RUSSIAN BANYA CRAZINESS
Oh my goodness, I had a true Russian experience last night called the Russian Banya. It all begins with you walking into a normal Sauna. Just a hot room that makes you sweat and that was it. Then sveta led us to "the balcony" which was just a room with open windows that cooled you off. Then back into the Sauna we went to sweat our brains out. Little did we know that we had just experienced the lightest of the whole Banya experience. After a few times in the sauna and out on the balcony we are led into this large wooden room that is very hot and humid and there are nude russians everywhere. Us frightened little Americans are holding tightly to our sheets that are wrapped around us and are slightly disturbed. Although the Russians did not appriciate our modesty they accepted us and even beat a few of us.
In a russian banya you get a bundle of birch branches, dip them in cold water and wip your friend. It's supposed to cleanse you of all the impurities in your body and refresh you. It actually felt kind of good. Then after our first session in the banya I come out and this unclothed russian forces me to jump in this pool of FREEZING cold water and jump around for a minute. After that my heartrate went up and stayed up for about 45 minutes. It was a little intense. Then we would go back in the banya and beat each other. I can truely say that I have experienced Russia in full now, and i will definatly never forget that little experience.