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!

Clubbing 101

So here are some links to clubs that I may be hitting up :-) In case anyone was curious as to where their girl would be partying.

Fish Fabrique

Metro Club

Money Honey

Something to check out are the erotic dancers at the Metro Club. That should be interesting... ;-)

trip dates/ participants

Alright guys, there are only 16 days till I leave! Dates of my trip are May 31st to July 2nd. I have already learned most of the cyrillic alphabet, although not too many words. Here is a link to the people going on my trip and their profiles (not everyone though). As of now, this is an open blog, so watch the comments ;-)