Finland/Estonia

Ok sorry this took so long. Anyways if you want the short version, Finland and Estonia were amazing! There, now you don’t have read the rest of this post :). But really, I loved them both, for different reasons. Ok where to start? We took a BOAT to Finland. AIFS described it as a ferry, but this thing was a cruise ship! It was an overnight ferry (cruise) so we had 4 to a room and I was with my normal suitemates. The rooms were pretty nice and the beds were comfy. A bunch of us stood on the deck for HOURS watching the boat (cruise ship) crash into the ice floating on the Gulf of Finland and we saw a gorgeous sunset.

After the sunset, we realized we had lost sensation in most of our bodies, so we went inside. The boat had plenty of entertainment from casinos to restaurants, a club, a café, a sauna, a movie theater, a performance room, and probably lots of other things that I never saw. The next morning we got a complimentary breakfast and then we got off the boat and were in FINLAND! I was expecting very stern customs officers who would drill me on my reasons for being there, but instead my customs officer smiled at me and asked if I would be doing a lot of shopping in Finland. That pretty much sums up how awesome the people were in Finland. We got a quick tour of Helsinki by a very nice Finnish lady and had an amazing salmon lunch. Then went to our hostel, which was really nice and very close to the gulf of Finland. This is important because later that day two of my suitemates and I SWAM IN THE GULF OF FINLAND!!

It was amazing and SOO much fun! It was cold (duh) but I would do it again in a heartbeat. It wasn’t even that cold when we got out, even though we swam among floating pieces of ice. The rest of the day was spent walking around Helsinki and hanging out in a restaurant/bar called iguana. This place will be important later. We also went to an Ice bar, which was really interesting.

       

     The next day we got up at 5 to go to Tallinn. Tallinn is quite possibly one of the cutest places in the world. We went to the old city, which is straight out of a medieval movie. Mom, if you are reading this, it is pretty much what you wanted Solvang to be. Anyways all the streets were cute, all the buildings were beautiful, and all the people were nice. I cant comment on Estonian food, but the coffee was good. Oh and they had roasted almonds, kind of like what they have in NYC but WAY better and probably cheaper. Anyways we pretty much had the day to wander around the city and it is small enough that you can go around the entire city in about an hour so we just strolled in the sun. That night we went back to Helsinki. 

  The next morning was our last in Helsinki, к сожалению. We went to the modern art museum, which was amazing and they had a special African exhibit, which I very much enjoyed. Then we went back to Iguana, where Jake and I attempted to win an eating competition where you have to eat a very large, very spicy pizza by yourself and then you get your name on their wall of fame. I should say that I attempted, and Jake succeeded. He did a great job, whereas I only finished half. It was a very large pizza. After that, we went back the dock and got back on our cruise ship and sailed (not literally) back home. I slept the entire way back. 

 

Russian Ballet anyone?

Not surprisingly, Russian ballet is even more amazing than one would expect. We all got dressed up and went to the great мариинский theater to see Le Corsaire. For those of you who know me, you know that I clearly know nothing about ballet, so I can’t comment too much on technique (they all looked really great to me), but the show was Amazing! I hardly believed that the figures onstage were human beings, because they were too graceful and beautiful to be mere mortals. The costumes and set pieces were so elaborate and the inner technie in me marveled at the lights and sound. All the dancers were wonderful and flawless (as far as I could tell) and I still cant believe that I was lucky enough to see it.

Bows (the only time we were allowed to take pictures). Picture courtesy of Anna

The theater was amazing!

The next day we had a field trip for my St. Petersburg class. We went to the Library, which has tens of millions of books and a paper catalogue system that requires several rooms. The interiors are gorgeous and they have special rooms for manuscripts, historical artifacts such as the first book printed in St. Petersburg, and famous people’s libraries. I also went with some friends to an abandoned (sort of) lot with some very old-looking, creepy buildings. If I were a film major, I would make it a lifelong goal to shoot a movie. Here are some pictures:

Next post will be about our AIFS excursion to Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia! 

City Walks, Orchestra, and Salsa, oh my!

I have been doing a lot of walking this week, mainly because the weather has been nice. I also love walking downtown and I have found this amazing cafe on невский проспект (the main street in the center of the city), near the Hermitage. The prices are very reasonable, their pastries are amazing, and the ambiance is great for doing some work. On Thursday a friend and I went downtown for lunch and then went to the Russian museum again. Here is my favorite painting :

The museum closes pretty early so we headed home at around 6. On the way home, we passed by a protest that people were having near a major metro station (the one we needed). They were chanting "its our city!" in Russian. It didnt look like a huge protest, nor did it look violent, but it was interesting to see (from a distance!).
  On another note, I am still loving my classes! In our conversation class, we are discussing sociological problems. We discussed the criminal justice system here, drug problems, and the moral debate about the death penalty. All in Russian, btw, which is thrilling and I am really proud that we are able to carry out conversations/debates about such complex topics in Russian. This week we are discussing medicine, which means I should probably get around to learning all the body parts, because right now my anatomy vocab is limited.
    On Saturday AIFS took us to see a classical orchestra (so I got to see two this week!) and they were also amazing. They had one opera singer who looked like a stick in a dress, but she had one of the most powerful voices I have ever heard. The conductor looked like he was having a great time, and unlike last weekend's performance, he talked to us between songs. That night it was my friend's birthday party. I met her at one of the interclub meetings I have been going to in order to meet more students in the dorms and practice my Russian so we went Salsa dancing. It was a lot of fun, and I really want to go back sometime soon! Well this week we have a Russian ballet to look forward to as well as a possible jazz club outing for another friend's birthday!