Mission of March

This was one busy month for me, especially comparing to the February. I often felt like I am on a survival mission, which was probably mainly because of the new course in „Behavioural Economics and Decision Making”. Since it lasted for two weeks only, it was very intensive - almost every day, including Saturdays. Moreover, those were 5-hour long lectures. Fortunately, the professor was a great guy who made this course so interesting for us that the hours with him just flew by. In my student life, I had never experienced this kind of excitement about a class before. I liked the subject so much that I was even searching additional information about the topic in my free time. Still, I did feel like a zombie for most of the time during those two weeks. Which was also because of the other courses and group works happening at the same time. I never got to sleep more than 6 hours. And one night when I was off to bed early, the fire alarm went off and it did not stop for 40 minutes straight. It began around 11 PM and even though soon after we learned that it was just a small incident in another kitchen, the alarm just kept repeating the same two sentences over and over again. So yes, it was quite difficult to manage. I even had to skip several Russian language courses due to the overlaps and upcoming deadlines.

Actually, at the beginning of March, I was very motivated with the Russian language. I finally replied to my tandem, who had written me one month before and I agreed to meet up with him to practice my language skills. Since he did not speak English at all, we ended up talking for 2 hours just in Russian. It was ideal for me, except that I did not entirely feel that he is a kind of a person that I would like to hang out more. However, he has been writing to me quite a lot afterward. Since it usually takes me forever to reply in just a few (Russian) words and due to my busy schedule, I was ignoring some of his messages. But then he began writing me texts like “so you don’t want to talk with me?”, making me annoyed. Right now, I don’t really feel like continuing this relationship. 

But just to say few more words about the professor in Behavioral Economics. He certainly was a great and very inspirational guy. In the first day, he already managed to learn all our names. And he did excellent, especially because we were around 35 students in total. He made an impression that he wants to be more like a friend to us and not an authority, so he emphasized that we should just call him by his first name. He is originally a Greek, but he lives and works in the UK. At this University he was a guest lecturer, which might explain why this was such an intensive course. He was cracking jokes all the time, and his teaching style was more as a coaching session. So yes, just because of this course I can say that my studying experience here has been a success already. The only downside of this course was that my final presentation took place on Saturday morning, which was the day when my boyfriend was visiting. Fortunately, the professor allowed my group to be the first one to present so I could leave right after that.

So far I have started three out of my five courses. „New Product Development” and „Knowledge Management” are usually taking place once a week. I am not a fan of neither of these subjects and for me, it is just about being present and trying to survive the long and boring hours. Well, „Knowledge Management” is not that bad. It is just very silly because an old Russian lady is teaching us how to make flowcharts and mindmaps on a computer. The first part of the class is usually about different competitions, where we need to draw for instance a mindmap that explains to the alien what is a shopping mall. Then she collects all the drawings and asks us to grade them. The winners are then invited to come in front of the class so that she can give them a small gift. Everyone sitting in the „audience” has to applaud and cheer to the „chosen ones”. It is happening at least 3 to 4 times during one lecture. I soon figured out that when the drawings are more colorful, she doesn't even care about the content anymore. So since then, I have been among the „winners” almost every time. Once, when the classmates did not choose my and Raphaelle's drawing, she still rewarded us with the same usual ceremony as it was obviously her favorite work. Also, once in the computer class, she was so into my job that she asked everyone to come around me to observe how a perfect example should look like. When everyone was around me, she said to the class that content is secondary as long as there are beautiful colors and the picture is simple and pleasant to look at. So yes, a course in a very "high" level...NOT! 

Before the two intensive weeks begun, Raphaelle and I did have some fun together as well. We went out two times. The first time we went to the house party, which unfortunately had to be cut short as the neighbors were complaining about the noise.

At the house party with Raphaelle and Lotte

We ended up separating from the rest of the group and together with an Italian, Czech, and a French guy went to a night club. For some reason, we did not stay there for too long because all of a sudden we needed to find a shawarma place. Kebab is called shawarma here, and we apparently loved this word so much, that we kept shouting it until we were directed to the most awesome place where they sell them. Finally, we decided to order an Uber to go back to the dorms. Since only my phone was not dead yet, it was me who had to order the car. When we finally got inside the car, there was some connection problem, which we resolved by agreeing to pay in cash to the driver. When we finally got home and were ready to crash, I realized that I had left my phone at the Uber. It was one of the most miserable moments for me. Unfortunately, it had happened to me so many times already that I knew the drill. At 5 AM, totally tired and wasted I connected to "Find My iPhone" app and tried to reach my device. I was so lucky that the guy responded because he could have just left, and I would never get to know who he was. As I said, we did not connect on Uber application. Anyways, the adventure continued, because I had to agree with him in Russian that he will bring me this phone back right away. For some reason, it took him around 40 minutes, during which I managed to call and text him like three times. I don't know why, but he could not find the right place. I then run outside in my pajamas and tried to look for him. Suddenly there came a taxi of which I think six students fell out one by one. I asked if anyone from them speak Russian and fortunately, there was a girl who could help me out and tell the driver where exactly he has to come. When he finally arrived, I was almost frozen, but he did not let me relax because he wanted me to give him more money than I expected. I, therefore, had to run up and down again to my 10th floor for more. Thankfully the guards were sleeping that night because I forgot my entrance card and for that reason, I had to climb the gate as some sort of a criminal. When I finally got to the bed, I promised myself that I would never do this kind of partying again. 

Of course, next week, Raphaelle and I had to celebrate our five weeks in Russia, so we decided to go out. Just two of us. The very beginning was already quite fun because we missed the last metro and somehow we hooked up with this random local guy who also had to go to the center. We reached the first bar around 1 AM. Unfortunately, that was a pretty lame place, so we decided to go to the karaoke bar instead. We knew that one guy from our group is there already so we just asked him to order a song for us. Meanwhile, instead of walking for 15 minutes, we decided just to take the taxi and get there in two minutes instead. When we were about to pay for the ride, the taxi driver asked us an amount that is a double what we usually pay to Uber for about 30 minutes ride. We could not believe this nonsense, especially because he could not even provide us with any evidence such as figures on a Taximeter or a receipt. We tried to argue with him for 5 minutes, but because of my broken Russian, I probably did not sound very scary to him, so long story short - we lost the fight. The karaoke bar was also so full, that when we arrived, our song that Jarkko had ordered for us was still 1,5 h away. We were patiently waiting on a stage right behind the performers, so after all - we kind of got to sing a lot of the songs anyways. But when more fun people came from our group of friends, we decided to leave the place and go to the nightclub instead. The night, of course, ended in the shawarma place again, but this time we were finishing it with a significant promise – that we will run a marathon a month later with one of the guys who is planning to do that. Needless to say that by the next morning, this determination was all gone.

That was also my last night out. Since then I have been a nerdy student, who mostly hangs out in either the library or gym. By the way, I am still going strong when it comes to the gym. It is funny that it took them a whole month to make my gym card, but when I finally got it, they made a mistake in not only my name but also my last name. I guess, now I can say that I have a new Russian identity. The gym also made a mistake with the names of two other persons. For Clement who is a guy, they put Petra’s name. Petra is a girl. And for her, it is Clement's name on her picture ID. So, I guess, when things are put in the perspective, I have to be happy that my name is at least somewhat close to the actual one. 

My new Russian identity

Anyways, I still love going to the gym, and no matter how busy I am, I usually find time for it. Once I went to the abs training, where we were only two "students", so it was like a private coaching session. But it was kind of embarrassing for me because I could barely do any of the exercises. He ended up making everything half easier than for the lady who was around 45 years old. I haven't dared coming back to this class ever since.One place that I do not avoid though is the jacuzzi. I was not using it all this time because I had a weird feeling that it is a filthy bathtub with an old skin of random people just floating around. But once I tried it, and the massage bubbles took me to the paradise, I have been going and sitting there almost every time after the practice. 

Not only with the jacuzzi, once in a while, I am also trying to treat myself with different things. Besides doing the manicure, I tried a facial procedure at the beauty salon nearby. The procedure was very qualitative, but I was very disappointed at the end when I had to pay much more than I expected. I went there two times before just to agree on the price, but when I had to pay, it turned out that the cosmetologist has used some additional mask that costs extra. I was so angry because no matter how much you try to protect yourself from hidden costs, they still will find a way how to drag money out of you. I had experienced it also with my manicurist. In regards to the manicure, though, it was so funny the last time I went there. The lady used this “mood” color on me, which changes the tone in different temperatures. When I was about to leave, she asked me if they could take some photos for their Instagram page. I, of course, agreed, but I was not expecting that it will be almost a 15 minutes long photo shoot where my hands, for instance, will be drowned in water, and I will have to hold an icy coca-cola bottle. 

At the beginning of the month, I was also quite cultural. I went to the ballet in the Mariinsky Theatre together with my buddy. It is a very famous theater where a lot of dance performances and operas take place. I truly enjoyed this experience, but I was

At the Mariinsky Theater

expecting a little more elegance in the interior design of the building. Anyways, when I came back home around 11 PM that evening, I was so loaded with positive energy that I thought nothing could destroy it. I was wrong. When I tried to grab a little bite as I was super hungry, I was paralyzed from the view in my kitchen. Everywhere where I looked, I saw cockroaches. I could not even eat because they were everywhere. So I just run to my room with an empty stomach and feverish plan to get out of this terrible apartment as soon as possible. Since my flatmates are disgusting, and they don't clean after themselves, it will never be enough with just some poison to get rid of the insects. The same night I already found a girl, who speaks good Russian to come with me to the reception to talk about changing apartments. Of course, I did not succeed, because all the rooms are full, and cockroaches in the opinion of the administration are nothing special. If I have good relationships with my roommate, I should just enjoy that and not complain about anything. She did, however, promise that somebody would come to our apartment and talk with rest of the girls about the cleaning issues. The cockroach saga continued, but in the past week, something has changed. I haven’t seen any insects for almost a week. It is so weird because the girls still don't clean after themselves. Maybe this place has just become too disgusting even for the cockroaches?

Then, we had an interesting time with Raphaelle on March 8. It is a Women’s day, and in Russia, they take this very seriously. Here it is a National holiday. Our flatmates gave us gifts and candies to congratulate us. Even my wardrobe lady Natalia at the school gave me a chocolate congratulating with the Women’s day. How sweet :)

March 8. Celebrating with some ushki (austiņām)

Ten on another day, we went to a place that was suggested by my mom. We went to a horror house, where real actors play out little etudes written by famous Russian poets.  It is located in a shopping center, and we went there on a Thursday morning, just to avoid any possible queues. We ended up to be the only clients in the entire shopping center, and when the excursion started, we were a group of only four people. The 50 minutes long excursion was held in Russian, so we were just nodding our heads and pretending that we understand. After that, we went to the 7D cinema, where we were also the only clients. When we sat down to watch the movie, we were suddenly surrounded by flashes from a photographer, who approached us after the film, trying to sell already printed photos and magnets with us sitting in the empty hall and our 7D glasses on. So funny!

In general, it was a good month and just two weeks of it was very overwhelming. But these weeks were actually concluded with the best possible price named Jonas. Jonas came on Friday evening. After I was done with the lectures, I went to the airport to meet him there. We then went to the 4-star hotel which was simply fantastic and located in the heart of the city.

My bed for 3 great nights

It was such a lovely evening, even though I had to find a moment to prepare for the final presentation for the Behavioural Economics class that took place next morning (on Saturday). So while Jonas was still sleeping next day, I quickly went to the University and did the presentation. And even though I don’t know the grade yet, I think we did pretty well. I did not stay to see others because I had something much more exciting to experience. And it was the weekend with my favorite guy. When I arrived back to the hotel, Jonas had just woken up. So it was perfect. We then went for breakfast to a very cozy and sweet café nearby. After that, I showed him the center of St. Petersburg. We went to the Church of the Savior on Blood and Russian Museum. These are two must-see places that I had not yet experienced myself.

In general, it was a very nice weekend together. We tried so many nice restaurants. On Sunday we went to cinema and Hermitage. And even though I had to stay in a line for the wardrobe for 20 minutes there, we had a good time anyways. Unfortunately, Jonas was not very impressed about St Petersburg. I think I can see why. It is not as unique city, comparing, for instance, to Rome, Budapest, Paris or London. It is also a very polluted place.

Jonas' last day in St. Petersburg

But he very much enjoyed visiting the more authentic area with the tall block buildings where my dorms are located. This was a very short visit ad I miss him already. But I am very glad for this exchange semester because it is a great reminder to me of how lucky I am not only with my family, friends, and education, but also with my one and only – Jonas.

This turned out to be another super long story. I will try to write more often but much shorter. However, I am not sure if I can keep this promise, as the April will be so much more chaotic for me than the March. So pray for me guys! :)

Cheers!

Pancakes, camels, fights, cockroaches ...

The February month is over now, and with almost a week long celebration called “Maslenitsa”, we have welcomed the spring. A big part of this celebration is bliny – thin pancakes or crepes that people eat in combination with basically anything - jam, crème fresh, caviar, cottage cheese, and the list can go forever. For this reason, I ate pancakes for almost a week, and surprisingly I am still not tired of them. I went to three different markets organized around the city to witness the very local traditions where people of all ages come together and dance, play games, and of course – eat pancakes. In one of the markets there was even a camel that did not make any sense to me, but ouh well, I guess everything is possible in Russia.

With the camel celebrating Maslenitsa

But my favorite time during this holiday was the Saturday morning when we were invited to another flat at the dorms, where the three girls living there made pancakes for us. It was so cozy and sweet to spend the morning this way. I hope that sometime soon there will be a second round!

During the breakfast on Saturday, I got to hear a spicy story from one of the German girls - Olga. According to her, she has a very impatient and disrespectful roommate, who has been complaining about everything that Olga does since the first day they met. After three weeks of trying to please her companion, Olga was finally fed up with it, and she decided that she will ignore her completely. So when she came home Friday night, she just marched inside the room, turned on all the lights and started working on her laptop. Then from out of nowhere her roommate suddenly appeared and grabbed her by the hair and pulled her down on the floor. When Olga somehow managed to get up, the other one just pushed her into the closet. Olga said she was screaming and at one point even tried to kick her in the stomach. When she finally escaped this crazy chick, she ran downstairs for help. Nevertheless, the security said that if they called the police, both of the girls would have to go to jail and be expelled. So finally the night for them ended up by switching the rooms with other flatmates and sleeping in different beds. What a crazy story, especially because they both are between 26 and 28 years old. 

Fortunately, nothing that “exciting” is happening at our apartment. However, we are the only apartment still suffering from the presence of cockroaches. Last Wednesday there finally came the sanitary people that sprayed some special poison all over the kitchen, bathroom, and, the toilet. When we got home, the smell was pretty bad, so I was expecting these jerks to be long gone. Unfortunately, the very next morning, I already saw two fat and healthy „guys” just sitting in the sink and staring at me. It was so upsetting; because getting all our things out and afterward cleaning everything up was such a hassle for us that now it just seems like a waste of time. At least after the cleaning, Raphaelle and I got our own clean shelf where we can now keep our stuff. During this situation, however, we realized that none of the other flatmates cared about being involved and once again – we had to do everything ourselves. Sharing your living space with three other people and 100 cockroaches can definitely be challenging at times. What to do? Four more months to go and I will come out of this experience as a much stronger person :D

Since nobody had cleaned neither the bathroom or the toilet, it is even greater motivation for me to go to the gym and take a shower there. In the last nine days, I have been to the gym eight times. I love it so much, especially because I can clearly see the results, and most importantly, take a shower in a spacious and clean area.

Another way how I have spoiled myself this week is my appointment at the manicure. This place was suggested to me by one Russian woman working at the gym. I for sure don’t regret going there because my manicurist was so accurate and patient that I could not be happier with the result. I went there on Thursday, which is a Defender of the Fatherland day in Russia. It is a national holiday and, with special concerts and fireworks they were honoring and celebrating the people who are or were serving the Russian Armed Forces. Unfortunately, my appointment took 2.5 hours, so I missed the fireworks in the center. However, I got to watch the TV behind the manicurist, where they were showing the concert and the speeches dedicated to this holiday. 

My manicurist was also quite a funny lady. At first, she was not very talkative, but then she started to talk so much that I could not follow her anymore. Of course, she could not say a word in English, so for me, it was another great Russian lesson. But I had to laugh every time she asked me about the places that I have visited, because when I could not remember she grabbed her phone and shouted to the Siri to show the pictures for me. Once she could not remember a name of one of the many castles here, so she immediately ran outside and asked the receptionist for help. After we were finally finished, she wrote a list with all the places that we talked about and even a TV show that I should watch to practice my Russian language. 

I definitely can feel that my Russian has improved significantly during this one month. I am also attending three lessons a week that count up for 9.5 hours in total. So it is pretty intensive. Sometimes I feel that I should be in a bit more advanced group so I can discuss things better with others, but then again – I get to repeat all the ground rules, that I have apparently been missing in the past. I also like the teacher, even though at first she reminded me a bird, which is totally lost. But I have got used to her high pitch voice and weird jokes, and now I find her teaching techniques very effective.

Thanks to the language lessons, I can feel that I am starting to finally use the right endings during the conversations with people in my everyday life and they, therefore, understand me much better as well. So, for instance, on February 19 I went to the metro station to order my student transport card. Unfortunately, only after the cashier had filled in all the papers and I have paid for the service, she informed me that the card would be ready in 10 days. It was not a very convenient situation for me because I had to give my passport to the International Office for VISA extension purposes. But in order for me to collect the transport card after the ten days, I had to have my passport with me. Anyways, I couldn't do anything about it anymore, so I had to wait. I began bothering the cashier one day before the deadline both on mornings and evenings just to see if my card has arrived before the time. Every time, when she went looking for it, the card, of course, was not yet there. So when I went there again on the actual pickup date, the woman informed me that the card is still not ready. I said to her that this is not acceptable and I need my passport for the VISA and, I will not go anywhere until she presents an alternative to me (at least that is what I think I said :D ). But long story short, she went looking again and surprise, surprise, she came back with my card. I mean how can this be? Of course since in the entire metro station there are only three cashiers, by the time I was done, there were at least 20 people in the line behind me.  By the wat, it happened every time, I “visited” the cashier. My point is – I feel that I finally have good enough Russian language skills to stand up for myself!

True Zenit Fans

I would like to finish up just to point out that this past week has been rather cultural for me, without any crazy parties. One day I participated in a free tour around St. Petersburg organized by my University, and in another day I went to a basketball game where Petersburg Zenit was playing against another Russian team called Enisey. Since my uncle knows somebody from the Zenit team, he said I can go to any of the games there and take up to 10 friends with me. So I did that, and we had a nice opportunity to sit in good seats and watch one more good game. For Raphaelle and I this was an excellent opportunity to collect even more Zenit posters that we could put all over our boring walls at the dormitory. Now it may appear that we are the biggest fans of the Zenit.