It's odd to see foreign tourists speak publicly of Russia in a very polar manner: either people are totally weird, or they're are totally wonderful. So far, I haven't met an exception; I wish I did: their view of the country I've been only seeing from inside my whole life would be very interesting to listen to. It's odd, considering that no country ever has such polar population. Neither does it change for every tourist incoming, simply to mess with their heads and "prove" their relatives-naysayers wrong.

One reason opinions might be so polarly-opposed is that people of the US seem to know next to nothing about Russia (given how wrong the stereotypes are); I know almost nothing of what other countries see Russia as. When such people come to Russia, they encounter a cultural wall the size of which they haven't seen before (Russia is a very different country, after all). It's a massive assault on their ways of thinking, and they process it very differently depending on their personality - especially on their open-mindedness.

My guess is - those less open-minded can't handle to accept the vast difference of ways and choose, unconsciously, to ignore it or ascribe it all to being "just, like, weird"; while others, more open-minded, have little trouble accepting how Russia operates, and so they gather the new experience as as wonderful as it would get in any other country. That is, of course, just a guess; I'd like to hear what others, especially Americans, have to say about it.

As a native Russian, I can tell you: Russia is just as different as any other country; thinking otherwise would be silly, but I believe reminding about it can shave off some accumulated ignorance we all come to gather with time. There are bad people in Russia; there are good people; there's the rest, scattered all over the "goodness" scale, if that's how we are to measure human beings. There are, as well, "good" traditions and "bad", measured however you desire. There are "good" things and "bad". Remember that you come to another country, which usually means you have to keep an open mind about stuff that's happening there. Otherwise, why would you even want to go out of the home sweet home?