CKA, Defenders, and puzzles

They're going to have to drag me out of this country kicking and screaming. I'm really having a great time. I still love my classes. We are learning so much and it is all interesting. When I heard we would have 3 hours of Russian language a day as well as electives, I thought I would grow tired of Russian class, but so far, I was wrong. Our teachers are amazing at keeping us engaged.
     Last weekend our program took us to a hockey game, which reminded me a lot of BU hockey games. The only difference was that the cheers were in Russian. It was a great game and we all had a great time.

I was thrilled to see a hockey game in Russia and that CKA, the St. Petersburg team won!
Yesterday was Defenders' Day, or Men's day which means we didn't have school (we get Women's day off soon too) so I had a nice long day which included a trip downtown. This week has been pretty chill. Yesterday we started a very difficult puzzle down the hall. We may be working on it for a few more days because it is very frustrating. There is also a possibility that there are some missing pieces, which is just cruel. Also, tonight I had a home cooked meal! I went with Kelcey to meet her host family. The homestay kids are allowed to bring a sort of wing-man or buddy so that the first dinner is not so frightening. Well, Kelcey has an awesome family and they made us amazing food. We had a rice soup with carrots and rabbit (which really just tasted like chicken), a russian salad, pelmeni, and gingerbread. It was incredible. Tomorrow we have a field trip to Menshikov's palace for my St. Petersburg class. Apparently it is not open to the public, so this is a special treat. I think I will pay the camera fee, which I have been too stubborn to pay for the past few museums (including Dostoevsky's apartment, where we went last week) since I definitely can't go back on my own. So I'm really looking forward to that. I'll try to do more exploring this weekend, so hopefully I will have more to post about. 

Mexican food in St. Petersburg??

This week was so busy! I just had a lot to do, so sorry that I havent had time to post lately. Then again, I think most of these blogs are supposed to be once a week, so maybe I should keep up this pattern. Anyways I thought I would have to go 4 months without Mexican food, but WE FOUND SOME! And  maybe its because I havent had any and my expectations for Russian Mexican food were low, but it was delicious. We were all so happy, especially those of us from California and Texas. It was wonderful and they gave us ponchos to wear.

Its starting to get cold, so the program gave us all extra blankets, which was nice. They also get mad at us whenever we open the windows. Currently, I am sitting in a t-shirt next to our space heater with our radiator on, and our window open. Oops. 

Week 2?

I feel like I've been here FOREVER!! In a great way. I feel like I have known my friends here for WAY longer than two weeks, and St. Petersburg somehow feels familiar to me, even though I have barely seen anything when you consider how big and amazing the city is. Speaking of amazing, we have had so much sun lately!! It is amazing! Our teachers, who live here are shocked at how much sun St. Petersburg is providing us. No complaints here, though.

We took advantage of the BEAUTIFUL sun and went exploring on Saturday and found 2 flea markets as well as the most amazing kind-of-street food. I was exhausted by the end of the day, because we had stayed up late at a club the night before (which was also awesome), but the entire day was still a blast! Today, we went to the political history museum. Unfortunately, we could not take pictures, so I have none to show, but it was an amazing museum. They have everything from Lenin's desk, to old soviet propaganda, to a public poll of sorts on whether or not to have the death penalty (in the exhibit on public political executions).
     In other news, I am actually enjoying not having a phone. I know I cant respond to texts or calls (so please dont do either), and it is actually relaxing. Now if only I could do the same with Facebook. Anyways I also have some very exciting news. Kelcey and I booked our spring break trip! We are spending 2 days in Norway to see THE NORTHERN LIGHTS and two days in Barcelona!! I can't wait! Oh and one amazing aspect of this trip is that a week of travel to two countries, including stops in Tallinn (layover both out and back) only costs $100. All thanks to Kelcey who is a flight-finding goddess! Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. It came down to price, convenience, timing (which was very difficult. We had several other plans that fell through, like Bulgaria), and the fact that in this scenario, we get to see the NORTHERN LIGHTS!! Can you tell that I am excited? Ok enough rambling. Pictures:

 This was literally a random side-of-the-road-while-walking-to-the-metro-from-the-museum shot. Conclusion: snow is still pretty.

 Russian architecture is awesome.

 I found an icicle, which was not hard to do. Also, note the beautiful weather behind me.

 A wonderful mosque that we also passed on the way home from the museum.

Where to go?

Hey all, I need some help. I am starting to make spring break plans and I am pretty sure that I am still going to Spain for at least part of the week-long break. I was hoping to stop somewhere between-ish here and Spain for a few days. Somewhere I have not been before, but also somewhere that won't completely drain my wallet. Besides Spain, I have never been anywhere in Europe so I don't really know where to go. Any ideas?

Week 1

I can't believe I have already been here for a week! It flew by, but it went well. I had to be told by my Russian Communist History professor (who is Russian) that it was Chinese new year (oops) and I have officially fallen on ice in front of russians, who probably rolled their eyes at how incompetent I am at walking. Friday night AIFS took us bowling to relax after a long week full of meetings and paperwork. They said that "snacks" would be provided, but apparently what they really meant was "feast." We inhaled the salad (the big bowl in the middle of the picture below), which had bell peppers!! I had been craving bell peppers all day and somehow they knew. We also had a somewhat Caesar salad (I think you can see it in the picture below) as well as some garlic-y stuff (top right) and salami as well as other various dishes, all accompanied by orange juice. It was magical.

 On Saturday they took us to Pushkin, the town where Pushkin went to school and we saw a pretty cool monument of the great poet himself (below)

 This is Catherine's Palace, which was absolutely beautiful.

 Here is one of the rooms, which is covered in gold and the ceiling is one of the largest paintings in the world

 It snows a lot here, if you havent guessed, but the upside is that it always looks beautiful!

  Cultural lessons of the week: Dancing to techno in Russia requires way more arm movement than I ever expected and you can bargain here! Even for cab rides! Also, Kelcey and I found this cool souvenir shop and walked around for a while yesterday.  So I'd say that week one was a success. In this second week, I have both my electives (I only had Communist Russia last week) and all 3 of my language classes. I'm not sure if we have any group activities/excursions, but I really hope we do because so far, they have been really fun!

Hello St. Petersburg

So...I'm in Russia! We have been settling in the past few days so I havent had too much time to explore yet (except the grocery stores) but here are some of the highlights:

 Peter and Paul fortress Cathedral. We got there at noon to hear them set off a cannon to let everyone know that Petersburg is alive! It was quite frightening

 It is considered good luck to sit on Peter's lap. I was well bundled so it was actually pretty warm that day

 sunset in front of the Hermitage

 The wonderful Hermitage. We are going there tomorrow and I cant wait. Apparently it is so large that it takes 9 years to visit each exhibit and more than a lifetime to look at each piece of art in there for a minute each

my favorite.
St. Petersburg is wonderful. There is a lot of ice here, so I'm giving myself another 2 days before I fall. We've been doing a lot of walking, which is great. We also have metro passes. The metro stations 1)are built in a swamp city and 2) double as bomb shelters if needed so they are VERY VERY DEEP!! It takes MINUTES to get to the bottom of the escalator. On the bright side, it gives you time to put your metro card away and chat with friends. Its also very steep and move very quickly so it is a little terrifying to look down the stairs. I'll try to sneak a picture to post without looking too touristy. In other news, I am all move into my room:

This is my side of the room with our shared closet

 our kitchen. Our fridge is really nice and we have a stove and a sink. Most of the cookware and silverware was provided. We borrow everything else

 Our well stocked fridge. Notice the oranges. They are super cheap and pretty good.

And of course, water that will not kill us. Lots of it. Dont worry, Ari, I am in fact buying clean water. Also, I somehow placed into the highest level of Russian. I honestly don't know how that happened because I dont think my test went that well and I am with native speakers and people who have been studying for 5 years. There is talk of splitting up the advanced class into 2 levels, in which case I would be in Advanced 1 instead of the combined Advanced 1&2 which actually may be better because all the native speakers may overwhelm me, but I would still be challenged in an advanced class. I think we will find out tomorrow. So far, everything is great and I cant wait to see more!