Day 2, 5:55 pm. Oh, frabjous day! I have, through the grace of God and Irina Borisovna, been reunited with my luggage! I can stop schlepping my entire messenger bag in place of a purse! I have shampoo, and a hair dryer, and proper shoes again! HALLELUJAH! (And lucky me, actually. Brenna and Evan are still suitcaseless. Evan’s looking forward to his first proper shave in four days.)
…yes, I am slightly one-track-minded right now. The reunion took place all of five minutes ago, while the entire day has been busy. But the advantage of my purse and proper shoes instead of Wellies sort of takes precedence in my mind right now. :) Dinner’s in five minutes, so I’m gonna get going, but I’ll write more later.
8:51 pm. Back in my room for longer than five minutes for the first time today—the sign of a day well spent. The morning was the true orientation period, where our dear English-speaking Jarlath threw all the health and safety information at us at once. I understood when I got here that St. Petersburg’s not exactly an ideal city in which to be a young woman, so it wasn’t exactly a shock, but…still. That’s a lot of warnings to observe all at once.
We got our first real taste of Russian weather today after the lectures, when we visited a memorial to the defenders of Leningrad during WWII. A sobering introduction to the city, but a lovely sight; complete with sweeping music playing through speakers, it felt like walking onto the set of a movie. Schindler’s List, perhaps. (Note to self: ask Irina Borisovna the meaning of the red carnations that were laid around the base of the statue. Russians place special meaning on flowers; I wonder if this was one of them.)
Jarlath then took us (the group that desperately needed the tour in English) to the Moskovskaya metro to show us the ropes, and the communal box office (must remember this!). Nadya and I did manage to get hit up for change in the five minutes we were down there. (I’d love to make friends in St. Petersburg, but not that quickly, and not that way, thanks.) The suggestion is to wait until we’re moved in with our host families before purchasing any sort of monthly pass, depending on where we are and what forms of public transport we’re taking. We move in tomorrow evening; the anticipation is palpable. (And I now have my host gifts, so I feel even better about this!)
After the tour de force in the Metro came the excursion to purchase Russian cell phones, and the SIM cards back at the hotel. Maybe this is just a college-student thing, but I feel so much better having a phone, even if it’s not the one I schlep around at home and drop on a regular basis. I’m trying to get used to wearing a watch again, but checking the time on a phone just seems so much more natural. A ruble per text message is impressively cheap, as is a ruble per minute. And, apparently, it’s possible to use these with an international calling card, and incoming calls are free…Verizon said my calling card won’t work from a cell phone, but it’s probably worth a try anyway.
The rest of the evening: dinner, and getting blood drawn for HIV tests. I’m not exactly sure why this last part took an hour and a half, but we ended up first in a back corner of the fourth floor of the hotel, then in the basement, just kind of waiting around for an impressive amount of time. More than one of us started singing clips from Sweeney Todd; after the first group didn’t return for a while, we swore they were being taken to the basement to make pies. Or pelmeni…or shevarma, actually. (Actually, the blood drawing was happily uneventful, except for observing the doctor’s fantastic mullet. They’re very popular over here. Wes named this one the Mullet of Justice.)
Those of us who don’t need to go buy cell phones have the evening off, so I’m going to shut off my Spanish music mix and see if anyone wants to come to the post office with me, and maybe to the produkti around the corner. Possibly more to come depending on the adventurousness of the night; in any case, day 2 of the adventure of a lifetime has been a day well spent. :D
10:20 pm. Back in the room. Didn’t manage to find the post office, but Matt, Kristin (one of the Kristins) and I did manage to walk the streets of our adopted city without being molested or robbed, or slipping on the ice (well, at least without slipping to the point of falling). We even managed to ask directions! (We got one-word replies that were not terribly helpful, but hey, they understood!) Confidence exudes from us the way sweat would if it wasn’t nearly freezing to our skin.
I thought I knew bitter cold back in DC. Sweet Mother Macree, was I wrong. Less than five minutes in St. Petersburg in January and your fingers and ears are starting to tingle ominously. I’m wrapped up in an L.L. Bean coat that’s supposed to be even warmer than down; a fleece-lined hat; micro-tek (whatever that means) insulated gloves; boots with fleece liners; long underwear, jeans, two sweaters, and a scarf. And my fingers are STILL just barely thawing. I need to learn some good Russian expletives; the English ones I have aren’t doing the job. Time to take a very warm shower (with actual shampoo! Hurrah!) and then probably crawl into bed.
11:58 pm. Rebecca and Kristin brought a guy they met at McDonalds back to the room with them. I really, really don't know enough Russian to talk to Sasha, but I'm enjoying listening in on their conversation about music and picking up the odd word or three. :) Only problem here will be showering. Ah, well, we'll see.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Motherland, Day 1
6:53 pm Moscow time. Slept on and off on the flight over; wasn’t intending to, but I think the sight of all that space in the row made me crash. The CIEE group got off the Munich plane together and slowly aggregated with all of the other groups; it took until dinner to get all forty-five of us together, but we managed it. : )
It appears that I’m the one schmuck on this trip who arrived without her checked luggage, but, hey, it had to happen to somebody. (UPDATE, as of 9 pm: apparently there are three of us. I feel less conspicuous now.) God bless Katya, one of the program directors, who took me right through the lost-luggage process and confirmed the addresses I didn’t know yet with the customs officer. I mean, I’m in the country all of fifteen minutes, I don’t know anything except the name of the hotel, and I’m filling out forms for where to send it. Aaaaaaaargh.
The small blessing here is not having had to schlep the giant suitcase around. Thank you a thousand times, Mom, for suggesting I pack another outfit in my carry-on. The luggage is supposed to arrive on the next flight from Munich and be brought to the hotel tomorrow; in any case, I have clothes for a week, if I’m careful. Raggle fraggle razzum frazzum argh.
All forty-some of us seem to agree that the whole “I’m in Russia!” thing hasn’t hit yet. Granted, the expletive-inducing cold helped (even though we were out in it for all of a minute). But it’ll probably take until tomorrow before I realize “oh my God, I’m actually in Russia for the entire semester!” (We really do run the gamut on language skills here. The Russian Language program students were able to decipher most of Irina Borisovna’s welcoming speech, while we have at least six students who don’t know more than “please,” “thank you,” and “My name is ___.” More of God’s blessings upon Jarlath, the American program coordinator, for translating Irina’s speeches for the rest of us.)
Supposedly there are a few card games going on tonight, but after hearing that at least one of them would take place in the bar, I retired to my room to finish blogging for the day. We’re having a rearranging-my-roommate’s-suitcase party, after which I plan to shower, lay down with my mp3 player, and probably be out by ten.
Adventure of a lifetime, day 1. (Though it’ll probably be posted on day 4 or so, depending on the availability of free/cheap wireless.) Let’s see just how much this rocks, eh?
It appears that I’m the one schmuck on this trip who arrived without her checked luggage, but, hey, it had to happen to somebody. (UPDATE, as of 9 pm: apparently there are three of us. I feel less conspicuous now.) God bless Katya, one of the program directors, who took me right through the lost-luggage process and confirmed the addresses I didn’t know yet with the customs officer. I mean, I’m in the country all of fifteen minutes, I don’t know anything except the name of the hotel, and I’m filling out forms for where to send it. Aaaaaaaargh.
The small blessing here is not having had to schlep the giant suitcase around. Thank you a thousand times, Mom, for suggesting I pack another outfit in my carry-on. The luggage is supposed to arrive on the next flight from Munich and be brought to the hotel tomorrow; in any case, I have clothes for a week, if I’m careful. Raggle fraggle razzum frazzum argh.
All forty-some of us seem to agree that the whole “I’m in Russia!” thing hasn’t hit yet. Granted, the expletive-inducing cold helped (even though we were out in it for all of a minute). But it’ll probably take until tomorrow before I realize “oh my God, I’m actually in Russia for the entire semester!” (We really do run the gamut on language skills here. The Russian Language program students were able to decipher most of Irina Borisovna’s welcoming speech, while we have at least six students who don’t know more than “please,” “thank you,” and “My name is ___.” More of God’s blessings upon Jarlath, the American program coordinator, for translating Irina’s speeches for the rest of us.)
Supposedly there are a few card games going on tonight, but after hearing that at least one of them would take place in the bar, I retired to my room to finish blogging for the day. We’re having a rearranging-my-roommate’s-suitcase party, after which I plan to shower, lay down with my mp3 player, and probably be out by ten.
Adventure of a lifetime, day 1. (Though it’ll probably be posted on day 4 or so, depending on the availability of free/cheap wireless.) Let’s see just how much this rocks, eh?
Transit, Part 2
Lessons from a couple of hours in a German airport: (I’m not sure if these are Europe-wide, related to Russia, or uniquely German, but they’re worth noting anyway.)
-Honestly, the airport is VERY lightly trafficked compared to what I was expecting. There are maybe fifteen people in the waiting area for the St. Petersburg flight, and that’s fairly populated for the waiting areas here. (And of those fifteen, I appear to be the only English-speaking young person. Maybe it will just be me from CIEE on this flight…I was kind of hoping to meet a compatriot or two. Oh well.) Maybe Germans just don’t rush as much. Either that, or I’m just at a rather obscure end of the airport…this is exclusively the Connecting Flights section, so that may be.
-Germany is more efficient about scheduling their planes than the US is. Planes are taking off at the same gate within two hours of each other; novel idea, that one. (This also means that there’s nobody at the desk an hour before the flight, but, if it works for them, awesome. The employees sort of moseyed in about twenty minutes before the intended start of boarding.)
-There seems to be a conspicuous lack of drinking fountains around here. In St. Petersburg I could understand that, ‘cause drinking the water will make you ill, but not in Germany. On another note, German faucets don’t mess around.
-German whipped cream is unsweetened. Not sure whether that makes me like it any better. (In retrospect, sachertorte was probably not the wisest choice for breakfast. But, (a), I wasn’t exactly sure what it was when I ordered it; (b), chocolate cake is delicious any time of day; (c), it was justifiably inexpensive; and (d), my body is so thrown off at this point that a little extra sugar can’t hurt anything.)
11 am, German time. Hooray! I’m not alone! Confused-looking college women with large carryons attract each other, apparently. We’ve managed to identify seven CIEE girls so far (counting me), so we’re all far less nervous about the whole endeavor. :D Two are on the Russian Language program, so we’ve appointed Sasha and Lou to translate for us when we get there. As for the rest…we’re three hours away from the most fascinating semester of our lives! I can’t wait!!!
This flight is reasonably packed up front, but near the back where I’m sitting, it’s surprisingly spacious. I actually have a whole row to myself, which is very nice after eight hours of trying not to elbow Leon or trip the flight attendants. (Also, I wasn’t expecting to be fed on the Lufthansa flight, which is a pleasant surprise. I suppose airlines like to serve cheese tortellini because it makes an easy MRE and won’t offend or cause danger to anyone except lactose-intolerant people. And, no offense to anyone with milk troubles, but I don’t think Europe does lactose intolerance.)
Note to self: no cheese tortellini in Russia.
-Honestly, the airport is VERY lightly trafficked compared to what I was expecting. There are maybe fifteen people in the waiting area for the St. Petersburg flight, and that’s fairly populated for the waiting areas here. (And of those fifteen, I appear to be the only English-speaking young person. Maybe it will just be me from CIEE on this flight…I was kind of hoping to meet a compatriot or two. Oh well.) Maybe Germans just don’t rush as much. Either that, or I’m just at a rather obscure end of the airport…this is exclusively the Connecting Flights section, so that may be.
-Germany is more efficient about scheduling their planes than the US is. Planes are taking off at the same gate within two hours of each other; novel idea, that one. (This also means that there’s nobody at the desk an hour before the flight, but, if it works for them, awesome. The employees sort of moseyed in about twenty minutes before the intended start of boarding.)
-There seems to be a conspicuous lack of drinking fountains around here. In St. Petersburg I could understand that, ‘cause drinking the water will make you ill, but not in Germany. On another note, German faucets don’t mess around.
-German whipped cream is unsweetened. Not sure whether that makes me like it any better. (In retrospect, sachertorte was probably not the wisest choice for breakfast. But, (a), I wasn’t exactly sure what it was when I ordered it; (b), chocolate cake is delicious any time of day; (c), it was justifiably inexpensive; and (d), my body is so thrown off at this point that a little extra sugar can’t hurt anything.)
11 am, German time. Hooray! I’m not alone! Confused-looking college women with large carryons attract each other, apparently. We’ve managed to identify seven CIEE girls so far (counting me), so we’re all far less nervous about the whole endeavor. :D Two are on the Russian Language program, so we’ve appointed Sasha and Lou to translate for us when we get there. As for the rest…we’re three hours away from the most fascinating semester of our lives! I can’t wait!!!
This flight is reasonably packed up front, but near the back where I’m sitting, it’s surprisingly spacious. I actually have a whole row to myself, which is very nice after eight hours of trying not to elbow Leon or trip the flight attendants. (Also, I wasn’t expecting to be fed on the Lufthansa flight, which is a pleasant surprise. I suppose airlines like to serve cheese tortellini because it makes an easy MRE and won’t offend or cause danger to anyone except lactose-intolerant people. And, no offense to anyone with milk troubles, but I don’t think Europe does lactose intolerance.)
Note to self: no cheese tortellini in Russia.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Hallo bin Deutschland
This brief experience is making me rethink the statement on my resume that I have a 'working knowledge of German.' It doesn't work in an airport; thank goodness for English translations. Interestingly, I have internet access in Munich (though not in Dulles), so, since I’m about an hour and a half too early to check in for my flight, I can post! Hooray!
Eight-hour flights are LONG (and, in this case, turbulent), but at least mine wasn’t particularly boring. For that, I can thank in-flight movies (Slumdog Millionaire and Cars), my mp3 player, a couple of books, my laptop, and a cute German international law student named Leon with whom to talk IR.
Munich is currently blanketed with snow and, according to Leon, unseasonably cold. Still about twenty degrees warmer than what I'm expecting in Petersburg (-11 and sunny, right now). The airport has big M's on the side of everything (which I'm assuming stands for Munich, but which is a little disorienting when you were raised in the DC Metro system). Right now, I'm sitting in the terminal (full of London-bound people, on the flight before mine) letting my laptop charge and trying to adjust my body clock. It's three a.m. according to both my brain and my computer, but it's bright and early morning in Germany. Friends advise me that jet lag takes a week to overcome; it'll be an interesting week.
Oh, and I still haven't mastered the Fahrenheit-Celsius conversion in my head. The St. Petersburg Times predicts highs of -4C on Friday...what's that in Celsius? :P
Next stop, the motherland! :D
Eight-hour flights are LONG (and, in this case, turbulent), but at least mine wasn’t particularly boring. For that, I can thank in-flight movies (Slumdog Millionaire and Cars), my mp3 player, a couple of books, my laptop, and a cute German international law student named Leon with whom to talk IR.
Munich is currently blanketed with snow and, according to Leon, unseasonably cold. Still about twenty degrees warmer than what I'm expecting in Petersburg (-11 and sunny, right now). The airport has big M's on the side of everything (which I'm assuming stands for Munich, but which is a little disorienting when you were raised in the DC Metro system). Right now, I'm sitting in the terminal (full of London-bound people, on the flight before mine) letting my laptop charge and trying to adjust my body clock. It's three a.m. according to both my brain and my computer, but it's bright and early morning in Germany. Friends advise me that jet lag takes a week to overcome; it'll be an interesting week.
Oh, and I still haven't mastered the Fahrenheit-Celsius conversion in my head. The St. Petersburg Times predicts highs of -4C on Friday...what's that in Celsius? :P
Next stop, the motherland! :D
Departure day
Couldn't get onto the internet in Dulles, so I'm loading a couple of posts at once. Hi Mom and Dad! :)
4:40 pm. Waiting outside Gate C2 at Dulles. Maybe I’m just paranoid about international air travel, but checking in was surprisingly easy. Then again, after we spent most of the past two days carefully weighting and reweighing my suitcases to make sure even Lufthansa won’t have a problem with them (weight OR volume), I checked the bigger suitcase and brought the smaller one (which I’ve named Vladimir) and the messenger bag with me with no trouble at all. Heck, nobody even asked to check the liquids. There’s something to be said for flying on a Tuesday afternoon…or maybe for looking like a slightly confused college student. Being female probably didn’t hurt either.
Oddly, Gate C2 has the smallest waiting area of any I passed (and was all the way at the bloody other end of the airport from the check-in terminal; they had us take a train across the airport), even though it’s a 250-person flight. (I think most of the passengers are in the C1 waiting area. I’m sitting on the floor with my friend the netbook—part of this complete study abroad experience. :D) We’re supposed to start boarding in fifteen minutes, so I really have nothing else to do except blog. Pardon my rambling, please.
I’ve lived at home for most of my college experience, so leaving home and my parents to head five thousand miles away is a really, really weird experience. Mom and Dad aren’t going to know what to do with themselves now; I hear rumors of remodeling the kitchen (though Dad denies everything). For myself…I’m trying to figure out if it’s possible to be homesick before you even leave the gate. I talked to all of my grandparents this morning, as well as my sister. Nobody’s quite sure what to make of this trip; that includes me. The furthest away from home I’ve ever been previously was Mexico, and that was for…what, a week?...in eighth grade, with fourteen other middle schoolers and two teachers. An eight-hour flight to Germany, followed by a three-hour flight into St. Petersburg, by myself is a little mind-warping.
And I left my cell at home, so I can’t call my parents and tell them I made it through all right. Oh well. Guess that’ll wait until tomorrow in Russia.
There’ll be another post soon, from the airport in Munich. Farewell for now, my friends! :)
4:40 pm. Waiting outside Gate C2 at Dulles. Maybe I’m just paranoid about international air travel, but checking in was surprisingly easy. Then again, after we spent most of the past two days carefully weighting and reweighing my suitcases to make sure even Lufthansa won’t have a problem with them (weight OR volume), I checked the bigger suitcase and brought the smaller one (which I’ve named Vladimir) and the messenger bag with me with no trouble at all. Heck, nobody even asked to check the liquids. There’s something to be said for flying on a Tuesday afternoon…or maybe for looking like a slightly confused college student. Being female probably didn’t hurt either.
Oddly, Gate C2 has the smallest waiting area of any I passed (and was all the way at the bloody other end of the airport from the check-in terminal; they had us take a train across the airport), even though it’s a 250-person flight. (I think most of the passengers are in the C1 waiting area. I’m sitting on the floor with my friend the netbook—part of this complete study abroad experience. :D) We’re supposed to start boarding in fifteen minutes, so I really have nothing else to do except blog. Pardon my rambling, please.
I’ve lived at home for most of my college experience, so leaving home and my parents to head five thousand miles away is a really, really weird experience. Mom and Dad aren’t going to know what to do with themselves now; I hear rumors of remodeling the kitchen (though Dad denies everything). For myself…I’m trying to figure out if it’s possible to be homesick before you even leave the gate. I talked to all of my grandparents this morning, as well as my sister. Nobody’s quite sure what to make of this trip; that includes me. The furthest away from home I’ve ever been previously was Mexico, and that was for…what, a week?...in eighth grade, with fourteen other middle schoolers and two teachers. An eight-hour flight to Germany, followed by a three-hour flight into St. Petersburg, by myself is a little mind-warping.
And I left my cell at home, so I can’t call my parents and tell them I made it through all right. Oh well. Guess that’ll wait until tomorrow in Russia.
There’ll be another post soon, from the airport in Munich. Farewell for now, my friends! :)
Monday, January 25, 2010
So long, farewell, auf wiedersehn, goodbye...
The computer is the last thing to pack, so I'm signing off of the Internet for a while (not sure when or where I'll be able to access it next). Next stop, the airport, then Munich, then Mother Russia! :D
User error
By the way, I'm not sure what time zone Blogger thinks I'm in, but it's not 9 am over here, and it'll be further thrown off when I get to St. Petersburg. Anyone know how to change the system time? Thank you! :)
Musings on bending the laws of physics
Ooohh, exciting! Nine degrees and snowing in Petersburg! The warmest temperature I've seen yet!
...and they still haven't gotten the Christmas snow cleaned up. God bless the city government, who purchased 2,000 snow shovels to give out to St. Petersburg residents...all 4.7 million of them. :)
The organization coordinating our semester abroad suggested packing comfort food; for me, that means a jar of peanut butter and a large plastic bag full of herbal tea. It struck me as I packed the Jif that I don't know what there is in Russia on which to eat it. Peanut butter pancakes, anyone?
We've taken over my sister's room as packing central, and I'm playing Celtic music while debating which socks can be squeezed in where and trying to figure out how to roll a dress shirt. Packing. It's fascinating! (Anyone with ideas on how to reach the fourth dimension in terms of physical space, please share!)
Off to see if I can fit Anna Karenina in my purse, then shopping for a bathroom scale that's more accurate than 'within ten pounds, more or less.' Ta-ta for now!
...and they still haven't gotten the Christmas snow cleaned up. God bless the city government, who purchased 2,000 snow shovels to give out to St. Petersburg residents...all 4.7 million of them. :)
The organization coordinating our semester abroad suggested packing comfort food; for me, that means a jar of peanut butter and a large plastic bag full of herbal tea. It struck me as I packed the Jif that I don't know what there is in Russia on which to eat it. Peanut butter pancakes, anyone?
We've taken over my sister's room as packing central, and I'm playing Celtic music while debating which socks can be squeezed in where and trying to figure out how to roll a dress shirt. Packing. It's fascinating! (Anyone with ideas on how to reach the fourth dimension in terms of physical space, please share!)
Off to see if I can fit Anna Karenina in my purse, then shopping for a bathroom scale that's more accurate than 'within ten pounds, more or less.' Ta-ta for now!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
In which four months are condensed into two suitcases
And we haven't even weighed them yet.
Your task: to pack everything you'll need for four months, in a climate colder than any you've ever experienced, into one thirty-inch suitcase and one nineteen-inch carry-on. (Oh, and your purse. And no, taking a purse large enough to transport a toddler is not an option.)
Your temperature range to pack for: according to Wikipedia, about 16-60 degrees Fahrenheit. Then again, it hasn't been above zero once in the past week. Just goes to show that you can't always rely on Wikipedia, I guess.
The particularly entertaining facet of the evening was the two very different packing philosophies within the family.
1) "You can probably wear each sweater three times before washing it, right?"
2) "Take your swimsuit! Oh, what if you go to the gym or something? Won't you need sneakers?"
The swimsuit's not dry yet, and I've foregone the sneakers, but I think I've packed enough sweaters to only need to wear them twice before washing. As I understand it, private washers are fairly common; private dryers are not. I'm hoping that the traditional clotheslines hanging outside the windows aren't still in vogue in Petersburg...my sweaters will shatter from the ice!
As it is, I've packed most of my clothes, the hair dryer, the shoes/boots, and my textbooks...but not the socks yet. I'll be very lucky to find the room for them...or maybe I'll just wear the boot warmers for the entire semester. Eh? :)
Your task: to pack everything you'll need for four months, in a climate colder than any you've ever experienced, into one thirty-inch suitcase and one nineteen-inch carry-on. (Oh, and your purse. And no, taking a purse large enough to transport a toddler is not an option.)
Your temperature range to pack for: according to Wikipedia, about 16-60 degrees Fahrenheit. Then again, it hasn't been above zero once in the past week. Just goes to show that you can't always rely on Wikipedia, I guess.
The particularly entertaining facet of the evening was the two very different packing philosophies within the family.
1) "You can probably wear each sweater three times before washing it, right?"
2) "Take your swimsuit! Oh, what if you go to the gym or something? Won't you need sneakers?"
The swimsuit's not dry yet, and I've foregone the sneakers, but I think I've packed enough sweaters to only need to wear them twice before washing. As I understand it, private washers are fairly common; private dryers are not. I'm hoping that the traditional clotheslines hanging outside the windows aren't still in vogue in Petersburg...my sweaters will shatter from the ice!
As it is, I've packed most of my clothes, the hair dryer, the shoes/boots, and my textbooks...but not the socks yet. I'll be very lucky to find the room for them...or maybe I'll just wear the boot warmers for the entire semester. Eh? :)
Friday, January 22, 2010
Of Fish and Frostbite, Introduction
You have entered the study abroad blog of an American college junior spending the semester in St. Petersburg. Welcome!
I figured I'd start by making a list of the assorted advice I've received from friends and family. I'm not the first of my friends to study abroad, but I'm definitely the first to pick St. Petersburg rather than, say, Paris or Madrid. Everyone I talk to seems to have a very different impression of Russia, as evidenced by the bits and pieces catalogued below:
-Don't drink the water. (Thank you, State Department.) I assume that's why they drink so much tea...
-Don't buy anything that comes in cologne bottles. If you're intending to buy cologne, it might be cheap vodka. If you're intending to buy cheap vodka, it might very well be cologne.
-Sip the vodka, then eat the pickle. Sip the vodka, eat the pickle.
-Alternately, skip the vodka and just eat the pickles. (Hey, I like pickles.)
-Never accept a drink from anyone with a tongue piercing. (I assume that's not Russia-specific.)
-Don't get in a taxi by yourself. Practical advice for women everywhere.
-Carry an umbrella EVERYWHERE. I mean, the city was built on a marsh, so wet weather might be a good thing to anticipate.
-Keep your documents on you at all times, preparing to be stopped by the police. And be nice to the police when you're stopped; you'll get much further that way.
-Carry an extra plastic bag with you; you'll never know when you'll need it.
-Also, carry tissues, as they're apparently in rather short supply over there.
The advice to 'stay warm' has so many variations that it deserves its own paragraph. Granted, I'm going for the semester where the weather gets better as we go along, rather than worse. Still, though...it's about -13 degrees Fahrenheit over there right now, the city was hit by massive snowstorms around Christmas that still haven't been cleared up, and there was a fatality on Wednesday thanks to an icicle. (How does that work? Blunt trauma, or stabbing?) Rather than just a fleece hat, I'm debating a fleece-lined steel helmet. :P
Why Of Fish and Frostbite? I don't actually expect to get frostbite, but it's a very real possibility in a city that far north. And, as far as I understand, the American image of the Russian diet consisting of cabbage and beets isn't quite on target. There's also a LOT of fish. And pancakes. :)
I fly on Tuesday, and I haven't started packing yet. St. Petersburg actually limits travelers to 35 kilos of luggage total, which is, frankly, diddly squat. The adventures of fitting four months of my life into one large suitcase and a carryon will be documented in a following post, I'm sure, as well as the wonders of international air travel. :) For now, до свиданя!
I figured I'd start by making a list of the assorted advice I've received from friends and family. I'm not the first of my friends to study abroad, but I'm definitely the first to pick St. Petersburg rather than, say, Paris or Madrid. Everyone I talk to seems to have a very different impression of Russia, as evidenced by the bits and pieces catalogued below:
-Don't drink the water. (Thank you, State Department.) I assume that's why they drink so much tea...
-Don't buy anything that comes in cologne bottles. If you're intending to buy cologne, it might be cheap vodka. If you're intending to buy cheap vodka, it might very well be cologne.
-Sip the vodka, then eat the pickle. Sip the vodka, eat the pickle.
-Alternately, skip the vodka and just eat the pickles. (Hey, I like pickles.)
-Never accept a drink from anyone with a tongue piercing. (I assume that's not Russia-specific.)
-Don't get in a taxi by yourself. Practical advice for women everywhere.
-Carry an umbrella EVERYWHERE. I mean, the city was built on a marsh, so wet weather might be a good thing to anticipate.
-Keep your documents on you at all times, preparing to be stopped by the police. And be nice to the police when you're stopped; you'll get much further that way.
-Carry an extra plastic bag with you; you'll never know when you'll need it.
-Also, carry tissues, as they're apparently in rather short supply over there.
The advice to 'stay warm' has so many variations that it deserves its own paragraph. Granted, I'm going for the semester where the weather gets better as we go along, rather than worse. Still, though...it's about -13 degrees Fahrenheit over there right now, the city was hit by massive snowstorms around Christmas that still haven't been cleared up, and there was a fatality on Wednesday thanks to an icicle. (How does that work? Blunt trauma, or stabbing?) Rather than just a fleece hat, I'm debating a fleece-lined steel helmet. :P
Why Of Fish and Frostbite? I don't actually expect to get frostbite, but it's a very real possibility in a city that far north. And, as far as I understand, the American image of the Russian diet consisting of cabbage and beets isn't quite on target. There's also a LOT of fish. And pancakes. :)
I fly on Tuesday, and I haven't started packing yet. St. Petersburg actually limits travelers to 35 kilos of luggage total, which is, frankly, diddly squat. The adventures of fitting four months of my life into one large suitcase and a carryon will be documented in a following post, I'm sure, as well as the wonders of international air travel. :) For now, до свиданя!
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