Today consisted of the topic level sessions at our conference. I met with all of the computer scientist, while others met with colleagues from their discipline. It was an incredibly fascinating way of learning more about the Russian way of doing things, although my experiences were slightly different from those of several of my colleagues, so it is hard to tell what is true culture and what was circumstance. Our meetings were to start at 11:00. (By the way, the work day here starts closer to 10:00 with coffee at 11:30 or 12:00, lunch at 1:00 or 2:00, and work often until 6:00 or so at night. Most stores are open quite late, and this isn’t a tourist thing. I went into THE bookstore frequented by the St. Petersburg locals today, and it is open until
... read more