A cultural week

I’ve been either too busy or too tired to update for a while, so here’s what I’ve been up to!

18/05
After spending the day indoors, I then wanted to watch Eurovision! I watch Eurovision every year without fail, so I wasn’t going to let a little thing like time difference get in the way! I managed to find the Eurovision website to watch it on, without commentary. It would have been very strange to have no commentary at all, but luckily Christine and Charlotte were online and watching too, so they could fill me in on everything that Graham Norton said! My programme was slightly delayed, but otherwise it was pretty good to have simultaneous trans-European Eurovision watching! It would have been a slightly duller experience (there were still strange costumes to laugh at etc) without them, so thanks you two.

19/05
I woke up still feeling slightly unwell, so originally I wasn’t going to go to Pushkin, but I’m glad I did in the end! Tsarskoe Selo (in the town of Pushkin) was the Summer Palace of the Tsars, and it really is beautiful (and huge):

Last time I went, we looked in the palace (one of the highlights is the room with walls covered in amber, very pretty), but this time we walked around the grounds, which are beautiful, and there is so much to see! We had lunch overlooking the huge lake, and even saw an otter (or was it a vole?!):

We also saw some other people from school, so that was funny. It was a very nice, relaxing, sunny day, and after that we looked at a market across the street, where I bought a watch for £6, just because I don’t like having to keep taking my phone out to check the time, especially on the metro!

20/05
After school, we had lunch at Штолле, where they have an amazing variety of pies, savoury and sweet. I then joined some students on a trip to some of the shopping centres at Sennaya Ploshad, where we had a look round in an attempt to find some actual Russian brands (we managed to find one shop, out of two shopping centres!)

21/05
When I got out of class, everyone had left already, so I was left with the decision of heading home, or being brave and doing things on my own. I chose the latter option, which you can read about in my previous post! Here’s a picture of the inside of the Hermitage (the outside is being renovated, so I will wait to take a photo of that to show it in it’s full glory!):

I also saw the countdown clock to the Winter Olympics in Sochi:

22/05
After school, I was invited to have lunch with two other girls. We went to a restaurant which is kitted out to look like a plane, with curtains acting as doors to the kitchen, and to the toilets, as well as departure and arrival boards for Pulkovo airport! The restaurant is called Две Палочки, which I didn’t understand at first, since my dictionary gave me the translation of ‘stick’ or ‘wand’… neither of which made sense! After googling it, it turns out it means ’2 Chopsticks’. That doesn’t really fit with the theme, but it fits with the food; they sell a mixture of sushi, curry, and Chinese food. I didn’t get what I actually ordered, but I was too British to make a fuss, and actually it was better than what I’d originally ordered!

23/05
After lunch at Teremok, one of my friends said she was going to the Dostoevsky Museum, and invited me along too. I’ve read some of Dostoevsky’s works at Uni, so it was interesting to see where he once lived! Although I have to say, it was a lot smaller than what we were expecting. But I’m glad I went anyway!

24/05
In class, we watched a really sweet film called Piter FM, about a woman who loses her phone, the man that finds it, and their struggles to meet each other so that he can return the phone. Very cute, and set in St Petersburg, so there were some recognisable places! We then went to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Tres Amigos. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Mexican food in Russia, but, although it was slightly different to what I’d have at home, it was very good! There was so much food, we couldn’t actually finish it. But I’d definitely go back again. After the disaster that was last Friday, and with a developing headache, I decided not to go out in the evening (I hate trying to get home in this city at night, no fun).

25/05
I had no enthusiasm to do anything this morning, especially as it started raining, but eventually I forced myself to leave the house. I ended up at Galeria (a big shopping centre on one of the main streets), and headed to the cinema, where I saw Великий Гэтсби (The Great Gatsby), which I’d wanted to see before I left, but annoyingly they kept pushing back the release date! So I watched it in Russian, but, since I know the story well, having studied it for my English Lit A-Level, I got by! And yes, I went by myself to another place I’ve never wanted to go to alone! I deliberately chose a seat at the end of an aisle, since the film was just about to start and I didn’t want to disturb anyone, and when I got into the screen, it was already dark, and there were people sitting next to me, so I didn’t feel self-conscious about being alone at all, and I don’t think anyone really noticed (or cared)! Very happy, and I definitely would go to the cinema alone again, since I didn’t have to worry about anyone else not enjoying the film that I’d chosen! Also, despite the bad reviews this film has got, I think it was actually pretty good. I loved the way they revealed Gatsby (there was a collective sigh from all the females in the room when Leonardo DiCaprio turned round), and originally I wasn’t sure about using modern music, but I think it was okay! I also wasn’t sure about Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, but she was pretty good I must admit (even though of course I didn’t hear her attempt the accent since the film was dubbed!) I also loved the costumes of course!

I then wandered round Galeria for a bit, and even found an Accessorize. After a while, I got slightly overwhelmed by the amount of people wandering around and constantly walking into me without apology, and by that time it was nearly dinner time anyway, so I made my way back, where a very nice bowl of vegetarian борщ (beetroot soup) was waiting for me!

So overall a good few cultural days! I’m not sure what I’m doing tomorrow, and I am hoping to move class because it was ridiculously simple this week, so we shall see! Thanks for reading.

Alone, but not lonely.

I have done a lot since I last updated this blog, but I’ll leave that for another post. Today I just want to talk about doing things alone.

I have always been a very self-conscious person. I don’t know why this is, but it really does hold me back sometimes in certain situations. I’m also a complete introvert, which means that socialising and things takes a lot out of me, and I can find it exhausting, whereas extroverts gain energy from these experiences. It also means that I would pick a night in with a film over a night on the town, for example. I’m usually happy to be an introvert, because it means that I can be by myself and not get bored, and I think it makes me a good listener, but sometimes it can be annoying.

Anyway, there are many things that I have always never wanted to do alone, for example, eating out alone, or sightseeing alone etc. There’s many reasons for this, but the main one is of course the massive social pressure: what will other people think of someone sitting alone in a restaurant? Obviously, if you went out for dinner alone on Valentine’s Day, for example, you probably would get strange looks, but in general I don’t think it’s as bad as people assume! I can say this from experience, because today, I had lunch by myself, which was a big thing for me! I did some work whilst I waited for my food so I wasn’t just staring at nothing, and I also sat next to the window so I could people watch. And guess what? No one cared that I was alone! In fact, there were other people sitting alone as well. So I think that if you’re scared, you should try just going to a cafe for lunch, and I’d recommend taking something to do, or read, and you’ll realise that people are so bothered about how other people view them, they aren’t actually judging you! There are benefits to eating alone as well: you don’t have to have a conversation, and you can take as long or as short a time as you want.

After my solitary lunch, I then decided to walk to the Palace Square by myself. It was a lovely sunny day today, but the tourists haven’t really started arriving properly yet, so the Square wasn’t as busy as I have seen it in summer. It was nice to be able to decide where I wanted to go on a whim, even if I did get hassled by some man trying to sell me tickets to Petergof (I told him no, so he took this as an invitation to start speaking to me and ask why ‘a pretty girl is walking alone’, and where exactly I was going etc – he didn’t seem to understand that I was just wondering around, even though I did use the Russian word for ‘strolling’! Honestly). In the end, I decided to pay a visit to the Hermitage, because I get free entry with my student card! I’ve been to the Hermitage three times before, but it was nice to wander around by myself, because I could do exactly what I wanted. I should explain that the Hermitage is so big that they’ve estimated that it would take someone about 11 years to see every single piece of art in there, which is how I managed to see things I hadn’t seen before there today! I even found a painting that actually made me cry, and that has never happened before. (It’s called Isle of the Dead, by Arnold Böcklin. I think it’s the emptiness and stillness that I found so sad, and scary – I’ve never felt like that about a painting before! Also, I just found out that it was Hitler’s favourite painting…)

I also managed to get to Russia by myself, which is a massive thing for me, particularly as I had to transfer at Düsseldorf which caused me a lot of anxiety in the days leading up to it, but was actually fine on the day! I had a slight problem with my ticket, because it wasn’t validated or something, but the people at the desk were very helpful and nice, and the main thing is that I didn’t miss the plane!

So overall, after worrying about doing things alone, it turns out it’s actually okay! No one cared, and I actually enjoyed it, and didn’t feel lonely at all. So although I really like spending time with my new-found friends here in St Petersburg, I now know that I can rely on myself as well, and I think that’s an important lesson learned!

Sorry to be slightly philosophical, and a bit personal!

A trip to the beach and a night on the town...

These past few days have been a complete whirlwind, and I can’t believe that I have already finished my first week at school! It’s gone incredibly quickly.

On Wednesday, after I successfully managed to navigate my way to school on time, I was invited by some of my new friends to go to the beach for the afternoon! Some people (my sister) don’t know that St Petersburg is near the sea, but it’s actually by the Gulf of Finland. This was mentioned in my guide book, and the picture looked so pretty that I had to see it for myself! So after classes, we headed to very distant metro station, where we bought some lunch in a supermarket. (I was very proud – I managed to find a cheese salad sandwich with only a slightly weird mayonnaise sauce!) We then managed to find the right marshrutka (minibus) number, and began our journey. One of the girls had been there before on an assignment with her internship, and she said that the journey was only about 40 minutes. It was slightly longer than that, but we had seats, and the views on the way were very pretty! We got off the bus in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. I didn’t realise, but before heading to the beach, my friend wanted to show us the artist Repin’s estate (the whole town of Repino is named in honour of him). I’d never heard of him before, but his estate is really pretty. Unfortunately the actual house was closed for reasons we didn’t understand – my friend had checked beforehand to make sure it was open, and the sign said it was only closed on Tuesdays, but while we were standing outside, a woman opened an upstairs window and shouted at us – luckily thanks to my time in Orion I understood the Russian word fortimetable because we were given one everyday, but we had checked the timetable and it should have been open! However, we went for a walk around the grounds instead, where there are lots of lakes, little rivers, and bridges, and we also saw Repin’s grave.



Pretty grounds in Repin’s estate

Repin’s grave

After, we then crossed the road, walked through some woods, and came across this amazing view:

The beach was beautiful, there was no one else around (it wasn’t a touristy spot!) and we had a great afternoon in the sun!

After a while, it got colder, and windy, and we headed back to the bus stop. We stopped the first bus which passed us, not knowing the route it would take us back to St Petersburg, so it took about an hour, but I made it back home in time for dinner. I think this was my favourite day so far,

On Thursday after class, everyone had disappeared so I thought I would be getting lunch on my own. Luckily I bumped into two guys from my class, and they invited me with them to try shashlik (Russian kebabs). It definitely wasn’t my thing, but I’m glad I tried it anyway. I then went home to do my work before supposedly heading to a bar that evening. Unfortunately my host chose that day to be very late home, and, as the company rules dictate, I have to tell them if I’m going to be out late (which is fair). By the time they got back and had cooked my dinner, it was already nearly 9, the time I was supposed to be meeting them. I also didn’t have a Russian phone at this point, so I couldn’t contact them! So I finally arrived at the meeting point at about 9.40, only to find that they’d given up on me, so I headed back home and caught up with The Apprentice instead…

Yesterday (Friday) after class I was invited with some of the girls I went to the beach with to go to KFC. I hate KFC, but I went along anyway. Then I remembered exactly why I hate KFC, and luckily the other girls agreed! That’s a mistake I won’t be making again. It was strange as well because there were lots of people staring at us, and we weren’t being loud or anything. I also didn’t like it in there because the cleaners hover at your table so they can pounce on your tray and take it away as soon as you’ve finished eating – not good!
It was pouring with rain on the way back to the metro station, but luckily I was prepared with my umbrella – I remembered how I’d been caught out in a storm the last time I was in St Petersburg, and got completely drenched!

On the way home I decided to finally buy a Russian sim card. In Russia for some reason sim cards only work in the regions where you buy them, so although I’d bought a sim card when I was in Orion, it wouldn’t work here. I chose Megafon, which I’m glad about, because the woman was very helpful, and also didn’t speak much English so it was good practise! I decided to buy a new phone as well, since the phone that I have (not my usual UK phone because that’s not unlocked) often cuts out, so it was fine in Orion when I only used it once a week, but since I’ll be using a phone everyday here, I thought I’d get a new one. This might sound extravagant, until you hear the price! It cost me 990 roubles for the card and phone – which is roughly £20! There’s also 200 free texts for joining, which is good. It’s a Samsung phone, very light, but also nothing flashy so I don’t think anyone would want to steal it! Also, it means that I can text in Russian and English, which will be handy.

I then headed home to get ready for my first night out in SP. We didn’t end up going to a club at all. I think it was possibly the weirdest night of my life. We started in a bar called 1703, then moved to some predrinks some of the guys from school were having, and then ended up in a very small, smoky bar with some Russians. This was quite good in some ways, as I got to practise some Russian! I also got talking to the cutest Russian woman I’ve ever met – she was so adorable, and very, very excited to meet someone from London (she had a Union Jack bag and purse). It’s been her life-long dream to visit London, so she asked me lots about it, and when I mentioned landmarks like Big Ben, I thought she might cry! It was also very helpful because she got me to speak in Russian, and she replied in English, so we both could practise! By this point, it was nearly 3, and the metro closes at midnight, so I wasn’t sure how I’d get back. At this point, I thought I’d be going out early the next day (today), so I didn’t really want to stay out until past 5 when the metro opens again. I also didn’t want to get into a random taxi because they are definitely not safe, especially for women travelling alone. Luckily, the lovely Russian I met was more than happy to book a safe taxi for me! She then waited outside the bar with me, and we chatted some more (mostly about her confusion over when to use ‘excuse me’ and ‘I’m sorry’ in English – obviously you should say sorry all the time in the UK, very British!). When the taxi arrived she made sure everything was okay, and gave me a hug. I said ‘спасибо большое’ a lot (thank you very much) because I was so glad she helped me, to which she replied something along the lines of ‘it gave her great pleasure’ to help me – so nice! Definitely goes against the typical Russian stereotype (which has already been proved wrong many many times). I was still slightly worried about the taxi, having heard so many warnings about them, but he was very nice, and even attempted to translate the fare into English when he thought I hadn’t understood (I had, I was just struggling to find the correct change in the dark) – it was 260 roubles, so he said ‘it’s twenty six… ten’. I then had to very quietly attempt to open the four doors to get back into the apartment – no easy feat in complete darkness! Luckily my new phone has a ‘torch’ setting (the screen goes white).

I wasn’t sure what time breakfast would be this morning. However, I was woken up at about 6.30 (having gone to bed at 4) by the sound of my host’s daughter singing opera in the kitchen – she’s a very good singer but it wasn’t appreciated at that time in the morning! It turned out that today is her birthday, but since she is (I think) now about 26, I don’t really know why she was quite so excited to be up so early! I got up at 8.30, since that’s the time of breakfast on a weekday, and everyone seemed to be up by that point, but Galina told me it wasn’t til 9. I was served kasha, for the first time here! It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t great either. But it did lead to a conversation all about Sochi, which was interesting! They all went out to celebrate the daughter’s birthday.

Originally I was going to be going to Pushkin today with some people from school, but it’s been postponed to Sunday, which is lucky since I’m not feeling very well today so I’ve spent the day in my room. It might sound boring, but it’s the first downtime I’ve had since arriving, and I really need it, especially as I couldn’t face going outside today!

Thanks for reading, sorry for such a long post!

Days one and two

Here's a picture of my room for the first month:

After a bit of sleep on my first night here, I had to wake up early to get to the language school for 9. This was so that I could sit a test, which was to see which class I should be in. However, there are over 100 questions, and the receptionist supposedly only gave me 25 minutes to do it (but I think it was more like 20!) After that, some of the teachers and other staff members gave us a quick introduction to the school. We then had a ‘speaking test’, but all of us were together, so there wasn’t much chance to speak. I was placed in a class who are learning about clothes, so I am hoping to be able to move up soon!

There are 4 hours of classes, with 10 minutes break every hour. Having had 2 days so far, I’ve found that the classes seem to go really quickly. My teacher is nice, but I have never been one of the only people not to speak the language that everyone else does; other than me and a girl from Japan, everyone speaks German! It’s very odd to be left out of class jokes, and explanations can get a little confusing. They also set a lot of homework considering that it has to be handed in the next day.

Yesterday, I signed up to do the walking tour of the city, which takes 3 hours. However, while I was waiting in the reception, some other students asked if I wanted to go to lunch with them. I figured since I’ve been here before, I could forego the tour and make some new friends! I’m glad I did, firstly because I met an English person, and also because it was fun – we went to Teremok for blinis (pancakes), and then found a cafe on Nevski Prospect (the main street in St Petersburg) and drank beer in the sunshine.

That’s another thing – it’s already very hot here, and I wasn’t expecting it quite so soon! Apparently it was still snowing here in April.

I got back home just in time for dinner, which luckily is at 8, not too early! It was pretty good yesterday, pasta with mushrooms, egg and cheese. I then did my homework, which took a while, so once I’d done that, and called my parents, it was time for bed. I’m still not adjusted to the time difference, so I’m finding it hard to fall asleep at a reasonable hour, but hopefully that will get better!

Luckily, I don’t have to wake up as early as I did on Monday for school anymore – classes don’t start til 10, so breakfast is at 8.30. That meant I had a bit of a lie-in this morning! Breakfast consisted of a prune yoghurt which I only ate to be polite, followed by some bread and cheese. Then I headed for school, and everything went downhill. I found my way to the nearest metro station to school just fine, but then it all went wrong. I thought I would remember the way, but I definitely didn’t. Eventually, I made my way back to the metro station, and luckily spotted a guy in the distance who was from the school (he’s always late), and I finally made it to school half an hour late. Oops. Plus, everyone thought I was late because I overslept – I don’t know what’s more embarrassing, that, or having to tell everyone that I had no idea where I was going. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow!

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do after school today, but I was invited to lunch again, by some other people (I’ve met people from so many different nationalities – Swiss, German, Dutch, Japanese, Austrian, Swedish…), and we had sushi at Evrasia. I don’t like fish, but I do like sushi (I don’t understand either). We shared a whole load of different sushi, and it looked very pretty when they brought it out:

While we were there, the entire table decided that I looked just like the actress Emma Stone. I can’t see it, but I’ll take it as a compliment anyway… This, coupled with the fact that when I handed a passport photo of me to the receptionist (so she could make me a student card), she said that it didn’t look like me at all, made me feel a bit weird…!

After sushi, the girls in our group decided to find an H&M to buy some summer clothes, so I went with them. It was nice, it felt very familiar looking at clothes I was only looking at the other day back in the UK!
I headed home at about 5, which was good because it took me about 2 hours to do my homework! Dinner was pretty good – mashed potato with chicken and salad. And now I can relax this evening!

So, overall, I’m feeling a lot better about being here. Keeping busy is definitely key to warding off homesickness, especially as it tires you out! Hoping to do some sightseeing maybe this week or next week, particularly because you can get into the Hermitage for free with a student card!

Thanks for reading!

Year abroad part 2!

So I have safely arrived in St Petersburg after managing to find my way round Düsseldorf airport where I had to transfer (it was the cheapest flight I could find!) – so I’m quite proud of that, since it was the first time I’d travelled alone in an aeroplane before!

It was a bit of a tearful goodbye to my family – especially as they put so much effort into me having a nice last day yesterday (I even got a cream soda). But it’s not as bad as it was last time I left them – this time my uncle is flying out on an exchange trip with his school for ten days in early July, and my parents and sister are going on a cruise which stops in SP for 2 days in August. Also, this time I have brought my laptop, I’ve managed to get on the internet straight away, and I’ve brought a lot of DVDs. (This is me talking myself into this!!)

I arrived at Pulkova airport to find someone from Liden & Denz (the company I’ve booked with), and she told me we were waiting for another person as well. When she arrived, she was very smiley and put me at ease… that is, until she started talking to me in German! I was very confused, until I realised she must have seen Düsseldorf on my luggage label… had to awkwardly explain that I was English.

A different woman, and a man, drove us from the airport, dropping me off first. They were quite chatty, but it all got a bit scary when he decided to reverse really quickly down the road (because it was one way) when we were looking for my apartment. I’d looked up my apartment on google street view before I left for Russia, so it was odd seeing it in the flesh! Although the nice green area on the opposite side of the road is not actually green at all in real life…

As I have witnessed before in St Petersburg, the outside of a building has no relevance really to how the apartments look inside. When we were let into the building, I’m not going to lie, it smelt like wee, and it was very dark and dingy. Plus the apartment is on the 8th floor, and there is no lift. However, the apartment itself is quite nice – they have quite a big kitchen/diner, separate toilet and bathroom, and three bedrooms. My room is much better than I expected it to be – I have a double bed and a desk, plus lots of side lights and a big window. They’d even put a little pen pot on the desk for me.

The daughter, Polina, cooked my dinner, which was nice, especially as she was understanding of my vegetarianism! There’s a guy here who I think is her partner, who helped my bring my bags in, and I have just met Galina, who seems a whole lot nicer so far than the previous Galina from Orion! They also have 2 cats, so it’s a little bit like a home from home…

I have unpacked everything, and am ready to face the first day of classes tomorrow – even if I have been a bit tearful and feeling a bit homesick since I arrived (I’m putting it down to lack of sleep…) Basically I don’t want to let the homesick get as bad as it was during my first week at uni!

And that’s all for now… I’ll keep you posted – and thanks for reading!