Quick birthday post!

My birthday was good. Weather was beautiful so me and my roommate Becca headed down to the beach to relax under the sun and on the sand. Its been so nice and warm, and I have been getting quite the tan. But yes mami, I have been remembering to put on sunscreen. (Most of the time).

My birthday party was amazing though and that is why I think it was my best birthday ever (20!!). I got flowers, a dinner, an H&M gift card (I seriously buy something every week from them) and a really beautiful necklace.

It was a small party, only 7 of us, but it was basically perfect. A few of my Russian friends offered to host it at their house which was great. I, my roommate Becca, some Russian friends, a Venezuelan (who I met through the Russians), and another Russian friend who did not know anyone other then me, were there.

Jesus, the Venezuelan, made us dinner, chicken and rice with a blue cheese sauce. It was soooooo good. He also made fried bananas topped with cheese. That may sound a bit crazy, but its really good even though it is usually made with plantains which are impossible to find in St Petersburg.

My party mostly consisted of just sitting around, listening to music and talking. Three languages were spoken, and they constantly intermingled into one Span-Russ-Glish language. Loads of fun. We debated leaving the house to go dancing, but it seemed like so much work that we did not end up going anywhere.

Danced a bit around the living room though, which was really silly and fun. There are some pretty bad action shots of our tango, so doubt that I will post them on here. Hope that your summer has been going well! As you can see, mine definitely has.

Lots of love from St Petersburg. Only three weeks left!

Birthday Flowers!

Normalcy

So I have been in St Petersburg for exactly 3 weeks and already it feels like home. A home where I do not understand most of what people say, where I cannot always read the signs, and where the clothes/food are slightly foreign to me, but still a home. I felt this way when I was in Wales two years ago, but that was different. I was with family and the main language was English. Here, I knew only one person, and her barely at all, and my Russian ability was (still is) poor. Yet already, things have become routine and "normal". And my Russian has improved a lot. Still needs loads of work though.

I have met some Russians; truthfully, this was the main reason for this exchange. I wanted to improve my Russian through meeting people and by being surrounded by Russian. The classes and the academic side are less important to me as I could get that in Canada or the US. The people that I have met are through language groups on Facebook and from friends of friends. While it is a bit sketchy to meet up with people from the internet, so far its has turned out well.

I do not even know where to begin describing my trip that is not even half over. I think that I will begin by writing about different aspects of my every day experience. Lets see how this goes! Also, if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!

Things I see part 2

So I totally saw the sun rise over the Hermitage---at 4:30am. This is at the park right next to it.

Sunrise!

Backside of the Hermitage

St Petersburg at night--Looking over a canal

Okay. A story on this bird. We (my roommates and I) have been trying to photograph this crazy looking bird for a while. Its huge, intimidating, and walks like a boss. It kind of looks like a pigeon cross bred with a crow. We are still not sure exactly what it is. Do you know?

Church of Spilled Blood. We stopped by quick in front of it, but I need to go back and see more.

This is what I see everyday. Jealous?

Hey all, will get a real post soon. Life have become crazy in its normalcy and routine. Schedules have been set, and all is "normal". Sending lots of love!

All of these pictures are what I have seen just walking around and exploring. If there is no caption, its because I have no idea where this was, or what it is!

More photo posts will be coming. I am getting an "internal error" message from blogger when I tried right now.

Fire next to the Hermitage

Seen on Nevsky Prospekt on Victory Day (May 9th)

Sitting outside the Hermitage, watching people go by. NBD.

The people in my group!

The contrast between something so foreign (Sony) and something very Russian (ballet advertisement)

Yes, there is Pizza Hut. Sigh.

This picture should be first, but oh well. The first Russian sign I saw on the way home from the airport!

Things I Have Learned....Or need to learn

1. Must learn how to use a squat toilet. Enough said.

2. Buying groceries without knowing whats a good price is hard. But what is even harder is having no idea what the label says.

3. Because of above, must bring Russian/English dictionary to the supermarket, no matter how stupid you look.

4. Be prepared for the cafeteria lady to get very mad if you give her a big bill---even though the atm gives you a 1,000 or even 5,000 ruble bill and you need to break it somehow.

5. You will not fit in with the clothing style---St Petersburg is like going back to the late 80's, early 90's with mullets galore, in addition to tights with shorts which is something that I have not seen in YEARS.

5a. Most of the women wear high heels. There is no way that I will wear 4 inch stilettos on my walk to and from the metro no matter how much I stand out.

5b. Its hot. Its sunny. Yet everyone is still wearing their winter jackets. I will not fit in, but I will have a lovely tan and be comfortably warm and not boiling.



Other then that, I am having a lovely time. It has been hard and frustrating at times, but I know that I am already learning so much each time that I struggle to order meat at the deli, or ask for tea from the cafeteria lady. Today, I successfully got lunch from the cafeteria! But when I asked for milk with my tea, I got a response that I could not make heads nor tails of, so I just gave up on that part. She is scary anyway. So I almost successfully got lunch. Close enough.

Oh and I had my first two classes today. My teacher is very friendly and older, but she does not speak much English. She would use French to explain some things, which worked for the other two students in my group, but not me. Our class is only three people so I feel a lot more comfortable than I did in University, even though that class was fairly small as well. Its also nice that we have been grouped together by skill.

When I get better internet (Sunday I think), I will post some pictures for y'all.

First day in the new city

So much to say. I still cannot believe that I am in Russia!

It was a good flight to St Petersburg as I had a row to myself. When I landed, it was super sunny and hot out.

Hee hee I am writing this and trying not to fall asleep...

And then things went downhill a bit. I have never been in a situation where I cannot communicate. Sweden so far has been the closest to it, but even then I knew that most people spoke English. I had a driver meeting me at the airport, and while he was very nice, he spoke little English. We could not communicate. I felt like I was mute and deaf. We went to hand gestures, but that still could not pass on enough information. There were three students who had not landed on the earlier flight, and he was asking me if I knew anything, but the language barrier kept the communication from happening. He called a number, handed me a phone and told me to speak English. The woman on the phone asked me if I knew where the other students were, but I did not know. I came to Russia really not knowing anybody.

We waited and waited but no one showed up. He gave up, and we headed to the van. The drive to the dorm was in broken English and Russian. My two years of studying the language gave me little help in the real world. It was still a nice drive though.

We get to the dorm, pass the guard and I try to understand what the woman in control of the keys was saying. We make it work, even though I do not know half of what she said. We (me and the driver) head to the teeny tiny elevator and head up, up, up to my new home. We get in and I meet my roommate who had just woken up from a nap. The kitchen is alright, the toilet strange, and our room large enough to house the two of us. We were still waiting for the other students who would have the other room in the apartment/dorm. We talked, settled ourselves in and I found out that she is American as well, taking advantage of the Canadian school system just like me. Went to bed and woke up in the middle of the night to our other roommates/program mates moving in. They had missed their flight because of delays and did not get in till after mid night. Talked a but, and headed back to bed.

Today, Monday, has been absolutely crazy. All of us, us four girls and one guy that are in our program, headed downtown to Nevsky Prospekt. It was easily an hour walk, but as it is a national holiday the streets were crowded and it took much longer. We wandered there and back in 7 or so hours, our feet aching and tired. We stopped at a store, and bought a lot of things as our apartment/dorm was not fully furnished. Afterwards, we made a lovely dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce. I am the youngest by at least two years and in some ways it shows. I think I am the only one who has not lived alone, and it was strange for me to buy my own groceries. In addition, I was unsure of what things should cost, as everything was in rubles and cheaper (or more expensive) than in the US. My goal is to live on less than 80 dollars a week, but this week more than that has been spent (and by week I mean two days). Then again, I have bought a lot of basic things that will last me the two months, such as shampoo, lotion and so on.

After dinner, we took our wine and beer down to the beach right outside of our dorm---its the gulf of Finland. It was full of trash, but we saw the sun go down over the water and it was beautiful, even with all of the broken glass and cigarette butts. Tomorrow morning we have our placement tests so lets see how that goes. I have a feeling (and kind of am hoping) that I will be placed in the beginner class. My Russian skills can more be described as the lack thereof, and I am worried that I will be put in a class that is toooo challenging.

But that will be tomorrow, and I am quite exhausted so I am heading to bed. Will keep you updated on how tomorrow goes!

Photos! Stockholm Round 2

While lost, I still managed to take pictures

My favoritest cat ever! Been woken up to the feel of a cat sleeping on my thigh.

Like I said, runes everywhere.

So sunny and beautiful!

More runes

Old church with crazy trees around it

Look! Even a rune stone in the church!

Sun when we got there

Stockholm---Note the bunny hot air balloon

Sun just before we left