God Goes Abroad.

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.