what stereotypes do U have about Russia?

Hello,

a week ago I returned from Europe.I was slightly shocked by such a fact: when people found out that my friends and me were from Russia,they started to speak about – vodka, matreschka, cold war… =) All these are just stereotypes. Not so many russians drink vodka,we don't play with matreschka, bears don't walk in the streets in Russia. 

So I wonder what else stereotypes do U have about Russia and how u know about it?

  
And how about Siberian Tigers or penguins? If there are no penguins, I am not visiting.
Nu Pogodi, if you want penguins to visit us, we'll get them!  And bears, and matreshkas…andd whatever you wish! )))


 if to speak seriously, guys….ppl say our men drink too much. Gosh!! The statistics say euroopeans drink MUCH MORE (i mean spirits)
 And if someone is sincerely iterested in the true Russian mysterious character, i am at your service to explain it from the psycological and culturological points of view

when you say russia i imagine really tall and white guys walking through the streets full of snow xD and that'd be it

   Well, you will be surprised… but in summer it is quite warm))) My bf came to visit me in August and we both were dying of heat coz it was around +40 at noon!!! Terrible…But mostly it is around +25.

OK Katerina, here come some ideas that come up in my mind:

cold weather of course, beautiful landscapes, alcohol yes, beautiful ladies, high criminality, democracy with Kasparov in jail?

 LOL ))) great… I love this guy

hmm i'm partly russian and i visit russia every year so i've no stereotypies.

I'm from russian, I'm studying at school and i was asked to make a report adout what people from different countries think about russians, and for me it was so interesting and even funny to read all your oppinions about russian people, especially the fact that you think that russians always drink vodka makes me laughing…but it's not true, people here are  funny, very talkative,artistic,pleasure- loving and the main thing, russians are humourless…so you won't find people like russians anywhere

 Hey, NATS! Why Humourless??? Maybe you wanted to say we have a perfect sense of humour?)))))

Yes Linquiste, exactly this I wanted to say,   Russians have a good sense of humour

stereotypes (particulary wrong ones) are created by dumb representatives of mass media and so on… and still  holywood makes a great contribution to all this. recently i saw the hitman movie… damn! i just can't believe that nowadays someone imagines Russia as it's been shown in this film.Do you guys really believe in that shit you're showing on wide screens??? i think it's a shame to show your stupidity this way. read books, learn geography and culture before making another film about Russia… or the people of the whole world will keep thinking that in Russia everybody wears warm fur-caps (even in summer) and bears plays on balalaykas on the streets. ;)