By Miriam de Saint-Germain
September 25, 2021
 
Traveling must always be synonymous with learning. And this trip for me has been a clear example of this. Not only for discovering the unknown, but for reformulating everything Ithought I knew.
 
Just a week ago, I took a plane to Crimea. The recent history of this peninsula, now part of the Russian Federation, left me uncontrollably with a feeling of little madness and uncertainty in equal measure. It was a business trip, and I was invited to participate in a small four-day tour in the south of this great country: from Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, to Sochi, where a journalism contest was being held on the other side of the shores of the Black Sea. 
 
The preconfigured image that I had forged over the years of this place made me feel like a complete idiotwithin minutes of setting foot on Russian soil. I had fallen, like many others, into the trap of stereotypes. But, like pawns forsaken by their queen, one by one, they fell.
If you looked at me a few hours before catching this plane, you would understand that I had already made the first mistake: assuming that all parts of Russia havethe Siberian climate. I packed my suitcase with practical autumn clothes, oblivious to the fact, that Crimea has weather conditions very similar to Costa Brava in Spain, and is practically at the same latitude. My family and friends imagined me walking through the peninsula with a helmet and a vest among ruins. And I thought that it would be worse, but how wrong we all were!
Everything I thought I knew (and presumed to know) about Russia was blurred when I came into contactwith its people. We all know (or think we know) the history of this country. That, however, does not determine, in any case, the present of fellow citizens, their extreme generosity and overflowing hospitality. They surprise you. This rigid, serious, disciplinary, almost sectorial image of Russians, collides head-on with the warm shelter that they try to offer to the curious who come to discover their country. Of course, there will be those who do not follow this script, but I’m happy that I was wrong.
Of course, I did not walk with a helmet on the streets of Crimea. I enjoyed the hot Black Sea sun, still typical of the last days of summer, and tasted dishes that I never imagined trying, while my mouth watered in one of the best-rated restaurants in the entire Russian Federation. Laughing, we lived four days of happiness,learning an apprenticeship for life.
Sooner rather than later, I understood that it was necessary to shed all preconceived ideas to build a new image, to get closer to the reality of the Russian people and understand that we are very far from the real story, and sometimes get blindfolded by the Western vision of this territory. We hardly know Russian cinema, literature, art, their own version of their history, their cuisine and lifestyle. I stopped to think and analyze everything that I presumed to know, all things that I had read under the devastating signature of the opposite and hostile vision.
And this premise made me wonder how many timeswe have refused to give opportunities following this criterion. How many times have we limited ourselves to living, believing that our preconceptions were correct. Traveling must always be synonymous withlearning. And this trip for me has been a clear exampleof this - not only for discovering the unknown, but for reformulating everything I thought I knew. Beginning with its food, its great hidden treasure, and its people’sdocile character and warm welcome everywhere. The key is to travel with an open mind and let them surprise you.