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.

масленица!

Hola to everyone! Yes, I know I just said something in Spanish instead of Russian… but that’s the way it’s been around here lately. For some reason everyone falls back upon Spanish when they forget a Russian word. Thus, in class my friend Glenn might say (imagine this in Russian): “My wallet was taken by a …. a…. oh what’s the word for hombre?” Immediately, everyone will yell out, “Man/мужчина!” The teachers are getting exasperated with our haphazard Spanish-English-Russian way of speaking.

I will definitely never let so much time go by between posts. However, it is a testament to how exciting Russia has been so far. I’ve been to three museums thus far: Political Museum, Dostoevsky Museum, and Menshikov Palace (I will write about that next time). The Dostoevsky Museum had mostly modern exhibits about his life inside, so the really interesting part was just standing in the square that he walked on every day. Right outside that museum was the Kuznechny Market (кузнечный рынок); this used to be the best market in SPb, although now it’s very expensive. The fresh dairy department was the best I’ve seen so far… there’s luscious sour cream and tvorog (sort of like ricotta cheese).

Dodgy little army/navy store -- the place where I have to get an army knife.

дом книги (Book House) at night.

New entrance to the Dostoevsky Museum

This is where I purchased pickled cucumbers and green tomatoes. I probably got over-charged for it, which may account for her adding on some extra pickles and garlic.

Fresh honey and beeswax

These past few weeks have been wonderful. I’ve been going  to the gym regularly with my friend, Austin. Besides that, I’ve managed to explore Nevsky Prospekt quite a bit more. That's one of the main streets in SPb; I usually go with a friend or two, and we explore side streets, stores and restaurants. The Galleria was interesting, but it reminded me too much of the malls back home -- nothing terribly special or unique in the stores, everything overpriced, and mostly typical American food.

I enjoy going to the predominantly Russian events here. For instance, this entire week is a holiday: масленица. It’s literally a “Pancake Week”… rather, Blini Week. Part of the big celebration is to eat blini, burn an effigy of Santa Claus' daughter, and generally celebrate the first official days of spring. Tonight I went to a Russian Club gathering where we danced, chatted, learned the history of the holiday, and ate enormous quantities of homemade blini with sour cream and freshly made jam. On Sunday we have an excursion to the park and palace in Pavlovsk, where we'll see them burn effigies and do Russian folk dancing. Oh... and did I mention that we get to eat blini?!

One of the most important things was also last week... we went to a hockey game! When I watch the Winter Olympics, I usually end up seeing the hockey matches the most, so I was naturally anticipating the game. I imagined having a good time, but I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did. It was <<CKA>> (SPb's team) against <<Ак Барс>> (Kazan)... CKA won, thank goodness! It was very tense by the end, as it got down to penalty shots, and everybody was chanting, "Питер! Питер!" (Peter! Peter!) throughout.

We had pretty great seats, front row of the second tier.

Stephanie, Taylor and I... we're excited that CKA is winning. Hurrah!

Last but not least, a huge shout out to Jake -- he’s got a wonderfully descriptive and exciting blog. We’re on the same program and you can compare our experiences, especially since he's been posing more frequently than I have.

I have a four day weekend coming up, which will be spent studying for my midterm and exploring the city. We have plans to go salsa dancing soon, so let the sexy salsa dancing commence!

Weekly Recap: Tsarskoe Selo and Bowling

Здравствуйте! I can't believe it's only been a week; it feels like I've been here for ages. I've been both busy and lazy, so sorry about the delay in posting. I'll try to be more regular with these from now on.

So... I'M IN RUSSIA! AHH. My first (tired and slow) impression of the country was that it was 1) snowy and 2) dirty. Sorry, St. Pete. But now that I've had a chance to explore individual streets and museums, I find I love it here. Everyone says there's a certain amount of culture shock when arriving in a foreign country; so far, no problems... *knock on wood*. My roommates and I made a group culture shock curve -- I tend to dwell in 'crisis' mode all the time, but that's normal for me. The others are way off the chart or skirting around normal. I'll post it up in the pictures tab sometime.

Taylor and Stephanie have also created the Russian Game of Life. There is literally no way to win... failure is the only option.

I went to the Hermitage first, and it was beyond gorgeous. I couldn't take photos on the inside, because you have to pay extra. However, I get in for free anytime I want (go student cards!), and I'll make notes of my favorite paintings to take photos later.

Austin, Glenn and I, all bundled up.

Meanwhile, I went on an excursion to Tsarskoe Selo this weekend, located in the small town of Pushkin. The Catherine Palace was decorated in the same style as the Hermitage (same architect, imagine that...); there was plenty of gold, frescoes, and lavish artifacts. The entire palace is sensory overload: gold leaf covers all statues, wall decorations, and doors; frescoes are on every ceiling; there are hand-painted silk wall coverings; delicately made Italian and Chinese desks and vases; exquisitely carved wooden floors; floor-to-ceiling paintings; all amidst bright splashes of color and glints of sophistication from the mirrors. It truly is Great, just like its previous hostess. Thankfully I could take plenty of pictures for you guys:

The Great Hall. The floors are hand-carved and there is a fresco ceiling.

Gold leaf covers everything.

There are frescoes in all of the rooms. It's intense.

My secret shot of the Amber Room. We're not allowed to take photos in there, but I managed one from the doorway. It's not called 'Amber Room' for nothing: floor-to-ceiling amber mosaics.

An odd occurrence: sunlight in Russia!

On Friday night we were taken bowling, which was great fun. I usually detest bowling because I find it boring, but I had a really great time. The fact that we were served delicious foods and juices didn't hurt in the slightest. After AIFS stopped feeding us, we had a mini panic attack moment when we realized we'd have to start buying food. For the first few days I didn't really eat much, but now I've got the hang of the local grocery stores. Soon I'll set off for the Kuznechny Market -- it's an enormous enclosed market that sells all of my favorite foods: cured meats and колбаса (kolbasa); hundreds of cheeses; fresh produce; fresh meat and fish; pickled tomatoes, garlic, cucumbers, and sauerkraut.

Doesn't look like much, but I don't think I've ever been that happy to see lettuce.

My classes are also wonderful. I've placed into intermediate grammar and reading, and advanced speaking. I'm still pretty slow when it comes to reading and I definitely need to work on my spelling, but my speaking class is wonderful. I absolutey love that we get to talk about a diverse range of topics in an educational way. It feels like a lovely family community where everyone can speak Russian quite well. We'll be dicussing health, politics, economy, education, family and relationships, and the arts. I'm in love with this class.

The Eternal and the Ephemeral

I'm leaving the country soon, and I've been trying to find the perfect way to phrase my feelings. However, this seemingly simple feat is proving to be much more complex than I anticipated. I'm a roller coaster of various, sometimes fleeting, emotions. At first I was so focused on planning my trip that I wasn't feeling much of anything -- think amateur travel agent. Then, when my countdown got to <24 days... I freaked. Scared, I suppose, about being on my own for the first time.

Now, I'm back in "busy" mode; savoring my last weeks. It's down to less than 13 days - soon I'll be on my way to St. Petersburg, Russia. Amidst my alternating fits of terror and jubilant cries of "Huzzah!" for this trip, I dwell in a surreal state of jittery anticipation.

Why Russia? My heritage is Russian, and I've spoken conversational Russian since I was little. Thus, this trip will allow me to harness my existing abilities to further my goals for my career and community; it's also about personal interest in Russian culture, traditions, and politics. I'll speak in much more detail of classes and my goals in upcoming posts.

As for this blog... I proposed this as part of my project for the Gilman Scholarship. I'll keep unintentional verbosity to a minimum by inserting pictures and videos of the places I visit. Truly, this blog will be a wonderful outlet for me; I can inform my peers of how my study abroad experience is going and keep you updated on certain scholarships/opportunities in the "If You Want To Travel" tab.

Enough words....

This is where I'll be in a week or so!