Staraya Ladoga

June 16: Staraya Ladoga (ladoga means lake) was a day trip for us. We took a long drive out to these viking burial mounds by the river and had a picnic. Most of the tutors came out and cooked us shashliks (basically skewered meat). It was pretty good. We played frisbee and sat out in the sunshine. The weather was perfect. We saw a married couple getting pictures. The Russian custom seems to be that when you get married, you go with your wedding party all around the city and get your picture taken and drink champagne by all the big monuments. It looks really fun and like something I might do for my wedding (where ever it may be). Pictures will be better than words in this case. Picture 1 is of one of the viking mounds. They were mass burial places. The second is of the most attractive couple on the trip- me and Justin!! (we're not dating, so don't get all stressed out peeps!) But yeah, we are quite photogenic, right? The third pic is of all the tutors and teachers working on making lunch. The last one is of people playing frisbee. Enjoy!

Pushkin: Catherine's Palace

Saturday June 2, we spent the entire day in the city of Pushkin. It was a 2 hr bus ride away from our dorms. We stopped along the way at a memorial for the Seige of Leningrad. (first two pics) Afterwards, we took a tour of Catherine's Palace and the grounds. (picture 3 and 4) Picture 4 is of the hall of rooms. You can look down through all the doorways, it is supposed to resemble mirrors reflecting into each other. We also saw the amber room, which you are not allowed to photograph. I think it is hyped up, it was basically a room covered in amber. The entire palace is huge, we only went through one hall of rooms. Some figure the rest is just not renovated after the war. Many of the rooms and artifacts either had to be restored or are not originals. Picture 5 is of the grounds behind the palace.

Night at the Marinsky

A handful of us went to see Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin on Friday, June 15. It is a Russian opera that is fairly well-known. I haven't personally read it though. The opera house is very famous- the Marinsky. I will put up pictures later because I didn't have my camera with me that night. The opera was great, and they had super-titles in English so we could follow it. During the two intermissions, people get champagne or wine and caviar. It was very classy. We went up to check out the Tzar's box also, which is where the Tzar's would sit and watch shows. It had an amazing and perfect view. It is quite expensive to sit up there, we guessed at around 8 to 10 thousand rubles. Maybe even more. The music was my favorite part of the opera. I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Pictures soon!

Ice Bar

June 11, Russia's Independence Day, we went to Lyod (also known as Ice Bar in English). The bar is kept at about negative 8 degrees Celsius. Not sure how that calculates in degrees Fahrenheit. When you go in, they give you a big furry eskimo coat and boots and gloves. The outfits are quite adorable! Makes you feel like a true Russky. Then you go into this door- basically a big freezer. The place was very small yet unique. The bar, tables, couch, walls, and glasses were made of ice. There was a fur on the couch to sit on. The walls and tables had stuff frozen into it, such as flowers, bottles of colored alcohol, and caviar. The drinks were served in frozen glasses. People were licking the walls and tables, yet the brochure said it was all made of lake water, and you can't drink tap water in St. Petersburg. Hmm... no one reported being sick though. After we left, they threw out the glasses we used on the sidewalk. Easy clean-up! They played fun techno and dancing in the outfits was great. It was pretty cold, although not as much as I thought. You couldn't spend too long there, we were there maybe an hour or so with Irina (the director of the program) and Jeff (one of the professors) and Masha (my second favorite, definitely the most energetic, tutor). It was our experience of Russia in winter.

Cemetary: Second Seige (aka Mosquito Warfare)

On Tuesday, after classes, we decided to explore some stuff this side of the river. We were told that there was a memorial cemetary dedicated to the soldiers of the Second Seige during World War II (1941+). Although it took us awhile to get there, we made it. For the most part, it was wooded and had cement tombstone blocks with dates and names. Many of the trees had pictures tacked up with flowers also. The entire place was interesting, I didn't think it was well kept after, although it was solemn. We decided to cut through the woods to get back quicker... attack of the mosquitoes!! We start down a small path and the mosquitoes start to increase... soon we are deciding between turning back and continuing on but we feel it's better to keep going since we've gone so far (big mistake)... next thing you know we're swarmed and the guys with shorts have blood streaks down their legs... and yeah, we're running out of the woods waving our arms around like crazy Americans... next thing we're racing out and all the Russians who've been walking their dogs and sunbathing just watch us... do Americans get swarmed b/c they smell unlike BO? Hmm... interesting observation... I don't mean to be rude, but nobody wants 25 mosquito bites on them...

White Nights

This is something I am shocked I didn't know before I came. It was mentioned in the orientation, but I obviously didn't grasp what it actually meant. There is complete sunlight for most of the day, with darkness (more like a duskiness) from 12-ish till around 3 a.m. I like it because you can do a lot more, sight-seeing or even just walking around, plus it makes you feel a lot safer in the evenings. It is weird to see people drinking in the streets while it is completely daylight. It also screws with your internal clock, but it does make it easier to wake up in the mornings. St. Petersburg has a White Nights Festival during these months (I think about 3 months total) because they have winter for the other 9 months. Many people throughout Russia and the world come here to celebrate. I'm happy I had the chance to experience it, and it's going to be hard to get used to seeing a sunset when I get home.

PS:- the pictures are both around 11 p.m. at night, can you imagine how much this light screws with your head?

Classes and Field Trips

I'm taking Russian Culture, where we learn phrases and about certain societal differences. I'm also taking Politics and Government of the Soviet Union and St. Petersburg of the Romanovs. The way the classes are structered is that we have classes Tuesday and Thursday, and the corresponding field trips on Monday and Wednesday. Fridays we have our Culture class. We have some scheduled field trips during the weekends, but those are optional. We also have field trips organized during the week, to the opera, ballet, concerts, folk shows, whatever your heart desires. If there is something a few people want to do, the tutors will take you or at the least drop you off.