Bennies Abroad: IWL May Term to Russia: Day Four

Greetings from St. Petersburg!

We took an overnight train from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and were pleasantly surprised by the accommodations. Bathrooms were clean, bed linens were provided, dinner/breakfast (consisting of pepperoni, bread, and salad) was included, as well as some “fancy” red slippers to roam the hallway. Four people stayed together in a cabin, and overall, it was an excellent experience.

Once arriving by train, we walked to our hotel; Oktobersky, and got ready to begin our city tour of St. Petersburg. We were introduced to our St. Petersburg tour guide, Svetlana (who knows Sergai), and were off to the bus for our tour. We were briefly delayed because of bus problems, but our handy bus driver, Constantine, took out his tools and soon the new Mercedes bus was traveling the streets of the amazing city! Traveling through the streets of St. Petersburg left us in awe of all its beauty. St. Petersburg is known as the Venice of the North, and we can all attest to this comment. The city is completely different from Moscow, and the fast hustle isn’t as prominent as it was in Moscow.

On our city tour, Svetlana gave us a quick introduction to the different sites we’ll be seeing and learning about over the next week. These sites include viewing a Folklore Show called Feel Yourself Russian, touring Isaak’s Cathedral, the Hermitage Museum, the Summer Residence of the Russian Czars. We’ll also be visiting St. Petersburg University, flea markets, Russia homes for conversations about life in Russia, and much much more!!

We’ll elaborate more on our experiences after we tour the different sites! We’re all having a blast and learning so much about the Russian culture. Be ready for some wonderful stories—both educational and entertaining!!

As I’m blogging, it’s 11pm and it's still light out because of the white nights they have during May-June!!! It messes with our time systems but is fun to experience!

Kelsey S. M.