Tomorrow morning at approximately 4AM marks the moment I sometimes felt would never arrive, my swift departure from Russia. At the moment, to much surprise, I am sitting alone in my room and trying to do the best I can to take in what will be my last night in St. Petersburg.
In order to occupy my final moments in St. Petersberg as stereotypically as possible, I feel that it is important for me to reflect on my time as a student and resident. I will say that my sentiments toward my academic experience are no different than normal. I started this academic session extremely excited about what I would learn and hopeful that it would somehow stick to my brain in a way that spurred intellectual advancement. Of course, by this point in my academic studies in Russia, I have been sufficiently jaded and beaten down by it all and am finding it hard to discover the point to all of my stress and strife. I will admit that I have learned quite a lot more than expected within this past week and a half and it has been lovely. I actually feel like I am leaving this situation having learned at least a LITTLE bit of something and being able to converse more easily, which was one of my main goals.
My feelings as a resident of this city are without the fifty/fifty split of good and bad though. I have learned a lot about this country from my experiences here, encounters with a variety of individuals, and research and a great deal of it has just been extremely discouraging, especially related to my field of study and career goals. Fortunately I was able to find hope again in the form of Bellona: St. Petersburg. I met with the directors of the program yesterday in the late afternoon to discuss their organization, its goals and objects, and current work they are doing. I was relieved to find out that, from what they mentioned and what I have had a chance to read thus far, they seem to be doing fairly well for themselves. It is just good to find out that there is one organized body in Peter fighting for the Environmental Rights of Russians. There are a few others, but Bellona gets my vote as “number one” thus far.
Huh. I will admit that I cannot wait to go home though. I have loved most everything here, aside from class (on most occasions) and the damn public transit “system,” and I am very sad to be going. I feel like I have hit that point in cultural immersion when you just resign yourself to the fact that you are not home anymore and that you will not be for a while, BUT instead of sticking it out for an entire semester I am going home. I am not looking forward to reverse culture shock either. It has been rather freeing to only have people understand me when I want them to…I wonder what embarrassing things I will say in public until I get used to everyone speaking English. This has just been a great experience and I am so lucky to have had the chance to be here for at least a little while. With luck, this hopefully will not be my LAST adventure abroad OR my longest.
Today has just been another “Russia” day for me. I just woke up in a somewhat unpleasant mood and things only got worse as the day went on. I think the height of my frustration came at McDonald’s earlier this evening. Firstly, I had to eat there out of convenience/pure desperation because nothing else looked good or within my price range for the day. Secondly, all I wanted to do was order the “NORMALLY” sized chicken sandwich, but, even after trying to verify that I was ordering the correctly sized sandwich, I STILL got the wrong one because the menus here lack any adjacent objects in the pictures to allow you to appropriately guess the size of the object you want…it is just like, “great, yet another thing I’m just SUPPOSED to know out of pure instinct or reflex or divine intervention.” It was also particularly frustrating because the first girl I ordered from just did not listen. I very clearly said chicken burger, with a strong emphasis on the “ch” and “k” sounds, and she repeats “cheeseburger” to me. Now, of course, I then made the mistake of going back to try to order one of these famed “seasonal” pies with some mysterious blue/purple, Russian fruit filling and that event went down with even less success because I ended up leaving the situation with the wrong type of pie AND a large coke. To the later item I have to say that just because I am American does not mean that I automatically desire an extremely large coke with everything! At no point during our correspondence did the sound diet coke even come out of my mouth. And when she asked if I wanted a drink I said no, IN Russian. This may just be me being homesick, but I certainly do not feel that way. I just feel frustrated by people who do not listen.
I was also feeling obnoxiously fed up with all of the social inequalities that exist here. Yes, they exist in every place in a variety of ways, but today I was having trouble with Russia’s. I am just so tired of having to watch people be singled out on the street by the police because of the color of their skin and noticing that no one else sees that as bizarre. I am also sick of all of the homophobia that exists here. Honestly, watching some of the “Saturday Night Live” type shows is like stepping back into Junior High when boys make homophobic jokes in an effort to assert their masculinity and to express their disgust about the idea of same sex pairings. I just try to view this negative presence of homosexuals in the media as one step forward toward acknowledging the idea of it, even if it is done negatively. But then again, the phrase “not all press is good press” certainly comes to mind. Lastly, I am very tired of my perpetual celebrity status because I am African in appearance. I CAN see you starring at me and hear you when you whisper to your friend about me. I am just so sick of constantly being starred at EVERY time I go out to try to live my life. Why does the fact that I simply exist have to bring about so much attention? Today I just feel like all aspects of my person are constantly under assault here. I am never allowed even one minute to just breath and feel like I am not some sort of alien walking the streets of Peter.
Today was just full of a lot of unexpected challenges emotionally that I am struggling to digest healthily. Huh, I understand that frustration is okay and something to be expected when living abroad, but that does not work to make it any less of a hassle.
Every ounce of sweet enjoyment I experience here seems to be accompanied with a twinge of bitter enlightenment. I will admit that this fact is partially my own doing because I have an uncanny knack for picking the most depressing or socially inacceptable topic and just going for it. Granted, I have learned a lot of wonderful information that has come from the mouths of ACTUAL Russian, but it is still very upsetting to my American psyche. My research outside of informal questionnaires has also shed some very unflattering light on past, present, and projected situations for Russian citizens. I am attempting to pull together some useful information so that I can begin the job of constructing a research topic and proposal to receive funding for a bit of research in Russia, but I am feeling that my intended work and/or research would be completely in vein here due to the immense amount of social and governmental challenges. Based on other industrialized nations and related research data, I would literally need to start a huge social upset to bring about the appropriate conditions for my project to even stand a chance of making it out of its infancy. While I am up for the challenge, I feel that my potential funding bodies may be a little less excited about that prospect.
Huh, but research aside, I am still loving my time here! Yes, dare I say, even public transit, in its unrelenting battle to ruin me and all Peterburgians, cannot even bring me down from my high as I just say Catherine’s Palace and Alexander’s Palace today. “Why, what is that you say? Catherine’s Palace is perhaps one of the most beautiful Palaces in the world? Well, who am I to disagree with such an intelligent assertion as that!” Yes. It was splendid to. The. Max! As I have said COUNTLESSLY throughout this magical experience, I never dreamed that I would see any of these places before I was 40, so to be here is just a dream…well, except for the Metro and Trolleybus. I’m pretty sure both of those places are undeniably real and slightly reminiscent of what I imagine hell to be like. All I can say is that I loved all parts of Catherine’s Palace. The grounds, the structures scattered throughout Catherine’s Park. It was all gorgeous! I honestly stood at the main entrance with my face nestled in the gate just starring at it for at least twenty minutes before my group finally had to drag me away. Everything about that building is inspiring to me and breathtaking. I really feel that after I see Paris and Rome that I will probably need to die because life will NEVER get any better. Let me just hope those trips do not come until I am much closer to an “appropriate” age for death.
Also, I have ONE week left until I return home for the summer. I have to say that, in retrospect, it has been wonderful. I have had some wonderful experiences and some very, very sobering ones as well. I think that study abroad can offical add me to their “somewhat more culturially enlightened” list of students now. I have just learned so much, as I had hoped, and gained so many important perspectives about too many things to even innumerate. I am just so happy that I was able to take part in this program and I really look forward to the day when I will be able to return to Russia.
I saw Swan Lake this evening at the Miikhailovsky Theater and it was pretty darn enjoyable. Come the end of the second act I was getting pretty tired though, being continuously excited for an hour and a half was just a little too much for me. I will admit that I was not blown away by the performances, but there were sections that were near the realm of “wow!” and, overall, the choreography was beautiful. Some of the tablets (I think that is what they are called) that were setup were SOOO pretty. I also really loved a lot of the “swan’s” gestures because they were so accurately swan-like and pretty. Sitting in the first row and the fact tights really do live up to their name did make certain parts of the show distracting, BUT after a while I was able to avert my eyes from those areas and notice the rest of the show. All in all, I had a great time and I cannot wait to see the Tsar’s Bride on Sunday with Laura. I am also very excited for the White Nights tour with the Arizona group tomorrow night. I plan to drink some bubbly and good, old-fashioned, Russian vodka…we will just see how that one turns out for me Saturday morning. Although, it is not very often in my life that I get to drink a little on a guided bus tour around St. Petersburg, Russia, so why not enjoy it a bit!
But on an extremely contradictory note, Tuesday’s lecture with Leonod was certainly interesting. It was in response to a few of my classmates’ and my request to hear more about the demographics of St. Petersburg and/or Russia. While the lecture mostly covered the ethnic history of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and just a bit of Russia as a whole, he did make the decision to show us a news report in order for us to gain a bit of insight on contemporary views of ethnicity in Russia. The video dealt with the story of “Russia’s Obama.” I cannot recall his name, nor do I have the energy to look it up, but he was a black man who wanted to run for public office in the Southern region of Russia. The news reporter followed the man on his campaign around the city as he talked to his potential supporters about his campaign platforms. Although the man views himself as a Russian, he and his family all have Russian citizenship and he claims he “cannot even recall the last time he spoke his native language,” many people in the area were in opposition to his choice to run for public office due to the color of his skin. Now, I should have expected this outcome given the video footage of Neo-Nazis beating a Central Asian man to death and what little I know of tolerance for minorities in Russia, but it was still very jarring. I see and read about these sorts of things on occasion when I am home, but being in the country where a man was recently beaten to death for something as minute as his skin color is different. It is still as shocking, but not as surprising. Being here, I can somewhat feel to atmosphere of tolerance that exists, to a certain extent, for things of this nature. For example, during my time utilizing the Metro I have noticed that only people of Central Asian decent are the ones being stopped in train stations, on the street, and in other dense pedestrian centers. No one seems to stop and stare or notice in a way that implies that they know why they were stopped and it was not because they look suspicious. Yes, America is by no means perfect in this and many other regards, but at least people will begin to notice patterns of this nature and feel empowered enough to say something. It is just very sobering and leaves an extremely bitter taste in my mouth to experience this sort of environment. I understand the history of interaction these two ethnic groups/cultures/nations have, but it is still very disconcerting to see such blatant racism in person and to experience racism outside of what you know from your own country.
So, I have officially pasted the half-way mark on my Study Abroad adventure. Granted, I may be just barely one full day past this mark, I am still very excited nonetheless. I am happy to say that my mood has been favorable these past few days and that I my desire to return home has not outweighed my love of being here. This fact was helped out greatly by the Scarlet Sails event that took place this past Saturday night. I think I explained this briefly, but Scarlet Sails is a huge celebration, the biggest of the summer according to Wikipedia, that takes place shortly after high school students have officially graduated. They throw up some stages in Palace Square, call in some decent pop stars for entertainment, and put on an epic fireworks show as a Scarlet Sailed ship floats down the Neva river. It may sound pretty basic and/or fairly typical, but it is like nothing I have ever had the opportunity to experience. Peter takes fireworks to a whole new level of awe inspiring and in-your-face level. After the concert, everyone pretty much races to the banks and bridges surrounding the section of the river behind the Winter Palace and watches a fireworks display and light show as a LIVE orchestra plays the most appropriate, classical selections in time with the show, of course. The biggest surprise is when the Scarlet Sailed ship appears and things get even crazier. The last few moments of the whole event were wonderfully capped by a completely fireworks illuminated sky as far as the eye could see. My jaw could not help but to fall open at that point and I was so excited that, in class Godfrey fashion, wanted to cry out of sheer and utter joy.
Now, because everything in this city is bittersweet, I was very quickly and harshly bought back down to reality when I remembered that it was nearly three in the morning and that, unlike most major cities, public transit decides to go to best at midnight. This meant that Laura, Aric, and I had to walk quite a bit to a bus stop, wait for nothing, and then walk to another bus stop about four blocks away. Fortunately, the bus DID drop us off directly in front of our dorm and I only had to walk a quarter of a block home after my little mini marathon. As my other gripe, I really must site the city of St. Petersburg in its annoying tradition of turning off the hot water to clean the pipes. i would be fine with this fact if it did not mean no hot water for the next three weeks. That familiar, pundgent scent of St. Petersburg that a notable writer once described is due in part to this, I am sure. One of my goals coming here was to NOT fit into that European stereotype where I believe that cologne can cover everything and, by golly, I will find a way around this! I will! I have yet to decide if I will struggle with the complications of boiling water and taking a sponge bath or just suck it up and jump in and out of the cold water that will be spewing from my shower head for the next three weeks. Either way, it will not be pleasant.
Today was a terrible day filled with a disgusting amount of frustration. First and foremost, I cannot stand anymore of this St. Petersburg weather. I, lacking the apparently inherent “Russian foresight and fashion savvy,” do not possess the ability to seemingly ever dress appropriately for the weather. Hence, I have spent a great deal of my time outdoors being exceedingly uncomfortable. Whether it is hot, cold, wet, or any combination of the three, I have certainly been there multiple times throughout this trip and usually within the span of one day. I greatly enjoy this city, but when improperly dressed, as I always seem to be, the climate undoubtedly has the upper hand. Ah, and the hour and a half long commute home on the trolley bus for which I had to stand the whole time was wonderful. This in addition to my ten-minute wait to purchase only TWO items at the grocery store immediately after exiting the trolley bus really just makes this an absolutely splendid evening.
Ugh, although I complain it was not a completely terrible day. Kerry did manage to arrange a pretty great tour of the Russian Museum of Art for our group. Not everyone decided to engage in the tour, which was unfortunate, but it was still a great time nonetheless. I got to learn a great deal about the history behind the paintings and their subjects and actually see a lot of stuff that has repeatedly come up in my Russian classes and research about Russia. We did also go to McDonald’s for a comfort meal as everyone else was having a bad day as well. And, although it will provide a great deal of complication in my life for the few days, the International Economic Convention (or something to that effect) is being held in my neighborhood! I will be sleeping on the same island as some very important/influential people these next few days, hopefully some of their prestige will find its way over to my suite. I also have Swan Lake to look forward to next Thursday evening at Mikhailovsky Theater. I was slightly impractical and decided to get a front row seat, but how many times will I have the opportunity to see Swan Lake IN Russia? Granted, I will be eating Russian Ramen, but it is completely worth it!
I just hope that this Friday’s Red Sails celebration is without unfavorable weather. As Laura and I noted this afternoon, there are way too many things to do here aside from site seeing because there seems to be a festival for EVERYTHING. This past Saturday she, Katie, and I actually attended TWO on the same day in neighboring parks/squares for the International Festival of Flowers and Russia Day. That marks a holiday for every weekend I have been here and this upcoming Friday is Red Sails, a time for Russian high school students to celebrate the end of the school year with a huge party on Nevsky. Fireworks are then shot off as ships with red sails taxi around on the Neva river.
I will admit that the novelty of living here has worn off greatly, but I still count myself as fortunate to be here for the next 26 days (not that I am counting…). I have learned a lot from this experience and gained a lot of new and value perspectives, as most students who study abroad do. I just hope that I continue to learn and grow throughout the rest of this experience. Oh, and that I can keep the complaining to a minimum. I mean, while it may be St. Petersburg, one of the most historically and culturally rich cities in the world, it is still Russia. A place where something as simple as buying a bottle of water can become one of the most convoluted, but enriching, endeavors one may engage in.
In retrospect, this past week has practically been a blur of sheer and utter awesomeness! I have seen so many wonderful structures and interiors and works of art that my optical nerves and pleasure center are surely going to burn out on me. Although, I think nearly everything I viewed this week was topped by the reconstructed rooms and artwork of the Winter Palace. Perhaps it is my life long love affair with this building that makes me feel this way because the Cathedral at Peter and Paul Fortress was truly amazing, as was St. Nicholas Cathedral, but there is just something about the Winter Palace that makes it intangible in comparison to these places.
From Kerry, one of our program directors, I have ascertained the understanding that “it is Russia,” said in a playful tone with negative connotations at mind, and “I should be happy with what I can get.” That being said, I will admit that the HOUR long wait for the Hermitage in, what I have been informed is “traditional Petersburg summer weather,” (i.e. barely 50 degrees, no sun, and scattered showers) coupled with the fact that, in Russia, you are not yelled at for cutting the line, if done coyly enough, was slightly more than annoying, but fortunately only amplified my excitement about finally being able to spend more than a few moments inside exploring the various galleries with Laura. Within a two hour time span, we managed to knockout nearly all of the second level of the Hermitage and, dear lord, was it spectacular! Obviously, I did not stop to look at EVERY piece of art in order to make time for the forerunners of our lists, but none of the wonder or fantasy of being in the Hermitage was lost to this regard.
It will come as no surprise that the things that pushed me over the edge were the reconstructed rooms. All things were on a level of such opulent beauty that I could barely interpret what I was seeing with my logical mind. Although it is honestly very hard for me to choose, I have to say that the Pavilion Hall, which houses the Peacock Clock, and the Golden Drawing room were just superbly out of this world. I had to thesaurus “elation” to try to find a word to describe how these rooms made me feel and there was nothing that quite fit. Therefore, the best I could come up with was rapeuphobilation (the combination of rapture, euphoria, and jubilation). Pavilion Hall is one of the most gorgeous things I have ever seen in living color. To put it in a personifiable perspective, imagine if the adult version of Halle Berry’s baby produced offspring with someone ten times as attractive and that offspring then produced this room. Yes, it was THAT amazing. Now, keeping this in mind, I will move the discussion toward the topic of the grander Golden Drawing room. Not amazing just because it is a GOLDEN drawing room with walls made to resemble SOLID GOLD, but also because it is rapeuphobilation inducing. I mean, my jaw literally feel open SO hard that it hurt when I got a mere glimpse of this room upon turning to my right and entering it was like stepping into a dream. I am not ashamed to say that this room’s beauty was so inspirational that it brought tears to my eyes that, had I NOT been in public, would have happily let fall. It was like kissing the love of your life for the first time after being separated from him/her for half a year and I cannot wait to return because, sadly, my camera died before I could even make it through the line outside of the Hermitage.
All of this wonder does stand in VERY steep contrast to my none-museum-going life. Class is, to say the least, difficult on some days; however, I do feel the progression of my language learning seeping into me slowly. I am still searching for ways to speak Russian conversationally on a regular basis more often because improvement of my conversational skills is one of my top priorities and goals for this experience. The living situation with my roommate is improving as well and I feel less and less excited about my return flight now that I have had a sufficient amount of time to acclimate to my surroundings. Ha, although I can assure you that I will be singing a different tune tomorrow morning during my hour and fifteen minute commute to school on public transit…I am starting to think it is a ploy to keep me humble about being surrounded by such an interesting and historical place. While my school work and some of the frustrating situations act as occasional reality checks, I, for the most part, still cannot believe that I am here. I am LIVING in St. Petersburg for the next month of my life, granted that I continue to avoid swallowing the tap water.
I will work to keep this brief. I am in Russia, studying abroad for the first time ever, and I have a lot of feelings about it. Initially, I was very, VERY over it and just wanted to go home because I was coming off a very busy semester and stressful trip home from my first Alternative Break/preparation to leave for Russia. Now, I really enjoy it and can totally imagine living and working here one day. I actually think that I want to come back for a longer stay next summer too on a different program.
My only concern at the moment is that I am about 100% sure that my Russian roommate, Sasha, dislikes me because of my homosexuality. He discovered this, along with a few other people, at a party he, Aric, and I went to this past Thursday evening. How I know: he will not maintain eye contact with me like he used to as a sign of acknowledgment, he now only says “hi” to me and it lacks the mild hint of joviality it used to possess, and, lastly, the timing of his reorientation toward me would be far too coincidental to be attributed to something else. I am fine with this and, actually, did expect my homosexuality to be an uphill battle with a lot of people here. This thought, of course, being based on a lot of feedback I had received from trusted personal and public sources concerning the topic. Although surprisingly, of the foreign students I met that evening, I know of Sasha as the only one who does not like my being gay. I could not care less about his feelings toward me, it is just the awkwardness it breeds that really bothers me. I want to broach the subject, but I do not know how to do it lightly in Russian or English. It just is not exactly something that I can bring up easily given my living situation. It is unfortunate because I really see this as a moment to educate him about sexuality and homosexuals and also to learn a lot from him and about his views and beliefs on the subject, which is exciting AND frustrating because of the language barrier. At the same time, I also do not care enough to try to correct things and I plan to adjust to the new stance he has taken on me quickly within the coming weeks. Besides, I can ask others from similar demographics the questions I would take pleasure in asking him.
In the end, it would be very nice to be completely wrong and just look like a presumptuous ass, BUT something really tells me that I am probably right in my assumption. It would just be far too coincidental for his mood toward me to suddenly shift immediately following the happenings of Thursday evening. I guess I will just see how the rest of my time plays out here and how my relationship with Sasha develops or continues to deteriorate.
I must admit that at this moment I am pretty damn tired. I made the (wonderful) mistake of staying out too late in Petersburg. Sure, you say, we have all done that before, stayed out too late and were forced to pay for it the next day. The only difference is that in St. Petersburg, depending upon the location of your residence compared to where you choose to be in the city, after a certain point you do not have the option to go home. To those who are unfamiliar with the geography of the city, it is essentially a collection of islands that are all tied together by a series of drawbridges. Unfortunately, for me, they raise nearly all the bridges in the city at 2 AM so that the ships can come through, which makes it literally impossible to return home…well, outside of boat (do not know that there even is one) or flight. Oh, and you can forget about the Metro after midnight because lord knows I immediately thought of that one. I will admit that being trapped on an island with Ksenia and Joe was a lot of fun. I finally got to experience the bar scene a bit and watch the sunset and rise which was very cool. It actually never got that dark, mostly just like twilight and that lasted about four or five hours. It definitely got me very excited for our White Nights tour where we travel around the city and end the evening watching the drawbridges rise from the CORRECT side.
Ksenia and Joe at SPB.
For the most part, the darkest is got.
And, of course, Peterhof—UTTERLY AMAZING(!!!!!!). It FAR exceeded all of my expectations and I have already decided that I HAVE to go back at least once before I leave Russia. Just absolutely stunning. I obviously included pictures with captions below because this is one thing that I must share.
Main entrance, do note the shinny structure to your left…it has a twin on the opposite side of the palace.
So…I really love the panoramic feature on my camera a little bit too much, but the back looking onto the Gulf of Finland. Pretty much the fountains everyone wants to see.
There are other wonderful things to be seen around the grounds as well.
So, first a bit of back tracking on my summer adventures. Before I jetted off to Russia, I got to be a Co-Site Leader for an Alternative Breaks trip to Catalina Island, California to help out with the Catalina Environmental Leadership Program (CELP, www.celp.net ). In short, the program was wonderful and I learned so many wonderful things that I want to apply to my life back home. I also got to check off a lot of great experiences from my “Must-Do” checklist. I think my favorite thing that we did was the mountain climb because the view was absolutely breath-taking and I had a great time hiking it with Megan, one of the participants. I included a few pictures below, which are slightly grainy because my camera decided that it did not want to photograph any bit of my time on Catalina, but thank god for the invention of Camera Phones!
Before heading off to Catalina, we had time to stop into this restaurant for a quick bite. I got a bacon cheddar cheese waffle and every bite was completely wonderful! Not the best idea to eat such rich food before an hour boat ride on the Pacific, but still worth every bit of my suffering.
CELP is essentially a summer-camp with an emphasis on Environmental Education, so we got to stay in little cabins that were named after types of ships, ours was “Submarine.”
This is a view from the lovely hike I mentioned previously.
Now, to refocus on the main topic at hand of my time abroad. I am happy to say that I have managed to survive four days of schooling in the post-soviet educational system! The teachers are energetic, much better than I expected, and, surprisingly, very funny. Thus far, I think my group and I favor our phonetics teacher, Masha. She is hilarious and I have no clue how she managed to pull off one and a half hours of intermingling education and fun, but I hope she can keep it up.
Things in my non-scholastic life seem to becoming along as well. I have finally been able to lay out some semi-concrete plans as to what I want to do with my time here and I am VERY excited about it. The group and I are actually planning to see Peterhof tomorrow and I am on edge with pure elation. The fact that I am going to see one of my favorite buildings in the whole world, the building that is part one of my “WHY I want to be an architect” trifecta, blows my mind to such great extents that I actually cannot comprehend the world. I mean, if this is a dream, I hope that I do not wake up until I have toured all the grounds and have seen everything there is to see, touch, smell, or just be in complete awe about. Yeah, I am just a little bit excited.
I will admit that I am very happy to have tomorrow’s plans as my highlight for the week because it has definitely been an emotional roller coaster. Between beginning instruction about Russian entirely in Russian, my banks incompetence, and my perpetual celebrity status as the “dark-skinned one,” I have certainly longed for that plane ride home to arrive in much less than six weeks. It is obviously very jolting to be immersed in living situations that are contrary to your own, but traveling to Russia for one’s first time abroad is certainly much more different than hitting up the typical travel locations one finds in Western Europe. It is everything I knew about Russia, but had hoped not to discover as true. I mean, quite honestly, it is a somewhat depressing place to be given my actual living situation.
Now, to end on a much more interesting note; for those curious to see a few bits and pieces of St. Petersburg, I included some images and captions below.
Of course, the Winter Palace/Hermitage!
Me touching it for the very first time JUST to make sure it is real.
The streets of St. Petersburg!! This is leaving the Palace Square. I apologize as I do not know how to rotate it, but you can just turn your head if you are interested enough.
