Back home at last

It's pretty amazing to be back home. I can't believe I had four months abroad; it's something that I've only ever dreamed about, and it actually happened to me. I am extraordinarily grateful for all of the help that I've received to make my semester possible -- my family, friends, advisors, the University of Louisville, Diversity Abroad, and the Gilman International Scholarship Program. Without all of these sources of encouragement and scholarship, I couldn't have had the experience of a lifetime. For this, I thank you.

My plans for this summer will be finding a position to use the Russian language in the medical field, thereby continuing to use my nursing knowledge. Come fall, I will speak at a study abroad fair, highlighting key moments of my experiences and passing on any advice that might be helpful to future study abroad students. I hope that you, as my readers, will continue to check back here once in a while for updates and information -- please feel free to email me and ask questions at any time.

Dropping everyone a couple of lines from sunny Barcelona! I’m actually in my last day here, and the next few will be spent in Madrid. Afterwards, we’ll be moving on to Paris.

My last night with everyone in London was odd; I didn’t feel so much devastated as I was lost. It was weird to leave without my group of friends, and even odder to find myself traveling, eating, and sleeping without them around me. I’m extremely happy with my choice of program and study abroad location -- I feel as though I have a lot to take home after this semester; not just in excess luggage!

Obviously my blog is supposed to be all about my semester in Russia, but I figure it can’t hurt to update some more over the next few weeks about my other European travels; additionally, I’ll let everyone know about the study abroad fair that I’ll be attending come autumn.

Barcelona’s been lovely; I’ve missed sunny weather and, most of all, the OCEAN. I felt immediately at home when I saw the waves, white sand, and sailboats in the distance. I’ve got first-degree burns to show for my over-zealous sun-embracing attitude, but I’m still utterly content. Our first few days were spent sight-seeing: Park Guell, several Gaudi architecture pieces, Dali museum, Picasso museum, and the like.

Park Guell; one of the beautiful walkways.

Breakfast at Mercat de la Boqueria.... astounding and delicious food and juice selection.

Sagrada Familia; rising into the heavens.

Sagrada Familia; the interior of Gaudi's masterpiece.

Yesterday was a magnificent day excursion to Montserrat… a small town among awe-inspiring rock formations and mountains. Also… hiker’s paradise! I had a lot of fun climbing up on rocky cliffs and exploring abandoned hermitages (causing  my mom to panic quite a bit).

Mom and I at the top of a trail.

A better idea of what hikers had in store for themselves, and the beauty of Montserrat.

Today was an entire day spent at the beach -- I almost wish that we’d done this everyday, but that would have taken too much time away from seeing important sights in Barcelona. Next time, however, I have to stay near the ocean and swim everyday. The water was cold enough that most people stayed away, but I found it quite relaxing.

I never know when the next time I have internet will be, but hopefully I’ll get to write some more about my experiences to come in Madrid and Paris.

Final(s) Week

The church in Peterhof -- similar to Spilled Blood.

Finals are OVER. наконец! However, this week has been increasingly bittersweet. Staying inside while there was so much to do (and such beautiful weather again) was frustrating, but studying was extremely important as well. I’ll review some of the things that I got to do last weekend and the activities of my last week in SPb.

Last Saturday was a group excursion to Peterhof. This place was gaudy, beautiful, glistening, and underwhelming all at the same time. The grounds were gorgeous and right by the Gulf of Finland -- so there was a fantastic rocky beach to wander along. We got there just in time for the “opening” of the fountains for that day (the actual festival of fountains was on May Day, or the Day of Workers’ Solidarity). Most of the fountains had the typical Tsarskoe Selo-esque gold motif -- I say underwhelming (for the main fountains) because I always expected the fountain to be spectacular… and although it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen, it didn’t feel as special as I thought it would. Still, it was wonderful being in such a lively and scenic town.

We learned a lot about Peter the Great’s antics when creating Peterhof. He enjoyed trick fountains quite a bit, and as a result has traps set about the grounds, designed to make the guests get wet (and to see ladies’ underwear). It must have gotten old, pretending to be surprised year after year for Peter the Great, but I’m sure the children of the nobility enjoyed it. Many of the fountains had superstitions or quirky stories surrounding them:

One of the many gorgeous houses on the grounds.

Large fountain in front of the palace.

I’ve basically been studying the entire week, except for yesterday, which was when I got to finally breath and relax. I’ve been finishing up some last tasks, like going to the Naval Museum, Zoological Museum, Commander's House at Peter and Paul Fortress, going inside St. Isaac's, buying presents for family and friends back home, and....

Conquering the Hermitage. 


Yes, I've been inside and explored every gallery open for visitors. So much for it taking 20 years to get through! Ура! What makes things even more exciting is that as volunteers for the museum, we get to go up a tower to the Archaeology department.

As for other events, the group took a river cruise, and went to a Russian restaurant with folk dancing. It has been bittersweet, and -- quite frankly -- heartbreaking these last few days. I've never been so sad to leave a place; I've finally gotten to know city and made wonderful friends. I don't want to leave at all -- just as finals are over and I can relax, we have to depart. I have had the most wonderful experience of my life here.

I hope that this will just be a short farewell to St. Petersburg, and most importantly, to Russia. In general, studying abroad has been enlightening and exhilarating -- I'm already dreaming about the next time I get to travel and study abroad.

The entire group is leaving tomorrow morning, and then we'll arrive in London once more. At this point, I will join my mother (who is in London as we speak!) to go to Spain and France for about 10 days. Going to see other parts of Europe is exciting, but I still feel like I'm leaving a piece of my heart and soul in Россия.

Ура! Ура! The first of May!

The 1st of May dawned cold and gray. The promised dip in temperature during the month of May came true... and all too soon. It is once again chilly and, at times, even snowy. My morning was spent volunteering in the Hermitage. I was on entrance duty once again, but I'm hoping that I'll get to go to the archaeology department at least once before I leave. On my way to and from the museum, I got to see various parts of the May Day parade.

The "Коммунистическая партия Российской Федерации; КПРФ" (Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Rossiskoy Federatsii; KPRF). Russia's Communist Party marching during the parade.

OMOH and мили́ция (militsiya) closing up the parade. There were hundreds of them on Nevsky Prospekt; it made me feel better that even the police were cold this morning.

And the police and OMOH vehicles closing everything up. Buses were ready right behind to begin their regular schedules once more.

It's been a lovely and eventful weekend -- Saturday was a day trip to Novgorod with the entire AIFS group. Novgorod is one of the most historic cities in Russia, with lots of irony in its "new" name.

Novgorod Kremlin

Millennium of Russia monument.  Shaped like a bell, it has over a hundred figures portrayed in relief - artists, poets, historical figures, scientists, etc.

Cathedral of St. Sophia. Sophia literally means wisdom - here, Holy Wisdom.

The Church that one can walk around three times for a wish to come true. It's also next to an archaeological dig site... that might explain why my friend found a hunk of mandible with half of a tooth in it.

This was 10 minutes outside of Novgorod, and it is an open-air museum of wooden architecture. This is just one of many various wooden homes and churches. They are all quite small and cramped inside, but look spectacular from the outside.

I really loved our trip to Novgorod. Novgorod is a very small and clean city, quite beautiful on a sunny spring day. It's situated right on the Volkhov River, so there was a tiny beach with a children's playground for when the water gets warmer -- the water looked very clean and we had a refreshing breeze by the water.

Until next time, пока!

Time is all around...

...and winding down, unfortunately. I wish that I could stay for the entire summer, but I have to make the most of what I have left. I've been spending a lot of lovely afternoons outside, staying out until 11pm or 12am. The sun goes down at 10pm now, so it's very easy to lose track of time. My favorite thing, however, is that there is no more snow! Just 3 weeks ago I was walking down this same stretch of beach, treacherously crossing the ice... now look at it...

I sat right on the beach in a light t-shirt and shorts. I dipped my feet into the water, but I have to admit it was pretty chilly. Plus, although it looks sparkly and blue, it's not particularly clean, being a river and all.

The group's last excursion was to Yusopov Palace, which was a special treat. This palace is notorious known for being the site of Rasputin's murder, but it also is a delicate and ornate family home. This feeling is retained throughout the palace, especially once one sees the libraries, secret doors, music rooms, and the gorgeous theatre.

These past two weeks have also been spectacularly filled with musical performances. I've been lucky enough to attend two concerts, one being a typical classical concert -- with waltzes, polkas, and mazurkas from composers like Shostakovich, Waldteufel, Strauss, Sibelius, Khachaturian, and so on. This concert was truly special, since only traditional Russian folk instruments were used (balalaikas, and the like). The second concert was based on Soviet composer Schnittke's pieces and Russian film music. For me, experiencing these performances was like seeing magic happen. There is nothing more intoxicating than beautiful music, talented musicians and conductors... I'm still bowled over with excitement, just thinking about those evenings at the theatre.

I've also volunteered at the Hermitage, which guaranteed to be an extraordinary amount of fun no matter what you do -- greeting tourists or drawing fragments of ancient artifacts. So far I've greeted and directed visitors to the museum. It's a little nerve-wracking to tell an 80-year-old grandmother that she has to take her coat off, but most visitors are courteous and abide by the rules. My friend and I ran into a bad situation with one group of tourists, but we took their bad tempers in stride and managed the situation.

The cat that is "hired" by the Hermitage. Did you know that in Russia there is a national cat day that is celebrated? The Hermitage had cat sculptures, paintings, and an actual room filled with cats for the visitors to play with.

I'm hoping to volunteer again this weekend, and I'll definitely mention any more interesting happenings.

So long for now!

"доброе утро. This is Finland. We speak English."

I’m finally back from our weekend excursion to Helsinki and Tallinn. We took a “ferry” to Helsinki -- however, it resembled a cruise ship more than anything else. I was really excited to be on the water, but once we arrived in Finland the real fun began. Our first morning consisted of a bus tour through the center of Helsinki.

Lovely sunset on the ship.

Sibelius monument in the first park that we stopped by. It's an abstract work constructed to commemorate the work of Jean Sibelius, and is supposed to embody the spirit of his compositions.

Senate Square and the Lutheran Cathedral

Uspenski Cathedral -- this is an Orthodox church.

The most interesting thing I saw and experienced, however, was the Suomenlinna sea fortress. It’s a lovely little island that was particularly deserted when we went. My friends and I started off by walking around aimlessly, spotting a submarine; eventually we ended up in a really neat area where you get to climb up on grassy knolls.

There were tons of cannons that we could examine and Hobbiton-like hill bunkers to explore. I wandered by the water and on the hills, going into a bunch of places that said, ‘Danger.’

I managed to climb through some windows to overlook the ocean. The best part, however, were the secret passages and tunnels. The tunnels literally go under and through the hills and some are half-flooded, iced over, or you can only get out through small crevices or windows. At one point, I spotted a really neat tunnel by the docks… my friend Steph and I started walking forward until suddenly she says, “Wait… what is that hole there?” It turns out that we had been walking on super thin ice, and the hole revealed water several feet below. Let’s just say that after that I was more careful… on ice, anyways! It felt wonderful to adventure with true abandon, throwing caution to the winds.

Finland was very fun -- the thing that surprised me the most was how nice everyone was. I’m sure that during the height of tourist season the Finns lose some of their carefree attitude and patience, but for the time that we were there, they were absolutely lovely and helpful. At one point, an entire bus was attempting to help us find our way.

As for Tallinn, it was very beautiful and quaint. Within the old town, there are only cobblestone streets and alleys, and it’s very difficult to get lost. Here are some of the cool places that I went to in Tallinn:

This is just an example of a lot of the architecture in Tallinn.

This building can be seen upon entering the walls of the Old Town, and it is currently owned by the Masons.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

View of Tallinn from a look-out point.

Back in Finland, the second day we went to an open-air museum on the island of Seurasaari. Although I didn't spent much time here, I know I'd like to come back and explore it some day.

Just one of many traditional Finnish buildings relocated to the museum island. It's a complete park with tons of traditional houses, stables, boat houses, and even a Nordic village.

Reflections and Revelations

My time in St. Petersburg is so limited, but I've had a wonderful semester. Next week we're going to Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia, but lately I've been wishing for just some more time in SPb with my amazing friends instead.

I'm going to try to sneak more photos of the ride down the escalators in the metro at some point. Technically, one of my teachers told me that last year, a motion was passed to ensure photography was legal in the metro, but I don't want to risk being fined. However, it's one of the most interesting and odd sights I've seen in SPb, so I'll do my best for you guys! You can probably read an article or two on the metro, or have several conversations with your friends... it's about a 3-5 minute ride down.

You can't even see the end of the tunnel! It's the deepest metro in the world, because of SPb's unstable and swampy soil.

Another fascinating thing about Russia is how the citizens dress. At home, college students are renowned for wearing sweatpants and t-shirts, and most people wear casual clothing for average daily activities. However, here just stepping over the threshold to go to the store for food is a fashionable occasion. Every young woman I see wears flattering boots and outfits -- it's practically the country's uniform.It's refreshing to see such a large portion of the country looking nice and presentable -- especially since all of it is done with a very matter-of-fact air. I enjoy that looking nice doesn't have to be a special affair here. There's no such thing as someone going up to you and saying, "Wow, you look great today! What's the occasion?"

A great part of spring coming along (besides the weather getting warmer) is that the days are becoming noticeably longer. The sun sets at around 9 pm now, so that means more time for wandering around the city! It used to be 6 or 6:30, so this makes a huge difference. It'll get even better, although it really is too bad that I'll miss the peak of White Nights.

As mentioned previously, I've been doing more exploring on foot and wandering around -- without a map! Recently my friends and I have found a neat factory complex called the Red Triangle. It used to be a rubber and shoe factory, but now is fairly abandoned/used for suspicious activities/random stores.

One of the abandoned buildings.

Inside the above building.

I'll post more of my adventures soon, especially when I went to Peter and Paul Fortress and the Siege of Leningrad Memorial. Till next time, good hunting!