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!

delayed pictures and events

I have been keeping myself pretty busy this week. This past weekend I got to see the Pushkin's apartment and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra play because Kelcey's mom plays the violin for them. They were so wonderful and the performance was really great! AIFS is taking us to an orchestra this weekend too, so I get two in a week! Yesterday we went to the Russian museum, where the AIFS art history class goes every week. It was really nice, and fairly small, so we were able to see the whole thing in a few hours. Later that night, I went to another grocery store, which has an international foods section so I was able to make tacos last night! They were really good. Today after class, I went back to the Hermitage, the huge museum that in theory takes years to go through. We were there until they closed and we saw one very small section of one floor! We did, however, see the new Spanish exhibit, which was great. We plan on going back often to see how much of it we can see. They started to talk to us about end-of-the-semester business, which is making me realize how quickly this semester has passed and how soon the end is. I really will be sad to leave, and I still have so much to do and see. If there is anything that you have heard about St. Petersburg that you think would be enjoyable, leave a comment and I will try my best to go check it out. Anyways here are the very delayed pictures from spring break:

In the red square in Moscow

Although it was closed, we got to see the outside of Lenin's mausoleum 

                                                        

It is good luck to throw a coin over your shoulder, sort of like a dry wishing well

Tiger at the Russian circus

Norway landscapes are breathtaking, and the entire country is beautiful, from what I could tell

Again, Norway is beautiful!

Spring break part 2

Hey sorry it took me so long to do part 2, we had midterms and I got caught up studying. Anyways where was I? Oh so the train ride back to Oslo from Bodo was beautiful. We had gorgeous weather (again) and we were sad to be leaving Norway....Until we got to Barcelona. We got there in the afternoon and we wandered around the city for a bit before we went to Nidhi's dorm (where we were staying). We saw La Sagrada Familia and took lots of pictures (coming soon!). There was so much sun, which made me so happy. Then we met up with Nidhi at her place (which is amazing) and she and I went out for tapas. I had forgotten how wonderful tapas in Spain were! Later we went to a bar to celebrate St. Patty's day for a bit and then we walked back to her dorm. It was wonderful to walk around without a coat.
   The next morning I caught a morning train to Tarragona. It was so wonderful to be back. Not much had changed and the best part was seeing my host parents waiting for me at their flat. Words cant describe how happy I was to see them. We walked around the city a little bit and then had a delicious seafood lunch! As they did when I was with them in high school, they fed me very well. We had delicious Tarragona seafood, amazing Spanish ham, and STRAWBERRIES! We caught up for 3 hours and surprisingly, we had a seamless conversation (I thought I would have forgotten all my spanish). They told me I was always welcome to come back because it was my home too. I was so sad to leave them again, but I hope to be able to return soon. I also met up with Nina, the director of IH (the program through which I went to Spain in high school) and met her adorable daughter Emma. It was so great to see old family and friends, but in the afternoon I had to go back to Barca. One day was not nearly enough. Also, we lucked out and got the first sunny day in a week. And it was REALLY sunny!
    Anyways the next morning we had to get up at 4am to catch a bus to the airport to fly to Oslo to fly to Tallinn to take a bus to St. Petersburg. Immigration was way less painful than I thought it would be and even though I miss Spain terribly, it does feel good to be back home. 

Moscow-Tallinn-Oslo-Bodo-Oslo-Barcelona-Tarragona-Barcelona-Oslo-Tallinn-St. Petersburg

...no joke, thats what we did. I have spent more time on a train in the past week than I have in a very long time. Surprisingly, though, I am not that tired. We got back last night at around 11. I made a simple dinner (I didnt have much food left...need to go to the store today), unpacked, cleaned up, and then went to bed. But as for the trip, it was absolutely amazing. I still cant believe that it happened and that it was only 1 week.
      So the trip started in Moscow. They took us on an overnight train, which was really nice. We did a lot of touring around the red square and the downtown area and we went to see the circus. The second day we went to the Kremlin. Unfortunately, we had to leave after that because we had to catch our train to Tallinn. I barely got to see Moscow, which is really sad, and I hope to be able to spend more time there. I can say that the people there were SO nice. I had heard that people were a bit colder and meaner in Moscow, but I experienced the opposite. Also, more people spoke English and they seemed to have more western things like Starbucks. Anyways we took a 15 hour train ride from Moscow to Tallinn. I actually slept a lot, so it didnt feel that long. They gave us tea and there were extra seats so we could spread out and lie down across several seats. It was an overnight train, and we happened to get to the border at some ungodly hour, like 4 am or something like that. Doing immigration while half asleep is never a good idea. They were very strict and took our passports, migration cards, visas, and registrations, which made me nervous because AIFS has been stressing to never part with them if we want to return to Russia after the break. They asked several questions about our travels and our stay in Russia, but eventually we made it. We were in Tallinn for a few hours then we flew to Oslo, where we waited in a ghost town called Rygge (seriously, I ran around looking for people, and EVERYTHING was deserted) until we could go to the train station, which was incredible. I found a place with thai food and talked to the owners (in broken Thai) for a bit. I even got some spicy Thai food which made my tongue rejoice! We were amazed at how different Western Europe is from Russia. Everything just seemed nicer, the fruit was fresh, everyone spoke English, and (of course) prices skyrocketed. We then spent the next day on various trains to Bodo (pronounced Buda) and the scenery was beautiful. Side, note, it looks like this will be a long post so I will do a separate one for pictures. Scenery in Norway is in a league of its own. EVERYTHING was beautiful.
   When we got to Bodo, we were met by Kelcey's friend's boyfriend Martin. He drove us back to his apartment, where we showered and chilled for a little bit. We sort of helped make dinner, which was an amazing salad, homemade pasta with some of the most amazing sauce I've ever had, and bread. Dinner was extraordinary, especially since we had been eating instant noodles and snack foods on the trains. Martin and Hanna were so nice, as was their friend who joined us for dinner. It was so great to talk to them. They were so welcoming and warm, even though we had just met and I hope to meet them again. Martin plays for an orchestra that sometimes travels and I told him that he should try to make it to SF! We went for a night hike to try to see the norther lights, but it was too cloudy. The hike was still really nice though. The next morning, we went on a 2 hour day hike, which was EXTRAORDINARILY GORGEOUS! Wait for the pictures. We had to stop every 5 mins to marvel at our surroundings and take pictures. After the hike, we went back to the apartment and had lunch (fishcakes, bread, and another salad, which had avocado) and talked with Martin a bit. We were about to leave, and he let us make salmon sandwiches for the train ride back. We were so grateful and the sandwiches were delicious. Then we began the day long journey back to Oslo to fly to Spain. Ok wow this post is a monster. I'll continue it in another because there is still a lot to say. 

On my way out

Hey all, we leave for Moscow tonight, and from there I leave for Norway (then later Barcelona) for spring break, so expect many pictures when I get back next Sunday. Until then!

I sat in a park downtown and watched the sunset, which was gorgeous