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Published: August 29th 2008
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Well I have officially been in Russia for 2 days and 3 nights now. We arrived around supper time on Wednesday and were promptly told that we were in the most beautiful city in Russia then stuffed into a bus for a ride to our hotel. At first the city was really butt ugly. It wasn't until you got downtown that you could really appreciate it's beauty, especially when the sun comes out. Which happens only 60 days out of the year.
The first night was rather uneventful. We met our director Harley and he is a short, quiet man, balding and very friendly. He isn't married and has only a goddaughter which I believe he loves dearly. He has spent the past 15 years here in Russia but goes home during the summers. He is from Kansas of all places, haha.
The others in my group are not too bad. 7 guys and 9 girls as I later found out. We met two of our group at the hotel, they had come from other countries instead of the U.S. to get here. I am currently rooming with James, we are getting along fairly well. Both of us stressing
concern over the contract we signed but I think we will live with (or perhaps around) it. The other guys are really cool and I enjoy their company immensly.
The following day we awoke promptly and had breakfast at 8:30, departing at 10 for the metro. It is an interesting experience. You take a long escalator ride down, and down, and down, to the subway where everyone rushes into the train like sardines. A russian train always has room for another. No one talks or smiles in the train car and everyone just looks straight ahead. Pickpockets are rampant so you are extra careful down there. Apparently RSP (Russian Studies Program) has never had a semester where at least one person wasn't pickpocketed. We made our way to the Saint Petersburg's version of Chicago's magnificent mile. Although a much older street by far. We walked along it for most of the day, visiting old book stores and buildings that have history varying from the Bolshevik revolution to the old Czars. We saw the Church of the Ressurection otherwise known as the Church of the Spilt Blood, had coffee and a great Russian lunch. I ordered a type of Russian
mushroom soup that was amazing and then had lamb shishkabobs that were also really good. Made it back to the hotel to walk around for a while. Dinner was actually Debbie our RA handing us money and saying good luck! So I managed to order food for the 4 of us that were walking around. We had something similar to a crepe stuffed with chicken and what I suspect is mayonaise. 8:00pm we had a RSP meeting and were given syllabus's and schedules for the semester and our time in Petersburg. Tomorrow we go outside the city to see a summer palace of the Tzars, Sunday we go to a church service and then a ballet that night. Apparently a very good ballet. Wednesday we leave for our university. Sounds like we have to make a journal entry everynight once classes start, a paper due every friday and then a research paper (12-15pages) due at the end of the semester. All in all not too bad. Around 11 James and I called it a night.
Breakfast is a strange thing in any country, and Russia is no exception. Today was the same as yesterday. A decent buffet that offers
salami and other sandwhich meats with breads and cheese. Cereal that resembles corn flakes and another that is looks like mini wheats but with chocolate fillings. Lots of different types of breads. The eggs are actually baked powdered eggs and with the consistency of jello. I noticed that no one ate the eggs this morning. The juice isn't too bad and they have this dish that taste vaguely of cheese cake. I tend to get that. They also serve sausages that taste a lot like hotdogs. Breakfast in all... isn't really all that special.
We left at 10 like always for The Hermitage. One of the most famous museums in the world. Saw Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son, saw Picasso paintings and plenty of Greek and Roman sculptures. Way cool armor from the medieval period and various other things, some modern stuff as well that was very trippy. If you were to visit every artifact or painting for 1 minute each in the museum it would take you 16 years to see it all. The museum used to be the summer palace of the Czars before it was turned over.
After that we saw the Bronze Horseman
statue which has an amazing story behind it and we say Isaac's Cathedral. The sun actually came out today and we saw the city light up for about 10 minutes, which was nice to see.
Lunch was at Subway, not really my first choice. Afterall we came to Russia to experience Russia. However Harley had a good point that the faster we eat the more we see. And Russian restaurants are very slow. Plus this one had a great story involving the Mafia. It was also the first Subway in Russia.
Tomorrow we leave the city for a day and it will be good to get out. Hope everyone is doing well.
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Eureka
I totally discovered your blog address because i'm awesome. that or lucky. Looks beautiful...and you are going to see a ballet...a real ballet...a russian ballet. Trust me it will be good as far as ballet goes, but who knows if you will like it. I thought the hermitage was a winter palace...i was wrong. ok bye now.