He spent over 30 hours traveling from Dallas to St. Petersburg during the month of June. Junior Matthew Merrill moved to Russia for six months experiencing a different language, tradition and culture.

Merrill lived in a port city along the Baltic Sea.

“I liked living in the city [St. Petersburg] because of the people,” Merrill said. “It was like stereotypical Russia.”

Merrill moved to Russia to help treat his sister’s disability. His sister had Lennox Gastaut Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy in which the person is affected with multiple types of seizures.

“There’s a really good physical therapy facility in St. Petersburg,” Merrill said. “It gave us an excuse to move.”

It was difficult to get about the city because there wasn’t a lot of information in English.

“Everything was in Russian so it was kind of hard to understand,” Merrill said. “It confused me. But I speak mediocre Russian and they speak mediocre English, so it evened out.”

Merrill experienced Russian and American cultural similarities and differences.

“People love Instagram and other social media websites,” Merrill said. “People are also obsessed with SpongeBob memes. But acting like a hooligan in public is not tolerated [there], chivalry is not dead and there are a lot more people roaming the streets.”

There were a lack of whiteboards and laptops, regular occurrences in the district, where Merrill attended school.

“School life was pretty much like it was in America 40 years ago,” Merrill said. “It was just good, old-fashion learning. I was surprised how similar the kids were in my school to America.”

Merrill had to travel to Kazakhstan, back into Moscow as an American citizen, then went to Poland, to Chicago, to come back to Texas.

“The immigration stinks,” Merrill said. “It takes forever to get a passport, so I came into the country as a citizen. We waited three months to get a passport so we could get out, but they didn’t do what they needed to.”

As a foreigner, Merrill attracted attention from his schoolmates.

“Everyone was curious about America, such as what it was like, how the people were,” Merrill said. “Telling my many tales of the west and seeing their reactions was entertaining.”

Merrill was easily-adjusted to the variations in Russian culture once he arrived.

“I just adapted,” Merrill said. “It was easy to get used to everything once I got there. Russia was more traditional that the United States and the history is so interesting. I think I like Russia more [than the United States].”