By KMorris117
Brace yourself; you’re in for a long one.
Have you ever had one of those days that were just so great you never want it to end? Well February 23rd, 2017 was one of those days for me. It was Defender of the Fatherland Day, which is a national holiday. We did not have school, and instead we spent all day exploring and experiencing the new things Russia, and this day in particular, had to offer.
To begin, I’ll briefly explain Defender of the Fatherland Day. Like our Veteran’s Day, it is a day to honor those who have served in the military. However, in Russia, this day has become a bit more all encompassing. Instead of just those who have served, it has turned into a day to honor all men. It seems a bit odd to me. When I asked my host sister about it, she said it sort of became that way because there was no national men’s day to counter the widely celebrated International Women’s Day here. “It seems ridiculous,” she said, “because every day is men’s day in Russia.”
Still, in certain aspects the holiday does stay true to its military roots. To celebrate properly, my friends and I went to a military reenactment/festival in a giant park. As we were walking up, we could hear cannons, gunshots (all blanks, of course), and patriotic Russian music playing. When we finally arrived, it was unlike anything I have ever seen. There were men dressed in old Soviet military wear, some costumes and some I’m sure were real. There were “army camps” set up, horses, and lots and lots of guns. Kids shooting guns. It was truly the most stereotypical Russian thing I could ever imagine, and it was such a different world than what I had been experiencing so far in St. Petersburg. I truly felt as though I was thrusted back 40 years in time, and the whole celebration was an experience I will never forget.
The celebration continued, and later that evening there were fireworks shot over the Neva River. I was on the bus when it started, and the first BOOM! took me a bit by surprise. But soon everyone was jumping off the bus, running into the street, and running towards the Hermitage’s Palace Embankment to get a better look. They were short and sweet, but afterwards the whole city continued to celebrate. I had some time to kill before I was meeting my friends, so I walked up Nevsky Prospekt (the main stretch) and down different canals and side streets. There were different street performers and people singing and dancing in the street; the atmosphere was extraordinary. I finally was able to go see the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood at night, and it was incredible. There was a man playing his guitar in the same canal as the church, and it was perfect background music for the awe everyone else felt as they walked around the giant church. Filled with complete serendipity, I went to go meet my friends at a karaoke bar.
And just when I thought the day truly couldn’t get any better, I entered Poison. Poison is a karaoke bar in the Dumskaya Street area, a lively nightlife spot in St. Petersburg. Some of my friends from my program were planning on meeting up with a few new Russian students we had met. Well, it ended up being a lot of kids from my program and a lot of Russian students, and it was a complete blast. It was great getting to know some of the Russian students better and hearing about their experiences studying both in Russia and, for many of them, in the US. Because of this, many of them speak English pretty well, and it only made me want to work harder to improve my Russian skills as well.
As for the music, no genre was off limits. Surprisingly, it was mostly American music that was being played. A few of my friends went up to the stage to sing some Black Eyed Peas, and before we knew it the entire bar was screaming the lyrics to “My Humps”. Every song, whether sung by a student from our group or another bar patron, got the entire place singing and dancing. I don’t think I have truly ever seen so many people in one room having the time of their life.
We ended up staying for a long time, meeting tons of new people and burning hundreds of calories from straight dancing. When I was going home that night, I couldn’t stop smiling. I had just spent the most perfect day in St. Petersburg, RUSSIA. It finally hit me that this amazing city is my home for the next few months, and I am still buzzing from the excitement of that realization.
