Trying to blend in and other things I've been up to

I haven't posted in a while, but I've been fairly busy and I was having computer problems, so that's why.

A lot has happened but I'm not really sure what to post about. Originally, I wanted to make a post of a bunch of different cultural differences between Russians and Americans, but there is so much that can be said, so instead I'll focus on a couple of cultural differences that I've had to adapt to in order to not look like a total иностранка (foreigner).

Smiling:
I'm a pretty smiley person most of the time. Russian people, however, are not, at least not when they're alone in public. This topic has been discussed during orientation as well as one of my classes. Generally, it is unusual and insincere here to smile at someone that you do not know, which is why Russians can look so intimidating and unfriendly to foreigners. So one of the biggest adjustments I've had to make here is accepting that fact and working on my "metro face" which is an expression somewhere between disinterest and aggressiveness.

Transportation:
Not really a cultural difference but I know I stick out when I look like I have no clue where I'm going.... which is thankfully something I'm getting better at figuring out.

Russian Women:
Russian women are a breed of their own. They don't all look the same, of course, but if I had to give you a description of a "typical" Russian woman, she would be slender, well-dressed, wearing heels, and would have long, straight hair with bangs. Honestly, I think these girls are born knowing how to walk on uneven ground in any kind of heel. It's hard to compete with that, not that I really want to.

In the past week I think I've learned to blend in a little more. I've been asked for directions three times and I've managed to ride on the trolleybus for free a couple of times (muahahaha). I've even gotten used to the whole "not smiling" thing, although every once in a while it's refreshing when you do see someone smiling.

One other observation: one of our staff members told us that "Russia is a country of extremes," and it's very true. Walking down the streets, you will see shiny sports cars parked on the curbs next to dirty, old cars. Museums, theatres, and brand-name stores are surrounded by buildings with graffiti or undergoing construction. I've met sexist, racist people, but I've also met very kind, friendly, and intelligent people.

My school, Smolniy, about a 30 minute commute from my apartment.

Graffiti a couple blocks away from my apartment.

Finally, in the past week I've also been to the Hermitage:

And Peterhof Palace:

This week all I have planned so far is seeing the ballet Don Quixote!

Velikiy Novgorod and Staraya Russa

This past weekend we all went on an excursion to Velikiy Novgorod and Staraya Russa, two of the oldest cities in Russia. We're talking over 1,000 years old. I couldn't wrap my head around how old the buildings we saw were until our tour guide mentioned that Ivan the Terrible attended one of the churches we went inside of! I wish I could tell you more about our tours, but I chose to be in one of the Russian-speaking tour groups and therefore, only understood about 70% of what she was saying. Nevertheless, here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip:

Millennium of Russia Monument

It was so spacious and peaceful there.

We spent the night at a hotel in Staraya Russa, and there was a crazy wedding going on downstairs! Imagine half-naked men in tutus and other men dressed as pirates on scooters running around the main floor. The wedding guests were pretty amused at our foreign-ness and some students even got into the wedding! I held off this time but crashing a Russian wedding is definitely on my bucket list. It shouldn't be too hard considering that I see at least 5 brides a day in this country!

We had a tour of Staraya Russa too, and all I remember from this place was that Dostoevsky lived here, it was destroyed during WWII, and the water is really really healthy (but also kind of gross tasting). Nevertheless it was as beautiful and lovely as Novgorod.

What it looked like before WWII

People sit around this fountain to breathe in the air and to be healed by the water. 

Dostoevsky's House!

... and his backyard!

After Staraya Russa and a lunch at this veryyyyyy Russian restaurant (traditional cuisine, folk music and decor), we went back to Novgorod and saw an open-air museum of folk wooden architecture and some more churches. Again, I would say more but between not understanding everything and getting distracted, I didn't really get the most out of our tours.

The folk music performers.

The Open Air Museum

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip to these ancient cities. It was nice to go somewhere calmer and more spacious than St. Pete. I am a little disappointed that I missed out on a lot of the tour, though, simply because I didn't understand it. The language barrier is a problem I've been having to deal with every day, but I'll talk about that later. 

Small-Town Girl in a Big City

Between orientation, my parents' knowledge, and friends' knowledge of Russian people, I thought I'd have a pretty good sense of how to behave to at least sometimes blend in around here. I even wore heeled boots today for our scavenger hunt around the city, because I knew Russian women often wear heels and dress nicely.

But I'm not used to being in a big city with so many people and methods of transportation. So essentially: me + St. Pete= a lot of mistakes and misfortunes on my first day out and about. Specifically:

• This morning my host mother rode with me on a trolleybus to our meeting place. At one point the bus started moving when I wasn't holding on to anything and I fell onto the man standing behind me.
• I also gave the woman collecting money for the trolleybus my student ID instead of a cash card.
• Something pooped on my head while I was walking. I don't think it was a bird. Thankfully, it came out but I'm still traumatized.
• We bought tokens for the metro and although all you have to do is slip in the coin and pass through the security bar-thing, I thought you had to hit the machine because other people seemed to be doing that. Instead I just made a fool of myself and a woman yelled at me.
• There was nothing to hold onto on the metro so one of my team mates and I awkwardly held hands and stumbled over each other.
• We almost got hit by a car at least twice*
• I went in the wrong direction twice on my way home. Luckily I had enough of an idea of where I was supposed to be that I realized it.
  
  I heard that the best way to learn your way around a city is to get lost in it, and I'm sure it's true. But hopefully if and when that day comes, I will be with at least one other person and it won't be after a 4 hour scavenger hunt on foot.
  
  *Once was because a politsiya directed us to J-walk across a 3-lane street rather than go to the crosswalk. We were like a row of ducklings that people begrudgingly stopped for. 

Orientation and Sleep Deprivation

Greetings from St. Petersburg!!! My flights went very very well, I highly recommend Austrian Airlines. I've only been in the city for about 3 days but so much has happened that it feels like longer! Here's some of the highlights of my trip thus far:

Saturday, Sept. 7
My flight arrived around 3:30pm and there were 3 other students on my plane. CIEE staff immediately met us once we got our luggage and walked us over to the hotel where we stayed during orientation. One of the girls from my flight, Julia, and I began talking and we found that we have a lot in common. She, like myself has Eastern European background so she speaks Russian fluently. There are several of us here that have relatives from former Soviet countries.
Once we were settled and had dinner, many people went to a super store next door to buy cheap phones and other stuff. Julia, her room mate, a few other people, and I all left for the store but because we left later than the rest we instead ended up walking into what appeared to be a huge arcade and entertainment building that seemed mostly closed. We noticed that a bowling alley was open and since it was only about 150 rubles or $4.50 per person, we decided to play. I was a little against the idea at first because I was so jet lagged, but it ended up being super fun. The bowling alley also had honey and cherry flavored beers that some people got and they were surprisingly good, although they tasted more like pop than beer. The bowling gods were on my side and although I didn't win I beat one person that I was tied with for a while so it was a good night. Afterwards, I was exhausted and immediately went back to my room and had a less-than-restful sleep.

Sunday, Sept. 8
This morning we had orientation sessions. I suppose I'll mention now that the CIEE staff is fantastic. After lunch we took a bus tour of the city which was a little overwhelming to be honest. We stopped a few times to take pictures, but none of mine turned out particularly well and some of the places we stopped really weren't that significant. It was nice getting out into the city though. The hotel felt like a mini US since everyone spoke English. I did my best to pay attention during the tour, despite my jet lag and whatnot, however, I couldn't help but notice two things that surprised me a little: 1) many signs and restaurants have English as well as Russian printed on them, and 2) there are a LOT of couples walking around this city. I guess it's a pretty romantic place.
In the evening we went to the actual store with everyone to buy our cheap phones and other things. We have the option to switch our phones to English, but most people are keeping them in Russian. I'm still getting used to it. That evening a lot of people hung out in the hotel and drank a bit to celebrate our first (less sleepy) night and to get to know each other a bit. We never did ice-breaker activities, thankfully, yet I feel like I've met most people already, which is really great. That night, Julia and I also took advantage of the hotel sauna which we realized was free. Banyas, or, Russian bathouses are a big part of Russian culture, and although a sauna isn't quite the same, it got us psyched for an opportunity to go to a real banya.

Monday, Sept. 9
Today was our final day in the hotel. We spent most of it in orientation sessions, which were pretty informative. In the evening our host families were supposed to come to the hotel by taxi to pick us up. And that's how it went for most people....
At first most people including myself were extremely nervous. The longer my name went uncalled, the more my nervousness turned into anxiousness. They were supposed to arrive between 6-7pm, but by 9 there were still six of us left. For some reason or another, our families weren't able to come get us, so CIEE's bus driver drove us all to our homes. I was the absolute last person to get dropped off. On the bus my anxiousness turned into slight anger, because I didn't understand why my family couldn't get me and why I had to unknowingly wait for so long. My anger eventually faded into tiredness and acceptance, and at 10:30pm when I finally arrived and met my host dad, I realized that the wait was worth it.

I've only been here for a couple of hours now, but I can already tell my host family is great. I feared it would be awkward but they are extremely welcoming, insisting that I use the informal ты rather than the formal вы we are supposed to use with teachers, hosts, etc. The apartment is small but quaint, and my room is lovely. They have two kids that are adults and have their own apartments, and they have an ADORABLE dachshund! Once I get to know them a bit more I will definitely post more about them and I'll try to post some pictures of my room too! Oh yeah, our building is on Nevskiy Prospekt-- which is the main avenue in St. Pete! It's also pretty close to Smolny, my school. So I am a very happy camper.

It's pretty late so I should go to bed! Now that I'm all settled, hopefully I be able to blog more consistently, we'll see. Until then, спокойной ночи!

And tomorrow, it begins!

Let me begin this post with a disclaimer: I don't think that I'm the greatest writer. My thoughts are pretty jumbled (especially right now), and I often struggle to find the right words to use, which may become a bigger problem when I'm constantly switching between two languages. So bear with me on this blog, I'll do my best.

Tomorrow I'm FINALLY leaving for Russia! I'm the last of all of my friends to go abroad and let me tell you, it's terribly lonely when everyone you know is already in class. The only people I've regularly spoken to for the last couple of weeks have been my parents and my boyfriend via skype, and as wonderful as they are, I'm excited to be around a bunch of people my age and getting to actually do things!

As excited as I am, I'm also anxious. I've had so many people tell me what to expect, what I will do and see, how I will feel, and while it's nice to know what you're in for, I have gotten to a point where I'm a little frustrated with all of the advice. I'm just stubborn, I guess. I'm glad I'm going without any people I know, because I figure that that's the only way I'll really learn anything.

There is so much more that I can say right now, but it's probably best that I wait until I actually get there.