Welcome to my blog about my adventures abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia! This is essentially a copy of the emails I send to folks back home (so if you get those emails, there is nothing new here). Here goes!

04.09.2006

This will unfortunately be short, I hope to write again this week, but Emilia Filipovna (my host mother) is expecting me soon. I think. Our communication isn't the best. Ah, the joys of living in Russia!

All in all, I am enjoying myself! I've been here 5 days and started classes at the Smolnyi Institute today. PLEASE Google image the building, I can't attach my pictures yet--it is outrageous! I promise you will be amazed. Putin had offices there when he worked for the St. Petersburg City Council in the early 90s, and it is also the spot from where Lenin led the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution in 1917. Where do YOU go to school? Just kidding! We had a test today and a literature lecture, and it was EXHAUSTING. No English. I don't understand literature in English, let alone Russian!

Phil and I flew in from NY on Wed/Thurs, and we went to Moscow. The Delta flight was uneventful, except for a ladybug that was in my salad. It was dead. At Moscow we had to go to the domestic terminal where we checked in for our Aeroflot flight and I bribed my first official. I didn't realize I had until Phil explained later: usually when they have you put money inside your passport and slide it across the table, it is shady. Who knew? It was for paying our overweight baggage fee. I felt quite native--bribing someone after only being in the country 30 minutes. Aeroflot to Petersburg was also uneventful, but I was still SO glad when we landed. Not doing that again. No one was sitting in the seat in front of me, and when I accidentally bumped it, the entire seat collapsed down. Oops.

After landing and meeting the other students, they drove us to a hotel/state-sponsered rehabilitation center for senior citizens and crazy people north of the city, in Repino. Quite strange. But it was pretty, in the forest and right on the Gulf of Finland. Some girls I've met and I are planning a weekend trip to Helsinki soon. We had our orientation there, in the middle of nowhere. Then they put us in minivans and drove us to our homes. They just kind of left us at our buildings, to fend for ourselves.

My host mother is Emilia Filipovna Kohan. She is nice and has hosted many times before, which is nice because she knows what to expect and doesn't think I'm too stupid. The first night was stressful, and I instantly forgot all of my Russian, but whatevs. The next night we were able to have a conversation about Putin and Bush and travel and watched "Skating With the Stars." And by "conversation," I mean she talked and I said, "Da. Da. Horosho." I was able to say a few things, but not a whole lot. I was able to understand about 2/3 of what she said, so that made me proud. I also bought my Russian cell phone yesterday, so I felt instilled with a newfound confidence. That confidence was shot today in class.

Food is fine, my room is fine (normally a sitting room when she doesn't host), and the apartment is nice. Most kids are in pretty run-down, typically "Soviet" apartment buildings, but mine is older than that and pretty. The neighborhood seems nice, too. It is east of downtown, on the otherside of the Neva River. The Neva pretty much encircles the city, which consists of 42 islands (but really just a few big ones). I can take the metro or buses.

I do have one funny story. The first night, she explained something about the hot water in the shower, but I didn't really understand. So in the morning, I got in and took the coldest shower of my life, figuring she'd said they didn't get hot water in the morning or something. As I got out, she came out of my room and offered to show me how to turn on the shower. She looked at me, touched my arm, and said, "So cold! You took a cold shower?" I said yes, and she then proceeded to show me: you have to take a match, light a little box thing in the shower, and then it heats up. So I said, "Oh, yes, now I understand!" But then she insisted I get in and shower again. She said, "Get in, get in!" Well, I'm there in nothing but a towel, and she is just standing there. "Get in, get in!" I thought, "Alright..." and dropped the towel and got in. She just stayed there, fiddling with the water. Tres awkward. But then she left and it was cool.

I would love to reflect more, but I think I'm still overwhelmed and this is long. I must go. I apologize for any weird wording; going back and forth between Russian and English has just made me worse at both languages. I miss you all and hope to see lots of emails from everyone with news from home the next time I open my inbox!