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

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!