Oh yeah, something else. During my month-stay in St. Petersburg, it was often expected of me to have a few shots of vodka when visiting. For example, I would go over to a friend's apartment (we were all staying with host families), in the middle of the day, and if the hosts were home, we would sit in the kitchen with some cheese and crackers and have straight shots of vodka. It wasn't a question, they just went and got all the materials and sat it down in front of us. I'm not sure how normal this is, but it it happened at a few different places!

Haha, good times