Tomorrow it rained.

**I would like to first make a disclaimer saying that in my previous picture post with the “Aurora”… that is definitely NOT the Aurora. It’s just a pretty ship, while the Aurora is a big steel ship from the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. Silly me, good thing I have friends who know better than myself.

Quote of the day:

Мне нужно cookie! - Matt

Lesson of the day:

Russian cheesecake earns a C- 

‘Nuff said.

Picture(s) of the day:

On Saturday I decided that it was definitely time that I let my friends and readers see my new abode, so the following pictures are of my dorm/university building and my room.

The lighting sucks, but this is my room. 

It was too sunny for a picture, though sun seems like a silly thing to complain about.

This is from the common room of the suite. 

My room is on the right.

This is our lovely IMOP building.

Left wing dorms, right wing classrooms.

I also went on an adventure to the Russian IKEA on Saturday with a friend. Our mission was to purchase tea kettles as we have all picked up a tea habit! It was a long metro + shuttle ride to the MegaMall, but it was definitely worth the trip. The MegaMall is Saint Petersburg’s answer to the American mall, although the big department stores are not “department stores”, they are more akin to Wal*mart and home stores. IKEA is actually one these said dept stores! But that was fine because we achieved our goal and obtained our tea kettles.  And to top off a trip to the MegaMall, we enjoyed a tasty IKEA dinner of Swedish meatballs and a ridiculously tasty, creamy mushroom soup.

Sign for the Russian IKEA.

And if you were wondering, it is exactly the same. 

Just in Russian and Swedish.

A group of friends and I adventured down to Nevsky Prospect to visit the Kunstkamera (also known as the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography). It was the first museum in Russia! Peter the Great personally started this collection with an exhibit of “accidents of nature” in order to show the common people that birth defects are not the work of magic or superstitions. So needless to say, the original collection of the museum was very… interesting and not for the light-hearted. The rest of the museum, however, was cool for those who enjoy looking at the development of different civilizations.

Kunstkamera from the bridge.

After our museum excursion, we were feeling adventurous and decided to brave a Russian Chinese restaurant. That was an adventure and a half if I do say so myself. First off, it was a Chinese restaurant in downtown Saint Petersburg, Russia. And much to our delight we found that the waitress spoke not only Chinese and Russian, but also English! However, to our slight dismay, the menu was completely different. Not a single fried rice dish to be found :( Although reading the menu translated into Russian and English was like reading Engrish.com and highly amusing. I ended up ordering a dish called pork and fungus, assuming mushrooms… Oh there were mushrooms AND fungus, which I guess is technically also mushrooms, but definitely looked like funny tree fungus. Tasty enough, but I think I’ll wait til I get back to the States to satiate my Chinese food cravings.

This is just a picture I really liked of the Kazan Cathedral from Decembrist's Square.

This is the huge bronze monument to Peter I (the Great) in Decemberist's Square.

And yesterday and today have been spent enjoying milk and cookies with friends, doing homework and exchanging train tickets for rubles. I also acquired new suitemates from Finland :) Until next post…  Всего хорошего.

Picture(s) of the Day

Quote of the Day:
There is nothing going on but Eskimos up in Greenland. - Corey


Daily Chronicle:

Today was not an exceptional day. After class I had a tasty lunch of bread, cheese and a pleasantly tart apple, followed by a well deserved nap. Unfortunately, my alarm clock had to remind me that I had political science at 2:15 in the afternoon. During our discussion of the political transition periods of Russia and the Soviet Union, my professor told us to “trust Afghan heroin quality” because the stuff in Russia has more than likely been tampered with. I love random comments from professors because they can easily come out of left field. The rest of my afternoon was spent mozying around my room listening to new music, knitting, reading and cleaning off my camera card, which inspired the true reason for today’s post. I decided that I should put up some of the pictures that I have taken during my trip, even though I haven’t taken a whole bunch so far. Thus begins the “picture(s) of the day”…(please keep in mind that this is only SOME of my pictures)

CKA Saint Petersburg vs Dinamo Riga (Latvia)

We lost 4-5 =( 

But definitely a good game!

I believe this is the Aurora... and if I am correct, 

it is a fancy restaurant that I plan on going to at least once on this trip!

Peter and Paul Fortress

Smolney Cathedral

An almost perfect picture if it weren't for the tour bus. Aghh

The Winter Palace

Also home of the Hermitage Museum. 

This place is HUGE.

Peterhof (Russia's Versailles)

Peterhof in all its glory with the fountains going.

Absolutely in love with this place.

This is one of Peterhof's many ducks, which I quite enjoyed.

I particularly enjoy this picture because the ducks liked posing for me =D

Siege of Leningrad Tour

Huge memorial in the middle of the city. 

This is only part of it, and excluding the museum underground.

Millennium of Russia

Huge bronze monument in the Novgorod Kremlin. 

It shows all 4 parts of Russia's history. 

St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod

One of Russia's most ancient Orthodox churches.

Russian orthodox churches are absolutely gorgeous inside.

Simply a very small and quaint little church down the street from the Novgorod Kremlin.

Wooden Churches

Actual wooden churches from peasant villages. 

The Russians were very crafty with wooden architecture!

Ocelots and Cheeseburgers!

Quick Daily Chronicle

Saturday, Sept. 18

Today we went to Novgorod, one of the oldest cities is Russia. Aside from the 3.5 hour bus ride, it was a pretty spiffy trip. We arrived and were given a tour of the Novgorod Kremlin (a kremlin is actually a complex of buildings and churches… not just the Kremlin in Moscow). It wasn’t a huge complex, but it was really interesting. Then we crossed over to the other side of the river where there were about 9 churches located in the area of about 4 city blocks. Church hopping on Sundays would be a really easy past time! Then we went to the outdoor museum of wooden architecture, which was really an outdoor complex of old wooden Russian peasant churches and buildings. But it was really interesting to see buildings like this completely made of wood while still being ornate. A number of people from our group also thought that it would be a good idea to climb into an apple tree on the complex and just start chomping on the apples. The police walked by and simply shook their heads… Overall, it was a good, but very long trip.

Sunday, Sept. 19

The one and only day of the week that I get to sleep in! So of course I slept in until I woke up naturally which is always a nice break from the constant go go goof the everyday life of a Russian exchange student. Some friends and myself then had an adventure to the massive grocery store one metro stop away from the university… in the pouring rain. But it was worth it because it seems to be nearly a Russian equivalent of a Wal*mart. When we returned, I teamed up with a friend and made a pretty kickin’ beef stew. I am definitely becoming a fan of teaming up with people on my floor to make huge dinners and share them. And through a turn of events in the evening, I discovered that my new life goal is to grow up to be a Finnish ocelot! Yes, you really can have too much fun with a dictionary, especially a foreign language dictionary.

Monday, Sept. 20

Art class was held in the State Russian Museum rather than the lecture hall which was a nice change. However, class ended up taking 3 hours and 36 minutes of my day as opposed to the 1 hour and 30 minutes that it should have taken in the lecture hall. The metro really extends trips significantly. And to top it off, the metro station was closed for no apparent reason on our way back so we had to wander Nevsky Prospect to find a different station in order to find another station to get home. Aside from the metro though, it was interesting to see the ancient Russian icons that we were discussing. And by the way, taking notes while standing in a museum is quite a task that definitely takes some skill.  I did end up topping my day off with roommate bonding time over bacon cheeseburgers! Good times.

Question of the day: Why are the Russians always cold?! They live here 365 days of the year and I have yet to see a Russian without a winter coat on… and its only in the 60s. Some days I can’t even stand to wear a coat and the Russian children can’t even toddle or put their arms down for the amount of clothes that they are wearing! If someone could answer this for me, that would be much appreciated.

Tuesday, Sept. 21

Class didn’t make me want to hide in a hole today and I think that our conversation teacher is actually starting to take a liking to us, so that’s a nice change. I had a nice lunch with some friends at the local Pizza Bar. Gotta love the lunch menu! I also ordered a really tasty fruit tea, and when I got the tea, the tag said “Fruit of the Loom” which only made the tea that much more enjoyable! We then decided to explore the old bookstore on the corner. It was in fact a bookstore filled with old books and a pawn shop on one end. The rest of the day was basically spent hanging out, doing homework, and swapping music/book/video files with people. My poor Millie (my computer) got a run for her money.

Wednesday, Sept. 22

I am still under the impression that our conversation teacher is warming up to us because she is getting more patient listening to us bumble our way through speaking Russian. We even spend a good amount of our class time laughing and joking. I finally got around to doing my laundry today… sometimes the washing machines worry me. Towards the end of the cycle they begin to spin at a ridiculous rate and get really loud, so it sounds like the washing machines are about to spew your clothing all over the room, or blast off to the moon. Which, I must admit, would be pretty exciting. Dinner was an impromptu plan that was put together on the way back from the grocery store… chicken, carrots, tomato and olives with pita bread and hummus. Yumm. The remainder of my evening was spent cleaning up Millie’s hard drive (after 2 years…) and chilling with Megan (roomie) and Matty J (newly adopted brother because Megan decided we bicker back and forth like siblings).

And this is my life in Russia thus far :D

**I’m sorry that this isn’t really as much of my thoughts as I would have liked because I’m really bad about just writing out the daily stuff that goes on. I try it integrate some of my thoughts into the Daily Chronicles though! Let me know if you have specific questions or topics you would like discussed in the blog. I’m always up for ideas!

Just say no to hotplates.

So yesterday (Monday) I learned why hotplates are a royal pain. My roommate has lovingly tagged me in the aftermath on facebook. After making myself pasta for dinner, I set our (plastic) strainer back on top of the pot to wait its turn to be washed after I had devoured my dinner because there is a premium for counter space. However, unlike the gas stoves that I am used to using, hotplates stay really hot. For a long time. Needless to say… disaster. The strainer had melted all over the pot and was beyond rescue, so guess who had to buy a new pot and strainer today! Lesson of the day: plastic strainers are a bad idea. Hotplates are a bad idea. The two should never mix.

Today’s (Tuesday) adventures thus far are not particularly noteworthy, but since I’m going at it, I will make note. We had our first exclusively conversation oriented Russian class today. I was pretty sure that my brain was about to burst. I am also positive that our conversation teacher does not like us very much, and myself in particular because I am the least adept at holding a conversation in Russian. My Russian education so far has put extreme stress on reading, writing and grammar and next to none on speaking and conversation. So I feel as though I could easily handle the highest level of grammar, but simply listening to my teachers teaching exclusively in Russian is a challenge and a half. I will admit that my comprehension of spoken Russian has certainly improved and I’m usually able to follow when she speaks to the other students. However, when she turns to me and speaks, I have a brain block and can’t understand what she’s asking or how to answer her. Hopefully a few more week and it will get easier. They always say that immersing yourself in the language is the best way to learn it… But boy is it intimidating and strenuous.

I had a PB&J sandwich for lunch, which made up a little bit for the stressful conversation class. First PB&J since I left the states! As my friend was preparing sandwiches, I noticed a familiar face on the peanut butter jar… Teddy Ruxpin! However, no one recognized this childhood toy and I felt very alone in being excited about it. I hope some of you at least know what I’m talking about.

 I was also very excited to end up spending less than $15 for a replacement pot, a decent kitchen knife, a binder and an eraser! I love exchange rates.

I also made it over to the McDonald’s again tonight, although I didn’t order anything because we came directly from eating at a restaurant… still can’t figure that logic out. The Russian McDonald’s makes me laugh because the majority of the menu is transliterated into Russian, so you can say “chicken mcnuggets” or “big mac” or “cheeseburger” and they know what you want. The power of branding at work! After eating there previously, I am of the mind that the french fries are better here in Russia! At home, the fries aren’t crispy and then McD’s has a tendency to way over-salt the fries. Here, they’re crispy with a light salting and oh so tasty. It probably also helps that there is a perpetual rush, so its always fresh! This concludes my review of the Russian McDonald’s.

Well, now I need to go finish my homework and skip off to class. I guess once again, I will be postponing the remaining portion of the first post for a later date. Until next post… farewell!

My first taste of Russia

So it begins… I actually got around to starting my blog. I’m pretty sure no one actually thought that I was really going to get around to writing one, lol. Although, Matty J has assured me that it is a hard habit to break… We shall see if this is really true! But in the long run, it might be a good thing that I waited because now I can write my overall general perspective since I have had two weeks to acclimate myself to the culture and my new living situation. I guess I can start off with a quick run-down of everything that I have been up to these past 2-3 weeks:

25 Aug. – I flew out of Pittsburgh to Chicago to connect to my overnight flight to London. It definitely didn’t hit me how long I was going to be away until I had to say goodbye at the airport. Cue emotional departure. Although, British Airways is a pretty decent airline for future reference. Although I think I still prefer Luftshansa :)

26 Aug. – Landed in London around 9:45AM. What an exhausting flight, although I did manage to get about 3 hours of dozy inandout sleep. Screaming two year old… not cool. I also watched Kick Ass on the flight, not quite what I was expecting. Ah well, such is the movie industry. The rest of the day was spent making friends and just wandering the streets of London near the hotel.

27 Aug. – This was our free day in London. So after they dumped us in Covent Garden, we were free to do as we pleased for the remainder of the day. I met up with my cousin, Jack, and we had a pretty good day. We went to the natural history museum and saw a full scale model of the blue whale. Those buggers are BIG. Sometimes you don’t realize how small you are… And that evening we went to the cinema to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Also not quite what I was expecting, but it was entertaining. I see it as a movie with more of a cult following. Overall, pretty good day :)

28 Aug. – This was my first encounter with Russia. On the plane, I was actually seated next to a Russian guy around my age that happened to be from St. Petersburg. So a guy from my travel group and I befriended him during the flight. Cool kid. I was shocked at the size of the St. Petersburg airport… I expected something big and grand, well maybe not grand, but big at least. It was a very small and very dated looking airport. We were let off the plane onto the runway, no concourses. And it was so crowded and just very dated looking. We eventually made it to the dorms, and I’m pretty sure my suitcase broke trying to drag it up the front stairs, but oh well. The rest of the evening was room assignments and the like.

29 Aug. – Orientation day! Basic information about the building, what is available and how not to get arrested and stuck in a Russian prison, lol. We also had a pretty basic tour of the major tourist highlights of the city. We visited Peter and Paul Fortress specifically. It was a pretty cool place. Interesting architecture for sure.

30 Aug. – This was my first Monday in Russia, and we had a test! Always knew Monday wasn’t a good day… But it was just the placement test for your language level. I was pretty sure that I did terribly on the test, but everyone was sure they bombed it, if that is possible for a placement test. Following the test, we had a practical tour of the surrounding area to find things like the hospital and post office and how to use the metro, etc.

31 Aug. – So I found out that I was placed far higher than I had expected for my language level, and we had our first class. Should be quite a learning experience since the teacher will only speak to us in Russian and use English words very sparingly, only to teach a new vocabulary word. So based upon my grammar knowledge, I’m advanced, but when it comes to simply listening and understanding, I couldn’t have been placed better because that alone will be my big challenge. Listening, speaking and understanding a language is a completely different world to reading and writing it.

1 Sept. – Hermitage, the world’s largest collection of Western art. That was definitely an interesting trip. We also lucked out because the Hermitage is currently hosting a Picasso exhibition from the Louvre in Paris because they are doing some sort of construction or other so they put the Picasso exhibition on the road. And thanks to my student card, I get in free whenever I please! Which is good cause I heard it can take 9 years to see every single exhibit of the Hermitage Museum.

2 Sept. – The US Consulate came to visit us so that they could basically tell us not to do anything stupid and get arrested. And how to be safe in the city, as well as the services that they offer to American citizens abroad in Russia. They made sure to stress that they, in fact, cannot get you out of jail if you are arrested, they can only make sure that you are being treated the same as everyone else. Scary thought… I guess I’ll just do my best to stay out of jail.

3 Sept. – First Friday, and first low-key day. We went on a river cruise on the Neva in the evening with live jazz music. Good friends, a beer and good jazz music made for a pleasant evening :)

4 Sept. – Peterhof is probably one of the most gorgeous places that I have ever been to, if only for the grounds. While the palace was absolutely amazing, and the fountains were breathtakingly beautiful, I would be perfectly content to have grounds as nice as Peterhof to wander around in. Plus, its hard to compete when you have squirrels that will gladly leap right onto your head and chill. Or ducks practically everywhere, including some that will pose for the camera :) And then to top it off, Peter the Great is totally the man because the place is riddled with joke fountains that will spray you if you trigger them. Peterhof for the win!

5 Sept. – Some friends and I just hopped onto a bus and got off at the first stop to explore. We found a pretty spiffy little restaurant and coffee shop within walking distance of the dorms. Best way to find places.

6-10 Sept. – Classes continue as per usual in addition to elective classes. I am taking History of Russian Art, History of Russia: Kieven Rus to 1917 and History/Political Science of Russia: Perestroika to Present. In language, we encountered our speech teacher for the first time and that was a trip and a half. I was only just getting used to the cadence of our grammar teacher when I was suddenly overloaded with a Russian who speaks extremely quickly. Well, I guess no better way to learn than to dive in head first, eh?

9 Sept. – HOCKEY! CKA St. Petersburg vs. Dinamo Riga (Latvia). It was a pretty epic match, especially being surrounded by hundreds of screaming Russians. I did have to snicker at the Latvians who were surrounded by the police for the entirety of the game for their own safety. Though I suppose it was the best because CKA lost in overtime, 4-5. Although CKA is responsible for overtime with a goal in the last 10 seconds of the game! :D

11 Sept. – Siege of Leningrad tour. Now that I think about it, it was a pretty fitting day to be visiting memorials, even though it was for something completely different and on the other side of the world. We first visited a huge memorial cemetery that was built to commemorate the 1 million people who died during the 900 day, 900 night siege of Leningrad during World War II. It was a gorgeous cemetery and it was a very humbling experience. Even when its not your home country, it makes one proud to know that there are people who are willing to give everything they have for the protection of their country and its citizens. We also saw the huge memorial in the center of town, which was pretty spectacular. I guess it just makes me feel good to see a city/country really appreciate their soldiers.

12 Sept. – A couple people from our group, along with myself, met up with the afore mentioned Russian friend that we made on our flight over to St. Petersburg. He and a friend from his university took us to the artillery museum for the afternoon. It was a pretty cool place and the building and basically surrounded by tanks, missiles and cannons from world wars. Not to mention the amount of related things inside the building. Definitely another place that will take a few more visits to see in its entirety.

13 Sept. – Monday again… Nothing dreadfully exciting happened, although I was pleasantly surprised to realize that I did, in fact, understand the majority of what the cashier said to me at the grocery store. Even after only two weeks, my comprehension has improved significantly. Win!

14 Sept. – or today… Enjoyed a pretty relaxed day. After class today, our teacher took us to a different classroom where we were instructed to say something about ourselves in Russian to Russian students, and they were to do the same to us in English. It was a good experience, and I think we all hope that such exercises continue for practice in a less intimidating environment. Then I went to the coffee shop that we discovered the previous weekend and just enjoyed a latte while drafting this very blog and people watching with friends. We did see one boy across the café with his hands taped together in the process of tried to light the lighter he was holding between his knees in order to light the cigarette hanging out of his mouth… definitely entertaining. People watching may have to be my favorite sport! So another afternoon of good people, good conversation and a good drink.

** So I did have more planned for my blog entry with my overall impressions on a lot of different things, but I think that I may be saving that for tomorrow or the next day because this post is about 3 pages long and if you actually made it this far, kudos to you! Until next post… до свидания!