For the travel enthusiast, the wide range of terrain and cultures provides a traveler with a host of sightseeing possibilities. Russian people are infamous for their warm and generous hospitality, as well as their unwavering determination to improve and advance themselves and their surroundings. A common comment made by CDC Business volunteers upon their return is that, although the Russian people are clearly facing impressive adversity, they are remarkably open to advice and recommendations in an effort to learn and progress. Laden with some of the most respected institutions of higher learning in the world, the Russian society is highly educated, boasting a higher literacy rate than today's United states. Russians have also made important contributions in every field of human endeavor.
Russian culture is immense, rich and multifaceted.
Poets from Puskin to Lermontov, writers from Fodor Dostoyevsky to Leo Tolstoy, artists from Andrei Rublev to Repin, composers from Prokofiev to Tschaikovsky have enriched all of mankind with their creations, perhaps reflecting the beauty of Russian nature itself. It stretches from the Baltic Sea in the west, across the northern Eurasian land mass to the Pacific Ocean in the east. Russia extends from the frozen ports of the Arctic Ocean in the north to the waters of the Caspian and Black Seas in the south. In area, it is more than twice the size of the United States. The population of Russia is approximately 150 million.