Russians Get a Big Serving of U.S. Culture : Exchange program: Soviet students living with area families are impressed with California’s bounty and friendliness, but there’s still no place like home.

Sixteen-year-old Artyom Bakonin was overwhelmed by the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet spread out before him: piles of bacon, eggs, muffins and mounds of fresh fruit.

What to choose?

In his hometown of Leningrad, where even the most basic foods are rationed, such a feast is impossible. To get even a single cantaloupe or a bunch of bananas might require several hours in line, he said.

Even then, there are no guarantees.

“We have not such fruits at this time,” the Russian high schooler said, popping a slice of pineapple into his mouth. Then, pointing with his fork to the fruit on his plate and grinning in disbelief, he added, “Pineapples.”

It was the same for the eight other Russian students and their two teachers who sat around the table at the Bob’s Big Boy in Valencia this week. Their plates all were loaded with rich provisions such as the fruit and pancakes topped with whipped cream.

The students, who live several miles north of central Leningrad in the Krasnogvardeisky district, are in Southern California for three weeks, part of a study group sponsored by the nonprofit Cultural Homestay Institute.

In Leningrad, the students attend the School of Extensive Learning of the English Language. Most of the students, who also have visited England, Sweden and Denmark in the last two years, are staying with families in the Santa Clarita Valley. Two others are staying in the San Fernando Valley.

More than 10,000 students--mostly Japanese--have come to Southern California each year since 1980 on trips organized by the institute, but these are the first Soviets. During their stay, the students--10 in all--will be treated to free tickets to amusement parks, haircuts, eyeglasses and, of course, blue jeans, donated by local merchants and the host families.

Since they arrived last week, the students--all 16 years old--have gotten a taste of American culture. They’ve gone shopping and bowling, to the beach and a swap meet, and tasted cheeseburgers. But more than all the material goods, they said, they are impressed by the generosity and friendliness of their American hosts.

Californians smile more than Russians, they said, and are more at ease. “Everything is big here,” teacher Svetlana Yegorova said. “Big cars, big streets, big houses, big portions, big souls.”

“I like the nature of Los Angeles, of California,” Katya Levochskaya said.

But then it’s not as though Valencia and Leningrad are all that different.

Sure, compared to Leningrad’s architectural symphony, Valencia is a jingle on a player piano, but the two cities are more alike than it would seem.

In a sense, both are planned communities.

Leningrad was built on the swampy banks of the Neva River in 1703 to the specifications of Peter the Great, who wanted a capital city closer to Western Europe. Empress Catherine the Great ordered the construction of some of the city’s most beautiful buildings in the 1760s and St. Petersburg, as it was then called, became a cultural and artistic center.

Valencia, on the other hand, sprung up in the Santa Clarita Valley 25 years ago, built to the specifications of Newhall Land & Farming Co. Since then, the canyons of Santa Clarita Valley have filled with rows of salmon-colored tile roofs topping a suburban wonderland of tract houses and manicured lawns.

In 1917, the streets of Leningrad were filled with revolutionaries fighting to overthrow the czar and establish the world’s first communist government. Seventy years later, residents of the Santa Clarita Valley waged a revolution of their own, forming the city of Santa Clarita in a backlash against overeager developers.

The similarities end there.

Americans, the students said, are somewhat spoiled, often taking for granted the possessions and freedoms that others have never had.

For example, among the most overwhelming experiences of the trip so far for Irene Martynova was a visit to a Santa Clarita Valley department store. “We learned a new word here: stoked,” she said.

“I was stoked.”

The Russians were impressed, despite years of complaints that there are no good places to shop in the area by residents of the Santa Clarita Valley, who grumble that they have to drive to the San Fernando Valley. The area’s first mall is expected to open in 1992.

The students also are amazed by the number of single-family residences. In Leningrad, nearly everyone lives in huge apartment blocks. “You have so beautiful homes,” said Valeria Pogouliaeva, who added that she likes to look at the houses decorated with Christmas lights.

Back home, the Soviet Union is ripped apart by political and economic strife as it moves toward a market economy and more liberal society. The students are excited by the changes, frustrated by the delays and the shortages. They quarrel over whether President Mikhail S. Gorbachev or Boris Yeltsin is the man to lead the Soviet Union to a new political and economic system.

Whoever is leading, they want to be a part of the change. Several said they want to study economics and become managers in operations being cut loose from state control.

America is nice, but Mother Russia is home.

“It is worth seeing,” Irene Martynova said of the United States. “As for me, I prefer to stay in my country and make changes.”