So I made it back safely and after a night in London and a VERY long flight, I am in my room in California. I am slightly jet lagged, but happy to not have to lug a suitcase around anymore. But I miss Russia terribly. I had such an amazing time there and I cant wait to go back to see the city and my friends again. Many thanks to AIFS for keeping us safe and happy while we were there and to the Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship for making this trip possible. I hope many more people can benefit from this amazing scholarship so that students can continue to experience new cultures as I did.
Hi Sharon, I am going with AIFS to St. Petersburg for the fall semester starting in August. I just read through your entire blog to try to get a feel for the trip. Was the trip really as fun as your blog made it out to be? if so, then I am totally psyched (not that I'm not already). I have only taken a year of Russian though, so I am a little worried about communication over there. Do you have any advice, having gone through the trip already for me on what to expect or anything really? And if you dont want to talk on here you can message me on facebook if you want Ellen Marian Brayer. But like i said, I am super pumped for the trip. ;)
ReplyDeleteOh and also, how many AIFS students were there?
ReplyDeleteHey Ellen! We had about 35 or 40 students with us, and Kathryn, the director of the program said that Fall semester tends to be about the same or more. And yes, the trip was truly wonderful! I miss it so much and am super jealous that you will be there in the fall. St. Petersburg is an amazing city and there are so many things to see. I made so many friends, both within AIFS and with other students at the university. I still keep in touch with most of them.
ReplyDeleteDont worry about the communication. Many of the students in my semester had very little or no experience at all with the language and many improved greatly. The trip is really what you make of it, as with the language. We did have some people in our group who seemed to have little interest with exploring the city, experiencing the culture, meeting new people, and learning the language. Obviously these people did not get as much out of the semester and they did not learn as much russian.
But really, after one year, you probably know most of the really important phrases. If you need to know anything else, the professors as well as Kathryn are more than willing to help. I would say spend some time walking around the city. Its a good way to familiarize yourself with the city and discover new things about it. Oh and if museums interest you at all, I recommend volunteering at the Hermitage. Most volunteers greet people at the door, which can be good language practice, but they also have different departments you can work in, which are really fun.
Anyways I'm ranting a bit, but I'm sure you will have an amazing semester, like I did. It is sort of hard not to when you are studying abroad in a great city like SPb! Please feel free to ask any questions, I would love to help you. My email address is Sharon0Kuo@gmail.com