Sunday 23.8.
Finally the big day came. About 5 o'clock the alarm rang and woke me for the last time in Finland in months. I finished packing, ate something little and put the bags in the car. After 6 o'clock my father and I started our journey to St.Petersburg via Lappeenranta. As agreed earlier, we would pick Lauri and continue the trip to Russia. Everything went smoothly until the border. I was actually quite surprised in the border that it was that "easy" to get through it. Only few documents and some waiting (around 1.5 hours to get through from Finnish and Russian customs) and thats it.
First the landscape didn't change that much in Russia. Pretty much exactly the same than in Finland, except for the alphabets of course. But soon it started changing. The nature was obviously pretty much the same than in Finland, but the roads and especially the behavior in traffic changed really much. You could see 3-4 cars driving side by side... in a two lane highway. Also, there was a lot of cars parked next to the road. The owners where probably in the forest picking up some berries or mushrooms. The trip from the border to our dormitory at Shevchenko took about 3-4 hours, even though it was only a bit more than 100 kilometres. We were stuck in the traffic many times and the biggest problems were in St.Petersburg. We tried to drive to Vasilevskyi island, but couldn't get here because of Zenit St.Petersburg was having a match nearby the bridge and a lot of streets were closed because of that. Eventually we arrived to the dormitory where our buddy was to meet us. We got our room key and heard unfortunate news: we could only stay in this dormitory for one night and would have to move to another (crappier) dorm! Not the news we were wanting to hear.
After dropping off the stuff we went to exchange some money, get Russian sim cards for our mobiles etc. Our buddy was really helpful and nice. Thank you! Later in the night we went a couple of floors higher in the dorm to meet other exchange students. A lot of new faces and names to remember. The atmosphere was really nice and relaxed which was great. Overall, I felt really excited and optimistic in the night before I fell asleep. The land of the Ladas will definitely offer some really nice memories :)
Monday 25.8.
The first day of introduction week. In the morning we gathered in the lobby of the dormitory where a couple of Russian buddies picked us up and took us to GSOM. There was a welcome speech by some of the administrative people for all the international students. We received some material about St.Pete and some forms to fill out. Of course the forms were mostly in Russian or needed to be filled in Russian. The funniest/weirdest piece of paper was definitely the autobiography - everyone really had to write about their selves, their family and their jobs. Well, when in Rome... We also went on a brief tour in the GSOM library and had our first Russian classes. что ето? etc. We also went to get our Internet connections which should work tomorrow. Somehow I doubt that....
After the administrative and bureaucratic stuff there was a guided tour organized for us around St.Petersburg. Lots of sights, wayyy too fast speaking tour guide, a little bear, too hot bus (quite many students fell asleep in the bus, because it was so warm in there and the air was stale) and some stupid tourist pictures. Everything you expect from a tour really :) I came back to the dormitory around 9 o'clock with some student colleagues, so it was definitely a long day for us.
Tuesday 26.8.
The beginning of Tuesday was quite similar to Monday - first to GSOM (this time without buddies) where we had Russian classes. кто ето? скажйте пожалуста, что ето ? etc. Good lessons overall, I think. After the lessons we haggled with some more bureaucratic stuff and had a really quick business lunch. Afterwards we went to Baltika brewery where we had a guided tour by this nice guy who told how they make beer. He seemed to know a loooooot about beer. And also judging by his appearance not all of the knowledge has come from books... The Baltika trip was crowned with a tasting session where we had a chance to taste different beers made by the brewery.
Later in the night when we arrived at the dormitory there was a surprise waiting for us. Our student fellows told us that we can not get in because our cards for the door do not work anymore. We couldn't go and solve the situation with the ladies in the office, because none of us spoke any Russian and they do not speak English. Which is really nice considering that there lives so many foreigners in the building.. After a bit of haggle we managed to find a student who could speak Russian and solved the situation. We heard yesterday that the students in our MITIM program will most likely has to move to another dorm during this week. No one is looking forward to that, but if that needs to be done, then it needs to be done. Already I have noticed some kind of change in my way of dealing with new situations. It seems that I am more able to just sit back and relax and think about the situation before starting to worry about it.
Wednesday 27.8.
Today we visited Russian brewery company called Baltika. We had a chance to hear how beer is made and also see the process. Our tour guide really knew a lot about beer and was really polite and nice. Maybe the most memorable part of the visit was the tasting event where we had the chance to taste different kinds of beers that Baltika bottles. Overall the trip was great and gave us some insight on the beer market in Russia.
After the trip we went to HIV test which meant a lot of cuing. Few hours later all the members of our group had been tested. After that a quick lunch at the cafe nearby and then to x-ray. Yes, you read it correctly x-ray. We needed to get our chests checked for tuberculosis for what ever reason. So we had to cue again. I think I am getting really good at cuing because I have been doing it a lot. But definitely the biggest hassle today was the move from Shevchenko to Karabliy (it's not the whole name of the place, it's just too hard to spell :D). Again, we waited. A lot. About 3.5 hours to get the keys to our new dorm. After that, quickly to the old dorm to pack our things and then move to Karabliy. We were here at 11 o'clock in the evening. The apartments have 2 rooms, one for 2 people and one for 3. I am in the 3 person room with a Finn and a Frenchman, the other room is occupied by a Czech and Dutchman. The guys are cool and I believe we will have lots of fun living in here. We live on the 16th floor and have a view to Gulf of Finland. That's cool :)
Thursday 28.8.
Some Russian lessons and a guest lecture from Citibank at the university. I was waaaaayyy too tired to concentrate on anything. I am in desperate need of a good night sleep. Hopefully I'll get to sleep in the coming days. I guess that because of the tiredness, I have lost a bit of my English ability and I feel a bit awkward. I am sure it will pass soon. In the afternoon we visited St.Peter and Paul fortress. Really nice place with some interesting artifacts. I will post pictures from these numerous trips a bit later. It was quite funny to see the conditions in the prison there. To us living in the dormitory the conditions there seemed better than what we have :) When we came from the fortress and were planning on heading home it started raining really bad. I mean really bad. Well, they don't call St.Petersburg the Venice of the north for no reason..
Friday 29.8.
A trip to Coca-Cola company. Well, actually a trip to Coca-Cola Hellenic which is a bottler of Coca-Cola. We travelled to there for about two hours, first by metro and then by bus. They gave this reaaally generic presentation about their business and then answered some questions. Nothing you couldn't figure out yourself. Then we had a tour at the factory and also tasted some of their products which were really exotic for us. I've never heard about those brands before - Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta. I guess they were some local products... And not as good as Pepsi. (I guy actually had a Pepsi bottle with him at the tour. For what ever reason the Coca-Cola people didn't like it when he drank some Pepsi in their facilities.) Overall the trip was a real waste of time. Later on some late Russian lessons before heading back to the dormitory. Few beers, some vodka, few beers at the pub nearby, some more beers and vodka at the dorm.
Saturday 30.8.
Today we went to visit Peterhof. The place was really gorgeous. There is nothing like it in Finland and I bet that there is not that many places in the world that are like Peterhof. Many fountains, lots of trees and park. The worse thing about it was the amount of people - because it was a really nice day it was full with tourists from Russia and other countries. I liked the overall vibe of the place - it was really peaceful and tranquil. Chilling in that kind of atmosphere was just what the doctor ordered after a very hectic week.
In the evening I went clubbing for a first time here in St.Pete. A lot of us exchange students went to this place called Punch which is supposedly quite popular among foreign students. I liked the place a lot, the combination in there worked quite well I think. One of the funniest things in the club was the action in the dance floor. Russian people started forming these dancing circles (form a circle, one by one you go to the middle of it and dance) at one point and it looked quite funny. So we took the idea and started doing the same also and even though it sounds and probably also looks stupid, it was so much fun. We came back to the dormitory at 6.30 in the morning, so it was a it was a really long evening. But totally worth it.
(Oh. I did Conans string dance for the first time in months or maybe even years. I got to start doing it again more regularly.)
