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!