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.

People-watching, Pick pockets

Post-Baltika on Monday, a few of us grabbed some cheap champagne and headed to Mikhailovsky's Palace gardens. We sat and people-watched for awhile. One thing noticeable is that nobody really smiles here. Everyone looks like they're living such a hard life. No one really says thank you. If you hold the door open for someone, they'll just barrel through without even looking you in the eyes. They'll also push you on the metro to get out of their way. The fashion here is insane. Basically anything goes. Girls clothes range from full-length dresses and outfits fit for a club, to just basic jeans. Most of the girls wear high-heels constantly, which must be hard with all the walking they do here. Guys clothing also ranges quite a bit. The time of day doesn't help predict outfits. Some of our tutors come to class decked out in heels, skirts, halter tops, sunglasses, and jewels in their hair. Someone in our group asked about the high heels, the girl responded with- if I don't wear high heels, what will I wear? To them, this is their only option. People travelling in the same group can also vary in their outfits. Our tutors are very awesome though, they're actually friendly and outgoing.

After enjoying a beautiful afternoon in the park with friends, we head back on the metro to go to our dorms. What else could follow such a relaxing day but insanity and drama. Two of the kids in our group get pickpocketed. The unfortunate thing about it is that we know the guy who did it, but there was such a bustle and nobody really cared around us, that we got pushed out when the doors opened and didn't quite know what to do. After that incident, we've been hyper-vigilant on the metro. Two other people have been pick-pocketed since then, and lost their cameras. Once you start paying attention, it is quite obvious what they are doing. The most annoying part of it all to me is just how blatant they are. Now we have our circle of death, where we huddle and keep all our stuff in the middle. The boys have a triangle of death, since there's three of them at a time usually. Whatever it takes to keep our stuff out of their hands.

PS:- the picture is off these 12 years old we saw drinking and smoking

St. Isaaks Cathedral

After the Peter and Paul Fortress on Sunday afternoon, a few of us headed to St. Isaaks Cathedral. We went up the collonade, about 200+ spiral steps, and there is a viewing deck around the building. It gives you a perfect panoramic view of the entire city. Unfortunately, there is so much on-going construction in St. Petersburg that there are cranes and other things everywhere. They ruined some of the beautiful views, but it was still a great day to see the city.

Baltika

Monday (the first day before classes start) we take tour of the Baltika brewing factory. It is the most popular Russian beer. They've only gone private post-1991 because everything before that was state-owned and collectivized, including beer. The factory was pretty fun, watching all the bottles go by on the conveyer belt. We had the director of International Relations giving our tour, which is impressive. Afterwards they let us taste all their different kinds of beer. They are numbered from 1-9, going up in alcohol content for the odd-numbered ones and the even-numbered ones are niche beers. For example, Baltika 0 is non-alcoholic, Baltika 9 is high-gravity, and Baltika 6 is a porter. I loved how our guide made the comment: "why would anyone drink a non-alcoholic beer if they could drink an alcoholic one". The laws on alcohol here are a lot different than at home. You are allowed to have open containers on the street, and most everyone in Russia seems to take advantage of it. You will see people, from the little old lady to the business man, walking around with a beer. They stop selling hard liquor after 11, but beer all night. It doesn't seem like they enforce any drinking age, which is 18. The club also didn't card us. I've been told though that a few months ago they did pass a no open container law, though nobody cares.

Peter and Paul Fortress

Sunday after a hard night of dancing, we're all up and ready to go to the Peter and Paul Fortress. The cathedral contained the tombs and recognition of the Tzars and Tzarinas and their families. For as many important people as it contained, it did not seem as elaborate as it could have been. All of the people were just jammed into the same medium-sized cathedral. We only walked the fortress wall for a few minutes. It had canons and artillery on display. It is right on the river, which was ideal for their burgeoning naval fleet of the time. There was a small strip of sand on the river which was packed full of Russian sunbathers. People here will take any opportunity to lay out, whether at a national monument, the park, or any strip of grass available. I guess when it's winter for 9 months of the year, it happens. After the fortress, we took a boat trip down the canal and saw many of the buildings we will later visit. It was very relaxing. Afterwards some of us went out to eat "blinis", which are basically Russian crepes. They have anything you want in them, from meats, veggies and cheeses to fruit and ice cream. It was pretty good and you could watch them making the food.

Red Club

My first club experience in Russia was quite something else. I would compare it to Miami more than anywhere else I've been. We arrive at the Red Club with Leila and go in. They take my mints! Very uncool. Yeah, I'm still holding a grudge b/c I don't have any now for my trip. We roll in around 11 p.m. and the place is absolutely dead. So we explore. The music is all techno (house and trance) which I love. The Russians all roll in around 1 or so. They had a snow machine of sorts, that threw out foam every now and then. It was a high energy dance scene. Different from the US because here everyone was into their own dancing. At home, people are always checking out what others are doing. The only problem with clubbing in St. Petersburg is that the metro closes at 12 and they draw up all the city bridges. You can't cross out of the downtown area until 6 a.m. again. We were pretty done after 4 so we sat in the club stairwell for awhile. Then at 5 or so we walked to the metro and just sat there with about 60 other people waiting for it to open back up. This part I don't really get. The metro was absolutely crowded at 5:30 a.m. so there is no reason to close it down. We finally roll in home at 6 a.m. and have to be on a field trip at 10 the next morning. I've spoken with some Russians about this all night club scene. According to them, they usually take a nap, go out after midnight, party till 6, then sleep all day. This is their normal social life here. Unfortunately for us, we're not used to that and it pretty much killed our desire for clubbing for awhile. And we don't have the option to sleep all the next day. Other than that, the Red Club was amazing. I love techno :-)

Absinthe, aka "the Green Fairy"

Saturday night was my first experience with the nightlife. It is quite interesting and definitely is different! We went out (a part of the group) with one of our Russian tutors, or guides, Leila. First we went to dinner at "Lenin is Alive". The food at the restaurants so far has been pretty good. The best part about dinner was experiencing absinthe. Apparently it's illegal in the US because it is considered a hallucinogen. The whole absinthe drinking is quite the show. They use a cognac snifter and pour it in. Then they light it on fire, spin it around, and capture the alcohol fumes into another glass, which they cover with a coaster with a straw through it. She blows the fire out and you're supposed to take the entire shot (which is green, by the way). I didn't quite manage that, just took a sip. It was like drinking gasoline fumes. Then you suck in the air in the other glass through the straw. Much worse! We all ended up sipping on the absinthe throughout dinner. Everyone at the table was a real sport and did it, even if they weren't big drinkers. Even Leila had never done it before, so I'm glad we were able to give her a new experience.

City Tour

Friday afternoon we arrived at St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University. We're staying at IMOP, which is where international students come to study Russian and Russians come to study English. There are a very diverse group of students staying here. Some Americans also, but very few. Africans and Chinese and Indians too. We had a site orientation that evening and I basically crashed at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday morning, we had our first Russian Culture class. Reviewed the cyrillic alphabet and learned some basic phrases. Talked about customs also, such as etiquette with smiling at people you don't know (don't do it) and staring (very common). After lunch we did a city tour on the bus. Basically just driving around and pointing out some of the big things that we will either be visiting later or that we might want to see ourselves. Once I have some time I'll figure out how to post pictures, so it'll give a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Flight

Everyone kept asking- how long is the flight over there? Obviously I was unprepared. The flight to Frankfurt was the normal 8 hours. I assumed the next flight would be just as long, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was 2.5 hrs. Of course, I was dying to sleep, yet the guy next to me saw me studying my Russian and started talking to me about their culture. He had studied English and thought it was interesting the way we learned Russian. We talked for the entire flight! And gave me his number to call him to hang out with him (not going to be using it though). Which brings up the whole not using deodorant thing. Talk about BO! We've been to their "Target" and they definitely sell it, but according to Russians, it is not in common use. Which is a tragedy- for both us and them. Anyways- the flight over went well. Got the chance to talk to a few people on the flight, start getting to know everyone on the trip. It seems like it will be an interesting group. More to come!