I’ve finally managed to sit myself down and blog. There have honestly been times when I’ve been free but the only thought that comes to mind is “I’m in St. Petersburg, RUSSIA…I don’t want to go sit in my room and write on the computer for an hour. Then again I suppose if I had blogged more regularly it wouldn’t be taking an hour or maybe two like it will now to catch you all up. Let’s go back more than two weeks to when I departed and my journey began.
London
I got to the airport three and a half hours early the mornining of August 27th. The line for international flights filled up the queue and went out the door. I finally made it to the gate with 30 minutes to spare. I took two valium when I got on the plane and another one about 7 hours in. I used to not mind flying but now ever since the bad flight experience I had on my Rhode Island Spring Break trip I’m a nervous wreck. Anyway, got to London and met Betsy in the passport/customs line. Betsy is from San Diego(ish) and we were apparently on the same flight. Got my baggage and met a few people in the greeting area – some from our program, some from the Granada program. It was about a 45 minute drive to the Holiday Inn Kensington. I’d actually stayed there before when I went to Europe with my high school in the summer of ’04. Due to some over booking problem though our rooms wouldn’t be ready until 1 that afternoon. Me and a few girls went to get breakfast then Betsy and I, to no avail, tried to find some others who’d gone off in a different direction. We decided we’d catch the ‘tube’ to the Natural History Museum. Luckily it was free because it was just a giant museum of rocks. There’s a reason I’m not a geology major. On our way back we got separated on the metro and needless to say I panicked at first but I calmed down and just waited for her at our stop and all was fine. Anyway, finally got our rooms then me and about TEN other people all from our program went to a Portuguese restaurant. There was so many of us they gave us our own private little room – it was so cool and the food was amazing. That night we went to about 3 or 4 different clubs all of which were free or offering free drinks. I stayed very sober thank you very much. My feet were killing me so myself and two other girls decided to catch a cab home. We finally got to bed at around 3. Woke up that morning at 8ish, enjoyed a free continental breakfast then had a tour of the city. My favorite part was the church where they’d filmed “feed the birds” from Mary Poppins. When the tour was over we had a chance to go off and do what we wanted so I chose to go off on my own and visit the National Gallery. It was amazing. I saw some really great pieces like one about love by Hockney and another by Van Gogh called “Van Gogh’s chair.” In the background of the chair piece you can see a box with his first name painted on it. Unlike the Mona Lisa in the Louvre which has about 8 sheets of glass in front of it, Van Gogh’s piece is still simply framed with no cover. It really touched me because you could see the texture of his name and the innocence of his handwriting just made you feel so privileged to be standing there because you know that THAT person was actually there painting THAT picture putting THEIR name on it. I don’t know if any of that makes sense but in short – I loved it and you should Google it and I hope one day you have a chance to see the real thing. After the gallery I took myself out to lunch at a pizza restaurant then went to an internet café where I got to blog quickly. Went back to the hotel afterwards and slept until the next morning when we had to get up and get on a plane...
Arrival
…to Saint Petersburg! The flight wasn’t bad at all…just about 3 hours. When we arrived we made our way through the relatively short passport line and got our baggage and met up with our director Katherine and her assistant Mischa. My very first site in Russia – a cat! The ride to the dorms was about 45 minutes. We got to our rooms and I was a little frustrated we wouldn’t be getting internet for another 4 days. They gave us phone cards however so I was able to keep in contact with my Mom and such. We got a bagged dinner then went to our orientation session in the academic wing. Around 9 I got back to my room and just could NOT bring myself to unpack. In California Kim and I had went to IKEA and bought this wire from which you can hang pictures but there was nowhere to anchor it as the IMOP (the building we’re staying in) rules stipulate we can’t put anything on the walls. I just couldn’t unpack because I needed to make my room feel like home and the only way I could do that was with pictures. My resident director came in and she saw my pictures and the wire all over the floor and my suitcase still not unpacked. I showed her pictures of Kala’i and me and my mom and all the cats. I felt like I was just showing her a ton of pictures and not conveying what they meant to me. I asked her if she’d ever seen “Lilo and Stitch.” She said she had and I reminded her of the classic phrase “Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind.” I know that didn’t really pertain to my whole picture situation but I was just trying to say that this wasn’t just a bunch of photos…this was my family and friends and animals and they mean the world to me and just because I was half way across the world didn’t mean I had forgotten them. I started to tear up and she told me to follow her. We walked into her office and she started moving boxes and mumbling and I was a tad confused until she pulled out a giant bulletin board. “I found this when I was cleaning the other day – I don’t need it and it looks like you can use it.” I was so touched and so excited. I took it back into my room and got started collaging the pictures on the board. I finally got unpacked by midnight and to sleep around 1.
Next morning I woke up and showered…you can read about that experience under “Don’t Drink the Water.” Went down to breakfast and there was some interesting stuff on the table. I discovered my new favorite food – muesli flakes and yogurt. That day we had a tour of the city and saw all the essential sites from the outside. At lunch they brought out soup and bread and we all made the most of it and ate our dessert only for them to bring out the next course! Chicken and noodles ... after being here for a bit now I’ve discovered that Russian food either follows two extremes: either very bland or very rich. We went and took matte photos after lunch in which we all turned out looking like axe murderers (they needed these photos for our visas to Finland and Estonia and our IMOP student ID’s). I don’t remember what we did that night …not because I was drunk but because it was so long ago. Haha. NEXT day we had our Russian language placement test. Since I had never officially taken Russian before I went straight with the teacher to beginner Russian with 5 other girls. Our professor’s name is Victoria and she could be a Russian supermodel but alas she is at SPbSPU teaching us Russian. Drawing a blank again as to what we did. This is getting awfully long so I’m going to just write down the highlights from the next couple days. Tuesday we went to get re-tested for HIV (another requirement for our multi-entry visa). The country tells AIFS where we have to go to get tested so we went to some scaaaaaaaaary hospital that had paint peeling off the walls and looked very institutional. The nurse was very rough and I ended up with a large bruise that I still have. You can see a picture of it at its peek on snapfish. We went to the Hermitage on Wednesday which was phenomenal – it was almost too much to take it. I mean really – to be in a place where royalty once lived and to see such amazing pieces of art all in the time span of like two hours was just a bit overwhelming. We went on a Jazz Boat cruise on the Neva on Thursday. On Saturday we went to Peterhof which was the summer palace for royalty. It is called the Russian Versailles. As someone who has been to Versailles, I must say it comes quite close and the gardens are better. In between all that I had a very interesting experience with Casey at a café in which the owner tried to get us to order something and Aaron had to come save us. We went to a Russian Walmart called Maxidom. We discovered two supermarkets which we now frequent, one called Nahodka and the other called Patterson’s (these are all English spellings). Other than that…I sorta forget and I’m really sorry for not blogging sooner :/
Culture Shock
Part of the reason I didn’t blog sooner because I was suffering from some major culture shock. When I first got here the building reminded me a lot of a hospital and that bothered me a lot. Not knowing how to speak the language also frustrated me greatly. It’s so hard when no one can understand a word you are saying and everything around you looks like gibberish. There were countless times in just a few days where I bought something that I thought was one thing and it turned out to be another (i.e. tomato paste instead of sauce; oatmeal instead of muesli). Basically, I never realized that culture shock was such a real thing. One day near the end of the first week I just sat on my bed and felt like I was literally IN SHOCK. I felt lost and confused and alone and just scared. Talking to my aunt Ania really helped and comforted me. I still feel quite confused at times but not in a total state of shock anymore.
Volunteering
Some very exciting news – This Fall semester in wonderful Saint Petersburg I will be volunteering at the extraordinary Hermitage museum. I get to usher at Theatre performances and greet people at the main entrance hall and possibly even work with kids. After we visited the American Consulate last week Mischa (our director Kathyrn’s assistant), who works at the Hermitage himself, took some of us to the Hermitage to apply for volunteer positions. When we were done we went to exit through the main gate and we were locked in. We got to exit through the underground catacombs of the Hermitage. It was CRAZY! On our way out we saw about 60 cats who live at the Hermitage. There are some photos on Snapfish. Today Casey and I went and bought some new clothes and shoes to wear to the Hermitage while volunteering and I’m going to give Mischa my schedule tomorrow – I’m so excited!
Party All Night Long
Some Facts: Vodka really is cheaper than water. Cigarettes, when exchanged from ruble to dollar, cost roughly about 9 cents. Our dijourna (little old lady who watches our hall) sleeps through everything. I have shone up to class every day. That is all I have to say.
Adventures
We have only been here two weeks and I have already had countless adventures and made a ton of friends. I get along here with everyone and even with some of the other foreign students from places like Germany, Finland, Spain and Kazakhstan. We’ve rifled through a Soviet store which sells soviet era posters and antiques. We found a great sushi restaurant off of Nevsky. We’ve got the metro down to a science-WHICH, by the way, is the deepest in the world (or so I think). The escalator ride down from the station to gate takes almost 5 minutes and you cannot see the bottom from the top or visa versa. McDonalds is definitely better in Russia – the quality is higher however its definitely scarier to order here because they get frustrated very easily when you don’t know English. Victoria finally taught us numbers so now I know that they’re asking me if I want 6 or 9 chicken mcnuggets. I had my first Big Mac ever while here in Russia and it was pretty fabulous. Yesterday we went to Novgorod– the oldest city in Russia. Laundry is a chore with 2000 kids in the building and only 2 dryers and washers in the whole place. Whenever we all go someplace now we refer to IMOP as home. All in all our escapades have, while (relatively) safe, been numerous and exciting.
Don’t Drink the Water
Soooooo, we’re not allowed to drink the water here – we’re not even supposed to brush our teeth with it even though some people do. If you drink it apparently you will get deathly ill. Brushing my teeth with bottled water has made me realize how much water we waste and really need to conserve back in the U.S. We have to boil and filter everything. My first shower smelled like sulfer but oddly enough the smell which is everywhere has become a tad endearing. Don’t ask. Anyway…I am so much more thankful for water now and you should be too!
Well, I think that’s all. I’m doing really well and I’m very happy. I’ve even found Audrey Hepburn ice cream. If you have any questions feel free to email me. I’d love to hear how you are all doing so drop me a line if and when you have time. Paka!
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