As I sit here writing this it is pouring rain outside, like it has been for the last 12 hours straight. I hear the drops hitting the metal flashing around my window and see it drenching everything outside.
And this is not socal rain, this is the real heavy rain that drenches you and your jacket, goes around you umbrella and creates half foot deep puddles on the street. So far it has been the weather not the Russian culture or language barrier or classes that has proven to be the hardest obstacle to overcome. It’s in the 60s or 70s in the day which is ok, but at night its getting into the high 40s already. THIS is September!
This weekend I am going to go out in search of more long sleeve shirts and sweaters as well as a scarf and gloves. Thankfully I have some friends here from cold weather climates, who not only are here to mock my cold intolerance but also to help me overcome it. Shopping for clothes in Russia will be an interesting experience and hopefully it will also help me fit into the crowd just a little better.
Today we also had a briefing from 2 consulate officers from the US consulate here in St. Petersburg. They had some interesting points about safety, but most is advice that is common sense and applies to people in any city anywhere. I thought they spent a little too much time talking about how cool their jobs where though. I guess they draw a lot of recruits from people in programs like this, but they failed to really get the crows attention when mentioning that most of the time they read and sort passport/visa/immigration paperwork. Not the best sales pitch in the world. But they did offer to arrange a tour of the consulate for our group, which could be very interesting.
Russian class is going well, challenging for sure but what else should I expect?
And one of my roommates made some really good food for dinner in our dorm room kitchen today. Unfortunately some of the local food places are already beginning to get old, time to expand into new areas I guess. Surprisingly the local pizza from bakeries is very good as is the soup basically anywhere. I think my most expensive meal so far worked out to be about 6 dollars for a huge dinner. I have said this before, be food prices are amazingly low here and I still can’t believe the deals sometimes.
Tomorrow more Russian class and a jazz themed river cruise at night.
Then a group day trip to the summer palace (also called Russia’s Versailles) this Saturday, weather permitting of course.
And this is not socal rain, this is the real heavy rain that drenches you and your jacket, goes around you umbrella and creates half foot deep puddles on the street. So far it has been the weather not the Russian culture or language barrier or classes that has proven to be the hardest obstacle to overcome. It’s in the 60s or 70s in the day which is ok, but at night its getting into the high 40s already. THIS is September!
This weekend I am going to go out in search of more long sleeve shirts and sweaters as well as a scarf and gloves. Thankfully I have some friends here from cold weather climates, who not only are here to mock my cold intolerance but also to help me overcome it. Shopping for clothes in Russia will be an interesting experience and hopefully it will also help me fit into the crowd just a little better.
Today we also had a briefing from 2 consulate officers from the US consulate here in St. Petersburg. They had some interesting points about safety, but most is advice that is common sense and applies to people in any city anywhere. I thought they spent a little too much time talking about how cool their jobs where though. I guess they draw a lot of recruits from people in programs like this, but they failed to really get the crows attention when mentioning that most of the time they read and sort passport/visa/immigration paperwork. Not the best sales pitch in the world. But they did offer to arrange a tour of the consulate for our group, which could be very interesting.
Russian class is going well, challenging for sure but what else should I expect?
And one of my roommates made some really good food for dinner in our dorm room kitchen today. Unfortunately some of the local food places are already beginning to get old, time to expand into new areas I guess. Surprisingly the local pizza from bakeries is very good as is the soup basically anywhere. I think my most expensive meal so far worked out to be about 6 dollars for a huge dinner. I have said this before, be food prices are amazingly low here and I still can’t believe the deals sometimes.
Tomorrow more Russian class and a jazz themed river cruise at night.
Then a group day trip to the summer palace (also called Russia’s Versailles) this Saturday, weather permitting of course.
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