By squeakyrobot
Two things in Petersburg are absolutely unpredictable: the weather and the traffic. While I’ve learned to carry an umbrella and a scarf with me at all times, I haven’t been able to make sense of the traffic patterns simply because there is no sense to be found. Which is why the following St. Petersburg transportation guide must be digested with a rock of salt rather than just a grain.
...continue reading "Navigating Petersburg: Ignore the Day Drinkers"
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.
...continue reading "Russian Study Abroad Dilemma: How to Have It All"
By squeakyrobot
It’s always difficult to leave a good place. You’re cozy there, like when you wake up on a snowy morning enveloped by the warmth, softness, and familiarity of your own bed. It’s always hard to leave the bed for something cold or unknown.
I’ve been hopping around Europe for the past month and a half. It’s been an unplanned trip, as many of my trips are, but the one theme that has strung each chaotic day to the next is this: freedom. Freedom to do as I please as soon as I please it. Freedom to eat that weird thing or change destinations on a split-second whim or hang-out with that eccentric person who I met at the hostel. It’s been a month and a half of adventure, seeing friends and family, and completing bucket-list items. A month and a half of doing what I want.
And this freedom holds me captive. As such, I haven’t had time or need to prepare for my upcoming stint in cold, dark St. Petersburg. Okay, I’ve done some preparing, but this has mostly consisted of day-dreaming about a life in Russia and listening to Russian rap. It also meant dying my hair platinum blonde and buying heels to wear day-to-day. It seems that I fit in already. Russian society will see me and regard me as one of their own.