ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 2, 1996 TAG: 9602020027
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
The cars, computers and fast-food restaurants in America are appealing to Olga Dmitrieva.
But in the three weeks she's been in this country, she's found something else she especially likes: automatic washers and dryers.
As a college student, she said, it's a great convenience to be able to do her laundry quickly. Back in Russia, she doesn't have that luxury.
Dmitrieva, who is spending the spring semester at Ferrum College, learning as much as she can about American life, has dreamed of coming to this country since she was a child.
For her, the United States was the country of skyscrapers, rock music, fast-food restaurants, many nationalities and modern gadgets.
She said Thursday that most of her impressions of this country were correct. But she has found one unexpected thing: smiling people.
"Everyone smiles here. It's so pleasant. Everybody is so friendly and helpful," she told world geography students at Cave Spring Junior High School in Roanoke County.
Dmitrieva, 21, is a senior in Pskov's Teacher's Training Center, where she studies English and German. Pskov, which is in northwest Russia near the Baltic Sea, about 12 hours by train from Moscow, is one of Roanoke's sister cities. Dmitrieva came to Ferrum as part of a student exchange agreement.
Before her journey to America, her family was host to students from Ferrum and Roanoke colleges who went to Pskov to study. Dmitrieva is the first student from Pskov to come to Ferrum.
She has been studying English since she was in the fourth grade and speaks it fluently. As a student in Pskov, she has been teaching English to five- and six-year-old children.
At Ferrum, she's teaching Russian to some American students. "It's strange," she said. "I'm used to teaching English - not Russian, the language I speak."
Dmitrieva gave the Cave Spring students a brief lesson in Russian, explaining that its alphabet is not identical to English. Russians use the Cyrillic alphabet, which has some letters not found in English. Among other things, that makes it hard for her to type on American computers.
Few students in Russia have cars, and they rely mainly on buses for transportation, she said. Most Russian colleges don't have campus dormitories; many students live with their parents.
Dmitrieva said she likes the campus environment at Ferrum because students can live and dine with their friends.
"I like your restaurants and food. I like the pizza shops," she said.
Although Virginia and the East Coast were digging out of a record snowstorm when she arrived in this country, Dmitrieva said the weather here is much milder than in her homeland.
"We have a much longer winter and we have a lot of weather like it was when I arrived in Washington," she said. "It's like that almost all the time in winter."
American movies and rock music are popular in Russia, she said. Singers such as Michael Jackson and Madonna have many Russian fans.
Russia's move to democracy has created much controversy in recent years, but Russians are growing tired of politics, she said. Many want to concentrate more on the experiences and pleasures of daily life, she said.
When Dmitrieva returns to Pskov in May, she will get her undergraduate degree and then plans to continue her education by pursuing a master's degree from a graduate school in St. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad.
She hopes the exchange program between Pskov and Ferrum will continue, she said, because it is an opportunity for students to see another country, make friends and master the language.
Ferrum College senior Russian majors Barbara Jenkins and Bill Moore Jr. are spending this semester in Pskov.
Dmitrieva said she might like to teach English for two years in another country after she gets her graduate degree, but she has no desire to leave Russia to live permanently in America or any other country.
"I like my country and family. I want to live there," she said.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. Olga Dmitrieva describes herby CNBculture for a 9th-grade
class Thursday at Cave Spring Junior High School. color.