In other words, Happy Independence Day, America!

Every week of classes, a common theme is practiced throughout. For example, last week the theme was art (to keep up with Russian Art Week), and all 7 of my classes consisted of talking about art-related words and reading about the Russian art culture and festivities. This past week, the theme of the classes was National Holidays. We spent time learning about the different practices of holidays in Russia and compared the different traditions and celebrations.

Today is the 4th of July, and while it is obviously not celebrated in Russia, Dostoevsky Day (or Weekend, actually) is celebrated. Fyoder Dostoevsky was a 19th-century Russian writer who is well-known around the world through his novels Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov. The first weekend in July was chosen because the opening scene in Crime and Punishment takes place on a hot Petersburg day in early July, and Russians celebrate with many street festivals, living statues and demonstrations outside of the Dostoevsky Museum in St. Petersburg.

The program I am here studying with, CIEE, is kind enough to even host a picnic for the American students today to commemorate our national holiday! This will be an exciting way to celebrate while we are abroad in Russia, and I am also pumped to observe some Dostoevsky celebrations (there are a couple of concerts going on, too) as well. Oh, and to make this day EVEN better, the weather is supposed to reach a sunny upper-70s Fahrenheit temperature! (Disclaimer: I know it is Russia, but yes, it does get warm, and yes, they do have beaches.)

Back to my classes this past week, we covered a lot of different material. In my media class on Friday, after we were finished discussing articles published by different Russian journalists,our professor asked us to describe some of the most blatant differences between Russia and America in terms of everyday life. Immediately, I thought about the necessity of different forms of daily transportation and the blatant overdose each day of grains and potatoes that I have observed in my first (almost) month here. There are a lot of similarities, more so than I think many people may realize, but of course, this is a different country with different traditions and a different day-to-day life. Below I have compiled a little list to express some of the more obvious cultural things I am still learning to adapt to:

• Transportation: I am from a rural area about 40 miles north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I do not think I have ever used a metro. Okay, so maybe I have, but I was very young, and it was never a necessity. When I go to class in the morning at Penn State, my longest walk might take about 15 minutes, but here, getting to my classes is quite a hike. In St. Petersburg, I wake up around 7:45, get ready and eat breakfast and am out the door by 9. I catch a bus by my apartment building and ride to the metro station nearest me (I prefer not to take a bus home, and the walk takes me a half an hour from my closest metro station). Then, I ride four stops on the red line to the metro stop nearest the Smolny campus of Saint Petersburg State University. If I were to walk from here, it would take about 20 minutes, but thankfully, CIEE provides students a shuttle that leaves from the station at 9:40, bringing us to Smolny just in time for our first class at 10 am. I could go on for days about transportation here, but I must admit that it has grown on me, and I enjoy observing people on the metro.

Smolny Campus: What a place to study at all summer!

• Classes: We have classes 3 times a day, 4 days a week. Each class lasts an hour and a half, which is something that really seems to take a while during the days Smolny is especially freezing. Also, class participation makes up the majority of the grade (along with the final), rather than tests or quizzes throughout the course.

After climbing to the top of the Smolny Cathedral located on my campus, I got to see the bird’s-eye view of the beautiful city.

• Food: I have jokingly said to family and friends that the diet here might persuade someone to want to never eat potatoes again, but it’s not that bad. Breakfast typically consists of kasha (oatmeal), eggs, buckwheat, or sausage and potatoes with an open-faced sandwich, and dinner typically contains cucumbers, tomatoes, soup, pasta, potatoes, bread… fruit is not really a big thing here. I am fortunate to be studying in Russia during the summer when the largest selection of freshly-grown fruits and vegetables is available to me, but I must say, the four main food groups here are grains, meat, tea and dairy. The little poppyseed cakes and blini (crepe-like pancakes) treats that do come hand-in-hand with tea time are incredible, I must admit.
  

  Typical Russian Dinner: Potatoes, cabbage, chicken, cheese, raw fish, bread, apples (oh, and of course, black tea)

Location: St. Petersburg, Russia