Constance Weill, a French PhD student at the Division of sociology of the Department of Economics at NSU, decided to depict in drawings what Siberian winter looks like. The comics can be found on her blog that she usually writes in French as it is oriented towards a French public. In this comic, she gives the most vivid facts about Siberian winter that foreigners from warmer countries should be aware of when coming to Siberia.
- My French friends often ask me how it is like to live in Siberia, Constance explains. There are many myths on this theme. To answer all these questions, I decided to represent my daily life observations in a few illustrations. For instance, I was really surprised in the beginning that all little kids have shovels to dig snow just as their fathers have their own to clean snow form their cars.
Constance got used quickly to the Siberian frost. The only drawback she sees to it is the lack of light. However, as she notices, the human being is able to adapt to anything. The PhD student says it might be easier for a foreigner to depict the specific flavor of Siberia as locals do not pay attention anymore to many surprising facts.
- In the internet, there is a lot of «classical information» about Russia, everyone writes how cold it is and that you should dress warmly and so on. I wanted to integrate the “regional specificity” in my observations. For instance, French people are surprised that here you can go for a ski ride just stepping out of your apartment. Also, we don’t use balconies are secondary fridge, as it is not cold enough in France, or at least in big cities. I think that it might be interesting for Russians to see how a foreigner looks on their customs and environment. I am myself enjoying reading Russian blogs about France, it is interesting to see your country through the eyes of a foreigner.
.jpg "Ученый НГУ наблюдал полное солнечное затмение в штате Индиана")
