A semester in Russia: are you ready for it? Part 1

A semester in Russia: are you ready for it? Part 1

I prepared a short a list to help others who struggle (or will struggle) with the decision to go
abroad for a semester to St. Petersburg. Updates will follow every month!

Consider that...
... it is only based on my personal opinion. At the end it is one's own piece of cake! :)

Go if ...
+ ... you study Russian language and you try hard to improve!
+ ... you have already a lot of travel experience so you know how to survive in other countries!
+ ... you like buckwheat!


Don't go if ...
- ... you think that Cyrillic letters are the same as Greek and if you think that Ukrainians and          Russians speak the same language!
- ... you are not ready yet for an adventure that is mind blowing! 
       (especially for central Europeans)
- ... you are addicted to European cheese! (There is not any since sanctions are in place)


Another big "+" ...

... is this wonderful Borsch soup!

International brands in Russia Part 1

Some examples of international brands in Russia found on the Nevsky Prospekt:

Старбакс Кофе

Бургер Кинг

Райффайзен Банк (Money!!...)

Сабвэи    (... and yummy!!)

Макдоналдс (вкуууусно)

Стокманн (from Finland)

St. Petersburg and its beauty

St. Petersburg and its beauty

The last days were packed with a lot of sightseeing. I tried to spent most of the time in the city centre, where most oft the beautiful cultural heritage is preserved. Just to give you some ideas of what you can manage within 8 days here: a ballet play, the Peter and Paul fortification, the Farbargé museum, visiting some churches, enjoying a walk in the Hermitage, some shopping and 2 cinema visits (of course in Russian language only). And if I did not have courses at the university, I could have seen much more! Every day in the city centre is a day worth to be there, since there is always something new to experience. I hope I do not get used to this city too much as I am visiting more and more museums in the upcoming weeks. 

Ballet "La Bayadère" at the Mikhailovsky Theatre

Peter and Paul fortification (the place where St. Petersburg was founded)

The fortification is on a small island where there are several small museums and a church

Peter and Paul Cathetral

with its golden roof (most of the members of the Romanov Dynasty are buried here)

Russian spacecraft museum

just next to entrance to the Peter the Paul fortification

Hermitage Museum

(Winter Palace in the background)

Palace Square and the Alexander Column

View from the court of the Winter palace

Inside the court

Staircase leading to part of the huge Hermitage collection

and many exhibited items from different cultures and countries (e.g. Egypt, Siberia, Asia)

Free entrance for students!

Chapel of the Winter Palace (Hermitage)

Church of the Savior on Blood

Museum of old Soviet style arcade machines

Many of these are still working...

... like this black and white photo printer...

... that football table... 

... and this basketball game!

Bowling back in the days

Other machines: Submarine shooting, deer hunting, flying planes... etc. 

What you get for 320 Rubles in a cantine in the city centre

(320 Rubles =  3,70 €)
(Of course in Omsk it was cheaper!
You often have the feeling that you pay a premium price just because of the sake of being in St. Petersburg

Farbarge Museum  

Farbarge silver ware

First Farbarge egg 

A present from the Tsar to his wife to celebrate Easter

Like the chocolate eggs from "Kinder", many of these eggs feature some gadgets 

In this picture: a small copy of a coach, featuring full suspension, opening doors, moving wheels and steering

One of the few eggs where without "toys", but with pictures of the Tsar's family andpaintings of important events

Other Russian accessories for the rich 

One of the great Café's in the city centre on Nevski Street... 

... well actually it is a tourist trap, but worth a short visit for looking at these wonderful food and drinks

Life

Bus tour through the city
Here are a couple of pictures from a bus tour through the city (organized for all exchange students)

River Neva, just right in the city centre

Monument marking the place of the old harbor

Hermitage Museum (Winter Palace on the right)

St. Isaac's Cathedral

Church of the Savior of Blood

Food in St. Petersburg
Life here is very different to what I am used to. For example the offer of Western products in shops is very limited and in comparison to Russian products quite expensive too. The offer of Russian products is great enough, no doubt, but it is quite hard to find high quality products. Especially the Russian bread is not tasty at all, I tried several shops, but still did not find a good one. But I think that all Austrians have issues concerning bread in other countries than Austria. ;)
But also other products are just not so good here, for example candies. And what about meat? It also is not so tasty. However, fish is good here and the offer is much greater than in Austria!
I have heard many complaints from Russians, that the cheese is not good here. Since the start of the sanctions, there is hardly any European cheese coming across the borders... which is the reason why I live a bit healthier here than at home.

Hint: anyone from Austria who is visiting me, should bring some bread as a present, I'd really appreciate. :D


Life as a student
Since I am doing a double degree program, I am not treated like an exchange student. So I am with the regular students in all the classes. So far I head 3 different courses, which were alright. I especially liked our finance course, since its teacher is very committed and helpful.

Although there will be other courses, my most important subject will be Russian language. Besides receiving a second master degree, this is the main reason for me to study in Russia. Since today I know that we will be divided in very small groups of 4-5 students each. The groups differ in the language skills that are required to do the course. From next week, there will be 4 lessons of Russian language. I really hope that the course will help me to improve my skills.

And what about the parties?! We'll see about that in the future, but I do not think that I want to waste my time here going to bars that much. I honestly prefer to explore the city in detail and its museums as well as its theaters.


The weather ...
... was certainly not in Peter the Great's mind, when he decided to found this city...

There I fixed it - I got my own flat! + Bureaucrazy 2.0 + A nice walk on Newski Prospekt

I fixed it - I got my own flat!
As I wrote before, my dormitory was in a horrible condition. I could not stand it any longer, so I hired an agent who has also helped my colleagues to find a flat here in the surroundings. However, I only gave up trying to get better conditions in the dormitory when I heard that I would not be able to switch to a newer room in another dormitory close to the university. :(
Desperate to leave and after calling the agent, it took only 3 hours till our meeting. He drove me to two different flats and since I wanted to move out quickly, I decided for one option on the same day. Since I do not pay more than for my room in Steyr, I did not hesitate much. My own and first flat in my life is equipped with literally everything (even a dish washer, w-lan router, microwave). However, this might not be the last time I have moved since I will live with a friend together from March on and therefore will need a bigger flat.

:)

Most important room of all! :)))))

View from the balcony in the evening (all that powder snow that we would need for skiing in Austria is here)

Bureaucracy 2.0 
Since we were misinformed a couple of times before we arrived to Russia, we had to go again to some offices, go to the city centre and translate more documents into Russian language (therefore waste more money and time because of missing information that we should have received before).
In general, I just hope this will have an end at some point. Everyday I am carrying a bunch of papers and documents with me and pray that I do not lose any of them since I do not want to start this circle of running from one to another office once more.
(To sum up, I would Not recommend to go abroad for a whole semester to Russia, if you do not know the language at all).

A nice walk on Newski Prospekt
I could find time to have a nice and long walk on the Newski Prospekt, the world famous street of St. Petersburg with its shops, its luxurious hotels and its never ending glamour. The street leads you to the heart of the city where you can find most of the historical palaces, churches and monuments. Many of the buildings are at least 100, some even 200 years old, but well reserved for the visitors and of course for anyone who can afford to live there. There is also the oldest Hotel (Hotel Europe), buildings where artists and authors lived and much much more to experience. It is also quite nice to have a cup of tea or a dinner in one of the numerous cafés. At the end of the street, you will already see the famous Winterpalace which is part of the Eremitage art museum. According to what I read, this museum preserves around 60.000 pieces, consist of 350 rooms and employs 2.500 people and is part of the UNESCO heritage (The Winterpalace is just one building that covers part of that huge number of pieces).

Frozen channel (welcome to Northern Venice!)

What a Café!

No need to explain :)

Hotel Europe (first Hotel in St. Petersburg)

Winterpalace (part of Eremitage)

Mc Donalds

Finnish shopping mall Stockmann 

Stockmann