined
effort to prevent creation of a
group of intellectual elitists. A
startling addition to many
older buildings are large
pocket-like nets strung around
the tops of the structures.
These buildings are still in use,
but occasionally crumbling
bricks and mortar fall from the
tops. The nets were installed to
protect pedestrians.

After the study period in
Leningrad ended, and a week
of travel through the Soviet
Union completed, the
exchange students flew to
Vienna for another week of
testing and evaluation. Upon
completion of the evaluation
period, the students have a
choice of return flight
schedules from Paris to the
U.S. up until September,
providing an opportunity to
travel in Europe independently.

There are roughly 150
universities and colleges
throughout the country
supporting the CIEE, and of
those, about 15 are sponsors of
the program (the University is
only an affiliate member). The
participating institutions search
for worthy students to go on
the exchange programs through
a series of applications
including taped conversations
in the foreign language, a
telephone interview and an
essay in that language, and a
biographical essay in English.

Students are also evaluated
by a series of written tests. As
a prerequisite to applying for