peterhof

woke up at 6

went to peterhof

really pretty

pictures to come soon

no work done today

must try sleeping to wake up early and do more work

bye

Eugene Onegin

I am so tired after today but I figure uploading one blog just with a bunch of bulletpoints before i forget any of this is better than nothing:

- Language class (12:00pm to 1:30pm) class was fine, i really do like my language professor. she had a pop oral quiz today, but i did okay i think, she's not really sure how to grade me but there will be a number at some point. i need to study hard for next week's test though, especially cursive.

- Bochka Lunch (1:30pm to 2:50pm) lunch was rushed since we only had an hour to get from the university to the hermitage, but i had good pelmeni.

- Hermitage Complex Tour (3pm to 4:50pm) i hate professor gregoriev (the hermitage class). he's a jackass and even though i was in the wrong today for not bringing my hermitage ID, it was a simple mistake due to miscommunication, and he decided to be a total asshole about it. i fumed for a very good half hour about it, and nothing else. i do not feel bad about my mistake, except thinking he was maybe not a total jackass before this. i know now that in his class, one toe out of line means you're entirely worthy of a staredown and jackassery, and one wrong answer means you're plain incompetent. i have decided to never speak in his class unless i know for sure it's a right answer and even then he never seems to care so yeah. jackass. i do not appreciate short tempered professors, even if they are intelligent and working for one of the most beautiful museums ive ever stepped foot in. i am a smart person who did not deserve the behavior he exhibited towards me, and i am so livid that i dont feel any remorse towards myself for forgetting my damned ID. he can go to hell in a handbasket.

- Pizza Cafe (4:50pm to 5:45pm) went to a pizza cafe for a short nondinner. i dont believe in paying $4 for a slice of pizza =/ so i sat and enjoyed the company

- Eugene Onegin at the Mariinsky Theatre (6:00pm - 11:00pm) the opera lasted 4 hours. im tired. my seat was awful. my view was between the two people in front of me and they were a couple who were snacking throughout the opera and cuddling so for a while i saw nothing except the supertitled screen above the stage that translated all their singing. mad distracting from the opera, but hugely helpful for me. didnt help with the couple in front though, so i stood against the wall of the box, sitting on the separator between my box and the next one. got a few stares, but wahtever i could at least see the stage and the people on it. the story was okay, the music was really good, and the singing was great. the last act was amazing--great set design, choreography was actually synchronized in comparison to the first two acts, and the singing got so much better. makes sense i guess? the applause at the end was a bit awkward because it was to the same beat, so people were just...clapping to a beat o_O

- i was in lot of places with a lot of tourists, so i saw a ton of asians, heard a lot of English, British English, Chinese, and Japanese. fun stuff.

- Chocolate Cafe (11:00pm to 12:00am) had a cup of actual melted chocolate. it was delicious.

- Metro Ride/Walk home (12:00am to 12:35am) yay the metro didn't close and i didnt see too many drunk people. they also fixed the light on my floor, so im not fumbling in the dark to open the locks on my door.

i am shit tired, and i took no photos today. another long busy day tomorrow

p.s. things i ate today:

10am - tea, piece of bread with ham and cheese

2pm - a small plate of pelmeni (very very small dumplings)

5:30pm - 3 bites of eric's pizza that had two pieces of salami and two olives on it, no cheese

10:00 pm - 3 pieces of jonathan's dark chocolate bar, one piece of eric and victoria's milk chocolate

12:00 am - a 50ml (about a shot) of melted chocolate

yeah.

oh i guess i forgot to post last night...because honestly i did nothing except walk in the rain because i tried leaving when the sun came out and then it started to pour, so i walked back home instead of going shopping. and then i made dinner, which wasn't too bad, i made noodles with chicken and egg.

anyway

today was basically another day, had two classes

my professor at the hermitage is very intelligent, but he was kind of snarky at times asking us many questions. he seems to expect a lot from us, which was kind of upsetting at times for me because it was really uncomfortable having him ask a question and no one had the answer...things will get better, i know it.

we spent two hours just hanging out in the lounge outside the classroom, and then we went to history class which was...rapid pace, as per usual, but the professor is nice and doesn't have as thick of an accent.

oh well, i am really tired =/

but i guess here's a few things that've been happening:

i am covered in mosquito bites, grr

i completely spent sunday in my room except with the whole walking in the rain thing

my parents finally have electricity and phone in our house :)

aughhh im covered in mosquito bites whyyy

my host mother actually set up a living room but it's still technically her room so i never expect to use it ever

im checking out another studio tomorrow night

i am gone.

it is about 2:20 am and i am totally just gone, so im gonna try to type this out as best i can.

so i woke up at noon and updated this site, and had a breakfast of bread and cheese, some tea, and talked to my host mother about my night

i didn't do anything throughout the day since i just stayed in due to the grey weather. i watched some stuff online, had instant mashed potatoes (chicken flavor lol), and had some tea. i did my homework, which was productive of me, and then waited to hear about tonight.

i watched the office season 5 since i havent kept up in so long, and then had a dinner of chicken, noodles, and cucumbers, and i drizzled heinz soy sauce on it to add a lot of flavor to it

my host mother is leaving for her dacha tomorrow early morning so i can't be too loud

i went out with victoria, eric, and jonathan again tonight to jonathan's place and we watched funny youtube videos

and im glad they walked me back since the walk back alone would be soo bad :(

happy saturday :)

"Hey remember that time when that kid crossed the street and got hit by a moped and died? Yeah that was epic."

It's about noon on Saturday, and I didn't put up an entry last night because I was out really late but I guess for consistency I'll write about my Friday now and then update later about today.

I woke up, had some breakfast which was an omelette and some bread with cheese, and a nice cup of tea. I got to the university at 12:30 to meet people so we could walk over to the Russian Museum because I wasn't completely sure how to get there from my place, and we ended up mistaking the Field of Mars for the Russian Museum so we were a bit late. We got to the park behind the museum and just like most big, pretty parks, it took us forever to find an exit, walk all the way around, and get to our meeting spot. We were about 10, 15 minutes late, but since it was 4 of us and not just like...me, I didn't feel too bad. It was also our first class, so yeah.

Professor Ilia Askoldovich took us into the museum, which was absolutely beautiful. There were some tour groups going through the museum so hearing what he was saying got a bit difficult. It was about an hour and half of standing in a room full of Russian icons, hearing him lecture about icons. It was really interesting and I kind of wished we weren't just standing around since my feet started to hurt =/

After the Russian Museum, I walked to Liteny to have lunch with Jonathan, Eric, and Victoria at the Chocolate Cafe, which is also connected to a sushi bar. I had a business lunch and splurged and got supposedly the best hot chocolate in the world. The business lunch was a chicken teriyaki bento box and it was surprisingly good. The salad was eh, I wanted a better dressing on it than just lemon, but everything else was really good. The rice was legit, there was salmon and cucumber sushi, and yummy chicken teriyaki. The miso soup was also really good. But when the hot chocolate came out, ohh man. It definitely was the best hot chocolate I've ever had. It was like a liquid brownie, but not too thick and disgustingly decadent, it was juuust right. Found out later of course that the cocoa wasn't part of the business lunch, so I pretty much splurged on lunch, which I figure since I've been trying so damn hard to save money, one lunch couldn't hurt me.

I definitely ended up splurging that night though, since we walked around to bars around 9 and found them to be completely packed. So we ended up back at the first bar I ever went to in Petersburg, which is the Golden Pint, and it's a nice bar with a good feeling, but the drinks are slightly more expensive (probably because it's right next to the consulates). There was a generous, but not necessarily kind man, sitting at the bar in front of our table and he ended up buying like $60 worth of drinks for the table. None for me, about $14 for Jonathan and Victoria combined, and about $46 on Eric alone. Seeing as I don't know any Russian, I only really tried to nod and smile if he acknowledged me (which he rarely did) and I noticed his demeanor more than trying to translate what he was saying. He really seemed to ignore Victoria, which was weird since she has just as good Russian as Eric, and I couldn't understand why until it just occurred that he's just a misogynistic old man who was drunk off his rocker. Oh well. Good times, at least, and I ended up splurging on a girly cocktail called "Grasshopper" which was really just sugar and mint, and a Czech beer. After spending hours at the Golden Pint (from like 11 to 1:30), we went back to Jonathan's apartment and hung out, and I loved all the stuffed animals he has from his host family. Then we walked back to my area because there's a Carl's Jr. And oh geez, it was so nice getting a decent cheeseburger at 2:30am, especially with the others still feeling drunk and I sobering up. They walked me back to my place, which was nice of them, and also hilarious in general. Definitely a great night :)

So I got back to my apartment at 3am and fell asleep and now I am awake at noon and I don't know what exactly I should be doing today...oh well. Breakfast time!

Hey devushka--

Meh I have class early tomorrow so I should be going to bed pretty soon...

Today wasn't so hectic. I woke up early, had breakfast consisting of toasted bread with cheese, peach juice, and a banana yogurt.

I went back to sleep and woke up at 1, then 2. I left my house around 2:15, and walked slowly to the university, sat in the lounge by myself again with my produkti lunch which was cherry yogurt (not the best flavor, unfortunately) and a small bar of chocolate. I had some pastries left on the table of the common area and waited for my professor who was 15 minutes late. Had our lesson, which was nice, and then walked back home enjoying the nice sunlight. I should really take a nice long walk along the embankment soon before the sun just..disappears.

Got back home, went back to sleep and woke up at 7 pm. My host mother left me chicken and rice with carrots on the stove, so I heated it up and added peanuts, lemon juice, and soy sauce. Soooo good. Had a glass of pepsi to top it all off and enjoyed my little slice of home of a dinner.

I'm hesitant to actually hang out at the university now knowing that Finnair guy (see creepy guy we met at the airport) constantly hangs out there and just reeks of desperation, which is unfortunate.

I still need to shop and walk and do..things. Oh well.

At least tonight I met up with Victoria, Jonathan, and Eric for a drink and caught up. It was just nice seeing people again, people I can actually talk to..

Tomorrow is the first class at the Russian Museum of Art and I have no clue how to get there so I'll be meeting up with others and walking over, which is good.

Time for bed x-x

"Augh this tastes like shit." "But it SMELLS like love!" - about Amore strawberry champagne cocktail

I am tired as hell from dancing so I'm going to keep this post short and then go to bed x-x;

So I woke up early today, like around 8:30 and talked to some people online. Then I had breakfast at around 9 or so and my host mother made an omelette :DD With ham and basil mmm. I ate it with red peppers and tomato. All it needed was a bit of cheese and I would've been so happy but it was delicious so yum. Had my usual earl grey with milk and sugar, and I was set.

Went to class ridiculously early, like an hour and a half early. I think the initial idea was to hang out in the lounge and meet some people but that became fail when I realized I didn't know my username and password so I couldn't busy myself at a computer anyway. So I hung out alone, eating my cashews and crystallized pineapple, sipping my chocolate milkshake in a juice box, and reading my Russian textbook. Thankfully my Russian professor came ridiculously early as well so we ended class early.

I walked back home and had dinner after a while. For dinner I had borscht with a huge piece of I think beef in it. And then my host mother made hot dogs with rice and carrots. Yummy and very familiar. I had soy sauce with my rice, and ketchup with hot dogs, yay.

I met Olya at Liteny and Nevsky at like 9:15 and she walked me over to "Mystery Dance Studio" lols which was in a sketch area actually, and I took a beginner salsa lesson. The teacher was a gorgeous Brazilian man who knew Portuguese and a bit of English, and his partner was a Russian woman who knew Portuguese and English and translated for the class. Too many women in the class, too many left feet, so I had to be male halfway through class and led all the females. Felt kind of awkward not being able to talk, but I realized that I never talk while dancing anyway haha. Anyway I am tired and will be opening my strawberry champagne cocktail now because it's nice and cold.

P.S. I flipped through a Russian issue of Cosmopolitan. Hilarious. They also had an ad for this Amore champagne cocktail, with a close up of the inscription on the can lols.

"When they told me you were my student, they told me you didn't know Chinese. And I thought 'Why are they telling me this?'"

Second day of classes

Went to bed at 4am with a headache, but woke up at 9:30. I had some breakfast, which was bread, ham, and cheese (yum) and some juice. I walked to school for 30 minutes and got there just in the nick of time I guess.

History was okay, I really should read the textbook to supplement our lectures...

We had a half hour break in between class so we went and had snack/lunch at the grocery store again. Got a thing of strawberry/blueberry Nestea and a bag of pretzels.

The Russian Museum class was interesting, Professor Doronchenkov (sp) is a very ideological/theoretical art history professor, who will go on tangents about alien movies in Hollywood and Times Square at midnight while talking about Constantinople and Russia...

I had another 30 minute break in between my class again so I went back to the grocery store to put money onto my cellphone and then walked with Eric and Victoria for a bit and then walked back to the University. Read an old copy of The Saint Petersburg Times (English newspaper) and waited for my Russian language professor to show up. She called me to tell me she was stuck in traffic and would be 10 minutes late. So we started class late but it went well, she's such a nice woman. She teaches English to middle school and high school kids, and lived in Iowa for a semester 13 years ago, and has degrees in elementary school education, so she's really patient and softspoken. She definitely started off really slowly for my benefit, and when I showed her I could read somewhat well, she's going to start picking up the pace now. She seemed legit surprised I could say "hello" in Russian...haha she's a sweet woman. She explained the whole system of "dachas" to me, which is good since my host mother told me recently that she goes to her dacha every weekend and picks mushrooms. I had an apple from a dacha, and it was supposedly pure and free of pesticides and chemicals, so it'll be like nothing I've ever had. I bit into it and....wow that was one fuzzy apple. The insides were definitely...fuzzy and not mushy...lol

I got out of class at 6, and got home at 6:30 to do some grocery shopping. I bought two bags of chips, one being Lays sour cream and mushroom flavor (it's actually pretty good), a cup of ramen, a bag of frosted ginger cookies, and the most hilarious purchase: strawberry champagne cocktail....in an aluminum can. For a dollar. It's called "Amore" and the clincher for me being it was a little inscription on the can in a girly/curly font reading "I am now the girlfriend of a sex god." Yeah. I bought it for the many different levels of the lols.

When I got home I heated up some mushroom soup, had some Russian ramen, which turned out to be pretty good. Had a nice cup of Pepsi and watched some lovely WongFu clips. Now I'm catching up on other videos and doing my Russian homework :O

First Day of Classes :)

Woke up at 8:40, not feeling so great, but I had breakfast. Bread with cheese, black tea with milk and sugar, as usual at this point.

Walking to class took me a little less than an hour, so I was 5 minutes late =/ Next week I'll try using the metro but I suspect it'll still take me the same amount of time since the metro isn't the most accessible form of transportation here.

The class at the Hermitage was great, Professor Gregorievich is very intelligent and interesting. He has a British accent when he speaks English, which makes sense since most Russians learn English English, not American English.

We had a half hour break, which I took the time to get kind of ripped off at the Hermitage cafeteria for an orange and a piece of chocolate, but whatever. Those 3 hours of class went by really quickly, which was nice. Our final assignment is a 2 to 19 page paper on any object we'll be looking at (anything from ancient Egyptian to Russian icons to contemporary art), due before we leave Russia. Oh, studying abroad is great.

After class everyone decided to walk to Gostiny Dvor and walk around the shopping center, which was interesting, I'll have to go back to certain stores and see if I can get some shirts or something. Apraxin Dvor, the cheaper shopping center, is really really sketchy and I just...kind of never want to go back there without someone who knows what they're doing.

I wasn't feeling that great today, and I just didn't feel like trying so hard to fit in with the others today so I kept to myself and listened to my iPod while walking with them =/

Dropped by a produkti (convenience store) for "lunch," which was a bottle of peach yogurt and three of Eric's small pretzels. At 4 I had a lecture at the University, with Prof. Kolonitsky, on Russian history. I seriously am the least experienced in the entire group and the poor guy doesn't have the best grasp on English and I can tell he's tempted to just use Cyrillic and Russian but because of me everything has to be translated =/ The lecture was okay, not awesome, but interesting enough. He kind of rushed through a lot and didn't contextualize much...but whatever.

Got back home, had some dinner, which was noodles and pork and mushrooms, and mushroom soup with sour cream. Yummy as usual.

I don't think I'll be posting as much anymore, since I'll be having a routine schedule now, but I'll update a bit now and then.

More classes tomorrow, starting at noon, which isn't so bad.

"Werlcome to Morshcow"

Warning: This is a longass entry.

So I left on an express day train to Moscow at 1pm, which was kind of frustrating because I had my first ultra fail miscommunication with my host mother. She had no idea we had an excursion to Moscow planned, so I had to tell her but with our limited communication, she got confused about when I was leaving and where I was going, so I ended up being a bit late to the train station x-x.

But I got on the train, and we were off, and it was a really nice sleek business class kind of train. Comfy seats, little table in front of us, etc. There was a little tv screen playing really old Russian cartoons, but with no audio, which kind of weird. But just seeing the animation was cute enough. All of us went to the cafe car for lunch and these two guys, Sergei and Dmitri, were having a good time drinking tons of..well i guess everything, and offered all of us a shot with them. Jonathan gladly walked over, to the horror of Olja, our lovely program deputy. What ensued was a hilarious conversation ending in Jonathan, Eric, and Olja each taking a shot of vodka, the rest of us having a sip of whiskey, and Dmitri and Sergei calling Olja "soo smart, like a fox, no, like a SPY." So funny.

Getting to Moscow, the infamous Moscow traffic let us get to our hostel at 7. We all checked into our hostel, the Monroe Hostel (complete with three random black and white poster images of marilyn monroe in cheap Ikea looking frames randomnly on the wall near the receptionist table) with a minor hiccup about room reservations. We were all supposed to be in the same room to ourselves, but the hostel placed three of their guests in that room, so we had to ask them to move to another room which was...awkward. But everything pretty much worked out by the end and no one really cared. We all went out to dinner to a really hilariously Sixties themed diner that had pictures of famous American actors and actresses, a neon Coca-Cola sign, etc. Had a very Orangina tasting Fanta and a chicken burger which had pickles, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and cucumber in it, which was interesting. Was going to go for the "kesedillo" or the "tortillo" but I decided against it...

After dinner we bought alcohol from one of the universal little stands on the sidewalk. Eric and Victoria bought cigars as well. Gin and tonic in a can. Yeah. I pretty much got apple cider since I'm still a wuss, but it tasted good and got me buzzed so it did its job and I was satisfied. We walked around forever to find a toothbrush for Olja, but at the end of the night we were all back in the hostel, watching funny youtube videos and enjoying our very classy drinks haha. Too bad we didn't have any Bloody Cherries or Chocolate Papas though.

Waking up at 8 was painful, but we all got ready for our full day of Kremlin fun. First, though, we had breakfast at a painfully expensive cafe (Coffeemania). I will never understand why they charged $10 for a small glass of orange juice. After breakfast we headed back onto our little tour bus and was dropped off near the Kremlin. We walked in and went into the Treasury/Armory Museum. The tour guide was a nice enough woman, but walking 10 feet, and then stopping to talk for 10 minutes, only to walk 10 feet again, really fucking hurt my feet. I can not stand for that long, let alone move a little bit, then stand for twice as long. It also didnt help that we went in during tour group rush hour, so the museum was packed with tourists from all over the world, which was kind of cool but mostly annoying since there were also so many damned cases of royal gifts, which by the way, all put together in one huge show case, made everything look tackier. All in all, it was just too overwhelming of an experience for me. The things the tour guide was also saying was interesting, but all she was saying was "this is a ____. it is made of (silver/gold). it has (semi-precious stones/gems). it weighs (insert kilos). (insert royal person) gave this to (insert person of Russian royalty)." So we went to a lot of cases, pointed out a lot of objects, and with so many other people around, it all become one huge experience of white noise. The museum itself was beautiful and huge, with ribbed arches but it carried the sound so well that it only heightened the overall noise. There was just so much white noise in my head I couldn't do anything but zone out and try not to focus on my painful feet. We had a 30 minute break and then took the slowest walking tour of the kremlin, and the slowest tour of the Assumption Cathedral, which was absolutely gorgeous, but once again, pain in feet+lots of noise+tour guide = me listless.

After that eternal tour, we went to have lunch in some food court that was way underground near the Kremlin and I had Sbarro. In Russia. And I had stomach problems for the rest of the day. Lesson learned. We then visited the Tolstoy Museum, (yay blue plastic slippers lol) which was honestly my favorite place. It was a really beautiful (but not overdone) estate, and Tolstoy had a very interesting life and personality. The museum is set up to be as authentic as possible, as though he and his family had just left the house for the day. Knowing that everything was in the same place it was all those years ago gave me a bit of a creeped out feeling, especially in Vanechka's room, because he was the youngest, the favorite, and most gifted but unfortunately died at 7 from scarlet fever. So being in the nursery and seeing his personal belongings and pictures of him felt like I was invading a very private space that caused a lot of pain at one point. But all in all, it made for a very interesting experience. Our tour guide was soft spoken and simple, and Firtich gladly translated for all of us. I turned around at one point and realized another tourist had trailed in after our tour and ended up listening to our tour haha.

After the tour, we got onto the bus and the tourist that trailed after us...also got on the bus. Firtich introduced him as "here is another visitor to Moscow, he's from England." And so we were off o_O; We only drove for about two minutes since our next destination was a really famous cemetery nearby where many revered celebrities, writers, poets, scientists, politicians, artists are buried. The tourist apparently was planning on visiting the same cemetery, so Firtich offered him a free ride haha. I talked to him since he seemed like a nice enough dude and not as sketch as the guys our group has encountered before and learned that his name is Ewan, he's from somewhere north of London, and is a Ph.D. student visiting Russia for a space science conference? I dont know, I think his story panned out but others didn't really seem to think he knew English very well, so maybe he was sketchier than everyone else we met. But at least he kept to himself during the tour and was not a drunkard, a douche, or a creep. The cemetery itself was really interesting, but I don't know enough Russian literature and culture to appreciate all of the famous people our tour guide pointed out. Our tour guide also did not know who Khrushchev was, which was....kind of unbelievable. But yeah, Khrushchev, Gogol, Chekov, many greats were buried in that cemetery.

Post-cemetery tour, we all went to visit a really famous convent, but because we were 5 minutes late, we couldn't go inside. Instead we walked around the grounds, looked at the beautiful buildings, and found an old artillery gun and weapons stash in one of the arcades. There was a gun, an air bomb, and many other rusted weapons just...lying on the ground in this arched area. After that interesting find, we went to a specific spot where we could see the skyline of Moscow, which has Stalin's 7 Skyscrapers, the biggest in our view being the state university, but what definitely stood out was Moscow's business district, which was kind of an eyesore considering how level everything else seemed. But that's current times for you, I guess. We then all went back to the hostel to finally rest for a bit before going out for dinner. I was talking to Olja in the hallway of the hostel and that's where I met Vladimir. Olja and I were chatting and all of a sudden this tall Russian dude comes up to us and goes "Where are you from?" Olja answers "I'm Russian" in Russian, and the dude looks at me and goes "Where are you from?"

"The states."

"Vat?"

"The United States."

"Oh. Vat state?"

"..New York."

"Oh."

"...Yeah."

"Vat is your name?"

".............Ste--(I look at Olja). Tiffany. My name's Tiffany."

"Oh. I am Vladimir."

".........Cool."

"Vat?"

"Uh...cool?"

"....."

At that point Olja just jumps in (FINALLY) and explains to him in quick Russian that we were kind of having a conversation and that maybe we could talk later. And she actually looks at me after he leaves us be and goes "Oh, Russians do that all the time, he just wants to practice his English. So now you know, you can speak English to him later!" Yeah. Okay. Sure.

Found out later that that very morning, Victoria met Vladimir as well, but in the bathroom while she was brushing her teeth and Joe was in the stall. Apparently he was staring at her in the mirror and she uncomfortably muttered "Privet" while still brushing to get him to stop. He then left, and came back, and tried having a conversation with her that was equally awkward as mine. But I think hers definitely trumps mine in "awkward moment" just with that beginning.

Oh..hostels. Never know who you're going to meet ha. I did see a lot of Asians in the hostel, but didn't bother talking to any of them. I kind of dont want to be one of the sketch people.

Anyway, dinner. So we went to Le Pain Quotidien, and I started feeling really out of it and just needed something of substance, so I got chicken soup in a bread bowl. It was delicious and very filling. I also had a glass of white wine sangria, which wasn't the best sangria, but it was fine so whatever. After dinner we all went to the grocery store to stock up for breakfast and lunch for the next day since we'd be traveling for most of it, and chipped in for two boxes of wine for that night's fun. So we had two boxes of wine that night in our little hostel room, playing Never Have I Ever...but with gross (but cheap, seriously it was $4) box wine. It was fun, though. At one point I had to ask a question to one of the hostel people because I heard people speaking English in the "common area," and met a guy from Kazakhstan who actually lived in New York, specifically the Brighton Beach area in Brooklyn. He described it as "a very bad neighborhood. There were...the guys...paying...trying to sell the drugs." And my response was "...ah yeah. That happens. Well, thanks again and nice to meet you." Got to falling asleep at 1am, which wasn't that late, but for our wake up time it was still painful.

Woke up at 7? 8? Who the hell knows, it was early and I hated it. Groggily got up and ready for the day. Had breakfast in Olja's room, so I enjoyed my strawberry yogurt and green seedless grapes, which were good. Eric unknowingly put his entire breakfast in the freezer, so he had a frozen banana, apple, and fish. After our grocery breakfast, we waited in the bus for Firtich, his wife, and Anya and we were off to the Romanov house. I love museum slippers a lot, it's a nice idea and fun to slide around in haha. The Romanov house was really interesting because they were nobility, but not royalty until after Ivan the Terrible's whole mistake, so we visited their first estate as nobility. The house was really nice and interesting because it showed how the nobility lived, which wasn't as tacky as the Armory >_>;

After the Romanov house, we went to the Red Square, which a lot of was closed off for...a concert? For military music? Whatever it was, it took up a ton of space in the Red Square and there were a lot of tourists so it was kind of a bust in my eyes. We then walked over to St. Basil's Cathedral which was really beautiful but once again, the crowdedness really just took away so much of the experience for me. But beautiful paintings and the steep stairs made up for some of it. Getting out of St. Basil's, we decided to visit Lenin's mausoleum, which had a ton of security outside of it and therefore a huge line was formed. We had to remove all cellphones and cameras before we got into the line, and then had go through metal detectors and have our bags inspected by the guards. Walking along the wall of the Kremlin, we saw the burials of many famous military commanders and leaders, and of course, Stalin's grave, which was covered in carnations. Lenin's mausoleum was a Mayan-inspired red marble structure that was nearly completely dark inside. We had to walk down the stairs, which were barely lit, and a soldier/officer stood completely still in every corner. At one point I thought I had gone blind and was going to fall down because it was just that dark, only to look up and see the most severe looking officer staring at me. Lenin's mummy is...interesting. It was...definitely quite the experience overall.

We had lunch at the famous гум (Gum) trading house, specifically at a very inexpensive and pretty good "Asian Buffet." I forgot my kimono and blue hat, so unfortunately I could not fulfill the stereotype presented in the little photos, which is a shame. I had a flaky bread thing with lamb (and a bed of oil) inside, as well as a "lamb samosa" which was flaky, triangular, and covered in sesame seeds. Not bad at all and at $5, definitely worth it. After lunch we got back to the bus and went on our way to the Tretyakov State Gallery, the more modern of the two first. We were allowed to walk around the gallery space for an hour and a half and I didn't realize the contemporary art was on the second floor, so I stayed mostly on the avant-garde third floor, staring at "Composition VII" by Kandinsky (breathtaking painting, seriously, my iPod does not do it justice) The whole space was enormous and the art was beautiful. We went into the Salon de Refusee-styled sculpture garden, which has statues that are now out of their time periods and contexts, so it was kind of a little vintage amusement park, which was interesting. Saw one of the few remaining marble statues of Stalin, and this one in particular had a broken nose and was placed in front of a wall-length memorial to the victims under his reign. The tackiest sculpture in all of Moscow, though, has to be the ginormous sculpture of Peter The Great/Columbus, which just towers over everything and is just. seriously. An eyesore of all eyesores.

Well after all of that, we headed over to the original and first Tretyakov Gallery that holds classical and traditional Russian artworks starting with icons and leading up to the avant garde. We met with Professor Lydoev (sp), who is a world-class scholar on Russian icons, and he took us into the Orthodox Cathedral adjoined to the museum to show us the most famous and revered of all Orthodox miraculous icons, "Our Lady of Vladimir." It was simply breathtaking, and even more so that it is in the place of worship, with people praying to it and pressing their lips and heads against the glass to be blessed by the Virgin Mary. We unfortunately did stumble upon a service being held after looking at the icon up close, and moved into the galleries to hear the professor's lecture on icons. It was really interesting and the only downside was how much my feet hurt. Everything else, though, was really interesting, especially since he was using the icons in the gallery to show his point and explain the history and aesthetic of the time. We even saw the most famous Russian icon of all time, Rublyev's "Trinity," which was very beautiful. After his lecture, we had a bit of time to wander, and I ended up wandering with Olja and Joe because I didn't want to get lost in the space. Some very beautiful works of art were on display, and it was all so interesting. Olja provided some info on some of the subjects, pointing out who was who, and explaining some stories that went along with the paintings. After our little wandering I bought a few postcards from the museum shop and then outside I bought a little (lol not little, actually) shotglass for Irene (I REMEMBERED :D).

We had some time to kill since our train didnt leave until late and we didnt want to have dinner early so we took a short 45 minute tour to a few famous Moscow metro stations. The first one was eh, but oh my god, the second metro station was ridiculous. It was Komsomolskaya on the Koltsevaya line and was literally like a beautiful palace, which was the whole point of it. Taking the palaces away from the elite and giving to the common commuter. The ceiling had mosaics of Russian victories and beautiful moldings, and there were huge chandeliers down the middle in between the mosaic pieces. It was just. unreal. The last station we went to was also very interesting since it was one of the oldest stations and built during Soviet times, Ploschad Revolyutsii, so there were all these arches down the platform and in each arch were two bronze sculptures of people being happy. Happy children happy workers, happy soldiers, everyone was happy during Soviet times of course! But when we got there, I was just creeped out because even though the idea is that the sculptures were of happy people, they were just staring out across the platform to the other side, where the other sculptures were, and they were elevated so that you had to look up to see this unsmiling face staring out above your head. There were certain parts of sculptures one could rub for good luck, like a certain dog, the bottle of a soldier, the gun of a soldier...definitely interesting haha.

Then we had our epic dinner, finally haha. We went to a really great Ukrainian restaurant and had all of these delicious appetizers of cheese, grapes, vegetables, meat buns, veggie buns. We also had red wine, white wine, morse (cherry and cranberry juice cocktail i think), beers, etc. My side of the table took care of the red and white wines and went through about two bottles haha. There were toasts, fun conversation, and definitely a lot of laughter (and being "urseholes"). I had rabbit as my main course, and it was really delicious except that it was in such a rich sauce that I couldn't finish it all. Joe got the trout and it literally was an entire trout haha. After our lovely dinner, we took the bus to the train station and boarded our midnight train to Saint Petersburg, our home :) The train was really nice and classy, and had red velvet everywhere. It was all sleeper cars, so there were four to a room. I stayed with Elizabeth, Olja, and Anya, so we had a little girl talk before moving to the cafe car to drink just a bit more. Had a beer, talked with Victoria, Elizabeth, and always wonderful Professor Firtich. We turned in at about 2, which was kind of a mistake since we'd be at Petersburg by 8am haha. I definitely woke up feeling like I only closed my eyes for about 5 minutes and found myself groggily walking back to my apartment building, which took way too long because I got confused about what street I was on. But coming back to my room and my host mother's breakfast was definitely nice, even though the weather in Petersburg today was grey.

In general, Moscow just feels more like New York on a larger scale, so the tacky is over proportioned, and there are so many more people. I actually felt what a lot of people feel when they come to New York for the first time: trapped. I felt like I was trapped in a huge box, but trapped nonetheless. The weather in Moscow is warmer, since it's more south, but everything is just a bit more expensive. There are definitely a lot more tourists around in Moscow, which was to be expected I guess. Saint Petersburg is definitely more of European city, with canals and beautiful buildings that don't stick out like modern skyscraper eyesores. Even when the weather is grey, the bright colors stick out, which is the whole point of that. Also staying in a sketch hostel vs my nice comfortable room with my very nice host mother makes me biased. But I honestly do believe that I would not be as happy being in Moscow for my semester abroad based solely on the fact that I left New York for Vassar because I didn't want to get trapped in such a cold, urban atmosphere. So in conclusion, I'm glad for my trip to Moscow for many reasons, but the chiefest of them at this point right now is for making me feel that Saint Peterburg is my home.

Tomorrow: FIRST DAY OF CLASSES AT THE HERMITAGE, 11AM WHOOOOO.

Chocolate Papa

Another really short entry since I need to be up early to go to the railway station tomorrow..

Woke up at 9am, and waited for my host mother to get up for breakfast. I always try to have as many meals with her as I can since I want us to bond, but it seems like breakfast we barely talk and dinners are a bit more conversational. For breakfast, I stuck to pastries--croissants with some sort of sweet cream in it, and a fluffy flaky powdered sugar pastry with jam in it. Had my usual black tea with milk and sugar, and yeah.

Left the apartment to meet the others in front of the Gogol statue on Mal. Koniushennaya and was the first one there so I chatted with Olga until the others joined us, and we were all off to the Alexander Pushkin Museum and Memorial Apartment, which has a beautiful and peaceful courtyard. Professor Firtich joined us and gave a brief intro into Pushkin's life and family and how Firtich's grandfather was a Pushkin scholar and was the first director of the fairly young museum. We had a very long indepth tour around Pushkin's apartment, pointing out every single little thing in the room. My feet started to hurt since we'd walk, stand for a good 15 minutes, then walk a bit again. Meh. But it was a beautiful and interesting apartment at least...

Afterwards, we went to have lunch at Yolki Polki, a traditional and famous Russian restaurant chain. The service was slow and the food came out so staggered, but I had a good lunch: can of Coke (a whole can!), "Shchi" soup (which didn't have cabbage in it, but had sorrel, chicken, carrots, potatoes, etc. and was really good and reminded me of the sour soup my parents make at home :D), a pirochki with mushroom and onion inside, and dessert was a special honey cake that was delicious.

After lunch I went back home, but stopped at a mall next to the Metro station in the hopes of finding some new fall clothes for school. Everything was really expensive though, so I didn't end up getting anything, but I did go to all 5 floors and nearly every store. I even told a sales girl, in understandable Russian, that I didn't understand Russian ha. I did get some funky hair accessories since it's kind of warm here now and I need more hair ties in general what with this long hair of mine now.

I got home and immediately started feeling sleepy, so I took a long nap and kept hitting snooze on my alarm until about 8:30pm and I realized my host mother had left me chicken soup with veggies on the stove. I added the noodles from the Russian ramen bowl I got and had myself dinner in my room with a cup of peach (not breast) juice. At about 10 I left to meet the others at the Beer House which is like 5 minutes away from my apartment, and enjoyed a glass of Pepsi-Cola (came in a nice glass bottle and everything) and chatted. Always a pleasure to be hanging out with these lovely people :) After all of that, Jonathan, Eric, and I went to the supermarket across the street from my building and tried finding snacks. I decided against buying more food since I probably wouldnt be able to finish it and Jonathan found a hilarious tiramisu ice cream bar that was called "Chocolate Papa" and had a picture of Shaq as a chef on the wrapping. So hilarious haha

Well I'm an express train to Moscow in less than 12 hours so it's time for me to sleep.

I'll be in Moscow living in a hostel until about Sunday morning, then I have to run some errands, and then classes start on Monday. Fun stuff to come. But this means I will not be updating or even being near a computer until Sunday afternoon.

Spokojnoj Nochi!

(Approaching the Neva) "Check this out."

I am so tired so I'm gonna type this quickly and keep it short:

So I woke up at 10am, which is later than usual, and had breakfast by myself as my host mother worked at her computer. I had a bit of yogurt, some black tea with milk and sugar, bread with Valio cheese, and an egg. Not terrible of a breakfast, and filling enough. I met with Professor Firtich at 1 at the University to meet my Russian language professor, Prof. Kiseleva, who is a nice young woman who is pretty soft spoken. She is essentially my private tutor since I am the only totally newb in the group, which is pretty sweet since I get full attention and can learn at my own pace :D

I got a glance at my schedule and it looks like I'll be having one class on Monday at the Hermitage for a few hours, three classes on Tuesday (Culture, Art History, and Language), language on Wednesday and Thursday, and the class at the Russian Museum on Friday. All in the afternoon :D

After meeting Professor Kiseleva, I left the university with Professor Firtich and his wife to walk along the Liteny and sat in a cafe having tea and pastries. I had one filled with minced beef, and another one filled with raspberry jam. It was a really nice cafe that had a big library space as well.

Around 3:00 we met up with the others near the canal nearest to the Church on Spilled Blood and took a 2 hour boat ride up the canals and rivers. Firtich pointed out notable monuments, and I snapped a lot of pretty photos since it was such a gorgeous day and I figured it was time to take the XTi out :) It got a bit chilly on the water but the views were simply gorgeous, especially being on the Neva. Photos don't do it justice.

After the boat ride, we all walked to Mama Romas, an Italian restaurant chain for a late lunch. I had pasta with tomato sauce and bacon, which was really good, and others got equally yummy-looking dishes. I think I spotted a Korean family for the first time in Russia, and I think they spoke both Russian and Korean, which was really cool.

I got home after dinner, and felt soo tired. I still am, but at least I've had dinner. Borscht, chicken, rice with parsley (meh parsley), pretty filling. And just now I've had tea and a flaky yummy cake with some sort of jam filling with my host mother. I am officially tired, and so I will be heading off to bed. Especially since i have another full day ahead of me and it starts earlier than any other day that's passed.

Tiffany Windchime in The Gentle Diarrheas

Woke up, watched some 30 Rock, and had breakfast at like...8am? I had black tea with milk and sugar, and some bread with Valio cheese, which is sooo good. My host mother also had cottage cheese out and encouraged me to eat some...I tried but I was too grossed out with the texture to really appreciate it. I also had some green grapes because I miss grapes a lot haha. I realized that most of the products on table were dairy: sliced cheese, Valio cheese, cottage cheese, milk, and most times yogurt will be out too. Thank goodness I'm not completely lactose intolerant. After breakfast, we had more tea about an hour and half later and I mentioned having eggs and bacon for breakfast since I'm not getting as much substance I need to get through my day, and she obliged and apparently thought I literally ONLY ate yogurt, fruit, and bread for breakfast because that's what I told her the first day. But I only said that because she mentioned those three things and I nodded to all of them, I didn't exactly compile a list of all appropriate breakfast foods and shove it into her face...

But anyway, my host mother also taught me that it's not custom to bring your outside coat/jacket into the kitchen or anywhere past right near the door. It should be hanging on a coat rack right at the doorway, but I keep forgetting to do so since I also don't take off my shoes when I get into the apartment, I walk straight to my room and take off everything there. Also, I keep things in my pockets that I move around a lot so I dont want to leave my coat at the door and freak out later about missing my iPod and other essential things...

My host mother walked me to the University to get a feel for the route, but she took the more maze-like route where we immediately turn on our first left, etc. And so we kind of just zigzagged our way up to Gagarinskaya--I did however run into Elizabeth on the way, so the three of us were walking and chatting at points (me and Elizabeth in English, my host mother and Elizabeth in both English and a tiny bit of Russian). We all got to the University, which is very nice from the outside, but totally confusing and miserable looking inside. It used to be a palace, but then converted into a Soviet Russian labor/workers' rights building, and now it's European University, the second endowment-funded university. It's a very young institution and very liberal thinking. It has its limitations but also provides many possibilities since they have such a strong art history department and tie to the Hermitage and the Russian Museum.

We had our orientation, which was nice. Started out with meeting the head of the Art History Department in the room we're going to be studying in, which has nice red plush dining room looking chairs. Then we left and skipped the Russian economist big wig since well...none of us would really appreciate the two hour Russian lecture...So we walked around, and stopped for lunch at a bliny cafe where I had the most delicious and filling lunch. Elizabeth and I shared a "chicken pancake pie" that had mashed potatoes, mushrooms, and chicken in it, and we each got a dessert bliny as well. I had peach and ice cream and it was absolutely heavenly. I didn't even have enough room for my tea, which was unfortunate, but ohhh my goodness so good.

Going back to the University, we went into the reception and had a glass of wine in the rooms that are the only ones preserved from the palace. They were....amazing. Absolutely stunning. During the reception we met our future professor at the Hermitage, the head of the Prints Room, and a specialist of Rembrandt and all other Western Prints in the Hermitage's collection. He was really interesting...he kind of sounded like he had a bit of a British accent, which was cool. We then took a group photo on the marble stairs, but a terrible incident occurred where a guy was trying to figure out the photo down a few stairs from the group, and then missed a step and rolled down the rest of the marble stairs, and then smashed into the first of two sets of doors leading outside. I didn't see it happen at all, I didn't even see who got hurt since I was all the way in the back, but I definitely heard it, and it sounded awful. According to multiple people, he rolled and then gashed his head on the side, and there was some blood splattered on the ground, oh boy. What I remarked being all the way in the back was that I heard the sound, but no like...exclamations. Apparently some people gasped, but I certainly didn't hear a sound. And the majority of the group just stood there and watched, and then waited for the picture to be taken. Very...disturbing, when you think about it. Of course a few people helped, but that was a pretty big group on the stairs being completely immobile.

Anyway, after the photos, we all went to the art history department party where we had to introduce ourselves and sit through many many toasts. More glasses of wine, there was cheese and meats, apples, juice. Apples were used as decorations around the room! They were hanging from the lamps, from the chalkboard, it was really...odd. It was a very Russian party as the toasts were very long winded and rambling and I started really feeling antsy after an hour since it's literally just...me sitting there with no clue as to what they're saying, and everyones just chatting quietly while someone makes a rambling speech about their lives, how they go to the university, etc. So I was the person to first get up and leave and then everyone followed suit pretty quickly. A woman "stopped" the others and said "it's a shame you're leaving so early. it's too early to leave." but multiple people told us before that it was okay for us to leave any time when we wanted to.

So we all left, and then we meandered around, enjoyed the view of a canal, a palace, and then chilled at a park. It was nice, and it was such a beautiful day I couldn't help but just fall in love with St. Petersburg's architecture and aura.

I walked home after we decided to part ways, and my host mother got back from work at like 8:30pm, and we had dinner together. She made me borscht but with chicken in it which was good, and I had another piece of bread with cheese. I also had a nice green apple as dessert and was satisfied and full after that. I was supposed to have tea and cake after, but I was too full and then I had to leave to meet the others at Kazan Cathedral and go to a bar. So I get there and we go to a bar that the others went to a few days ago. I had one glass of champagne since I was confused about the pricing and it looked like the cheapest thing on the menu, but also because I've never had a glass of legit champagne. So I sipped my glass for two hours and talked with the others and then when the check came, I realized that they charged per gram, so it was a $4 glass of champagne, which is not bad at all and totally worth it for me. I just got back and now I'm hungry again, so I'm probably gonna get another piece of bread and some cheese (seriously. Valio. so good.) and then head to bed.

I'm meeting my Russian tutor tomorrow and going on a boat ride down the canals :DD I'm also going to bring my huge camera because it's time to bring it out finally.

Водка и пиво

So I woke up at 7:00 or 7:30am to a very quiet apartment. I went
online and talked to some people, while eating some peach Dannon
yogurt and a piece of bread. At 9, my host mother woke up and prepared
me breakfast. I think it was buckwheat porridge. It was really bland
and I didn't like the texture of the buckwheat whatsoever. I made
myself some green tea with milk and sugar which was nice, but the
porridge was a downer. I HAD to throw the rest of my plate away,
otherwise it was just gonna sit there and get grosser what with it
being all cold. My host mother also poured wheat yogurt over the small
stick of cream+sugar (apparently it's a type of cheese), and let it
sit. I was very...confused as how to eat it. So I didn't really touch
it.
At about noon we had some tea together, and I had a cup of green tea
with sugar and nibbled on the pieces of hard raisin bread covered in
sugar and a few pieces of mint chocolates. It was nice.

I met the others on Liteny and Nekrasova (at the Mexican restaurant
haha) and Eric, Jonathan, and Victoria told me to go nonchalantly
across the street and look at the billboard, but really look at the
two guys sitting on a bench near the sign. I go over and it's two guys
dressed in traditional outfits of a certain ethnic group (I didn't get
a great look but it looked an awful lot like trepak costumes), and the
guy in the blue was holding a.....black pig. Really cute black pig,
but...a black pig. It was awesome.

When we met up with Olga and her boyfriend Maxim we walked over to an
electronics store called Рик to get Eric a new netbook, which was
interesting since the layout of the store was really..convoluted. But
apparently what you do is go to the cash register, tell them what you
want, pay for it, then go one floor down with your receipt and wait
for your number to be called to pick it up. Lots of security haha.

After that, we went over to the University so we could recognize which
entrance to go into and which building it was. It was nice and we met
a grad student named Scott from San Diego who was also checking out
the University since tomorrow is our orientation. Olga left us to our
devices and so we walked along the Neva until we were almost at the
Hermitage. We found a small tavern that had cheap (but good) beer and
let us bring our own vodka, so Victoria bought a $6 bottle which was
pretty sizable and was about 20 shots worth. I had about 3 and was
feeling good. After two hours of conversing with each other and Scott,
we parted ways and all of us went to the palace square to just hang
out. Sitting in the palace square, we watched a guy doing wheelies on
his little Suzuki motorcycle. Then we got up and went through the
square to Nevsky Prospekt to grab a small bite. We found a very busy
McDonalds and had a pleasant late lunch at Mickey Ds. I had the "Биг
Мак," which I actually ordered successfully.

Post-McDonalds, our little slice of home, we parted ways to go back
home and I actually navigated my way back home really well without
getting lost or anything! :D! When I got back, it was about 7pm and I
had dinner with my host mother. I had my first taste of borscht and I
was surprisingly into it. It was red but not like a totally scary
red--but once I added sour cream it became pink and that's when I
started feeling iffy looking at it, but I still drank the entire thing
it was pretty great. She also made me rice with pork and sauteed
onions and carrots, which was yummy, but I was so full from McDonalds
that I could only eat about half my plate. I'm saving the other half
for tomorrow's dinner.

And....now I'm here. Tomorrow is EU's orientation, whoo.

"Let's Yota!"

....I woke up at 1:15 pm.
What time was I supposed to meet the others?
Oh right, 1 pm.
So what woke me up?
People calling me asking if I was coming.
I am fail.
So sorry, you guys :(

Anyway, after flying out of my apt, 3 minutes to lock my doors, and
running down Vosstania, I met with the others finally -_-.
We walked down to Loft Project ETAGI (Лофт Проект ЭТАЖИ) for a Fashion
Week type of event, with a bunch of Russian designers selling their
things for cheap--so there was a melange of jewelry, shoes, clothes,
and even books. It reminded me a lot of Potpourri at Vassar, and the
jewelry looked pretty nice and reminded me of Etsy lol. The place was
like a huge warehouse with some construction going on and these stands
were just set up one next to the other and it felt like such a
hideaway hip bohemian place to be. Not high fashion, but definitely
like stylish people were just hanging around. I didn't buy anything,
though, since I'm trying to save some roubles and nothing really stood
out for me. Also helps that I can't ask "How much?" and even if I did,
I wouldn't recognize the numbers haha. Best temptation blocker ever.

Anyway after walking around a bit and gawking at all the pretty stuff,
we went up one level to The Green Cafe which is this really nice chill
inexpensive cafe. The food took a bit too long to come out and certain
things didn't make sense like how 3 out of 5 teas came out one after
the other, but not 2 of them even though one was just another order of
something that was brought...maybe it's because we looked, sounded,
and are Americans. Who knows. Anya and a guy named Sergei came to have
lunch with us and the others got practice speaking and maintaining
Russian conversation with them, but to my relief, I found out that
Sergei understood and spoke a bit of English as well because I was
sitting there awkwardly quiet. I was listening to their conversation
in terms of intonation and maybe common sounds/words and even though I
can't actively remember anything, a lot of it is being stored, just
like how I get lost around my house but I'm learning through
remembering landmarks that I've encountered even when I'm lost. It's a
bit confusing still because there will be areas that I get lost in and
I remember it later on, thinking that I'm going in the right
direction, but today I realized my instinct is growing stronger, so
that's a good sign. But back to lunch--I was starving since I ran out
of my apt without having any breakfast (but I saw that my host mother
left out some bread and milk for me, but I had no time), and I got
pelmeni, which are essentially Russian meat dumplings. I had three
huge ones filled with minced pork and bits of onion and it was soooo
good and delicious my stomach is growling just thinking about them. I
also ordered a strawberry milkshake, which the waitress forgot to
bring so she had to make it for me near the end of lunch, which was
fine since people were still eating and all and we had dessert as
well. It was fried dough--but it was like light pieces of dough so it
was really crispy and light, covered in powdered sugar. Forgot what
it's called but it was good as well :) The yummy strawberry milkshake
went well with it. It was more strawberry milk than a thick American
milkshake with ice cream, which I'm kind of glad about since I
wouldn't have been able to finish if it had been thick.

After lunch we went on the Metro to Nevsky to go to the gorgeous
building right across the street which happens to be a huge beautiful
bookstore. It's a bit claustrophobic, but none more so than Strand
Bookstore, but more so than Barnes and Noble. It was like a big
beautiful Russian Barnes and Noble with tile floors and high ceilings
and chandeliers in the staircase. The building itself is gorgeous as
well from the outside and it's always the first thing I notice when I
get out of the metro. I bought a small pocket dictionary but it's
British English so it has...interesting words in it. "Crankshaft"?
Really? I might need to get an English to English dictionary.

Well after the bookstore fun, we split into two groups, with one group
deciding to wander around Nevsky, while I wanted to go back home for
dinner and also shopping at the supermarket for non tea items.
But yeah, dinner. After I got lost because I took a left turn and
thought maybe I turned too early, walked down three streets and
realized I was right the first time but I should've gone right instead
of left...Streets and numbers in Saint Petersburg are weird--odds and
evens are interchangeable on buildings and not always in chronological
order. Also, street signs are small plaques on buildings not at the
corner, but down the block maybe on the second or third building
sometimes, and sometimes they're on one side but not the other, and
there is no alphabetical order for street names, and there are block
numbers which are out of order and had to do with the planning history
of building the city and planned, but failed to be built, canals.
Also, there are weirdly shaped blocks. Not as crazy as lower lower
Manhattan but definitely nowhere near the grid part of Manhattan or
even Midtown. But yeah, I finally got home at like...6....haha. Dinner
was at like 6:30 and my host mother made rice, pork, and left out
cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, and pickles. She also made me clear
broth with pepper, which was absolutely delicious and made me remember
home, and the pork was cooked really well and not too fatty. I was
iffy about the rice because it was kind of wet and meh looking since
she made it in boiling water on the stove, but it tasted pretty good
actually and not too mushy. I'm also a huge fan of pickles haha.
Afterwards I had tea with milk and sugar. I am fond of both kinds of
tea in my house--they're a pretty good "Ceylon Black Tea" and "Jasmine
Green Tea." Especially the jasmine, since it's like my favorite smell
of all time I've realized. +milk+sugar makes me happy :D

After that I set up my Yota, and now I am happily typing all of this
on my laptop rather than my host mother's computer. I felt bad using
it knowing it's like, her work and personal space and all I use it for
is for facebook, gmail, and this blog haha. Yota! So far no problems,
which is good but it's so slow loading youtube clips and downloading
files :( Also google automatically reverted to Russian but I changed
it quickly enough haha. I've also been getting more pop up ads about
Russian things and it's annoying, but I LOVE USING MY LAPTOP :D

I also went to the across the street from my apartment and it's huuge. Very brightly lit and filled with many items. I had fun walking around looking at labels, trying to read. I had the wrong idea about how to spell "without gas" in Russian so I had to text Olga to send me what it would say on the label and then bought a bottle of (still) water, a bottle of Pepsi (easy to spot, and not too expensive haha), a thing of peach juice (hopefully it's good--the company's name is, after all, "Da!"), and a ramen bowl. Just one, just to see if it's worth it >_> Russian ramen. Gonna be interesting. Hopefully not "my stomach will never forgive me" interesting. At the register I was able to pay without trouble AND I had my first successful Russian response (good timing, no hesitation, natural!). Translated, it was:

Girl at register: Bag?

Me: (shakes head) No.

:D Tomorrow will be another fun filled day: going to the University!

"Wait...how do you pronounce Japanese words in a Russian accent?"

Woke up at 7:30 and had breakfast for half an hour--this time I tried the Russian raspberry yogurt. It was in a bigger cup and was more watery than Dannon but still good :) Then I had a piece of bread with tons of cheese on it because it was so yummy. I also had a good cup of green tea with milk and sugar. There was what I thought was a stick of butter in front of me but it was like..milk and sugar compressed into a butter-like bar. It was interesting and spread like cottage cheese texture-wise but it went so well with bread, I think I'm gonna have it tomorrow morning. Only thing is it's ridiculously sweet lol. Speaking of sweet, Russian honey is also very interesting...not as gooeyfluid, more like...mashed up sugar hmm..

At 8 my host mother left for work and I had the entire apartment to myself until I left at 12:50pm. So I went online, talked to a bunch of people, caught up on K-Pop, practiced a bit of ballroom to Lady Gaga--generally enjoying having the apartment to myself. I also took a nice long hot shower, which was really nice, and I had music playing in the back too. The water going on for that long started to take on a..not so subtle, but not awful odor. Oh boy.

At 12:50 I left the apartment and took 5 minutes to lock the doors correctly. I got to the train station in one piece, but when I got on the train, I realized I was going in the wrong direction because I misread the sign. Not too bad, just went to the other side of the platform and waited the 2 extra minutes. I do enjoy how trains literally come every 2 minutes and how long the escalator rides are (a good 3 minutes, and it's a fast escalator, too). I got to Kazan Cathedral at like 1:30, and walked slowly up to the cathedral, snapped a few shots, and sat in the park outside of it, admiring the architecture and aura of St. Petersburg. I met with the others at like 2, and we went into two department stores (one very fancy, the other okay) to buy a plethora of supplies. I bought toothpaste, floss, two folders for school papers, index cards, a nice big umbrella, postcards, and of course, the Yota! The Yota was expensive, but whatever, it's necessary. The store was quite a ways from Nevsky Prospect and it looked like a fake Apple store. It attempted to look sleek and futuristic, with the white tshirts and cool blue font and symbol, but something about an employee with a beer gut wearing the hip Yota company shirt and the random compilation of American music (Nickelback, metal, country, weird elevator music, etc.) playing in the background made it less than Apple-awesome.

By the time we got all our errands done, it was like 6pm and we hadnt had lunch. I was starving and needed something in my stomach before going back for dinner. So 5 of us went to a nearby sushi bar that is a chain called Eurasia. I got my first taste of Coke since I got here and it was costly but so worth it. I also had the unagi maki which was pretty good actually.

After the sushi bar, they all decided to accompany me back home which was really nice and kind of necessary since we got lost as a group, I can't imagine what it wouldve been like if I was by myself...They got to see my glorious neighborhood with the sketch seamstress building across the street and the unimaginative graffiti.

When I got back home my host mother and I had dinner: lentil soup, plain noodles, and steamed chicken. No sauces--the only thing she had was ketchup and...I just can't deal with that. I ate the noodles with pepper though, and had some cucumbers in yogurt. Overall, not a bad meal :) I missed noodles so much I didn't care that almost nothing was on them. For dessert I had watermelon, and I drank seltzer water instead of tea :O

After all of that, I stuck in my room and watched 30 Rock until going online. But of course, 10 minutes after I get online it seems, my phone goes off and it's one of the other students telling me that they were gonna meet up and go to a bar called the Golden Pint Pub across the street from one of the other students' homestay, which was about 10 minutes away. So I got ready, and left the apt around 11 or so and made my way. I did continue walking on one street for far too long but it was okay, I made it there in one piece. It was really fun sitting and talking with the others while sipping a vodka tonic; the conversation suddenly took a very intellectual art history and vassar academics turn and it was nice. We stayed there for a while and then head out to our individual homes--thanks so much to Victoria and Eric for bearing with my less than awesome physical memory of my own neighborhood and accompanying me home again! :)

Well tomorrow will be another day of fun, shopping, and errands...and I can finally set up my Yota tomorrow night :D!

"You look..like..Japan"

After I signed off last night at like 1:30am, I tried going to bed but I didn't fall asleep until like 2 or 3. I played 30 Rock until I fell asleep but I was kept up because of my dry scratchy throat and general coldness (yes I'm sick). So I sucked on a Vitamin C drop and a cough drop and ended up falling asleep eventually. I had to sleep in my sweatshirt because I found the room to be pretty chilly (relative to how I spent most of my summer next to my AC and feeling like dying from humidity).

I woke up at 8:30, and brushed my teeth. Augh I'm really paranoid about Russian tap water, I just quickly rinsed my mouth as fast as possible. My host mother was already putting out breakfast and I sat down to have peach yogurt (Danone haha), bread, green tea with milk and sugar, and bread with cheese. It was nice, and filling. My host mother uttered what is, so far, my favorite question asked to me on this trip: "Your session. Japan. You look like...Japan?" So I guess that means I've lost my tan?
I had to explain, to no avail, that I was Chinese (yeah I didn't know how to say Chinese in Russian, but now I do!) Then she asked "You have boyfriend?" Oh, what a host mom, lol.

Well while she was at work I tried fixing my laptop again to accept the ethernet cord but it failed again and again. Oh well. Yoda time.

When my host mother came back we had some green tea and then left to meet with the others in my program for our all-day walking tour of the city. It was rainy and windy. I got to go to the Metro, and walk on the streets and I realized how crappy my memory is. The Metro is really interesting, and the escalator ride down took a good 2 minutes, which is a damned long time to be on an escalator... It was crowded and kind of dark but had its charm. Reminded me a lot of NYC Subways in the 80s...the trains look just like the vintage ones in the Transit Museum, and on the platform you see people gathering around what looks like elevator doors. When the train comes, all the elevator-like doors open and people come out.

I got to Kazan Cathedral and it was beautiful, even in all the grey rainy-ness. I realized that no one else in the program takes photos, and I didn't want to be a total tourist and start snapping photos of every little thing, so I took some shots of the buildings, but not too many. Also it was cold and raining and my hands would get numb. We saw a ton of white stretch limosines with brides and grooms taking photos outside of all the monuments we visited--not the best day, what with the rain and wind, but apparently it's popular. And I learned about all year round Russian sunbathers who will line themselves against the wall of a fortress in their underwear and sunbathe whenever the sun comes out, even if its in the dead of winter and it's not warm at all.

We also went to the Gulf of Finland, the Palace Square (the Hermitage just totally takes my breath away every time), and of course, the famous statue of Peter the Great. Professor Firtich provided very interesting anecdotal information on many buildings on the way and an introduction to the history of St. Petersburg, Catherine the Great, etc.
Oh! And I finally got a cellphone whooooo. 950 roubles (30 dollars) Nokia--it has a flashlight :O It's a totally pimpin' phone, gotta say.

For dinner after our very interesting and mostly bus tour of St. Petersburg (it was cold and rainy), we went to a nice little Russian restaurant and had appetizers, soup (I had miso soup lol), a main dish (pasta cabanara), red and white wine, lemonade, beer, tea, and dessert. The appetizers were like a meat plate, a vegetable plate, a fish plate, and a cheese and grapes plate. It was intense of a dinner. The restaurant even offered quesadillas, sushi, and pizza. Very interesting. The miso soup was good, it had miso paste, seaweed, tofu, sesame seeds, scallions, thyme?, and mushrooms. The pasta was good but way too rich for me because it was literally noodles covered in a thick creamy sauce, bacon bits (all fat), and mushrooms. I had two glasses of red wine, which was nice, and a sip of Elizabeth's beer, which was good. I had no room for dessert or even tea, because I knew I'd have tea at home anyway haha.

After dinner, we walked to Nevsky Prospect and split up into groups to take each other home. After what felt like more than half an hour of walking in the windy rain (augh, have I mentioned that it was cold and rainy? because it really was.), I finally got home in my wet jeans and poor umbrella, and Olga escorted me all the way up to the apartment. She asked my host mother why she's making me have dinners and breakfasts alone, and my host mother explained that she still works, and that she works until late, so I should be free to take whatever's on the shelf in the fridge and prepare my own dinner as I see fit. Olga says it may be the best conditions since I honestly get to eat as much as I can whenever I want, but I see it more as...alone and going hungry because I dont want to eat too much of what's in her fridge. I'm not exactly helping with the groceries, and there's not a lot to begin with in the fridge. But I'll make do, and I do need to learn to be alone...and I'm really forcing myself to learn since I'm in a country I don't understand the language or culture just yet. And my host mother is not a protective babushka shoving food down my throat...

Definitely a learning experience on many levels. More to come tomorrow! Shopping time haha.

Privet, Sankt Petreburg!

I am in St. Petersburg, and it is gorgeeoussss--seriously, the buildings and architecture just takes my breath away.

but let me start from the beginning ..

Okay so I got to the airport around like 3:00, and my parents and I waited outside the security check-in point because they wanted to spend as much time as they could near me which was sweet but we literally just sat on the ground until like 5:00, when my parents finally let me get into check in. And I had to wait until like 5:20 to be done with security which was ridiculous. But I got to the gate and everyone was on the plane haha. I met the others in my program (all 4 others from Vassar, all class of 2012 whoo).

During this 8 hour flight we had some movie/tv options to watch--so I watched...a lot. I couldn't sleep! So I watched futurama, the simpsons, how to train your dragon, date night, and office space. I watched bits and pieces of other things but those were the main ones I got through. The dinner was...ACDC level for me, since it looked an awful lot like ACDC food. Chicken with mushrooms and mashed potatoes....and a hunk of cheddar cheese, two biscuits, a sad looking mini salad with a huge packet of Kraft Italian salad dressing (oh America), a little thing of raisin bread, spring water in a sealed cup, and my little mini Coke. Yum.

So I finally arrive in Helsinki after 8 hours and the airport was small and cozy, but not sketch which was nice. I was definitely amused by the smokers lounge, which was just a small rectangular room with chairs in it in the airport terminal lol.

We met up with this grad student from Connecticut who definitely gave off a sleaze vibe...or maybe it's my New Yorker instinct kicking in which rejects the notion of decency in any random stranger who jumps into a conversation with the question "So what school do you go to?" out of nowhere. He asked the girl from Connecticut College, and suddenly we were...conversing with him? It was interesting and really awkward.

The flight from Helsinki to St. Petersburg was less than an hour and in that time I had a "Juicey Shot" which was just a plastic cup of orange juice from concentrate that was sealed like a pack of pudding. Honestly, I think I enjoyed the name more than the juice.

St. Petersburg~~~!
So my luggage is kind of messed up. I locked both my bags with little combination locks. The smaller one came out first just fine, but it was missing the lock, which is kind of really sketch in my opinion, but nothing was taken as far as I can tell.
Then my big luggage comes out and the top of the frame on the right corner is bent and the stitching came apart...so...yeah. it's broken. Nothing fell out, but...still kind of sucks, oh well. I will definitely be spending tons of money here, what with trying to buy decent things to use, replacing broken luggage, and needing a new cellphone...

We met up with Nikolai Firtich (who still has his glorious beard) and our program deputies Olga and Anya, who are both very nice and friendly. The weather outside was gorgeous and not as cold as it sounded (50 degrees Fahrenheit).

We got onto a nice blue coach bus that took us to our host families. I live, as it seems, a bit further out than most people, but pretty close to the Metro? Essentially I'm close to places where people speak English, which is key. My neighborhood looks a bit sketch and run down but what can I say, I'm used to rundown looking places and apartment buildings--I did spend my first three years living in a not so awesome neighborhood in Brooklyn. I also live on like...the 5th floor? I dont know, there were a lot of stairs -_-;

My host mother is a nice woman named Natalya who doesn't have stellar English, but I've dealt with worse. She works in real estate(?) And her hours of work tend to be later in the day, so I guess I'll be having breakfast and dinner by myself... The room she set up for me is quite nice, but a bit small (and I only say this because there is absolutely no room for my poor pieces of luggage and I have no idea where to put them since my bed is low to the ground and my room is mostly my bed...)

For dinner, which btw was at 4pm for me, she made me lentil soup with mushrooms and potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes with fresh yogurt, chicken, potatoes, and some bread. Then after all of that we had tea and chocolates and bread with powdered sugar. I had my tea with milk and sugar, she likes hers earl grey with lemon. The dinner was good and interesting, especially since like. I realized while eating that I couldnt ask for a glass of water because well...yeah. Russian water. Don't want to go there. So like Ive been saying, I will definitely be drinking a ton of tea here, but not so much water, juice, or soda. I still can't drink coffee, but tea is a-ok...for now. We'll see, I may request her to buy a thing of juice if I get really sick of it, but tea is good for me :)

I tried figuring out how to use the internet on my host mother's computer but everything's in Russian and I have no idea what DHCP is and how to figure out what it is on her Russian system...So I guess I'm buying a "yoda" which is a wireless modem that I can just attach to my mac and be able to access wifi whenever and wherever, but I have to put money on it and then use it as I go...who knows. I really want to figure out how to fix it so I can just use my host mother's internet, I just gotta figure a way to make the ethernet cable work meh I'm terrible with technology.

I truly feel out of my element, not being able to read completely and just...being in a totally different environment. St. Petersburg is breathtaking, and I will be taking photos soon! Tomorrow is a little tour around the city, so definitely photos will be taken!