It's Russia, baby!

It’s been a slower past couple of days, and thank god because I’m a little overwhelmed with the whirlwind of a week that I’ve had. We finally got our student IDs yesterday, yay! They’re super official looking, like serious WWII era documentation looking. And we get to keep them, so I’ll be sure to bring it home with me so I can show it off! Yesterday was very chill. I had an advising meeting then we walked around the Cherneshevskaya area where we checked out a small botanical garden. Everyone was exhausted so we headed home after that. On my way back, once I was in Primorskaya, I went to the 24 hour produkti (mini-grocery store) by my apartment for the first time. I was low on rubles at the time, so I grabbed a loaf of brown bread, some OJ, and three apples. Since we generally eat lunch and dinner out on the cheap ($3-$6 a meal) and breakfast is provided, these are serving well as midday and evening snacks! And orange juice has never tasted better in my life. Seriously. I need to make sure I eat something green every once and a while because nothing grows here.

I finished watching a movie on Rossiya1 called Brigade, and I was pleasantly surprised. So I’m adding that to the list of movies I want to buy while I’m here (including East-West, Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, and The Irony of Fate). The news is also a good way to wind down at night and also to practice my listening skills. I understand more and more every day; although my confidence in my speaking ability sometimes limits me. Like today when I ordered ice cream from a truck in perfect Russian and the lady didn’t understand me. FAIL. Ugh… But otherwise, St. Pete’s is great! The sun is staying up longer and longer. As I write this up, it’s 11:30pm and it’s just now twilightish. I’ve noticed that, as a result probably, the city starts the day later (around 10am) and stays open later (usually till midnight), with the exception of the 24 hour stores. I could get used to this. I like the later day idea. Unfortunately, I still have to get up at 7:30am to make it across town in time for my 10am class. Boo.

Today, after having lunch at the Smolny cafeteria, we ventured back down to Nevsky Prospekt, the west end this time. There along the beautiful rivers that run through St. Petersburg sits the Winter Palace and the Hermitage museum, which is actually part of the Winter Palace.  The Hermitage is a beautiful mint green colored building with wide accents and borders. It sits on a large square which has an obelisk thing in the middle and an arch on the opposite side. There were people everywhere, as well as horse-drawn carriages and rollerbladers. Apparently, skating is a big thing here in Russia. Anyways, with our student IDs, the Hermitage is FREEEEEE, which is awesome because a regular ticket costs 400 rubles (about $15). The Hermitage is three floors and each floor has two massive wings. So today we covered the eastern wing of the first floor, which is Ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but there was SO MUCH to see everywhere! They had statues from 300 BCE, jewelry, red-black Greek pottery, busts from Rome, Hellenic soldier helmets and weapons, various sarcophagi, Egyptian art, and even a mummy! So, of course, I was in heaven. And the rooms! Oh my god, the rooms themselves were absolutely beautiful!!!! The ceilings were so intricate and amazing, and each room had a different color scheme. The columns were mind boggling and the floors were stunning marble patterns, some in keeping with the Greco-Roman theme, others not. It was just amazing; there truly are no words to describe the beauty of the Hermitage. We wanted to hit up the west wing, where the Caucasus section was, but we ran out of time. I wish I had pictures of the inside, but they don’t allow cameras. 

The Hermitage

The reason I’m back so late tonight is because the university arranged for us to go see a performance of traditional Cossack dance and song. It was so cool! The academy that put on the performance was so talented and the costumes were gorgeous. I knew some of the songs too! The whole thing was just mind boggling and amazing to behold. I can’t even do it justice in this description! Just know it was wonderful and it was a good night! After the performance, I hopped the metro back to Primorskaya. Today was the latest I’ve ever been on the metro before (it was 10:15pm). After loads of people, including Kara, got off at Gostiniy Dvor, it was literally just me and about 40 Russian sailors/officers in my compartment. Primorskaya is on the Gulf of Finland and has a port super nearby, so I figured they must be up for duty. It’s probably the most hilarious metro ride ever, just the irony of it all! They were good guys, nice too, and they let me off the metro first before they poured off and took over the station. I’m sure this notion of me surrounded by Russian military men terrifies my mom (hi mom!) but I’m still alive and all is well!

And now I’m going to bed because it’s midnight here and tomorrow I have to be at Nevsky and Kazan at 10am because we’re going on an official bus tour of St. Petersburg as a group. I predict entertaining moments!

Love to you all! Xoxo

P.S. Wore a skirt today because we went to the theater. It was obscenely windy. You do the math.