Countywide : Russian Students Enjoy Immersion Into U.S. Culture

A group of Russian exchange students happily ventured into the chilly ocean Tuesday at Laguna Main Beach as part of a monthlong stay with Orange County families.

For some of the students, it was their first chance to wiggle their toes in U.S. sand and play in the surf.

“Wonderful,” said Olga Kryshnyova, a 12-year-old from Moscow. “I like to swim, but I don’t like cold water.”

The trip was set up through the Federation of Peace and Conciliation at the Samantha Smith Children’s Diplomacy Center in Moscow.

The 15 students, ranging in age from 8 to 12, will attend school in Aliso Viejo for the month and also take intensive English lessons while here, said Lila Brumback, coordinator for International Education Forum Inc., a nonprofit group that helped arrange the students’ U.S. trip.

“They come here to learn about the West and to learn English almost by osmosis,” Brumback said. “Russian parents who are anxious about their country view this as a way for their children to get ahead. They see the Western ways as the ways of the future.”

But the trip is not all work and no play. The students’ itinerary calls for visits to Disneyland and Hollywood.

Standing on the beach under a warm sun on Tuesday afternoon, the students raved about the hamburgers and pizza they have sampled since arriving at the Los Angeles International Airport last week.

In Moscow, there are only three of a popular U.S. fast-food outlet and lines can be long, 12-year-old Vychevslav Gegamyan said.

“It can take awhile when you go there,” Gegamyan said.

Gegamyan said that Southern California had something else that he enjoys.

“We don’t have mountains,” Gegamyan said.