At the Beginning

Today was the first full day of orientation, and as expected, we had a ton of information thrown at us. After breakfast (yogurt, toast with cherry jelly, apple and orange slices, bread with cheese, and some kasha...?) our program coordinator Michael walked us to the Smolny institute where we’ll be having all our classes. We left our hotel after 10 am, and it was still dark outside.

Before I go any further, I must add that Smolny was a legitimate palace. It used to belong to the illegitimate son of Catherine the Great, and the main entrance has an elegant staircase and beautiful dome ceiling with a fancy chandelier to top it all off. I have classes in a PALACE! 

Anyways, once we arrived there we occupied a classroom where Michael and the other program coordinators proceeded to give us the low down on all the necessary topics such as transportation, documents, safety, cell phones, police, sensitive subjects like LGBTQ in Russia, exchanging money, etc... I don’t think they meant to scare us with all the details and caveats, but I was thoroughly terrified by the time we had a coffee break. I left the classroom thinking that I was going to get stopped by a policeman the second I was by myself and forced to show my documents and/or pay them a bribe. For the first time in my entire life, I am all the more aware that I don’t look fully caucasian because apparently that could get me into some less than desirable situations. After that meeting, I left never wanting to get into a taxi for fear of being abducted, I have been persuaded to stay away from any large crowds, I’m afraid to take pictures of anything related to the military (in St. Petersburg? You’ve got to be kidding me), I’m afraid people are going to fondle me or run me over (or both) in the metro, I’m afraid the ATMs will eat my credit card, I’m afraid I’ll get stuck on the wrong side of the island when the bridges start to go up at night, I’m afraid I’ll say something I’m not supposed to about World War II, I have no idea how I’m going to buy something at a grocery store, I’m afraid of exchanging my money, and, without a doubt, I KNOW I’m going to get lost a thousand times. Oh, and I’m afraid to mutter any English because foreigners attract attention. It’s a good thing people can tell I’m American by the way I walk and how I talk (not to mention the fact that I am a walking LL Bean catalogue). CHEERS. 

Besides all that, things are going swimmingly. We had lunch after all the orientation talk which consisted of a salad, borsht (I’M REALLY IN RUSSIA), and pork and rice (what was I saying?). Then, we boarded a coach-like bus for a tour of the city... In Russian. The tour was given by our program assistant, Elena, who is not only the friendliest, most cheerful Russian woman I have ever met, but that goes for all people. She could also be a model. Anyways, I could only understand about 30% of whatever she was saying at a given time, but because I have a fairly decent grasp of St. Petersburg history I kind of expected what sort of descriptions she would give so that when she finally gave them, I had my ears open for the right words. We drove around St. Isaac’s cathedral first, and then made our way over a bridge and onto Vasilievsky Island. I think we drove past the street I’m living on (I’ll find out tomorrow!) and if so, it seems like I’m within walking distance to most places, including Smolny which is a relief. After that we drove across the Winter Palace (holla!!) and towards the Peter and Paul Fortress (Nicholas II, I’M COMING FOR YOUUU!!!). After that we went east towards the Smolny Cathedral (not to be confused with the institute I’m studying at) which is a beautiful white and blue building with all the iconic domes and whatnot. Apparently it used to be the school for girls of the nobility, and we have Catherine the Great to thank for that. 

I’m really appreciative of the bus tour, for I feel like I have a better sense of where things are located in relation to each other. It was also just great to see more of the city. When you learn about St. Petersburg in the context of other European cities, you think of it as younger and constantly trying to catch up with the West. While this is still true in terms of society and politics, on the outside it is unmistakably an old European city in my opinion. I was really surprised at how much I underestimated how old this city looks and is. It was founded in 1703 after all, but it really has that historic feel to it which makes my insides all tingly cause its just SO. COOL. The buildings are very tall and run down looking, but its charming all the same. They are also, surprisingly enough, quite colorful. The snow, which seems to always be falling or blowing around, makes everything dirty and gray, but I was taken aback at how many yellow buildings there are. There are numerous pink and blue buildings as well, many of which are decorated with fancy trims or columns. 

After our bus tour Elena wanted to take us down to the metro to do a practice run just to give us a better sense of how the metro system works. Now, the St. Petersburg metro is the deepest in the world. St. Petersburg was built on a marsh (smooth Peter), so you have to go down that deep in order to, you know, have any sort of stability. Well, they aren’t lying. Once you enter the metro, you take an escalator down for a few minutes down to what seems like a depth on par with purgatory or Dante’s inferno. You get lost in all the people (or should I say schools of fish) that are shuffling from one line to another, covered in fur jackets (ugh) of all colors on their way to or from work. Riding the metro was fine- the whole system doesn’t seem THAT difficult, but ask me how I feel a week from now when I’ve probably messed up 5 times (this is all dependent on if I can even converse with some lady behind a counter in order to get the necessary tokens). We’ll see. 

After that we went to dinner at some restaurant with Da Vinci in the title, and now I’m back at the hotel writing all this down and digesting. Until next time!

P.S. If anybody was curious, I’ve decided to name each blog post after a song. One of my favorite TV shows does it and I thought it could be cool JUST BECAUSE.