Sign of being a massive tourist #1

My main men - Prez Putin, Yeltsin, Gorbachev (pre-tea-stain), Brezhnev, Stalin

Mm, yes, I just visited a market just outside the Church of Spilled Blood. It was between this and a Harry Potter one - no British politics involved, curiously....

Day 4: 7th September

First day of lessons.
Bit odd to understand, but alright, not that different from the lessons we have in Durham....
Have pizza in the street with Rachel Tom and Julie. Feel guilty that it is not really Russian food, but no biggie...Although its toppings are different from that of Britain - maybe processed meat? and stronger cheese

Try to find an internet cafe, as I have no internet, and also nothing to plug my computer cable into but TO NO AVAIL because every internet cafe says 'internet cafe/club/internet planet' on it, but has a million one armed bandit type things inside.
'Can I use the internet here?'
'No you can't, that is just the old sign'
'Well, where can I use the internet?! It says 'internet''
'*russian that I don't understand*'
'kthx bai'

So I leave, go to кофе хаус (coffee house - Russian version of starbucks that I had been in the day prior to this hopeless day) feeling hopeless about it all...I have not yet contacted my sister, my mother, I am in contact with about 2 people in Britain. This is shite.
I head back, and after sitting on the steps outside the flat for about an hour (as I have rung the bell and no one answered - odd bell, I dunno WHAT happened.) and show them pictures of my friends - they see that I am a pisshead, oops. - and my family. And it turns out, люда has the same computer charger as me - thank goodness. I eat, read, translate, head to bed...

Day 3: 6th September

Had a really odd dream about Robbie giving me milk that was off, to put in my tea. And that people were in my room while I slept, that I had tiny puppies and an argument with someone because she was a primadonna. I swear that all of them must tie in together and that I must blame Robbie.

I awake at 915am to cereal with hot milk - it looks like cornflakes, tasted of unsugared rice krispies. Very odd. Watch a Russian programme about health, with люда's mother (люда works at the same university as I study at, and she has already left to go to work), then get ready, have an odd conversation in the bathroom. Leave the house and get on the metro - the centre seems unfamiliar and I suspect I'm lost, until I realise I'm in the right place - I find uni about an hour before I'm meant to be there, and head to a cafe called the 'парашют' (Parachute). It's decorated with parachutists and Mannequins in parachute wear, yet there is a saloon-type door to get from one bit to the other - it's a very odd layout, but I like it, it's a little dark and people actually SMOKE there, and the waitresses are kind. There I have jasmine tea and lots of Michael Jackson is playing. The rubbishy songs like 'You are not alone', 'smooth criminal' (which is ok, I guess) and 'You and for me' lyrics or something...where are the greats like 'Billie Jean' and 'Earth Song'?!

I head to the university and meet Natasha - the co-ordinator of this year abroad - and Roman in the foyer. I see a few others from the class too, and then head upstairs. It is a really pretty university, the floors are lovely, marble I think?, and it is decorated modestly. Instantly I realise that the corridors all look the same (much like Durham langauges department) and I realise, it will not be long before I get lost here. In one of the rooms, we are given our timetables - 9hours a week- not fantastic but oh well - and I find that I'm teaching a class of english students too - I'm teaching on friday afternoon, my final lesson of the week which is quite refreshing. Bit scared, as I have not taught before, but then I realise that I have the upper hand - I am teaching and it is my language, so ha. Although they might turn on me...hm. Take a load of dreadful photos for registration, sign lots of shit that I don't know for what I'm signing - I may have just signed away a kidney or something - registration on wednesday, given passes etc...

I go for a little wander, as I plan to meet Hugo and Alex a bit later..get lost up some street. Again. Sit anywhere, find a place to sit and get your bearings, you eejit. I sit somewhere for lunch - a place where I eat chicken stew or something, with ptato, then meet them for a milkshake and head with Hugo to get Harry Potter books, in Russian, to translate. Weyy. Tube back, TV, bed...

First Impressions of the centre of St Petersburg (Day2: 5th September)

Brief moment when waking up of WHOA where am I, what is the time etc...Where is my phone? It has apparently gone a bit spazz, as I do not know whether it is 12pm or 3pm that I've woken up at - I think it's 12, apologies are made..have breakfast, watch the russian news, leave the house, I am told by her mother that I am 'beautiful' (ie I do not look like the mess I was yesterday, I have actually made an effort with MAKE-UP and we have the conversation about red hair - they both wish that I'd kept it red...shame.

люда shows me the way from her's to the metro station, from where we go to try to find winter coats, sim cards, a phone - I get the two latter, no luck with the coat - I am getting stingy, what with not having much money and all atm... It's less than an hour by metro to the centre, from проспект болшевиков to спасская, but only about 10 minutes of that is travelling, the rest is walking to the metro and going up and down the escalators, that are so long that you feel like you might end up in heaven or something. They go on forever, no jokes! And, even more surprising, you actually see people CLEANING THEM. You would never see that on the London Underground. The metro, in general here, is much cleaner, but with all the escalators, it is definitely also more hectic.
'how do you pronounce the word 'O-G-G-I'?' 'well I think it might be 'oggy'. Or 'oji'' 'oh, 'orgy'?' 'ok no, 'oggy'.' It must be.
We go to a little tea shop where I have 'Magic cake'! (мажик торт - well 'magic tort' is how it's said/spelt in russian...I doubt it's called that..) and strawberry tea, where we talk about her late father and grammar (an odd mix of conversation - my father, grammar, vocabulary, english phonetics...) yet so interesting - I think we will get on well.
Walk around a lot....find Palace Square and we talk about films, get the sim card and phone, head back at about 6ish for dinner - I have a block of meat, cucumber with garlic (as Nina has found out that I don't like cheese, and thought this might be better - it's interesting..) and this oat-y rice thing.Which I am not quite used to. They go out to see relatives - her mother and she look lovely, all dolled up  -and their makeup is fantastic. I go straight to sleep - maybe a bit jetlagged still. Nevertheless, I still wake up during the night a lot - not quite used to Russian custom, understandably, just yet. Though I am refreshed for a day of university the next day.

Bye bye dog, bye bye mummy, bye bye daddy... (4th September - day 1)

Journey starts from Abergavenny, 607am (urggggh death). I get on the train at newport, heading for Reading, with shortbread, a heap of caffeine and homemade sandwiches - you know in the Harry Potter film where Ron reveals a transparent bag of squished sandwiches to devour? That is how it is, while people pass me with a lovely aroma of paninis. The woman opposite me, who knows my dad, offers some ginger biscuits. Oh, lovely, but no, I am fully armed with enough british cuisine..or something like that.
Get to Reading, get to Gatwick - flight delayed. Ok, panic - what if I miss my Helsinki connection? Anger expressed, I head for roubles anyway, might as well be prepared...'there are no roubles in the airport'. Ok. Crap. Head to another desk, when through check-in and get them there instead - ok, odd and thank goodness I'm optimistic..anyway, don't hang around you have the roubles, head for lunch - In 'Armadillo' (nice joint, if it's not a chain brand, it should think about expanding)

I wander a little, head for boarding which takes fooorevarrr. British flying truly is a bit of a mess. Please, just get me on my flight and get me out of here, I have been waiting for hours...

Sit at the front in an aisle seat, in the hope of getting off the flight promptly - a middle-aged guy who is by the window has the same idea when he sits in my row, a seat between us - he tells me he can't WAIT to get to Helsinki, must be like me, both of us fed up of the British way of doing things. 'It's the british way' - bollocks. Lots of iced tea and on-off sleep later, I awake to see Norway and am just absolutely in awe. Cannot believe I am so far north. I expect it to be cold when  I get off, but I hardly notice as all of a sudden, I become some baywatch person, it's like I need to save the world in five minutes, I am THAT eager to get into check-in in time.
So I run off the flight, there is a looong long wak to get the luggage (I am such a noob in airports)
Speed it along from arrivals to departures (I refrain to use the word 'run', if you are reading this, you know that running is a big fat no. Apt adjectives.)
After going to a lot of wrong desks and 'oops'-ing my way around, I reach the correct desk and I find some chill, veeery laid-back Finnish staff, who are charming and tell me not to worry, I have plenty of time (I don't, as I find, but I am cutting it fine anyway..)
'Di'n't have time to print off e-ticket, been travelling for hours, can you help me pleeeease?'
'mm, of course, give me a second...' I choose the window seat - I want to see St Petersburg as we land...and finally we are breaking the surface and on the road to normal, no frantic and immediate actions please...
I check in about TEN MINUTES before boarding. I mean, how does this happen? In Britain, you have to faff around and wait in mile-long queues and tell them everything you do or don't have - I literally find the desk, dump my stuff, announce that I have no liquids, walk through, onto flight BOOM. SCORE.
I get onto the flight and am greeted with "здравсвуйте!" - I forget where I am and am like 'hiyaaaa', show my passport and get a migration card. Again, I've a seat between me and an estonian man..who is slightly giving me the eye. I give evils back (thank you, dad, for the genes), fill out the migration card and get Harry Potter out in order to give a hint that maybe, just maybe, I am not interested...
Russian flights are much much better and feel swifter than British airlines. They give you a sweet beforehand, and then offer complimentary drinks and a chocolate bar, which is rather refreshing to get at the start of a flight, especially after all the chaos I was faced with and given how tired I was by now (My day had started at 5am - in English time, it was now about 530pm - 740 in Helsinki) The check-in is much swifter, the boarding, there is an indoor smoking lounge in Helsinki airport, there are CURTAINS on the flight, you have a remote to call for assistance (very tempting to press but I remember that I am now 20 years old and to grow up).
Although the passport control? It takes an absolute century. You get a bus from the plane to the passport control, where everyone from the flights crams into about 4 queues where their passports and immigration cards get checked and you can finally go through the gate to your luggage.

Finally, when we come out of the passport control, and find our luggage which has probably had a long and enjoyable ride around the conveyer belt, I find люда, who is charming (and who thankfully, enjoys speaking english - great for me, who has a mushed mind after over 12 hours of travelling) and she is also much younger than I thought she'd be - I was told I would be living with a babushka (60/70years old), she tells me later that she is 35 (though she looks about 10 years younger - golden hair and a youthful face)
We leave the airport and head to 'her fellow' who will drive me. Now, you are warned in France that cars do not wait for you on the pedesrtian crossing, much unlike Britain where a vehicle must stop, if someone is waiting at the crossing. Here, it is different again, as the approaching car PARKS on the pedestrian crossing (like France, cars will not stop for pedestrians either)
I get very confused when we get back to hers, as I now have to pay him. Wait, I thought he was your 'fellow' (I thought this was like a boyfriend, or at least a friend) so what am I paying for? Uh, turns out he is a taxi driver. After a very awkward conversation and goodbyes, I am told that her flat is on the 8th floor. I think CHRIST ALIVE I am going to be jelly after dragging this up - they have a lift in this flat, thank fuck. Oh yes, I am reminded that this is not the UK....
I meet her mother, нина, who does not speak a word of english - a bit irritating at times but it's ok, we can point at things, I'll buy a dictionary and we can point at that...no trouble... So люда - who is probably exhausted by now - has to translate, the poor thing, because my russian is so very poor on arrival. Eat pork and fried potato and bread, tea... and I am told that breakfast is at 8 on the dot (lol, no breakfast for me then....) and dinner is always at 9, but that breakfast is at 10 on sunday, due to the fact that I am now a zombie. We watch the Russian version of 'who wants to be a millionaire' - lose track, go to bed around 12.

The Final Countdown

Now it's only eighteen hours before I embark abroad to the Venice of the North. Er. Shitting myself. Getting teary-eyed at last goodbyes and talking about it with friends – I'm welling up just now thinking about it. I'm just watching Harry potter enough to numb my mind, as my sleep has been crap this week – slept about four hours last night, back to the usual state of insomnia..

I've worked out that I'm going to be on the go for pretty much sixteen hours straight on saturday – train from South Wales to Gatwick starts at 6am (tchh.), flight at 1250, next flight at 740 and then I finally get into St Petersburg, the airport at least, at 945pm. Deeeeaaath. Then again,there's all the time changes and everything, but even despite this, gonna be utterly shattered by the time I get to my home in St Petersburg. Which is on a road that I still think may be in the middle of nowhere. I don't even know where it is on the metro map either. Shit. Although, mainly, I'm scared by this seemingly cold personality – you get the odd people like that in Britain – I thankfully can push myself to not really notice it, the amount I small talk – but when you're surrounded by it? I've the feeling that I might secretly love it, but at the moment I am slightly freaking out, that I don't blend in, that I stick out and that it might make me a target if I look too foreign. No iPod outside for me for about a month.

Then the flight itself. I have two hours between my flights (I don't even know the exact time limitations – I simply know that I get off my first flight at 1745 and get my next at 1940). That I miss the check-in, or giving in my hold luggage, or missing the gate – God forbid – and getting stuck in Helsinki airport. AHHHH FUCK MY LIFE. Something is bound to go wrong. Or leaving your passport behind. That'd just about kill me, doing all that travelling to London and all that money...to find you'd left the passport at home, or a tiny document, or whatever.

The Russian itself....well, how could I have been studying Russian for four years to find that I can pretty much not say a fucking word?

Agonisingly tired and stressed by this. I just want to go now, at some points, and then it's ahhh I want to stay in the green green grass of home...

First Impressions (Written 5/8/10)

                              The time has come. Following a lot of anticipation for a year away from the city I've grown to know for two years, it is merely a month away from my first trip out of two or three for my year abroad. The first destination is St Petersburg. I've never been to Russia before and have been picturing the country, the way the country acts and how different St Petersburg may be from a city such as Newcastle or London – I've seen researched images and the culture, the journey (clearly, as I am incapable of getting from one place to another without SOMETHING going wrong, even on the tube – I am the scourge of public transport, do not trust me to get you from A to B without a minefield involved) and this brand new city seems something else. I think, by the looks of it, it will be too big for me, but that I'll grow to love it, just as much as I love Manchester, even though the two strike me as complete polar opposites. Anyway, this entry wasn't to explain my presuppositions of any British cities – here is what I expect of St Petersburg.

                              Firstly I researched the flights. Obviously. Well, not exactly. Wanted: flight from Bristol or Cardiff to St Petersburg. Simple? You'd hope. Flying from London Gatwick, it's about £220 to fly out, at the cheapest. Erm...though it would be simpler to do this...no, let's try another way. I rarely buy flights, it was never going to be easy, add to which I am one of those people who double- triple- etc checks the details and STILL something goes wrong. So, rather than trust my better instinct, ('better instinct' – ha. I don't think so.) after trying a load of combinations, asking many many people and PANICKING at the reliability of some of the sites that are trying to sell me cheap flights, I opt for an easyjet plane to Helsinki – that's cool, right? I know Easyjet, tried Easyjet, encountered some dodgy turbulence but still alive touchwood! Always wanted to go to Finland and St Petersburg is a tiny bit across the sea, which opens me out to using trains, ferries, planes from Helsinki – I choose the latter after a lot of trouble with convenience and things (getting a train from Helsinki to St Petersburg would have meant staying around Helsinki until 7am the next morning, not getting into Petersburg until about 1pm ish. NIGHTMARE.) So, plane it is. God knows if I'll have problems connecting etc...let's not even tempt fate.

                              So, now that that excitement was over, I finally thought WOW Ok. St Petersburg. I am going there in 32 days (at the time – now 30.) Oh wow, I know nothing of the city. Bits of, not a lot. More research needed before I find myself getting attacked by a gang or jumping into a dodgy taxi ('gypsy taxis', as they're referred to – I sound like I'm some panicky tourist – I am, somewhat. I am unfortunate, not scared of rape hanging around each corner, but hell yes I'm precautious, I'd be a naïve pillock to think otherwise. Anyway, they warn you about these things before you go – xenophobia, directed attacks towards tourists...I'll explain all in this blog entry)

Rah Rah Rasputin, lover of the Russian Queen

                              The utter vastness of Russia is what terrifies me quite a bit. Spain and France have the same timezone, 1 hour different from the United Kingdom. Russia has nine different time zones and its mass is more than 17 million square km – specifically 16,995,800 square km. You can't even imagine a size that big. Well, if you can imagine a place with the mass of two USA's together, that's how big. That must be basically as big as the continent of North America, surely? It's not even conceivable. The major religions in Russia are Christianity and Islam – two rather different religions, by ritual, which just again reflects the vastness of Russia, that two such separate religions can act as major prominent religions in the same country. Similarly reflected by the populations – 140.9 million people – and the expansion of Russia is reflected by its export of oil, products of oil, gas, wood, wood products, metals, chemicals, weapons and military equipment. This just shows how much of a necessity Russia is to us. Its solidarity and power is further shown by its use of the rouble as opposed to the Euro – again, Europe and its exports need Russia far more than Russian needs us, doubt Russia even needs us at all, except for trade, which they have the upper-hand in.

Andropov, Brezhnev, Chernenko, Gorbachev, Lenin, Medvedev, Putin, Stalin, Yeltsin

                              I then researched the current leaders, the prime minister and president of Russia – Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, respectively. Medvedev, the 3^rd elected president since the collapse of the USSR, won by just over seventy per cent of the votes. Despite having a low-key campaign for election, he was a clear favourite from the beginning, with considerable backup from the media. Although he has maintained the foreign policy since Putin's rule, he has made considerable changes in the attitude towards democracy ('democracy should not be compromised for the sake of prosperity' – April, 2009), yet in the previous year he had stated that, referring to the Russian conflict with Georgia, Russia did not want a new cold war, but was not afraid of one He had worked closely with Putin since the 90s and managed Putin's presidential campaign in 2000, and as a result, became Putin's protege and had Putin's backing for the presidential election, after Putin was barred by the constitution from running a third term as president in 2008. Therefore, he was appointed as Prime Minister the day after Medvedev was brought into power through subtle transition, showing that Putin remains at the helm of power of Russia. Medvedev has promised that Putin will be a 'key role' in the country's development, while Putin has promised to improve the economy, which he has successfully achieved during his presidency.

And then there's St Petersburg itself

                              Well now, I have not been to Russia before, let alone St Petersburg, so as well as getting a thorough travel guide about St Petersburg, I have also done some non-extensive (I'm not going to lie) vague research about St Petersburg and the sights there are to see. I don't want this to be based around fact as such. This is merely what I view the city as before I go, having read titbits, what risks I am afraid of and what to do while out there, that will correspond to my interests....

St Petersburg is often referred to as 'Piter' to its native and 'Venice of the North', as it's known on a far wider scale. By this, I deduce that Petersburg has a lot of culture to offer, with art, dance and theatre being high on the 'to do' list in Petersburg travel guides. It was renamed Petrograd duing the first world war and renamed 'Leningrad' in 1924, following the reign of Vladimir Lenin, after which many famous Russian locations are named. It is renowned as Russia's most cosmopolitan city, which does not surprise me as due to its architecture and strong connections with art, it attracts a lot of tourists and foreign people, who want to experience the life of a typical Russian.

                              June is Petersburg's peak time for the tourist season. During this time, all day performing, concerts, festivals and parties occur and therefore the city attracts the masses and people flock to see all matter of artwork in the busy city. Another appealing feat during the June until July is the white lights, where the sun only sets for a brief time during twilight and the streets stay vibrant around the clock. Between July and early September is the time to get Mediterranean weather, despite the many showers that might hit the city, it's the warmest time of year, yet from late September until October, the weather is beautiful yet the wind is moderate and sometimes forceful. Therefore, due to the weather changing completely, there are few tourists that go out to Russia from November till March and the city is beautiful during this time as the streets are covered in what sounds like a sweeping sheet of snow and ice, the latter of which can be dangerous. I plan to get a furry hat with flaps and a fur coat that will make my frame a few inches wider, so that I can feel warm rather than the cold that will surround me, as temperatures can apparently go as low as -25c, WITH wind, which I am not really anticipating with joy, have to be honest.

                              The noisiest time of year is New Year's Day, as there are so many large crowds and noisy celebrations, which makes me think everyone comes together, like in UK and USA, but to a greater extent and the celebrations are for everyone's involvement – I am disappointed that I am not staying out in Russia for new year's day as it would be interesting to see how the Russians celebrate, but I imagine it will be a relief for me to get back, given what a risk-infested city St Petersburg seems to be, if it lives up to the scary expectations that guides have given me...

                              The danger that a foreigner can face in a country that is not their own (which is the same in any unfamiliar place you may go to, as foreigners are generally more vulnerable in a place they don't know, which goes without saying) is further heightened, given that the only thing that we were warned about in our risk assessments (apart from riots and acts of protest in Moscow – not really a threat) was xenophobia – Russians are not the biggest fan of foreigners, unfortunately for me, a person who loves to embrace cultures different from my own, and who is, I hope, a relatively open-minded person. In addition to this, there is pickpocketing and petty scams that ensue on public transport and notorious tourist spots. You are also advised not to travel alone or jump into any dodgy taxis that hang around the tourist spots and not to display any wealth, as you are more likely to become the target of a Russian robber. These descriptions of these encounters do not scare me so much currently, as you can get that in any big city in the UK – it's not the type of person, it's more that you're the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time – unfortunate, but you have to remember that it does happen. The most trouble I would face in St Petersburg would be getting hassle from groups, crime affecting tourists and street children that may beg or try to steal aggressively. Nevsky Prospekt is renowned as one of the favourite spots for robbery and pickpockets and the targets are people with photo equipment, which scares me quite a bit, because as most of my friends know, I am quite the photowhore and if I see something nice, then I have to take a picture for memory's sake. However, Nevsky Prospekt is also the safest concerning physical abuse in St Petersburg, which reassures me a little, as are the downtown western parts and south central parts of Petersburg. The driving in Russia also seems pretty worrying, as statistically, 99% of pedestrian crossings in St Petersburg are ignored and the traffic police is very well-known to be corrupt. Countries like France and Spain have looser rules than UK, so I have been forewarned about not expecting the same level of security in the European (ie outside of the UK) so I think I might be alright, though the risk of being run over is much higher in Russia. The only other thing that might worry me is that the Russian water is not completely clean, and I was shocked to find that cold water is much cleaner than the hot water. We are told to use bottled water or filter tap water and hopefully I will not come back home with dysentery....

                              And so, with fear inspired, this is my introduction to probably the first experience into Russian culture, and an introduction to me, Helen, a third year Durham student who is planning to survive the scary city of St Petersburg, notoriously intimidating Russia – hopefully, through living the Russian life and working my way into learning the culture and meeting the natives, I will be able to come back, showing that it's not all that bad and scary with people getting threatened and shot on your doorstep by gangs – who knows! Watch out Rossiya, not long to go now....