The Way Forward

Over the last 4 months I have had over 1000 visits to the 68 posts of this blog from friends and family in 5 countries.  I hope that sharing my adventures both helped me keep in contact with you and provided some level of entertainment and education about Russia as I learned and did so much.

I hope to continue to write a few more posts for this blog in the coming weeks as I reflect on my best memories, reverse culture shock and try to draw some initial conclusions and lessons from the last months. 

Writing this blog has been a useful and enjoyable for me during my trip, and I am seriously considering making a new blog to reflect on events and ideas in my life after Russia.  But that will be a new blog as I intended to keep Matt of the North dedicated to my trip and I hope to find some way to print and have a record of my trip in book form so I will never forget all of my adventures in Russia.

Thanks for reading!

Long Way Home

Today, as I sit at my desk looking out the window at a “cold” California “winter day” (warmer than almost any day I had in Russia) the fact that less than 4 days ago I was in Russia just seems absurd.  And yet it did happen, and I have the pictures and passport stamps to prove it!

My final morning in Russia, Saturday December 11^th, was spent packing, cleaning and reminiscing about all the good times we had in Russia and then at noon the long journey home began.  An uneventful bus ride to the airport lead me to believe leaving Russia would be a breeze, but boy was I wrong!

We arrived at the airport 3.5 hours before our flight was set to leave and we all thought this was absurdly early and initial we were correct.   Pulkovo airport is the worst designed and most inefficient airport I have ever had the misfortune to fly out of.  Firstly, we were unable to check in for our flights until about 2 or 1.5 hours before departure, so it was necessary to kill time in the initial waiting area outside of security checkpoint #1.  I say number one because there are 2 levels of security at the airport, one before you are able to check in and check your bags, and then on before you get on the plane.

About 2 hours before our flight’s scheduled departure we were allowed to proceed through the gate and to check in.  First I said goodbye (or so I thought) to our resident director and her assistances and thanked them for all their assistance.  Then we proceeded through the first security checkpoint, and in a first for me did it will all of our baggage including checked bags.

After waiting in the normal check in line, and after being told my bag was overweight (which I expected) I got a bit of a surprise.  Instead of being able to pay at the check in desk like is normally allowed, I had to go outside of the security checkpoint #1 to a tiny office and pay the fee.  In that office they could only process one fee at a time and had to process the cards manually.  It was frustratingly slow and inefficient but I was more lucky then the 30 or so other behind me with the same problems.

With about 45 min left before departure, I was able to finally pay my overweight baggage fees clear security checkpoint #1 again and proceed through the rest of the airport.  I had to clear passport control and then I finally was in the airport terminal proper.  At this point it was almost time to depart and I had yet another security checkpoint to clear right before the gate.  Thankfully by this time, I was used to the bureaucracy and inefficiency of Russian official institutions but this whole process was very stressful and unfortunately did not give me a favorable last impression of Russia.

The flight to London was uneventful, as was our arrival to the London hotel.  I spent a last night having dinner and hanging out in the hotel pub with my friends from the group and saying goodbye before we all departed the next morning.  Leaving London was not difficult, and the transatlantic flight uneventfully but of course long. 

And then I was home, the adventure completed but never to be forgotten.

Matthew (no longer of the North)

Back to the BEACH and SUN!

Последний день

{Title: Last Day}

It may by clique to say this, but all good things do come to an end.  Today was my last day in Russia, and Russia did not disappoint.  We have gotten well over a foot of snow in the past 24 hours and it shows no signs of stopping.  I suppose Russia does not want me to go until I have an even greater understanding of snow, ice and cold.

While I wish I had some epic tale of Russian adventures from today to retell, but quite honestly I have done everything in this city that even remotely appealed to me!  Today we had a final meeting (/“graduation”) with the administrator of our program Professor Kruskov and then received our final departure details from our resident director.  I say “graduation” because when we were given a copy of the official paperwork with our courses and final grades, Professor Kruskov called out our names one by one; we shook his hand and got the transcript while our peers clapped.

After our meeting, I spent a big chuck of the day very methodically packing and clearing out all of the accumulated items in my room. I have enough room to bring back all but a very small number of things, most which I had always intended to leave behind.  I am fairly certain it will be over the 50 pound limit for my flights, but at this point I am beyond caring.

At noon tomorrow I shall drag my bags down the 3 flights of stairs, (for some absurd reason the elevator does not stop on our floor), load up into the bus with my fellow Americans and then set off for the long journey home.

We land in London about 5pm local time and will have dinner as a group there, and then Sunday morning we all depart at different times for dozens of airports and back to reality.  I leave London at noon and should arrive at LAX by 3pm PST.  So by 6pm, I will be enjoying all the comforts of home!

Russia has been great, but I am very excited to go home. Back to California, where there is sun and no snow, negative temperatures, or ice to slip on!  One of the greatest things about California, which I have realized today, is that it is not as cold or colder then Russia.  Many of my friends here are going home to snow and winter at home, and I get to return to the 70s and sun!

I have missed everyone at home so much and once I get back I am eagerly looking forward to seeing all of you upon my return.

~ Matt (very soon not be “of the North”)

{This might be my last post for a few days, but I will update it with all the events of the next few days, and then hopefully try to add some conclusions and best moments/stories which I have overlooked or downplayed earlier}

PostFinal

And just like that… Finals are over.

Yesterday I had my final for communist phase history and today I had my second history final about the 18^th and 19^th century of Imperial Russia.  On both tests I received a good prompt that I was able to answer quite well, know I did very well!

After the test was over, I decided to go off and do one more lap around downtown St. Petersburg, buy my last Christmas presents and to go to a final landmark which I had somehow missed before.  I took some more pictures of the downtown area and finally decided to take a picture at one of the most iconic places of the city.

We finally made it to St. Isaac’s cathedral, one of the many beautiful cathedrals in the city.  While it is possible to climb up to its observation platform, it was cold, getting dark, and snowing so we decided to just go to the museum inside.  Like all of the orthodox churches I have been inside, the interior is covered with religious mosaics, frescos, paintings and statues that are at times simply overwhelming.  Here are some pictures from the inside:

     

After that we went to our after finals party at a downtown blowing alley.  Humorously, the bowling alley’s equipment, shoes and bowling bowls where all American!  The night was fun for all of us and full of good food and drink, bad bowling and great people.  

Tomorrow I find out my grades, we will have a final meeting, and get all of our departure information.  Then all that I have left to do is pack up all of my loot, and prepare to say goodbye to this country and to my friends here.

And I will, in fact, be home for Christmas!

Lists! (redux)

When I first started this blog I made some of my first comments about lists.  On those lists, which I made though careful deliberation and consultation,  where things to pack, to accomplish and to finish before leaving the country.  Now I think it is only fitting to have another post about and of lists on one of my final days. 

As of last Sunday I finished my list of things to do while I am still in St. Petersburg and minutes ago I finished my list of souvenirs and gifts I have slowly acquired to bring back and what of my possessions  here to bring home and what to leave behind in Russia.

But being in a more philosophical mood this I have compiled a non comprehensive list of things that I have missed from home or things I believe I will miss from Russia would be both too long and depressingly counterproductive.  Therefore I have chosen to consider and write down 2 more interesting lists: one of things I am surprised to not miss from home, and one of a few annoying things I will be happy to leave behind.

Here are some things I have not missed since leaving the US:

Cell Phone

(Initially I missed having a phone here, but in the beginning of our time here no one had one and I never saw a need to get one.  About half of the students here also did not get them and I have never really needed one.)

TV

(I have not watched any American TV or movies since last August and have not missed it)

Driving

(walking and public transport have not let me down in Russia, it is going to take a while to get used to driving again)

My time here has been amazing and I have enjoyed and loved so many things in this great city. But there are some things I will be glad to leave behind in Russia:

Tap Water

(it will be nice to not have to fear intestinal parasites or heavy metal contamination at the sink.  While I do not normally drink from the tap, it will be nice to brush my teeth in the sink again!  Instead I have to buy and use 8 liter bottles of water, which has gotten quite old.)

Ability to read an ENTIRE restaurant menu again

(though my Russian has gotten much better through a combination of not knowing every food item in Russian, and an incomplete knowledge of Russian cuisine makes me order what I know less often then I would like)

Lack of sun

(it only comes out when the temperature is in the single digits and it is too cold for clouds, kind of defeating the purpose)

No more ground / flaked and formed meat!

(too much of the food here is ground or frozen, only nicer restaurants have recognizable cuts)

No more negative temperatures

(while the cold can be fun, and I have never been really uncomfortable outside, anything below the teens is just too cold for me)

Cash/exact change only in stores

(Very few places take credit cards, and most cashiers will all but demand exact change to the 10 kopeck {worth 1/3 cent} when paying for items)

Final Days; Final Tests

Well I did it.  Today I had part 2/2 of my Russian exam and so ends my formal Russian classes (at least at an undergraduate level or at UCI).

For the intensive Russian class I have here we had a 2 part final.  It consisted of two separate, but equally important, groups, a written grammar exam and a verbal phonetics and conversational exam.  Monday’s grammar test was easier I had feared, probably a product of them showing some mercy on us and that since I have been using Russian every day for over 3 months I am bound to learn something.  The Russian method of proctoring written texts differs somewhat from what I used to as well.  All of the 40+ students in the Russian language taught in English program here where in the same room, from the beginners to the near native speakers.  More strangely for me, the language instructors would wander around the room and occasionally look over the tests in progress and point out small mistakes their students’ have made. 

While helpful both for their student’s grades and peace of mind (and also their statics I assume) I just find it funny coming from classes where teachers will barely help you clarify badly worded questions or miscopied pages.  In fact today when I was shown my graded grammar test (I did well!) after taking part 2 of my final today, my grammar teacher asked me, “I see you forgot how to spell these words in your passive speech dialogue.  Why didn’t you ask me how?  I would have told you…”

Then today’s oral final which I considered to be one of the scarcest tests I have ever prepared for, consisted of 4 parts (with a surprise 5^th part): reading a text with proper pronunciation, talking about the contents of that text, reciting a memorized poem and then discussing one of 4 randomly drawn topics.  To make it more intimidating, we took this test in our small classroom sitting at a desk with both instructors seated no more than 3 feet in front of us and the other 3 students sitting at the other nearby desks.

So my 3 brave comrades and I arrived at 10 at the fateful classroom “ready” for the test.  The first step was drawing a story to discuss and a topic as well.  I was incredibly lucky in my draws getting the very last story we had discussed in class and “My Saint Petersburg” as my topic.  My Saint Petersburg was my preferred topic coming into the test but for the record the other options where “My family and I,” “My City,” and “My Best Day”.   Then we had about 30 min to prepare and make some notes for our conversation/presentation.  People who know me well can attest to the fact that I don’t get nervous for tests or public speaking, but I was REALLY nervous for this but I do not know why. 

I ended up volunteering to go first in my class as a way both confront my annoying emotions and get it over with since I was confident in the material I had to present.  Overall it went well I think, I did not make any major mistakes that I am aware of, though near the beginning one of the professors kindly said to me in Russian “don’t be nervous” so I guess it showed.  I was glad to get the reading over with, and I nailed the poem and they had to cut me off while I was talking about Saint Petersburg.  One annoying thing they did do, I think trying to be helpful, was to make little corrections to my grammar (mostly case endings which are very complicated in Russian and don’t exist at all in English!) while I was speaking which threw off my speaking pattern and concentration or my ability to correct myself. 

I was glad to be done in the beginning and then to sit and watch my classmates take their exams.  After the last student finished both teachers said we all did well, and to not be worried for the results.  It was a difficult test format for all of us Americans, but one quite common in Russian schools, so I will call it part of my cultural immersion and hope for the best results.

After the exam we had a surprise part 5, tea and perog (tart)!  We sat and ate a very good apricot tart with some decent tea and talked in Russian for a bit and then said our goodbyes.  Overall I think the class tough me quite a bit of Russian, not so much in grammar but hundreds of new words  and a huge boost in my speaking competence and confidence from my arrival.  All I have left is a short essay test in my history classes on Wednesday and on Thursday which do not concern me much.  On Friday we will have a final meeting and receive our grades as they will appear on the official transcripts and then all that is left is to go for one more look around downtown and then pack it all up.

Today I caught myself thinking, “Wow it is only 30 degrees F outside.  In fact, so warm that I don’t think I will need to dress as warmly as I did yesterday…”  I think that means it is time to come home.

Last Expedition: Catherine Palace

Today, in the last cultural excursion of the semester, we drove out of the snowy streets of Saint Petersburg and into the more snowy countryside to visit Catherine Palace in the village of Pushkin.  The village it is located in is named after Pushkin because he went to school there and returned their throughout his life and the Bolsheviks found its pervious name Tsar’s village unacceptable for obvious reasons.

The palace was built by Empress Catherine I’s favorite Italian architect in Rococo (late baroque) style, and greatly modified by the next 4 emperors and empresses it is a bit different then the other places I have been to in the city.  In its later incarnations the palace was not a residence like Pavlosk, the Winter Place or Peterhof.  Instead it was primarily used for parties and grand state affairs in the summer time and for that reason; most of the palace is a long ballroom with complementary English style gardens.  It was very elegant but I admit not quite as impressive as some of the other royal palaces around the Saint Petersburg.  

All of the palaces suffered great damage during the 900 day siege of Leningrad and required rebuilding projects which still continue to this day, so unfortunately it is impossible to see their former glory despite how close they may be in their restorations.  For this palace I thought that it did not have the interiors of the Winter Palace, the fountains of Peterhof or the astonishing wild gardens of Pavlosk.  However the tour of the palace was enjoyable but the best part of the day was outside in the park.

We were walking in newly fallen snow that squeaked with every step looking at the boxed up statues, frozen lakes, snow covered pavilions.  We had more than a few running snowball fights today as well. They broke out both among the three students I was with, and when we chanced upon others from our program on the paths.  It also resolved an age old question, who wins in a snowball fight an Air Force academy cadet or a Ukrainian?  (answer is clearly the Ukrainian)

We had lunch on the abandoned chairs of the closed for the winter open air café, I now realize there is little better then cheese and crackers outside when it is 10 degrees out and snowing (and you are covered with and need a break from the snow).

Tomorrow will be devoted to studying Russian grammar for Monday’s final and preparing for my conversation test Tuesday.  And with another few purchases today, I only have a few more gifts on my list left to buy in the next few days for all you lucky people back home.

I have 7 more days in Russia, all that is left now is to study hard and stay warm!

Return of the Hermitage

(Well I suppose it was I who returned to it, since 400 year old royal palaces don’t move around much.)

Today I had my last Russian class and this brings some conflicting emotions.  I now have enough Russian (my semester here counts as a year at home) to fulfill the requirements of my minor at UCI and UCI only offers 2 years of Russian classes.  While my Russian has gotten much better in my time here, I do not feel anywhere near competent in most areas beyond basic conversation, reading and writing and I don’t realistically see a way of getting better at home.  But it has been great to learn more here and I am not too worried for my finals next week.  They will be hard but I have worked hard and even surprised myself with my Russian a few times here.

But, after class today I decided to finally return to and finish the collection of the State Hermitage museum.  I talked about it back in September when I first got to St. Petersburg but once again: it is the largest and most impressive art collection in Russia, and one of the best in the world for that matter.  It is located in the former Winter Imperial Palace of Russia, effectively the Russian capital building until the revolution(s) of 1917after which it was converted into a public museum exhibiting art collections “liberated” from Russia’s elites.

A good place to storm in a revolution

Today I focused on the historical rooms the of the palace; the throne room, hall of generals and restored living areas, as well as going to the ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt rooms for the first time.  I had a good time and finally was able to see everything left on my lost in this expansive museum.  That is one of the huge advantages of living here instead of just visiting.  Instead of the 1.5 hour guided tour and then leaving it takes 45 min to get there by metro, I get in free and can return there as many times as I needed to be satisfied. I don’t know if I will ever come back to St. Petersburg, but if and when I do I won’t needed a guided tour, I can give it!

This time I also took pictures inside, here are just a few:

I think the floors and ceilings need their own museum.

Portraits of every Russian general if the  Napoleonic Wars

Throne Room

Now readers of this blog will notice how many palaces and museums I have been to in the past months and might wonder how I can still keep going back to them.  I will admit that I have become a bit tired of palaces and priceless works of art, not because they are not of astounding quality, but just do to seeing so many in a relatively short period (here, in Moscow and in Paris) has lessened their impact.  However I am well aware that when I see or hear about these places and works of art in the future I will fondly remember being there and seeing them.  And in other good news with a few more purchases today, I have almost finished my list of Christmas gifts/ souvenirs.

I have just 9 days left in Russia, but 23 days until Christmas!