London Becomes Russia

I have finally arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia.  However, I almost did not even make it to the stop over in London.  After arriving in JFK airport, I was told that my departure flight to London would be at gate 7 (or so I thought I heard).  The truth was that my flight was in Terminal 7, Gate 4.  But, another AIFS student and I were waiting in Terminal 8, Gate 7.  We realized this roughly thirty minutes before the flight to London was about to depart.  This led to a mad dash through JFK and rushing through airport security.  Before boarding the plane, we were informed that we were indeed the last to board the plane.  This provided some excitement and uncertainty to a trip to a country with plenty of uncertainty for someone who does not know the language.

I arrived in London at about 6:30am (London Time...no idea what time zone).  Once we located our driver (easier said than done) around 7:15am, we did not arrive at the hotel (Lancaster Gate Hotel) until close to 9:00am.  Traffic on the interest was fairly bad, but a motorcycle is the way to travel.  They get to weave in and out of the traffic which I can only image would save massive amounts of time.  However, my driver decided it would be quicker to get off the interstate and take city streets.  This did not work.  He completely ignored the GPS and took his own routes that involved narrow streets and plenty of near miss wrecks.  Once we arrived at the hotel, we met a Welshman named Adrienne (no idea how to spell Adrienne for a man's name and the only reason I remember his name is because of Rocky) who handed us a map and an "idiot card" (a card with a list of contact numbers) and sent us on our way to explore.   The members of the program split up into two groups: sightseeing and food...I was a member of the food group.  After about 45mins of lost wondering and trying to gain our barrings, we decided on a sketchy looking shop because of a fish and chips sign in the window.  After eating came more aimless wondering and going back to the hotel to ask Adrienne for directions or stuff to go see.  For such an important city, one would think London would have access to WiFi across the city...dead wrong!  Fourteen pounds later, I had internet access in the hotel for 24 hours...of which I used about 4 or 5 hours worth.

The next day led to a bus tour around London and Westminster (a city inside of London...confusing).  After the tour ended, we were given the opportunity to see Chicago at a theater or wonder around London for the rest of the day...I chose to wonder.  This wondering led to eating chips (fries for all you non-British speaking folks) at a pub called the Lamb and Flag and a quick discussion on politics and the impact the Olympics will have on London with some fellow study abroaders and Adrienne.  We then proceeded to make our way to a free art museum which was followed by a ride on the tubes back to the hotel.  Up bright and early at 5am, we prepared for the flight that would take us to St. Petersburg.  Again, the airport left us with suspense by not posting our gate until 30mins before the gate for the flight closed.

Before even landing in St. Petersburg, I had an issue already...I filled out my migration card with the wrong visa number!  This may have led to me being yelled at in Russian (which I wouldn't have understood) and having to fill out a new one or being searched or worse.  So I just filled out a new one to avoid the demoralizing yelling or worse.  Once I filled the card out correctly and was waiting in the "Passport Check" line, a lady who checks Russian passports comes out of here work stand and starts speaking Russian to me and gesturing for me to come to the Russian Federation passport line (so confused/scared).  Having watched fellow members have to remove glasses and hand over boarding passes, I prepared myself for the worst, but it never came.  I handed over my passport, migration card, and boarding pass.  The boarding pass was instantly pushed back to me and my passport and migration card were stamped instantly following without even a glance to make sure I looked like my passport picture.  From there on, it was smoothing sailing finding the AIFS representative.  After, I finally got my first glance of Russia and a feel for the weather...the glace was of towering smoke stakes bellowing smoke into the sky (below) and the feel for the weather was the inside of my nostrils freezing in seconds.  After an hour bus ride to the dorm, we began to unpack and had our first session of the orientation meetings.  In my room suite (4 people, a bathroom, and kinda a kitchen), I am the only person that does not have an actual bed...I have a couch type thing.

No idea on how to move the pictures to match paragraphs, but here are some:

My couch/bed thing

Westminster Abby?  I think

Big Ben - London

Tube sign - London

Tower Bridge - London

Giant Lion picture - London

Smoke Stack (a lot of these) - St. Pete

St. Peter and Paul Cathedral - St. Pete

Nicolas I - St. Pete

Russian and St. Petersburg Flags

Neva River, frozen - St. Pete

Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood - St. Pete

Today, 29.01.12, we took a bus tour around the city and got out for frequent stops.  Our first stop was St. Peter and Paul Fortress where we were outside touring the fortress for about 45 minutes.  By the end of the tour around the fortress, everyone was losing feeling in parts of their body's such as hands, entire faces, feet, body, pretty much everywhere in less than 1 hour.  Fun fact, we learned today that in St. Petersburg at the St. Peter and Paul Fortress, they shoot cannons off everyday at 12pm as a way to signal the time (The tour guide thought it would be funny to have us in this location at 12pm).  It's an old tradition from Peter the Great himself.  Also, the fortress is not named after Peter the Great (most assume), but after the apostle Peter who Peter the Great believed communicated with him and told him where to build the fortress.  Anyway, point of the story is that it is cold!  This morning it was -8F and warmed up to 5F as the day went on.  We continued the tour, but my enjoyment was cut short from too much bottled water (don't drink the tap...it's not friendly to your insides) and a lack of bathrooms (which aren't free) around the city.  We then had lunch and went to get photos taken for legal documents in case we get stopped by Russian police (more than likely will happen).  This involved more walking in the cold.  Fun fact #3, grocery bags aren't free in Russia.  They ask you if you want a bag and which size (small or large).  Since I don't know any of those words, I just point and touch and hope my message comes across.  One cashier did not seem too happy that a group of Americans chose to check out at his register.  The last of the orientation meetings are over and classes start tomorrow (for us beginners in Russian while others have a placement test).  We will then proceed to depart to downtown St. Petersburg by metro.  I have to ask for a metro pass for a month in Russian too...should be interesting!


до свидания (good bye)