well, there’s no secret that all foreigners associate Russia and Russians with bears, birches and vodka. also we consider them all wild and permanently drunk barbarians…. and we have reasons to think so because Russian students in Europe do make exactly this impression!

Yes they are wild creatures, really… but their country is great! I want to visit Russia someday.

These things come to my mind, too, when I hear about Russia. But I don’t see anything nasty or reprehensible in bears, birches or vodka. To me they are rather pleasurable ones

Russia is not the only habitat of bears. There are tonns of them in North and South America, Western Europe ans Asia too. But - for some unknown reason - only Russian bears are believed to be negative and dangerous. I don’t get it, for bears are all the same And I haven’t heard of any foreigner who would come to Russia and be bitten or hurt by a bear.

Bears. A lot of bears do live in the territory of Russian Federation and this is why you can find this animal on emblems of many regions. They don’t walk in the streets, though, and nor do they live with us in our homes.

Birches. Birch indeed is one of the most popular Russian symbols. However, it doesn’t mean that other kinds of trees can’t grow on our land. Birch is mostly found in Russian literature as a symbol of purity and femininity.

Vodka. This notorious alcoholic drink really seems to have its roots in the area of a present-day Russia. But it happened a good deal ago so it’s ridiculous to think Russians remain the most ardent consumers of this spirit. In other words, we don’t drink vodka more than the rest of the world.

Russian vodka is known all over the world. But we’re no more drunkards than the Germans who make beer, or the French who make wine, or the Mexicans who invented tequila. And we’re no more “wild barbarians” than, say, British soccer fans or skinheads.

yeah we can be wild sometimes - but we can afford it!

I quite agree with Tzar. In the same way we can say that Germans are the most numerous beer drinkers.
It’s unfair to consider that Russians drink vodka more than others just because they made it up.

It’s not the Russians who made up VODKA. Nor are they the nation who consume it more than the rest of the world.

According to the Gin and Vodka Association (GVA),[10] the first distilled beverage similar to a crude brandy was already being produced in Poland in the 8th century, while the first identifiable vodkas appeared in Poland in the 11th century. It was used often as medicine and called Gorzalka.

BGen - 24 April 2010 11:41 PM

.... and we have reasons to think so because Russian students in Europe do make exactly this impression!

BRITISH students and adults make exactly the same impression (or even worse) when they come to Russia and do everything that they are restricted to in their country!

BGen - 24 April 2010 11:41 PM

well, there’s no secret that all foreigners associate Russia and Russians with bears, birches and vodka.

Not only! How about matryoshkas, balalaika, ushanka hat, caviar, pelmeni…?

*Svetik* - 28 July 2011 01:38 PM

BGen - 24 April 2010 11:41 PM

(...) bears, birches and vodka.

(...) matryoshkas, balalaika, ushanka hat, caviar, pelmeni

These are a few of my favourite things…