As listed in each of my parent’s individual pages, they both listed many struggles living in the USSR as college students.  Neither of them learned Russian until they arrived there, which added to the intense culture shock that both of them experienced.  My parents were also very unprepared for the drastic change in weather, as anyone who grew up in the tropics would.

The greatest challenge at the time of any college student there seemed to be financial.  Each student was given an allowance or stipend of $80 which was to be spent on food.  While this was liveable for some while, when the USSR collapsed, both my parents noted that the cost of living skyrocketed.  Because the Filipino government did not send the Filipino students (rather, they were sent through a variety of different organizations and unions), the Filipino government did not provide extra financial assistance to their students abroad.  This proved to be very difficult for many students, not just those from the Philippines, and countless students, all academic leaders in their own countries, dropped out, including my father.

I was dreaming… I wanted to be a doctor, but it… When I got there, I encountered a lot of difficulty and problems. The only money that we are getting is the, what you call, allowance or stipend from the college or university. Most of the time, it was not enough. The housing was free, but they give you an extra allowance of about $80 a month, and sometimes it was just not enough. We had a lot of difficulties with financial and with language and with the studies and things like that. It was just difficult for me, so I was not able to finish my college in there. It was sad, but it was… You know, it is what it is. (Froilan Carlos)

My parents started dating towards their later years abroad, but did not cohabit because of their beliefs.  Filipino culture is very traditional and conservative, and a lot of that conservatism is influenced by the very strong Catholic faith of the country.  While neither of my parents are Catholic, they still hold very strongly the values that they grew up with.

After my mother left Russia, my father decided to obtain a visa in order to follow her to the United States.