Comment je suis arrivée en Russie

Bonjour !

Me revoilà, toujours à raconter ma vie 😀
Dans cette vidéo, je vous raconte tout : comment j’ai découvert la Russie, comment j’ai décidé que je voulais y vivre, et comment j’ai fini par y arriver.

Bon visionnage !

Gaby
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00:00 – premier voyage en Russie (mai 2018)
07:13 – retour en France, étude du russe
16:32 – deux semaines en Russie (septembre 2021)
25:39 – re-retour en France (pour mieux repartir)
28:59 – suite de la chaîne, chant
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Le titre et la description de la vidéo sont dans la langue de votre ordinateur/téléphone.
Je traduis chaque vidéo en anglais et en russe, y compris le titre et la description.
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Pour me sponsoriser sur Boosty : https://boosty.to/gabrielle.duvoisin/
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Hello everyone ! Today, I decided to tell you about my life, once again. Often, in the comments, Russians tell me that my voice is calm and relaxing, and even if they don’t understand, it helps them sleep at night: this video is for you))

Actually, I do the same thing: in the evening, I find a YouTuber with a calm voice, I put on a video, and it helps me sleep. So I allow you to fall asleep before the end of the video, I won’t be offended, and I wish you a very good night))

Today, I wanted to tell you how I arrived in Russia, and the first trips that I had it in Russia before moving there. It’s a question I get asked quite often, people ask me what I do here, and how I got here,

So it’s an opportunity to tell the story. The first time I went to Russia, it was very random: I was a student in Gothenburg, Sweden, I was doing an Erasmus semester, and the student office offered us to spend a few days in

Russia without visa: we left Stockholm by ferry, went through Helsinki, then SPB. We slept on the boat most of the time, so we didn’t need a visa. At the time, I was a student, and I had the budget for a trip: either to go to Lapland or to SPB.

With Mio, my Japanese friend (we had decided to travel together), we chose Russia. So it was really random, I didn’t know anything about Russia, I had never been interested in this country. For me, it was a distant country, to which I was never going to go)

When I arrived in SPB, what struck me the most was the resemblance with France, but the France of my grandparents. The city gave me a familiar feeling, like I already knew it, and at the same time something new and undiscovered, it was an interesting mix. It wasn’t really the architecture – everyone

Tells me that SPB is a very European city, but I don’t know why, for me it’s a 100% Russian city, I don’t know where the Europe in SPB)) So it was more the people who made me think of France of my grandparents’ generation: their way of being,

Of dressing, I don’t know exactly… Something that reminded me I really liked it too, it’s the Cyrillic alphabet, I found it magnificent and I decided to learn it. Many French people tell me that it must be difficult, but the alphabet is the easiest

Part of the language, you can learn it in a few days. I learned it in SPB by reading the signs in the streets, because there are lots of Russian words similar to ours (brand names, or French words that have passed into the Russian vocabulary). Just by deduction,

We can understand which letter makes which sound, especially since there are many in common with our alphabet. I find that the Cyrillic alphabet even simplifies things, because it’s a “tailor-made” alphabet for Russian, whereas when I was trying to learn Polish, they have pretty much the same sounds as in Russian,

Except that they use the Latin alphabet: so you need 3 or 4 letters for a sound, the words are super long and it’s difficult to decipher. So it’s simpler with a separate alphabet, especially since it puts the language in a different “drawer” in our head, and we mix less.

So yes, the alphabet also attracted me to Russia, plus, as I learned the alphabet easily, I thought that the Russian language would be easy to learn)) At the time, 5 years ago, I didn’t know a word of Russian, I had never paid attention to the language. In SPB, we had

A Russian guide who guided us through the city, in English but she spoke Russian with the driver. That was the first time I really listened to the language. And I remember my first impression of Russian: I really heard the wet sounds like “i”, “ii”… at the time,

It made me think of a baker kneading bread dough… I don’t know why, but that’s what the language made me think of)) So with my Japanese friend Mio, we toured the city as tourists: the Hermitage, walking in the streets, this enormous library on Nevskii, restaurants also try Russian dishes… Besides, I was surprised

Because no one spoke English. Even today, when I talk about it with Russians, they tell me that in SPB or Moscow everyone speaks English… no)) I remember that, in restaurants, people didn’t respond in English, maybe they didn’t want,

So we pointed at what we wanted. Same thing in the bookstore, even though it is full of tourists, or the Hermitage souvenir store: people answered us in Russian)) Tbh, it’s something that I love, in Russia, that people don’t speak

English: it forces me to practice Russian. Even knowing just a few words of Russian, as a tourist, that’s enough to get around, and for people to be well disposed towards us. It’s the same thing in France, by the way: when an American tourist addresses us

In English, without making the effort to say “Bonjour”, well we don’t want to respond)) So we have just spent a few days in SPB, but it was enough to make me fall in love with the city, and want to go back. The student office offered us

“à la carte” activities, so we could choose what we wanted to do each day: Mio and I went to see the most cultural things, the Hermitage, take a boat on the canals, and also a traditional Russian dinner with a dancer and

Traditional music. It was for tourists, but I enjoyed it, and it was there that I learned my first word of Russian, спасибо. It was my neighbor at the table, French, who taught me this word by giving me a mnemonic: “it’s not so low”, спасибо))

I was a very discreet student and not at all a party animal (besides, I never drank alcohol… before arriving in Russia)), and for my friend Mio, it was the same thing. We were with a group of 15 very party-loving Spaniards, with an American or two… We slept in dormitories,

And they came back in the middle of the night, still half drunk… So Mio and I, who had done 30km during the day, we couldn’t sleep. So we were a little out of touch with the other students, but it was like that for a large part of

My studies, so it didn’t surprise me too much. So Russia fascinated me instantly, and when I returned to France, I decided to learn Russian. Once again, what attracted me is that the country reminds me of my grandparents, whom I adore and to whom I am

Very close, so that had a big influence on me. When I was little, too, at my grandparents’, there was a book about Father Winter, Baba Yaga too… I even have a photo of myself in Russian costume, because my grandparents had gone to Russia a little before I was born,

And they brought costumes for my little sisters and me. So even though there is no Russian in the family, there were some elements of the culture that had come down to us, and that I had been exposed to. Also, I liked languages: I had almost

Finished learning English, so I really wanted to learn a new language. Usually I would pick a language, try to learn it for a few months, get bored of it and give up. I decided to give Russian its language,

And we “clicked” very well, the Russian and I got along very well straight away… while German and I were never so friendly)) I would really like to learn German, it’s a language that I like, and there is a lot of content in German on the internet, so I listen to books

From time to time… I don’t don’t speak a word of German, but I’m still learning it. But in German, everything is so politically correct on the internet that it’s tiring for me, and I get annoyed while listening. But I still want to learn German. With Russian,

I didn’t have this problem. There is also a lot of free content, books that you can listen to online. So when I returned to France (I was in Montpellier at the time, in an engineering school), I started listening to Russian every day, walking to the university,

That’s how I started studying the language. So even before finding Russia, I knew I wanted to live abroad: when I’m in France, I get bored, I love adventure and I always need to go further away. If it hadn’t been Russia, it would have been another country:

I liked England, I feel comfortable there because it looks like Normandie. I also like Scandinavia, I liked living in Sweden… So I wanted to live abroad, and in a northern country. I am more attracted to the North than the South, already because I hate

The heat: as soon as it is over 30, my brain melts, I can no longer do anything, I stay on the floor on the tiles to cool off … So that’s also one of the reasons why

I was attracted to Russia, is that it’s a northern country… Well, rather a cold one, in general. At the beginning, I was very motivated, I bought grammar books, I still have plenty at my parents’… but I only opened the first page, and that’s it: I don’t like school books,

I don’t like learning grammar. So I just kept listening, first Harry Potter, and after a while I started to understand more and more, and I was able to move on to more complicated books. This is why I understand Russian well,

But why I have difficulty speaking: I haven’t really had any practice. I tried to take evening classes in Montpellier, I had a lovely Russian teacher, Viktoria, it was a pleasure to take classes with her, but the other students had a different level from me: they already knew grammar and declensions, but they did

Not understand and could not speak. Whereas I could speak a little instinctively, but I didn’t know the grammar. So it wasn’t very useful for me, this kind of classes. Anyway, I prefer to learn on my own, it’s more efficient.

Even today, when I attend a “lecture”… how we say it in French… a conference, I have trouble staying focused for more than 5 minutes. If I can draw at the same time, that’s fine, my brain manages to stay awake, on the other hand if I just have to listen without doing anything,

I become a vegetable) It was like that during all my studies. When everyone told me that studying is the best time of life, I was disappointed, realizing that I was not happy spending 8 hours a day sitting on a chair, sleeping) so I am very happy

To have finished my studies and to work. In addition, I had a really bad conscience during my studies, because I couldn’t listen: I tried to force myself, but even if the subject was interesting, it was impossible to stay focused. In Montpellier, I was studying food science engineering, and they gave us

Tablets so that all the students had the same tool: I could put a book on my tablet, and read during classes, so I read Russian during classes. That’s how I learned Russian, because I was bored and I wasn’t happy being a student)

It was also at this time that I registered on Russian language exchange sites. language, and I found my first penfriends: there are many that I still have now. My very first penfriend in Russian, Aliona, was Ukrainian, from Kiev. We don’t speak

Anymore today, since I moved to Moscow, because she didn’t agree with my decision. We stopped talking because she told me that I was helping to kill Ukrainians by paying taxes in Russia, so we realized it was no longer worth trying to talk.

But she was my first penfriend: I helped her in French, and she helped me in Russian. Her father was Russian, so she spoke without a Ukrainian accent. I went to see her in Kiev, we visited the city, and then she came to France, I showed her around Normandie.

It was also at that time that I met my friend Ksenia, whom I introduced to you in a video on SPB. So I met 4 or 5 penfriends, and I realized that I got along well with Russians, much better than with other nationalities,

That it’s easier for me to speak with Russians than with English or Americans. That helped get me interested in Russian culture. I watched Gaidai’s films, which I really liked. I read Russian literature, first in English, Dostoyevsky etc. Then, I reread them in Russian, but even today, it’s difficult for me)

Russian literature was another reason to learn the language: I was already lucky enough to be able to read French and English literature in original language, so Russian was for me the missing piece of this puzzle. Especially since it’s impossible to translate Russian

Into English or French, we lose half of the nuances… Well, maybe not half, but we lose a lot. And I really like the Russian language, the sound, the fact that it’s a very nuanced language, with which you can say a lot of things in a few words.

Obviously, I really wanted to return to Russia, but it’s very difficult when you are a student: there are people who come to Instagram to ask me questions about how to come and study in Russia. First of all, you have to speak Russian, most universities offer

Courses in Russian… Then, good luck: you’ll have to apply a lot of applications, because for Russians, it’s complicated to bring in foreigners. I tried to find internships in Russia, but it was impossible. And then Covid arrived, putting obstacles in my way.

Everyone told me: “don’t worry, you will have time, in 5 or 6 years, to go to Russia…” but for me, 5 or 6 years is a light year! I’m stubborn as a donkey: when I decide to do something, I follow through) so I didn’t want to wait 5 or 6 years.

Just before Covid, I had planned to go to Moscow: I had booked my tickets and so on, but the lockdown started a week before my departure, so I had to cancel everything, it was a huge disappointment for me. So Covid was not the best time in the world.

Then, in August 2021, I was on vacation with my family, and every day, I went on the internet to look at the borders: the day they reopened, I saw it, I took my tickets the same day)) So in September 2021, I returned to Russia for 2 weeks: first to SPB,

Where my friend Ksenia welcomed me (it was the first time we saw each other in real life). It was still Covid time, when we had to do tests, wear masks… In Paris, I went for a test 24 hours before the flight. I went to a clinic to get tested, then I went

To the hotel. I woke up at 5 a.m., the day I left: I opened my phone, and I saw that I had received a positive Covid test, even though I knew it was impossible for me to have Covid, because I hadn’t gone out for 2 weeks: I had found kittens

In a field in Normandie, babies who must have been 5 days old, and with my little sisters, we had spent 2 weeks trying to save them. They were very sick, it was horrible: we had to wake up every hour to feed them, warm them… One of them had died,

In short, horrible. So I didn’t leave the house, and neither did my little sisters, to take care of these little cats, I stayed at home, it was impossible that I had Covid. So I ran to CDG airport. Of course, when we are in a hurry, in Paris,

There are always things that go wrong: I don’t know how, maybe I emit negative waves, but every time I have a metro ticket Parisian, I demagnetize it just by keeping it in my pocket for 5 minutes, so it never works when I try to get out of the metro. So there,

At 5 or 6 a.m., arriving at CDG, I try to put in the ticket and it doesn’t work. I stayed in front of the turnstile for 15 minutes, because (unlike in Russia) there are no guards

Who come to open the door for us, there is no one. In addition, as I’m not very assertive, I didn’t dare ask someone to let me pass… Well, I ended up doing it, a man let me pass, after 15 minutes, so I had wasted more time,

I was super stressed) I went to the Covid testing center at the airport, I waited in line, I paid to get tested again in 2 hours… Then I sat on a chair and I waited, counting the minutes. Even today, when I go to CDG and I pass by the

Coffee machine that was next to me, I remember this internal pain that I felt)) But I got the test on time, and it this time came back negative, so I was able to leave. After all these emotions, when I arrived in SPB, I was completely disoriented)

It was in the evening, I went to a community apartment where there were quite a few families. They were all lovely to me, very kind. Besides, it’s something that struck me: they didn’t have an easy life, when they came back in the evening they were tired,

But they still welcomed me very well. But I didn’t understand anything, I was too tired, I remember a young man who started talking to me at full speed in the evening, and I was completely in a daze. He made me taste his grandfather’s honey, etc. Very nice,

But really I didn’t understand much)) So I spent a week in SPB, walking everywhere, exploring the city, visiting all the museums. I was so full of energy at the idea of ​​finally being in Russia that I walked 20km a day without eating anything, I forgot to eat,

So I almost passed out several times… which happens quite regularly tbh)) I visited some places with Ksenia… I met another friend, Sasha, who made me taste the Napoleon cake, which is very famous in Russia, and which we don’t know in France.

I also visited the Hermitage while it was still Covid: when I arrived at the museum, there was no one there, the museum was deserted. So I had the chance to visit the empty museum. I’m not sure I was supposed to visit it like that: it seems to me that there were

2 routes that we had to follow, so as not to meet too many other visitors, but I just went randomly around the museum) Then I went to Moscow, where I visited with my friend Aleksei. In Moscow, I felt more lost than in SPB, and at the time I liked the city less:

There were too many people everywhere, too many cars, too much noise, traffic everywhere… Now, for me, Moscow is more familiar than SPB, but at the time I didn’t find my way there. Though it’s easy to get around there, because applications like Yandex maps are

Very efficient, so it’s much simpler than in Paris, for example, even for a foreigner. With Aleksei, we went to ВДНХ, where there are pavilions representing different countries that were part of the USSR. It’s a large park where it’s best to get around on an

Electric scooter, or by bike, like what we did. Besides, at the moment, there is an exhibition on Russia, which is interesting. I went there a few weeks ago with a friend, maybe I’ll make a little video or shorts to show you. There are things

That struck me in Moscow, for example, just when I arrived, I was walking towards my BNB, and in front of the Bolshoi, there was a huge limousine that stopped, a woman came out, with a super tight dress and lots of makeup. She started to pose,

In front of the limousine, in front of the Bolshoi, there was a photographer taking her picture. I stopped to watch, for me it was really a funny sight)) it surprised me that women take photos of themselves all the time. No embarrassment, putting themselves forward,

Striking poses in front of everyone, no problem) So that was funny. Something I also liked was the feeling of security in Moscow. I was lost, I didn’t speak Russian well, and people are very stern, I’ve already talked about it:

It scared me at first, I was afraid to approach a cashier to ask her something, because sometimes I had very impatient and very dry answers, which I was not used to. Now it’s okay, I don’t take it personally anymore)) But really,

This feeling of security in the streets… sometimes I came home quite late, all alone, and I really wasn’t afraid, it’s a relief compared to France, where you always have to look around and beware. At the time, too, I was a little afraid

To see that there were guards, the police everywhere, it was a bit scary. Also because the first time I came to Russia, when leaving the ferry, we passed border guards, they had dogs, and one of the dogs had sniffed my bag (because I had Doliprane), so they stopped me to search my bag,

And so even if they released me straight away, it struck me to see that they were so efficient, stern, they didn’t smile, etc. So I was a little scared. Now I’m very happy that it’s like this: I remember once, in Montpellier,

At the time of the yellow jackets, while I was walking with my parents, there was a group with hoods who were came into the street, super aggressive, young people who were probably bored: all the stores had closed the fences in front of the windows… they were really aggressive,

In the street, these people in hoods… So at the moment , I find, in terms of safety, it’s like day and night, between Moscow where people won’t stand disorder, and there are guards and police to maintain order, and France, where people are convinced that they have

A lot of freedom… But if we no longer protect citizens who walk peacefully in the street, I don’t know what freedom we’re talking about) So for 2 weeks, in September 2021, I had a lot of fun in Russia. Then, I had to return to France, and I didn’t want to.

I was finishing my studies, so I could try to find a job, but it’s super difficult. There are people in the comments who ask me why I live in Moscow, but as a foreigner, it’s not easy to find a job, and in Moscow, that’s where there are

The most opportunities. After my studies, I decided to go to Berlin for 6 months, to take a break and discover Germany. I was a babysitter in a Russian family, it was a good opportunity to learn more about Russia, and at the same time explore Berlin.

At the same time, I was looking for a job in Russia: I had applied for lots of applications, I was trying to find a job as a French teacher, even if it was poorly paid. I spent 6 months with this

Russian family, and as there are a lot of Russians in Berlin, I met friends of the family… The little girl went to a Russian kindergarten… that made me even more want to go to Russia, because the people were lovely. In the family I was in, the mom was an angel,

The dad was super nice too. Besides, it was him who gave me the idea of ​​applying to Skoltech, where I work now, because he was a professor, and he had been offered a place at Skoltech. He told me about it, and I applied spontaneously. I was extremely lucky,

Because my two bosses at Skoltech are French, which made things easier. I had a first interview with them, and then nothing happened, I don’t know why, so I returned to France, I worked for a little while in Lyon. I was a little discouraged,

Sending applications so often and not getting any responses. I wasn’t interesting for companies, because I had no experience after my studies. I contacted Skoltech again, and after 6 months, I had another interview, and this time, we started the process. It takes a lot of time, it’s quite discouraging sometimes, when you

Send out a hundred applications, but it’s worth persevering. And that’s where it’s a good thing to be stubborn as a donkey, because I didn’t give up, I wanted to return to Russia, that’s it, I was really determined to get there . At the time too, there was the start of the war,

So everyone told me that I was completely crazy, in France, why are you going to do in Russia, you are going to get kill, etc. But as usual, I listened to… no one)) I’m not completely stupid, I wouldn’t move to India alone,

Or to a country that would be more dangerous for me, but for Russia, I knew very well that the image we have of it from France and Europe does not match reality at all. I had friends there, I also trusted my current bosses, who lived there,

So I decided to leave, against the advice of my family. So there you have it, that’s how I arrived in Moscow in November 2022, and I still don’t intend to leave) That’s my story, I hope those who wanted to sleep sleep well))

As for the channel… First of all, thank you for your support, for your comments: under my last video, it made me happy, there were many interesting ones. I’m very proud of myself, in fact, for having managed to make a video where people commented without aggression,

With super interesting comments, so thank you again. I have quite a few ideas for the next videos. There is one on my point of view on Russian women, as a French woman: I am putting it together, but it is taking me forever.

I also would like to make 2 videos completely in Russian… I hope I will succeed)) like a personal challenge, and also to thank the Russians who are there, and it’s a good way to practice. I think I’m going to talk about France in Russian, since I talk about Russia in French,

Might be interesting. I would also like to improve the way I edit videos, and make them a little more visually interesting: the only problem is that it would take me 2 or 3 lifetimes to do everything I want to do , and learn everything I want to

Learn in life, so even if I don’t sleep much, I’ll have to slow down from time to time) I decided to open a page on Boosty to allow people to sponsor the channel, there are several people who have asked me how to sponsor the channel,

So if you are interested, I will put the link in the description. It will perhaps allow me to invest in editing software, or rather what I would prefer is a software for 2D animation: I have already spotted two that look interesting, I don’t don’t know which one to choose yet.

I hope I’ll manage, because it’s something I’ve never done, but it interests me a lot, because I love drawing. Animation has always been a dream. What else… For a few months, I’ve been taking singing lessons in Moscow,

Because it allows me to practice my Russian, and – once again – to get out of my comfort zone, because as I’m shy, it’s difficult to sing in front of people. My teacher convinced me to take part in a mini-concert this Sunday – it’s not really a concert,

There will be 20 people maximum, but I’ll have to sing in front of everyone, and that absolutely terrifies me)) It’s super difficult for me to express myself or sing in front of many people, so I hope I will survive. If I ever disappear after this Sunday, you’ll know why))

But if I manage to gain enough confidence in myself, maybe I’ll post videos where I sing. I can even put an audio for you at the end of this video. I just have to check if I have the right to do it, because I use karaoke that I found on YouTube

And downloaded, probably I don’t have the right to use them… but I will add a little extract for you to listen to when I sing) Thank you for staying until the end of this video, I wish you lots of good things, and a very good night for those who are sleeping))