I know I have been putting this blog off for a while, but I am finished procrastinating, and here is my final entry.

I strongly recommend that you study abroad if you are trying to learn a foreign language. Even though I was frustrated at times throughout my time in Russia, my language skills greatly improved. Going abroad also allowed me to experience life in another country for 4 months, where I got a chance to see how regular Russians in St Petersburg live their lives. Even though I spent time with other American students, I was able to learn and experience Russian culture.

Studying Abroad in Russia was a difficult decision for me, but I am very glad that I chose to go. For starters, I was a little worried about traveling internationally, since I had no prior experience to living abroad. When I first got to Russia, I was pretty nervous about speaking Russian, but people were able to understand me for the most part, and I was able to improve.

Like most other college students, I was a bit hesitant on studying abroad because I was concerned about graduating on time. My program at Drexel is pretty intense with a ton of required classes and prerequisites but not too many electives, so I didn’t want to go abroad if that would jeopardize me from graduating on time. However, even after a semester abroad, I am still on pace to graduate on time. I think I might have to pick up an extra class next semester, but that small inconvenience is definitely worth the price of studying abroad.

After spending a semester as a foreigner in a different country, I have a lot more respect for international students studying here. It takes a lot of courage to go to a place with a new language and different culture. Before going to Russia, I had no idea what it was like living in a strange environment with a different language. Now I understand that people from other countries have their own way of doing things.

If you decide to go abroad, I suggest that you see as much of the country as possible, because your time there will be very limited. Before I went to Russia, I thought 4 months was a long time and that I would have plenty of time to see everything, but time flies. I was able to see a lot of attractions in Russia, but there is a lot more that I would have liked to see. If safety and language ability permit, do some traveling by yourself; that way you will be able to see things that you are interested without having to worry about everyone else in your group.

Right now, I am not sure what I am going to be doing with my new Russian skills. This term my schedule is pretty full, and I wasn’t able to take any Russian classes. I am hoping that I will be motivated enough to keep practicing Russian so I don’t lose what I gained. After I graduate, I will definitely try to find a job where I can still speak Russian. A lot of large international companies, as well as some government agencies, are interested in graduates with some proficiency in a foreign language.

Thank you very much for reading my blog, and I hoped you enjoyed my anecdotes from Russia. I had an enjoyable time writing my entries, and it gave me a unique opportunity to document my experiences in Russia. If you are interested in studying abroad in Russia, I think that you should look into it. You may hear all these crazy stories and stereotypes about Russia, but I think it would be better to travel there and come back with your own. You’ll find living in Russia more fun and most likely more accurate.

-Ed Dolphin

Personal Safety is a very important issue, and a lot of people have been asking me about my safety in Russia since I have returned. I was going to write a little something about safety while I was still in Russia, but I decided to wait until I returned because I didn’t want to jinx myself.

Just a disclaimer before I start, all this stuff is my opinion that I formulated after living in Russia for 4 months. Take my advice, but exercise caution at all times, because as my host mother always told me, “Bad people exist everywhere.”Luckily, I never became a victim of crime in Russia, and I honestly wasn’t anticipating any problems.  During our program orientation, CIEE gave us a pretty extensive personal safety lecture, so I was definitely pretty informed about safety before classes started. Here are some of my safety suggestions:

1)      If you consume alcohol, drink in moderation. In Russia, it is illegal to be intoxicated in public. I don’t know how that is determined, but the police can fine those drunk in public. Being intoxicated can create opportunities for criminals to separate you from your valuables, and more importantly jeopardize personal safety.

2)      Don’t carry about a lot of cash or ATM/Credit Cards unless absolutely necessary.

3)      Get a jacket with an inside pocket. If you need to carry valuables or important documents, keep them in this inside pocket to protect them from pickpockets.

4)      Try to blend in and look Russian. If potential criminals think you are just an average citizen, they’ll probably try to find someone who they think is a foreigner with more money.

5)      Public transportation can be extremely crowded. Try to keep your arms at your side so they are close to your pockets to deter people from trying to remove articles from them.

Those are just a few ideas, but I think you will be pretty safe if you follow those guidelines. My suggestions did not include traveling with other students, because I don’t know if that makes you any safer. I’m not saying it is a good idea to walk 2 miles by yourself at 3 AM, but groups of foreign students speaking English probably attract more attention than someone traveling by himself. Just exercise a degree of caution and common sense and you should be fine. I waked a lot in Moscow by myself, I traveled to 2 out of the way cities by myself without any reservations, maps or a clue what to do, but everything turned out alright.

Quite a few people asked me about the infamous Russian Mafia. While Organized Crime does exist in Russia, just like it does in the United States and plenty of other countries, everyday people aren’t affected by organized crime activity, so I don’t think most people pay attention to that.

Now to make things more interesting, here is a link to an online photo album. When I made this album, I went through all of my pictures and selected my best pictures. I have sued some of them before on this blog, but there are still some that you have yet to see. If you have a minute and feel like seeing some of my best pictures from Russia, please follow this link. If you have questions about what is in the picture, or where it was taken, or anything else, leave me a comment and I will get back to you.

Happy New Year everyone! Sorry for this long delay in between my posts, between Christmas and New Years, I haven’t had much time to write any blog entries. I guess I start by talking about my departure from Russia.

Saying goodbye to my host mother was pretty tough, because she was one of my closest contacts in Russia. I have her mailing address, so I think I’ll send her a letter. I think she was a great person to live with, and I definitely am glad to have lived with her. I was a little worried about my living situation in Russia, but she was just great. If you study abroad, I think living with a host family is the way to go. Not only do you get to see how citizens of that country generally live and eat, you will have plenty chances to chat with a native speaker. Even though I was a devoted student, I think I learned more Russian talking with her than I did in class. Your host family probably knows where a lot of interesting landmarks and attractions are, and towards the end of the semester, I turned to Lyudmila for advice.

I didn’t realize how much stuff I bought in Russia until I had to pack everything away. I came to Russia with 1 checked bag and a carryon, and I left with 2 checked bags and a carryon. I did buy a decent amount of souvenirs and a winter jacket, but I had no idea I would be so tight on space. I’m glad I didn’t bring that much over, because I don’t think I could have fit much more into my suitcases. Unfortunately, a couple glasses broke in my luggage, but they weren’t very expensive. From my experience, I think it is better to have plenty of extra room in your luggage when you go so you can bring more stuff back.

I flew out of Russia at 3:30 on Saturday December 22, 2007. A couple of my fellow CIEE students were also on my flight, so I didn’t have to wait at the airport by myself. I had an uneventful flight to Poland, waited in Poland for a couple of hours, and then went to London. After spending the night in London, I flew back to Philadelphia on Sunday. Heathrow was a complete mad house, the queues were very long and even though I was almost 3 hours early, I only made it to the gate with 10 minutes to spare. Nevertheless, I survived the lines and made my way back to Philadelphia. Luckily for me, I live about 20 miles from the airport in Northern Delaware, so it didn’t take long for my parents and my younger sister to come and pick me up. I was very glad to see my sisters and parents, as well as other family members I visited over the holiday.

Right now I am getting ready for classes at Drexel University to start back up. Classes resume on January 7, so my winter break is officially over.

This will be my last blog entry from Russia, but I will have a few more posts once I get back home. Today is our final day of class, and in the afternoon we have a little graduation ceremony. On Saturday, I will be starting my trip back to the United States.

After class on Thursday, I made another trip to the Elizarskaya souvenir market to pick up a couple more odds and ends to bring home. I also started to collect all of my belongings so I can get packed up Friday night. There aren’t many things more exciting than packing a suitcase on a Friday night! I was a little worried about how I was going to get to the airport, but the Foreign Language Center arranged a transfer system, so all I have to do is wait outside my house on Saturday to get picked up.

Since this is my last entry from Russia, I really should have some sort of going away spiel made up, but I don’t really know what to say. Even though I am looking forward to being back in the good old US of A, I will miss Russia. I will miss its majestic palaces and great cathedrals, because I don’t think any other city on earth has the same types of architectural wonders that St Petersburg has. I know for a fact that I will miss my host mom because she helped me with everything, from finding my way to the Metro to giving me advice about souvenirs to helping me speak better Russian. Without her help, I don’t think I would have had such a good experience in Russia.

Again, this is not my final entry, just my last one from Russia. If all goes well, I should be back in the US on Sunday. Though I am not looking forward to the traveling, I am looking forward to being home.  I’m sure my experience will provide me with a little more inspiration. Wish me luck! Ed

Hi everyone, I hope you have enjoyed my blog so far. I only have a couple days left in Russia, and I have been pretty busy this week. Not only have I been completing assignments and preparing for final exams, I have also been finishing up some random odds and ends before leaving.

On Tuesday, I finally decided to try some Georgian food, so I went to a Georgian restaurant for lunch. I have heard good things about Georgian food, but I wasn’t very familiar with their dishes. Usually when I go someplace for lunch, the menu is almost always just in Russian, but thankfully this restaurant’s menu was in both Russian and English. By now my Russian ability is better than embarrassing, but my vocabulary pertaining to various cuts of meat could use improvement. This restaurant had all sorts of meat dishes, ranging from pork, veal, mutton, chicken, tongue etc. I must admit that I “cheated” and read the English description before ordering, but I would rather do that than order something made from cow brains. I ended up getting a veal shashlik (kabob) and a bowl of soup. I forget what the soup was called, but it had meat and potatoes with some type of spicy seasoning. Both my dishes were delicious, and I wish I had tried Georgian food earlier! If you are in Russia, or anywhere else for that matter, try a Georgian restaurant, they have a lot of good stuff.

In addition to trying a different cuisine, I also had to squeeze in a little school work. Since this is the last week, I have had to study and complete some final assignments. For my Russian Civilization class, I wrote about my travel experiences throughout Russia, in Russian of course. I talked a little about my various destinations and the friendly people that I met along the way, and I even brought along some pictures from my travels. I have a Grammar exam on Thursday, then a Conversation exam Friday, and then I am officially done for the year.

Even though part of me doesn’t want to leave Russia, most of me wants to be home visiting family and friends that I haven’t seen in a couple months. I also want this semester to end, because I am pretty tired of classes and I ready for a break. At my university, we have quarters instead of semesters, and each quarter is 10 weeks long. Here in St Petersburg, I think our semester is 15 weeks long, and I am starting to get worn down by the extra 5 weeks. My friends at Drexel University started classes 3 weeks after I did, but those guys are done classes now while my Russian studies continue.

In addition to missing the various people in my life, I am also missing American food. Yeah they have McDonalds in Russia, but there is so much more to American cuisine than fast food. I am definitely going to work on a list of food that I want to get when I get back to the United States. For now here are just a couple things that I am thinking about right now, but I’m sure my final list will be much larger.

Cheese Steak, Chicken Wings, Italian Hoagie, Ribs, Steak, Pizza and other versions of Americanized Italian food, Scrapple and scrambled eggs

Hmmm. All this thinking about food is making me hungry. They have some of these foods in Russia, but it just isn’t the same as the stuff that I am used to. That’s enough for now. I have 2 more days of class left, then I start my long trip back home.

I spent my last weekend in St Petersburg scurrying all over town because I had a couple of odds and ends to take care of before I go back home. For starters, I had to buy a couple more souvenirs for friends and family back home, so I went to my favorite open air market. I know I have said this several times, but I love going to the flea market. Anyway, I don’t want to spoil anyone’s surprise back at home, but I was able to pick up some good presents. Luckily for me, these souvenirs can double as Christmas presents, so I’ll forgo my 5:00 PM Christmas Eve annual shopping tradition. My older sister will probably be mad at me, because I wasn’t able to find the thing that she wanted me to bring back.

I had a couple good conversations with people working at the market today. Normally I just hammer out a price and go, but today a lot of the people selling things were willing to chat. I talked to this one woman and her husband about my travels throughout Russia. They asked me where I was from, what I was doing here, where I was studying, when I was leaving, whether or not I was cold and so on. I enjoyed talking to them, not only because they were very nice, but because in a week or so I won’t have any chances to speak Russian. I think it is easier to speak Russian to someone who doesn’t speak English than it is to speak Russian to an English speaker. I’m not sure why, but I think I speak better Russian that way.

After I went home and dropped off the stuff I bought, I went for a walk around my part of the city. I live on Vasilyevsky Island, which is on the other side of the Neva River. When I first arrived in Russia, I spent most of my time walking around the Central Region of St Petersburg, but after a while I started to walk around the island more. I think I walked around the Central Region more because there were more touristy attractions, where I felt comfortable walking around. After a while, I got used to things in St Petersburg, so I started to explore some of the different parts of the city. During my walk, I made it to the Northern bank of the Neva River, where I took a couple pictures of the other side. The first picture is the river side of the Winter Palace and the other picture is Peter and Paul Cathedral with a sign for New Year’s.

I spent most of my day Sunday walking around. I wanted to buy more souvenirs, but I didn’t really get that much done. I made another trip back to the Elezarskaya book market, located south of the central part of the city, where there is a pretty nice souvenir area. For whatever reason, I had a hard time finding the place, even though I have been there before. After wandering around for over an hour and a half, I finally broke down and asked for directions; a friendly babushka pointed me the right way. Normally when I walk around I find things worth seeing, but there wasn’t much in this section. Here is a picture of an abandoned factory, very scenic indeed.

The babushka’s directions were right on, and I finally arrived at the book market. Unfortunately the market was very crowded today, and I didn’t feel like navigating through the masses of people, so I walked back to the Metro and made my way back home. I think I’ll make another trip there during the week when it won’t be as crowded. On my way home, I did make a stop at one of the smaller palaces located on Nevsky Prospect near the Hermitage. The famous Russian family Stroganov lived here. I wasn’t able to learn very much about the palace, because there weren’t any tour guides today. I did walk through the palace and look at the rooms, but I really can’t say much more about that. Once I finished walking through the palace, I went home for the day. I would have went for a walk along Nevsky Prospect, but it was pretty foggy and I had some homework to do for Monday.

Before I came to Russia, I was a little apprehensive about a couple things. My biggest worry was speaking a different language in a foreign country. I was worried about passing through Russian Customs and Passport Control and finding my way to the meeting point in the airport. I was worried about my living arrangements, food, transportation etc. Another worry of mine was culture shock.

I think everyone has heard of the term culture shock, but defining it can be a little tricky. Before I came over here, I didn’t know exactly what culture shock was. I thought culture shock was brought on by seeing street signs in a different language, but that wasn’t the case for me. Even now I’m still not exactly sure what it is, but I can try to give you my definition of culture shock.

To me, culture shock occurs when I am in a situation where I’m not sure what I am supposed to do. For example, in some Russian supermarkets, there is an employee with a scale in the produce section, and shoppers are supposed to take their produce to that person so it can be weighed and priced. Well I didn’t know this, so when I went to buy fruit, I started walking away before the attendant yelled at me. At first I had no idea what she was talking about, until I realized what I was supposed to do. I did feel pretty stupid, but honestly how was I supposed to know that?

I think my worst experience with culture shock occurred in London. I had just arrived in London after an overnight flight, and I had no idea where anything was in Heathrow Airport. It took me quite a while to find my way out to the bus station, and that was a frustrating experience. This was also my first trip outside the United States, and I felt very lonely, since I was by myself in a totally different environment. To make matters worse, I wasn’t used to cars driving on the left side of the road. Thank goodness most of the streets had signs telling me where to look, or I might not have made it to Russia!

Even though I have experienced culture shock, it is still pretty tough for me to define. Since I have lived in Russia for almost 4 months, I have grown accustomed to cultural differences. In hindsight, I probably should have wrote something about culture shock earlier in my travels, but better late than never. If you would like to share an experience about culture shock or ask me a question, please do!

Sorry for the delay in between my entries. I was a little sick this past week, so I didn’t do anything worth writing about. Luckily, I recovered by the weekend, so I was able to participate in a planned excursion with CIEE.

On Saturday, I went with a group of CIEE students on a trip to the suburbs of St Petersburg. This particular area was featured in one of Alexander Pushkin’s short stories, called the Station Master. Once we arrived there, we had a quick tour of the area featuring a few quick stops at some small local museums. During our tour, we learned a little bit about traveling through Russia during the 1800s. Every 25 kilometers or so, there was a small stop, where travelers and their horses could rest. This particular rest stop was the third stop away from St Petersburg. It was one of the smaller stops and it didn’t have a hotel for passengers. Here is a picture from the museum.

After the museum part of our trip ended, we had lunch. This lunch was very special because we got a chance to enjoy food prepared the old fashioned way. Everything was cooked on an old model Russian stove with all natural ingredients. Our meal featured various vegetable dishes, along with chicken and cabbage soup called Schi. Needless to say, I enjoyed my “old” Russian style lunch, and I think it is safe to say that all of the other students enjoyed their meal.

Once we finished lunch, the male students went to the local village Banya, while the female students learned Russian folk songs. This banya was a little different than the banya I visited in St Petersburg because it was much smaller and heated by a wooden stove. We had one of the local Russians help us out with the proper banya techniques, and he also told us more about the history of the banya. His explanation about the banya was very helpful, because I didn’t fully understand the importance of a banya earlier. Before modern times when there was no running water, bathing could be a little problematic, because no one wants to wash in the cold. Russian villagers figured out that it is much easier to heat a small room than it is to heat water, so they built these small bath houses. Instead of bathing, they sat and sweated in the bath house; when they were ready to leave, they rinsed themselves off with cool water and left.

From my experience, I usually don’t associate sweating with being clean, but after visiting the banya, I have to change my mind. When I take a shower, I just wash everything off me, but in the banya it is a little different. Instead of just washing everything off my skin, I sweat much more, so I have a feeling of “internal cleanliness” when I leave. It is hard to explain, but if any of you have been to a banya, I’m sure you know what I mean by.

Our trip back from the village took a little longer than our trip to the village because we had some problems with out bus. Our bus driver was eventually able to fix whatever was wrong with the bus, and we got back to St Petersburg safely.

On Sunday, I spent most of my day walking around the southern part of St Petersburg. Right now it is pretty warm in St Petersburg, around 3° C, so I didn’t have to worry about freezing in the cold. In particular, I focused on St Petersburg’s World War 2 victory monuments. I first walked through Park Pabedy, which literally means Victory Park. There weren’t really any major attractions in the park, but it was nice for me to get a chance to walk around for a little bit.

After Victory Park, I made my way a couple blocks south to Victory Square. This square features an enormous monument, dedicated to Soviet Victory, as well as the victims of 900 day blockade of Leningrad. Here is a picture of the monument from the north side. It roughly translates to, “To your heroic feat, Leningrad.”

There is a museum underneath the monument, so after I walked around the monument, I went into the museum. The museum was pretty small, but it did have quite a few artifacts from the blockade. I spent a good amount of time looking at the museum display dedicated to the civilian war effort, as well as some of the military equipment used. This museum is no where near as large as the World War 2 Museum in Moscow, but I am glad I got a chance to walk through it. I feel that tourists visiting Russia often overlook the war monuments. It is very easy to spend all your time visiting landmarks like Church on the Spilled Blood and the Hermitage, but I also think the war monuments are an important aspect of Russian Culture.

Here is a picture of the monument from the south side of Victor Square. Incase you can’t tell, the two men represent the dedication of both civilian and military personnel to Soviet Victory.

After walking around the Victory area for a little bit, I hopped on the Metro and made a stop at the Ydelnaya Market. The market today was very muddy, because a lot of the snow and ice melted over the past couple days. Even though I didn’t enjoy trudging through an inch or so of mud, I was able to pick up some a couple souvenirs at the market. I enjoyed a little victory of my own at the market because I had quite a bit of success bargaining for lower prices.

Once I got back from the market, I did some homework and rested up from a busy weekend. It is hard to believe that I only have 2 weeks left in Russia. Thanks a lot for reading, and feel free to leave a comment or question!

After class on Tuesday, I went to the Hermitage. Luckily for me, there weren’t any political demonstrations going on, so I was able to enter the museum. If you didn’t read my last entry, I wasn’t able to go to the Hermitage on Sunday because of a political rally outside the Hermitage that drew a lot of police attention. I have been to the Hermitage a couple of times before, but this time I brought my camera so I could take some pictures of the various paintings and exhibitions.

After I entered the museum, my first stop was the main throne room, known as the Great Throne Room, or St George’s Hall. If you look above the throne in the picture below, you will notice St George on horseback brandishing a spear and attacking a serpent. You can also find this depiction on the back of the Russian Kopeck; which comes from the Russian word for spear. This room has a beautifully decorated wooden floor featuring 16 different types of wood; I tried to include some of the floor in the picture.

I then walked through a couple of different exhibits until I reached the Italian art section, which featured a lot of religious paintings. The Italian Hall had an entire section reserved for works by Leonardo da Vinci. I had trouble taking pictures of his famous works because of the dim lighting in the hall. My camera works splendidly in bright conditions, but it has a hard time adjusting to dim lighting, so all my pictures were blurred.

I continued walking around the Hermitage and came across a few paintings that I really liked. The first one depicts Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac, which was painted by Rembrandt. The second painting is Picasso’s Absinthe Drinker.

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After passing through a couple more galleries, I went to the Pavilion Hall, which holds a giant clock. But it is no ordinary clock; in fact, I didn’t know what it was when I saw it during my first visit to the Hermitage back in September. This unique time telling device was built by a famous English clockmaker, James Cox, back in the 1700s. The clock is called the Peacock Clock because there is a large peacock, but it has quite a few other birds. I’m not exactly sure how one is supposed to tell time with it, but it is quite a piece of art.

Supposedly, all of the birds on the clock move around at 5:00 in the afternoon. However, I wasn’t able to see the display because the clock wasn’t working today. One of the workers explained to me that the clock doesn’t go off everyday in order to protect it from overuse or something like that. I was a little disappointed since I waited around the clock for 15 minutes so I could see its daily routine, but I did have a chance to chat with some Russians who were also waiting.

By that point I was pretty tired, so I decided to leave the museum and head home. Here is a picture of the Hermitage at night as well as St Isaac’s Cathedral.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. I didn’t do anything that special, but I did call home and said hi. It wasn’t the same as being there, but I did enjoy talking with my family. Since we had class on Thursday, our program directors were nice enough to give us Friday off! No I didn’t go on a crazy Black Friday shopping spree, but I did check out a flea market for books. I found a new hardbound Russian to English dictionary at the market, and I also bought a couple souvenirs there. I think I will probably go back there one more time to buy some odds and ends before I leave.

The market was located in the South Eastern part of the city along the Neva River. My host mother said that is one of the newer areas of the city, and I believe her because there wasn’t very much to see there; just apartment buildings and small stores. Here is a picture of the area, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say that this picture was taken in Volgograd.

After I finished up at the book market, I went back to the central region of the city and visited Church on the Spilled Blood again. Even though I have already been there, I wanted to go again. Even though it isn’t my favorite cathedral in St Petersburg, I still enjoy looking at its ornately decorated interior. I wrote an entry about my first visit to this cathedral in late September, so if you missed that, I strongly recommend that you read that one. Here is a picture that I took of the cathedral at 5:30 PM. Notice how dark it is.

On Saturday, I took a trip to a different outdoor market, Udelnaya. I have been there a couple of times, and I enjoy going there because it changes every time I go there. Local people bring all sorts of odds and ends there to sell, so it is a great place to go to find antiques, pirated DVDs, Soviet paraphernalia, electronics, silverware or clothes.

I like going to these markets, because it is a new thing for me. Back at home, we don’t have outdoor markets where people can peddle their wares, but in Russia this is very common. It is a great chance for me to practice my bargaining skills, as well as buy some good Russian items for pretty cheap.

On Sunday I was planning on going to the Hermitage, but those plans fell through. I decided to walk from my apartment to the Hermitage, which probably took me a little more than an hour. When I crossed the bridge that leads to the Hermitage, I saw some sort of political demonstration or something going on around Palace Square. The streets were covered with police, ranging from the normal police to the intimidating riot police, OMON. I didn’t feel like sticking around and fighting the man, so I left the area and went back home. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0d913d3e-9b85-11dc-8aad-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1