By squeakyrobot
Mikhail, my host dad, regularly inundates me with books about Petersburg and Russian culture. I’ve only been in Russia for twelve days and I’ve already fifteen books sitting on my desk. Each book outlines hundreds of topics, some of which include city and state history, national cuisines and how to prepare them, detailed backgrounds of ethnic minorities, and the richness of Russian visual arts and culture, namely ballet, opera, literature, and paintings. Mikhail urges me to scan through these books and highlight my favorite topics so that he can later inform me where I can go in St. Petersburg to experience these matters first-hand.
It’s a kind gesture, but also an impossible one. Books aside, the beginning of my Petersburg adventure has been overwhelming – there is so much to see in Europe’s fourth largest city, Venice of the North, and I gravely face the inevitable fact that I can’t see it all in a few short months (there are over 400 museums in this city; the Hermitage alone has about three million exhibits. A lifetime is needed to see them all). What’s more, the short autumn and winter days will make getting out of bed even more difficult. Scraping together enough energy to venture to a museum will likely be an enormous effort. Things will be tough, and productivity might very well be an after thought.
I think every study abroad student wants to make the most of their time in their host country. But how to manage this desire realistically so that you don’t aim too high or too low? This first week has been action-packed, but I’ve been taking it slow to absorb everything and prioritize. What is it that I need to see and do in Petersburg? What points of interests, restaurants, bars, museums, and excursions would I deeply regret missing? I recommend creating a [insert your city here] bucket-list.
The Petersburg bucket-list is not finished, but some of the things I have to do are as follows: go to a hockey game, see an opera, photograph Zoom Café (Russian restaurant with a really cool vibe), go to Tunnel Club (in an abandoned bomb shelter!!), go to Kizhi cathedral (apparently a Russian must-see), find the best Vietnamese food in Peter (I’m an addict, you see), and the very best pelmeni.
Much more needs to be added, but it’s a start. This list is realistic but still requires effort and planning. It’s also tailored to my interests, which will keep me from feeling like I’m wasting my time abroad. Mikhail and his books will help me, no doubt. But it’s up to me to make it happen and not waste a single day in Russia.