I occasionally get homesick while at Richmond and a big part of it is due to the lack of Chinese food in the city. I also rely very heavily on public transportation because I cannot drive. Since Richmond’s public transportation system is not so great, I often have to pretty walk from shuttle drop off locations. However, it is almost the end of my third week here and I feel perfectly at home. The public transportation system here is very efficient and I like commuting. I spent all of middle school and high school commuting to school by bus and by subway, so this is the life I am used to. People here also walk extremely fast, which I appreciate a lot, but I also cannot believe they are able to walk that fast on iced over sidewalks.

To give you an idea of how snowed-in and iced-over Saint Petersburg is:

When I left the house this morning, it was 0ºF (-17.7ºC).

But have you ever seen actual snowflakes like these?

The down escalator to the metro (about 3 to 4 full minutes to reach the bottom or top of a station).

I also just received my official student ID from Saint Petersburg State University. This is by far, the best ID (and best picture) I have ever received.

Speaking more about holidays, February 16th was the start of Chinese New Year. Unfortunately, I was not able to find any local events related to Chinese New Year, but my friends invited me out to eat Chinese food. Although, I have not seen many Chinese people in this city (aside from tourists, it’s pretty easy to tell if a person is a tourist), there are so many Chinese restaurants here. Although, quantity does not necessary mean quality, every place I have been to so far has been really good! I am sure there is a big Chinese population here, but I live in a touristy-but-not-really type of neighborhood, so I do not see a lot of people.

Biang-biang mian (flat-hand pulled noodles with chili oil) and Roujiamou (lamb burger)

Different restaurant from the first, but I was happy to find great Chinese dumplings here!

This past Sunday (February 18th) was the end of Maslenitsa (Мaсленица), also known as “Butter Week” (maslo/масло means butter/oil). The holiday is celebrated the week before Lent, so people have this week to enjoy themselves. This holiday is also celebrated to say goodbye to winter and welcome spring. People celebrate the entire week with different activities, including making and eating tons of blini (Russian crepes). The most interesting part of Maslenitsa to me is that blinis are supposed represent the sun, so they are welcoming the sun……by eating it?

My dinner on Maslenitsa (blinis pictured on the plate). Often eaten with jam or sour cream (or both).

Also, at the end of Maslenitsa, they burn a giant straw doll / scarecrow to commemorate the start of spring. Unfortunately, I was not able to stay so late and see the burning myself, but I did buy some dolls before I left.

Some straw dolls / scarecrows (чучелы)

I just talked a lot about food and holidays, but not so much about academics (this is indeed study abroad). Homestay life is really helping me out in speaking and a little in reading/writing (see below).

My host mom and I often leave notes for each other if I leave the house early or she plans to go out before dinner. The note says: “Justine, blinis can be heated on the pan or in the toaster oven. Eat with sour cream (in the fridge)!” – L

At school, what we do in our conversation/grammar classes are a little confusing right now. Because of an odd schedule mix up, the class we thought was grammar was actually conversation, and vice versa. One language class is significantly harder than the other, which makes it weird because we’re all in the same level for both classes. Otherwise, everything is going great in my elective classes. I am also got permission to audit a Master’s level class called International Security Regimes (taught in English) at the university itself and I went to the first lecture this week! The class has about twenty-something students and only about 1/3 to 1/4th of them are Russian. The rest of the students are exchange or international students, which I find really interesting. I took some political science / international studies classes at Richmond and really wanted to continue to pursue it, but I did not have the time. I have not been so good about planning my free time here so far, so this will be one of the things I will be looking forward to every week. I also will be volunteering at a site (all semester), but I will talk more details next time! Thanks for reading.

До свидания (goodbye).

Justine G.

Жюстин, not Джастин

Здравствуйте всем – hello everyone!

My name is Justine and I’m a junior from New York City. I’m majoring in Healthcare Studies and minoring in Russian Studies. I will be studying at Saint Petersburg State University (СПБГУ) in Saint Petersburg, Russia through CIEE (The Council on International Educational Exchange).

I’ve only studied Russian in school for one semester, but have been exposed to Russian culture and language through my peers. I am less than a week away from the start of my program and I really am not sure how I am feeling right now. Currently, I am questioning my Russian language skills and thinking about how I am going to do anything there based on three months of Russian. However, I am still looking forward to my study abroad experience and I hope to share my experiences over the next 18 weeks. 

When I told my friends I was going to study abroad in Russia, most of them thought it was a joke up until my visa arrived. I honestly did not believe I was going to Russia until my visa arrived either. Interestingly enough, two days after I submitted my documents to the visa processing company, I received a phone call asking whether the “Xi” in my name stood for the 11th (XI). Unfortunately, it does not.

My visa also spells my name differently from the way I normally do in Russian (mid-young-adult crisis coming along soon).

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Why study abroad in Russia? Why are you studying Russian?

I don’t really know if I can explain the reasoning behind my decisions without confusing anyone, but I will try to break it down to three points.

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1. I was sick of taking Chinese classes.

I grew up speaking Mandarin Chinese and Fujianese Chinese with my family and did not really speak English until elementary school. When elementary school started, I went to Chinese school every Saturday for the next six years. My middle school and high school both required foreign language classes as part of our graduation requirements. There goes another seven years of Chinese class.

At my first university (I forgot to mention I transferred to Richmond sophomore year), I took Chinese my first semester. I have been learning Chinese in school for about thirteen and a half years, and around 70% of the time I did not learn anything new. Almost everything I learned was review and it was extremely boring for me since I wasn’t really learning. I decided to take up Russian because I was really fascinated with Cyrillic script and have always been interested in post-Soviet culture.

The Russian alphabet follows Cyrillic script (used in languages including Belarusian and Kazakh).

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2. My mom would not let me travel to Russia alone.

This point is pretty self explanatory and makes a lot of of sense, but there’s more to it. As much as I love my family, family vacations drive me insane, especially since I am the one planning everything and acting as a tour guide for every family member involved.

Also, I was not proposing to go to Russia and travel, I was asking to learn Russian abroad! Why not enroll at a class at the local community college or hire a tutor? BECAUSE this would still be two to three times more expensive than a round trip plane ticket and a month of classes in Russia or Kyrgyzstan. My mother said maybe and then said no after I did weeks of research on different schools and programs. When I told her I was going to study abroad in Russia, she told me she could not stop me at this point. 

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3. I will probably never have this kind of opportunity again.

I’m always trying to suggest to my family to travel to Bosnia or Kazakhstan for our vacations, but instead they question my sanity and suggest for us to go to Germany or Spain (I never win). I guess my mind works the same way for study abroad. I am not trying to be pretentious in trying to go to the “quirkiest” place I can find, but I believe I could always just visit Copenhagen or Sydney in ten years and be okay with waiting so long in deciding to travel there.

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I still have a few more days to take this all in and prepare for my semester, so I guess for now this is all I have for you.

До скорой встречи (see you soon). 

Justine G.

Жюстин, not Джастин