Thursday, May 21, 2009

FINAL DINNER!

May 19, 2009

Day 36

 

            So after a relaxing day at the beach for the art and architecture class, culture and literature class, and the student teachers sad last day at school, we slept in to catch up on the much needed sleep.  Some people went out shopping for their last minute souvenirs.  Others stayed in the Hostel, relaxing.  I stayed in my pajamas until we had to start getting ready for the FINAL DINNER.  My room started getting ready around 3:00pm.  At 4:00, we all gathered in the hallway to give Michelle a surprise.  Michelle was taken to “shop” for Jess’s sister.  What Michelle did not know is that she actually picking out her own gift.  We decided to get her a gift because Michelle has been awesome this entire trip.  She got us into museums for the Russian student price; it was great!  She saved us a lot of money to use for extra things we wanted to do.  Then, Michelle gave us all gifts for weaseling our way into her heart.  We got different magnets with pictures of the city.

After the gift giving, we finished getting ready so we could leave for dinner.  As we were waiting outside of the Hostel waiting for the rest of the people, Jill got pooped on by a bird.  There was not a lot of it, but it landed in her hair.  She went in the bathroom and took care of it.  We walked to the bus stop and took the number 5 bus to get to the restaurant.  We ate at a Georgian restaurant.  The food was amazing!  I wish we had a restaurant like that back in the States.  There were sixteen courses all together.  The courses are supposed to come out one at a time, every twenty minutes.  However, if we had done that, we would have been there all night.  So there were at least 10 courses set on the table when we first sat down so that it would be easier.

            There was salad on the table along with bread, a kidney bean dip, chicken dip with hazelnut, some type of eggplant-wrapped thing, pickled cabbage, and a plate of pickles and garlic stems.  We were also served cheesy bread that comes out looking like pizza.  Georgian dumplings came out next and one of our tour guides, Mike, showed us how to properly eat the dumpling.  You are supposed to bite the top off and drink the broth that is inside and then eat the dumpling.  After the dumplings, we were served chicken and potato-fries.  Pieces of lamb and beef were served afterwards.  Another serving of cheesy bread was passed out.  Then we were asked if we wanted tea or coffee and chocolate or strawberry ice cream.  Dinner was great!!  We ended around 11:00pm.

            The dinner was hilarious.  We gave the tour guides their gifts and they went crazy.  Shannon and Angela bought whiffle bats and balls to give them.  They looked at them as if they had no idea what they were.  Dmitri acted as if his was a saber and Nik was doing crazy stuff.  Michelle bought them lobster claw harmonicas.  Nik tried to play the harmonica, but he ended up just getting red in the face.  Dmitri joined along with him.  A few minutes later, Nik took the lobster claw, pretended as if it was his hand, and took a sip of his drink.  This night was epic!  It was better than all the other nights because all the tour guides were there except Peter.  It was sad that Peter could not go, but being able to sit with all the tour guides at the same time was awesome.

We had to catch the bus and rush to change our clothes to go on the boat tour.  Since the bridges go up for the night, we had to hurry to make it so we were able to watch the bridges go up.

 

Jess M.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Surprise Tour!!

Today was a great day. We had a wake up call at 7:30 this morning because we had to get on the road by 9 for the surprise. We were told to wear a bathing suit, layers, and hiking sneakers. We were also told to bring water, a towel, sunscreen, tissues, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper. No one was quite sure what exactly we were going to be doing. At 9:15 we hopped on the bus and were on it for about 45 minutes. We got to our destination and had to hike for about a half hour until we got to set up camp. We had the entire day to spend together at a gorgeous lake. We all helped collect fire wood while our tour guide Nick actually got the fire going. When the fire was going and the food was all unpacked, a bunch of us decided to go for a swim in the lake. It was pretty cold, but not as bad as we expected. While some people were off playing frisbee, the rest of us were just hanging out by the campfire and having a great time. The weather couldn't have been better. Around 3:30, we had to collect more fire wood, and Dylan managed to get himself stuck in a tree. It was real funny to watch him try to swing down like a monkey would. At about 7 that night, it was time to start packing up. We were all really sad because we wanted to stay longer; some of us even wanted to spend the night. By the time all was said and done, we made it back to the hostel around 9pm. We had the rest of the night to ourselves to relax and get prepped for the final dinner tomorrow night. Today truly was a great way to end off the trip. And for anyone who ever doubted it, YOU CAN GET A SUNBURN IN RUSSIA!!!!

Another Chapter In the Epic Adventures of Student Teachers In the Motherland

The day began as most do here in St. Pete for our group...too early for our any of our likings.  We headed out from the hostel in a generally groggy fashion at around 9:30 A.M., aiming in the direction of the grand (and frankly horrendously painted) Winter Palace.  As you may or may not know, the Palace, also called the Hermitage, contains what is quite possibly the largest collection of art in the world, though it's officially listed as being somewhere around the third.  The eight of us reached our destination around 10:00 and hopped in line, after a decent wait heading in, getting tickets, checking coats, and so on.  We moved as a group up the grand main staircase of the Palace, staring as much at the giant frescoes on the ceiling as the great columns and wall ornamentation.  After the throne room shortly after the stairs we decided to split up.  Between the three groups we made, roughly 90% of the open exhibits were canvased by lunch time.  These included everything from an arms and armor room to prehistoric art, and just about everything in between and after (such as a rather creepy Egyptian exhibit).  We all ate in one of the several cafes and spent some time perusing the extensive bookstore and shop.  We all met up around this time (with the exception of two of the group who had finished their scoping of the Palace and left) and decided that we had all seen our fill for the day, despite our original plan having been to stay until 4.  At this point it was roughly 2 P.M.
 
The remaining members of the group then headed to a large mall on Nevsky Prospekt, the name of which I can pronounce but most certainly cannot spell, and so will not butcher it with an attempt.  At the mall we yet again split into a group of two and one of four.  We proceeded to wander aimlessly through this massive old mall, oggling the goods in the large array of shops contained therein.  During this stretch, the two girls in the group began checking out jewelry, so naturally Christian and I headed for the nearest table with chairs and proceeded to nap thereon.  The mall trip was, for our group of four, just an interesting way to pass the time until a prearrnged meeting at 4:30 with a couple of Russian students from a teacher education college here in St. Pete that we had met on our previous visit there.  That said, after our nap/shopping trip we headed back to the Hermitage to meet our Russian peers. 
 
Upon meeting up with our friends we proceeded to take them to the local Carl's Jr. for a taste of good old American style burgers and chili-cheese fries.  We spent the remainder of the evening wandering through a few parks and similar places around the city, trying our hardest to speak slowly to our new friends so that they could understand us despite our varied accents and incessant use of slang.  Later on, around 8:00 or so, we said goodnight to the last of the Russians only to learn that a surprise "tour/event" for which we were leaving at 9:00 and from which we wouldn't return until the wee hours of the morning.  This event was the famous Night of Museums which the city throws at random for one night around this time of year every year.  During the night, from about 10 or 11 P.M. to 6 A.M. museums and special historic areas and buildings around the city are open and free to students (and I think perhaps everyone).  My night ended around 2 A.M. when I began falling asleep standing on the street waiting for a bus and decided I should probably head "home" so I could be awake for another tour first thing in the morning.  Some of the others continued on to exciting events like being evacuated from Smolny Convent by the Russian Police Bomb Squad due to a threat on the building.  They all came back and proceeded to pass out around 5 A.M. and that was about it for our group for the day.
 
I was awaked around 10 the next morning with the message, "Get up, we're leaving in 5 minutes for the tour."  But that's a tale for another time...
 
-Josh

Monday, May 18, 2009

Night Pics

 

May 17: Night at the Museums

 Ok, its 12:01am and we’re waiting in line. How exactly did this happen? Let me back track slightly. At 8pm yesterday, I was sitting on the hallway floor, outside the main office of the hostel, talking to my mom. As I am sitting there, Michelle runs by staying something about a tour in 5 minutes. Apparently, tonight is the annual Night at the Museums. This event is a night once a year when over 20 museums are open for students from six at night to six in the morning. These museums display special exhibits and one price will get you into all the museums and get you a pass for a special bus that takes you to all the stops. To make things more interesting, the night that they pick is only announced at five o’clock the night of, but word spreads and thousands of students swarm the city. 
 Getting back to the original story, at 12:01 when our day began we were standing in a line to get into one of the 20 museums. All 20 of us went to two museums together and then Shannon, Angela and I decided that we wanted to go to the zoo, cause how cool is that going to the zoo at night, right? The only problem with this master plan is that the zoo is on Petrogradskaya and the bridges close from 1am-6am to let ships through. Therefore, to catch to bridge before it came up Shannon, Ang and I sprinted just as the police were blocking off traffic. It was awesome, we explored the zoo at night, lions and tigers and bears, oh my. Then to get back to civilization before 6am we had to sprint again because the bridges close only from 3-3:30. Then we went to the wrong bridge and had to run to the other one, just in time. However, we made it back alive and we did not have to sleep on a park bench so it’s all good. Overall, the night was one of the most interesting experiences I have ever had. We took tons of pictures with the city all lit up and we got to see a truly unique side of St. Petersburg culture. The rest of the day, sleeping and shopping, pales in comparison. 
 
Jill

Friday, May 15, 2009


   Today the group had our final class discussion on the book we have been reading, Crime and Punishment. We went through individual chapters and talked about the main themes in the novel and how they connect to our experience so far in Saint Petersburg. We finished off the discussion with a debate on whether the main character, Raskolnikov, was sane or insane.  It was a lively debate and was a fitting way to complete our study of the novel. The debate also prepared us for the tour we will take tomorrow where we will trace the actual steps Raskolnikov took throughout the book.
    A boat tour was planned for the evening, but it ended up getting cancelled because of the high water level of the Neva River. It's been a little rainy and cold the past couple days, but we are hoping for some nice weather before we leave so we can reschedule the boat tour.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Victory Day



May 9th, 2009



Victory Day in Russia is unlike anything I have ever seen. On this one day over 20,000 people gathered into Palace Square to listen to speeches and watch as the military is presented along with different types of vehicles. Since there were so many people it was impossible to see anything unless you were on the shoulders of another individual. After the chaotic but amazing spectacle that is Victory Day morning we proceeded back down the main street, where many of us bought small flags to remind us of the day, and got onto the Metro. From there we went to two different memorials in different locations in the city. The first one was PISKARIOVSKOYE MEMORIAL CEMETERY and here was an overwhelming collection of mass graves showing thousands upon thousands of individuals who died during the siege of Leningrad. The mood in this hallow place was one of remembrances, pride and sorrow. Watching family members place flowers, candies, candles and vodka on graves showed how deeply they felt about this tragic event and how it still affects their lives. After that we went to the Siege Memorial which was an amazing place that taught all those who went there about the history of the siege as well as showing a documentary about the lives of the people who lived through it. After the history of the day we got to watch a parade that was all about individuals who lived through the Siege or their family members. It was nice to watch their veterans being honored in such a way that I have never seen before.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Epic Day

May 11th

Today started out a little rushed because we thought we were supposed to leave for our Road of Life bus tour half an hour later than anticipated. After everyone gathered their belongings we piled into a bus and started our voyage down the road in which the 1941 siege took place. Along the way down we stopped at many monuments honoring the children fallen in the siege, the guerilla men, the pilots and even the 1.5 million supplies successfully brought across frozen Lake Lagoda. We got out and looked at all of these monuments as well as saw a few more mass graves like the ones we saw on our Victory Day tour. Halfway through our trip we stopped at a Russian café for lunch and had beef goulash, tea and borsht. The next stop after lunch was the best part of our day and according to most people the best part of the entire trip. We got to walk around in the trenches, which bordered the water line. This was the place where masses of Russian soldiers were killed because they were cornered against the army by the German army. At first I was personally a little skeptical of walking through the trenches because as our guide Sasha said, we were walking over a combination of metal and bones. But, everyone got really into scanning them for debris. In the middle of the field we found our first human bone. Heather said that it was a hip bone and we all got really intrigued so started to look for more- and were shockingly very successful. A few of our best finds while walking and digging through the trenches were the hip bone and a femur, which had bullets through them, a bullet case in tact and a few un-shot bullets that were coated with gold. Heather literally had to drag us out of the trenches so that we could make our last stop on the tour, which was a museum with a diorama intricately depicting the siege. I was okay though because we got to continue to play a little more outside the museum on the huge warfare tanks! The day wound up being quite relaxing for a change because we were on a bus instead of walking but it was also a lot of fun. I think that the best way to describe the Road of Life as a whole would be a combination of tragedy and triumph.

 
Diane

Stalin Who? Just Kidding Heather!

May 4th (sorry it's a week late. I thought it was posted and it wasn't)

So, it is Day 21 of our escapade in Russia and waking up for the traditional Russian breakfast never gets old. Timor who is one of the hostel administrators, is the cutest/nicest/funniest old man ever. As usual, he walked around mumbling to himself this morning and making sure all of us ate what we were supposed to, he's the best. After breakfast, we had 9:30 class with Heather, where we reviewed the political history and people of Russia in preparation to go to the Political Science Museum at the other end of St. Petersburg. Once we got to the museum one of our tour guides Mike, walked us through it explaining the Soviet Union history leading up to, and through the Stalin Era. Some of the most interesting things we saw were the propaganda posters, which were printed by both the red and white armies in response to the warfare going on during that time. Mike read a few of his favorites to us, one of which is the first picture posted in this blog. Besides war remnants of the red and white armies like uniforms, pictures, paintings and posters, the museum had rooms that modeled the set-up of communal homes. These homes were built after Stalin's reign in an effort to deStalinize the hardships Russia had previously faced, as instated by Khrushchev (photo 2). The housing situations we saw reminded me of our current living situations. Everything from toilet paper to food had to be labeled to show it was theirs and even then it didn’t mean it would be there when you wanted or needed it. At the end of our tour, we watched a few documentaries before leaving to look in the tiny museum souvenir shop. Some people left on their own after this, including Angela, Jill, Jess, Shannon and I who decided we wanted to take the metro back to the opposite end of Nevskiy in an effort to avoid the mass number of people currently in the city. We got our DK guidebooks out and found the nearest one and walked there only to find out that it was not in use…in fact probably had not been in use for years by the looks of it. So then after reevaluating our situation we hopped on a tram to get to the next nearest metro, which was a ways away. When we got on I had a flashback to the museum we had just gotten out of. This tram looked and smelled like it was from Peter the Great’s era, well okay, maybe not Peter I, because the Railway Museum we went to a few weeks ago says that’s not possible. But, this was at least from Stalin’s reign by the looks of it, although it did somehow manage to get us to the metro station in one piece. Other people left the museum to go shopping behind Spilled Blood and on Nevskiy Prospekt. Everyone had a very successful day, filled with a good combination of education and fun free time.

 

…So to recap since we've arrived in Russia we have learned how to get ourselves unlost, how to successfully dodge cars while running across at least five lanes of traffic, how NOT to get the Swine Flu, and how to get hair cuts apparently (ask Ryan about his Russian salon experience :/)

 

 
Diane Cenotti '11
 
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page."
 
::Saint Augustine
 

May 10th: Happy Mother's Day!

 


От: Jillian Kubiak '11
Отправлено: Пн, 5/11/2009 12:46
Кому: mevans21@blogger.com
Тема: May 10th: Happy Mother's Day!

            HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!! Just an FYI the hostel is out of phone cards so if there are any mothers that have not received a phone call it is not because we do not want to talk to you but it is physically impossible at this point. Ps, on the same note, I love you mom, you are amazing and beautiful and I miss you!!!

            Ok so today we got up way to early to go to Tsarskoe Selo, which translates to the Czar’s Village. This location contains the palaces of Catherine the Great and Alexander I and lots of other monuments and parks and cool deserted buildings. So basically, we spent eight hours walking around different old stuff that was actually pretty neat. Half of that time was spent retracing our steps because our adorable Buddhist guide Mitya kept taking us in circles. I think he was a little confused but that is ok because I think that my blisters have officially turned in to calluses. Either that or I’ve just become oblivious to pain.  

            It was really cool though because for lunch we ate on top of this 265 year old church. The walls were crumbling and the stairs were treacherous, it was awesome. Then just as we were about to leave the police showed up and said something in Russian that seemed like “get off the condemned building”. Oh well, then to get back, after a couple wrong turns we took the oldest train route in Russian history. This line was built to bring the Catherine the Great from Tsarskoe Selo to St. Petersburg and we enjoyed the view of the outskirts of the city tremendously through our closed eyelids, we were a little exhausted.

            Tonight was a very special night because we had a concert to go to. One of our favorite guides, Nick, was playing a concert with his band at one of the top Jazz clubs in the city. We had tickets so all 23 of us crammed into this tiny club. It was actually an amazing concert, especially coming from a person who is not at all a fan of Jazz music. Even the locals that I talked to at the club were praising the band saying that they had here about them but hadn’t been able to see them live because they only play a few exclusive concerts a year, so we felt very special. Anyways the owner complained about selling our tickets to us because we are Americans and he said we do not smoke and drink enough so we all just had to prove him wrong. The night ended off with all of us up on stage taking a group picture with the band and Nick promising to sign our CDs we bought. Overall just your average Sunday in Russia, where anything can happen.
 
Jill

Friday, May 8, 2009

May 7, 2009

The title of today’s blog will be “Recovering from Moscow”

After getting off the train we were given the morning to either catch up on sleep or catch up on our reading. I chose sleep ?. Around 1 we were woken and given an hour to eat and get ready for a secret adventure. At 2 o’clock we started out, our destination the Zoological Museum. It was pretty sweet. The museum houses pieces that were in Peter the Great’s original collection, like his horse that he had stuffed. The museum had animals from every continent even extinct and endangered species. Not only did they have bugs on display but also a live bug exhibit. One part that definitely sketched me out was the stuffed cats and dogs. It took us a little longer to get back because the military was practicing for Victory Day... again. After having dinner we had class, we discussed a few poems we read. Then we surprised Dylan with cake for his birthday which was yesterday… and yeah we sang.

Ash



Thursday, May 7, 2009

Moscow!

May 6, 2009

 

Wednesday actually began at the end of yesterday with our group of 27 catching the all night train to Moscow.  We tried to sleep as best as possible to be well rested for our all day adventure, but have you ever tried to sleep on a train?!  There was very little rest involved but at 6 am, whether we were ready or not we headed to the streets. 

 

Our first stop was Red Square and the Kremlin.  We all walked the perimeter of the Kremlin along the wall until we found our next destination, MacDonald’s for a hearty breakfast; well it was more like comfort food.  I was delighted to have a real bathroom and took advantage of my extra time to wash up a bit and brush my teeth, it was definitely a highlight of my morning, that and coffee.

 

Moscow is definitely different then St. Petersburg, being a business center it was obvious how modern buildings built up the city.  The old Moscow was still visible in the preserved areas, but also in the random old churches every few blocks. Like outside the MacDonald’s was a manmade canal with statues representing Pushkin’s Fairytales. 

 

For 17 hours, we saw major attractions in Moscow and explored the city.  While the student teachers went to the Anglo American School in Moscow for a tour and to visit, the rest of the group took the Metro out to University and OMG!  The State University of Moscow’s main building is one of the city’s seven sisters, erected after WWII to commemorate the 15 nation states of Moscow that made up the Soviet Union.  It was massive! St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St Petersburg is the second largest church in Russia, and this building was as tall as three (about 14 Elmira Colleges).  The Kremlin Armory was close, but University was my favorite mini excursion.

 

Moscow was a trip of a lifetime, minus the whole living on a train for a night.  It was definitely a success to.  We only lost Ryan and Jenkins once and lost two in the metro.  Before heading back to our home sweet hostel, we were given three hours to shop on Arbot Street, where we all remembered our fur hats and I spent more money than I have all tripJ

 

A metro tour was the last adventure of our day as we made our way to the train station.  The metro stops are also soviet representations of the fifteen nation states and look like mini museums if you cut out the hoards of people and rushing metro cars.  By the time we had to board the train back we were all wiped out and just ready to sleep, or try (remember that whole sleeping on a train concept).

 

Our adventure came to an end as our train stopped in St. Petersburg at six forty five this morning and by seven we were greeted by a delighted Timor with breakfast already on the table waiting.

 

-Angela

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

May 5, 2009

May 5, 2009

 

We have been in Russia for 22 days already and I still love waking up to a Russian breakfast.  Today’s schedule is simpler than most days, class with Heather discussing Crime and Punishment Part II and then completing our fourth scavenger hunt. 

 

Class was a hoot, during discussion, Shannon compared Raskolnikov to Firefox when it freezes and shuts down while Jill was blunter in calling him a pansy.  The discussion went really well, but everyone was so antsy to start the Scavenger Hunt to pass the time because in four hours we will be boarding a train for Moscow!

 

The Scavenger hunt was a lot different from our last three, but it was so much fun.  Instead of survival skills, we had looking beneath the surface.  We were sent off into the city to photograph things like craziest fashion and the weirdest shoes in addition to an architectural style we cannot recognize and art nouveau.  Five of us went off together to eat at Subway because I was craving a grinder so bad.  We all ended up staying together and finishing the scavenger hunt while getting some shopping in.  Taking pictures of all the crazy fashions was a blast because it is everywhere.

 

On the way back to the hostel, traffic in the city was ridiculous and the streets were filled.  In preparation for Victory Day on Saturday, a parade of military vehicles descended Nevskiy Prospekt and a metronome sound was played from the remaining loud speakers from WWII.  The other day on the Siege Tour, Mike told us that the metronome was played over the public broadcasting lines during the 900 day Siege of Leningrad to let people know their speakers were still working and they had noting to worry about at the moment.

 

It was intense actually experiencing a part history and knowing what that sound meant to so many people.  Everyone is back from the scavenger hunt and now the pressure is on to shower, eat and pack for Moscow.  We are all going a little crazy to make sure we are all prepared and it is mixing in with our excitement and elation to finally be leaving for our excursion.  We leave for Moscow at nine pm tonight and will arrive tomorrow at six am.  From six am to eleven pm we will be exploring everything Moscow and don’t worry, we won't forget to buy fur hats :)

 

-Angela

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Happy Labor Day

The main event of Labor Day is a parade, where members of almost every political party in Russia come out to march in support of their party. (Unfortunately, they don't hand out any candy, to the disappointment of some students.) We left the hostel before ten in the morning in order to join the crowd that was forming outside of the metro station. Police lined up along the parade route, to ensure that no one caused any trouble.

We began to see the balloons several blocks away from the metro station, rising into the clear blue sky. As we made our final turn, we began to see people clutching bunches of the balloons, our first sign that something exciting was happening.

People were still forming columns with their parties when we arrived at the starting point. The officially recognized parties marched in front, beginning with the President's party, followed by the more controversial groups. We watched from the sidelines as various groups came to join the parade. A workers' party arrived with giant blue balloons more than a meter in diameter. They handed out orange and black ribbons, to be used for Victory Day next week in memory of those who died in the Seige of Leningrad. About a dozen young women with drums came to march, and another group of girls with metallic pompoms. Finally, the parade began.

The beginning of the parade was dominated by a party that had taken for its mascot a polar bear, much as our major political parties have adopted the donkey and the elephant. Among their supporters came a line of people dressed in full-body polar bear suits, one of whom was dancing to a small band behind them, and a miniature locomotive. Following them came a few more official parties, each accompanied by a police escort, and then it was time for the fringe groups.

We were not content to remain on the sidelines. The largest group, the Communists, had almost finished passing when we left the curb and slipped in to join them. Despite our obvious natures as tourists (with three of us wearing bright "CCCP" shirts bought at souvenir stalls), everyone was fairly welcoming. A few people spoke to us, and were surprised to discover that we weren't Russian.

The original plan had been to march with the Communists for only a short distance, and then slip out as we had come to watch the rest of the parade. However, the security along the parade route had been tightened since last year, and the place Heather normally snuck out was blocked off. We continued marching for several more blocks after that, until a very persistent Russian man a few meters ahead of us inadvertently provided a distraction, as his argument with the police drew their attention long enough for us to slip onto a side street.

Returning to the sidewalk as onlookers, we watched the last of the fringe groups marching by. These included the tsarists, who sought to restore the monarchy, the nationalists, who wanted all non-ethnic Russians to leave the country, and people from Kosovo. The Nazis were not allowed to participate in the parade after their behavior last year. Behind the parade came a fleet of street sweepers, and Nevskij Prospekt was returned to normal in a half an hour.

We then went to have a lunch of blini, thin pancakes (much like French crepes) with a variety of fillings. By the time we had finished eating, it was too late for any more official activities, so we were given the afternoon off and all went their separate ways.

We started our day around 11 am by meeting Nick outside of the hostel to go on an art and architecture tour of the city. During their time here, the other students have been learning about the different types of architecture that are present in the city. Earlier tours took them around to different buildings and they were given the task of figuring our which type of architecture the buildings represented. Today's tour tested their knowledge and completion of their task. It was interesting to see how many types of architecture are included in just a small section of the city. We saw examples of neo classical, baroque, art nevoueau, constructivist, and eclecticism architecture. Sometimes there were two completely different styles stuck right next to each other which showed the different in taste and attitude between generations and often nation leaders. Because I am not in the class that learns about the architecture, I found the tour interesting and enjoyed looking at all of the different buildings. Many of the buildings were places that student teachers had yet to see because we are in school when everyone else is on the tours.

After walking around for about four hours, the student teachers were given the opportunity to see two of the major churches in St. Petersburg. First we went to the Church on Spilled Blood (inside of Spilt Blood-picture above). Inside is absolutely beautiful and I could spend hours looking at all the mosaic murals that cover the walls and ceilings. Because of our tour today, I have a better understanding for the popularity of this church. A picture of one of the ceiling mosaics is to the right. We then took a short bus ride over to St. Isaac's Cathedral. I was captivated from the moment we turned the corner and saw the magnificent columns and bell towers. The beauty only continued once we stepped inside. The gold work is stunning and I have never seen such detail when it comes to murals and canvas paintings on the walls and ceilings of a church. Just look at the gold work in the picture from the cathedral.

While today was a long day filled with walking and architecture jargon, I enjoyed the opportunity to see the many beautiful sights that are present in this city. The weather was also a helping factor. The sun was shining and their was not a cloud in the sky. It was a little windy, but that helped to keep us cool throughout the day. I was also happy that we were able to go out on a tour during a beautiful day because we only get to see the sun through the windows when we are teaching and by time we get home it is usually cooling off. Speaking of student teaching, so much has been happening.

In a school this small, it is interesting when a teacher is absent. For example, this past week, I spent several days filling in for the Language Arts teacher. Of course, I was nervous because I had to lead the whole class, but the students here are very well behaved. In fact, the classes were able to run themselves and I was able to step back and observe all of the personalities that are present in such a small school. Other student teachers have also had to fill in for teachers who are absent or who are attending conferences. While it is a little more work than we were expecting, it is a great opportunity to gain experience. I can speak for all of the student teachers when I say that we are happy we made the decision to travel abroad to do our student teaching. It has offered us the chance to gain a different perspective on teaching. We look forward to continue our time in St. Petersburg and hopefully we will get to see even more of the splendor that the city has to offer.

-Trishe

Monday, May 4, 2009

Siege Tour

Today we did the Siege Tour with one of our tour guides. As we left the hostel for the tour, we noticed that the city has begun its preparation for Victory Day, which celebrates the victory in the Siege of Leningrad. On the Siege Tour, we learned about the siege. It was an interesting tour through the Rumyantsev Palace. The building was given to the city of St. Petersburg after Rumyantsev died and the building was converted into a museum commemorating the victory over the Germans in the siege of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). The siege was a 900 day blockade between Nazi Germany and the Soviets, beginning in 1941. We learned about how the citizens of Leningrad thought the fighting would only last a few weeks and did not evacuate the people. Eventually, the city was surrounded to the north and south, and water towards the east and west. The supply lines were overtaken by the Germans, so the Russians had to create a supply line across the lake to the northeast of the city.



After going throughout the entire history of the Siege of Leningrad, we had a few hours of free time. Some of my friends and I, went to a souvenir store near the Hermitage. There were the traditional Russian souvenirs including the Matryoshka dolls and Faberge eggs. After some made their purchases, we were off to find lunch.



A group of us went to Subway to get a sandwich. I find myself using and understanding Russian more and more each day. I was able to successfully order a meatball grinder with no cheese. The people working did not understand why I didn’t want cheese on my sandwich. Regardless, it was a pretty good meal.



After lunch, we found the “China town” of St. Petersburg. It was huge and dirty, but it is where most of the locals shop. There were several blocks of shopping and stores, all completely filled with clothing, bags, and shoes. There were so many rows of stores that we did not have the time to look everywhere. We definitely need an entire day to explore this shopping wonder.



After quickly changing at the hostel and grabbing some dinner, we all took the bus to the Mariinskiy Theatre to see Aida. Aida is a four hour opera Italian opera, set in Egypt, with Russian subtitles. If there were English, it would have been more interesting because I feel like I would have understood the story more easily.