We have had some great chances to eat everything. Ok, not actually everything, but some really good things...and raw bacon.
From the time we got here and found that they always serve tons of food and drink at cafes, we knew that St. Petersburg would be a good chance to taste the culture. Some of the Russian foods we have enjoyed so far include;
Blini - This is a food that is like a giant crepe filled with everything from sour cream, to ham, to cheese, to berries. It is a staple food that we have come to eat a lot at a place called Teremok. It is a Russian fast food restaurant that can make you a blini quicker than McDonalds can make you a burger.
Punch - Russian fruit punch varies from place to place. This is because most of the time it is made using real fruit, rather than concentrates. Some places, like Teremok, make it taste more like cranberry. Other places, like cafes around where we live, make it taste sweeter and more like cherries.
Kvas - This Russian drink is like tea and cola. Some places it tastes like bread tea, and other places it tastes like bread cola. Both are good, though I prefer the tea version to the cola version.
Meats - As mentioned above, they like to serve meats on a plate raw. Bacon is no exception...unfortunately. Some of there meats are very fatty, while others are very much like the roast beef we have in the U.S..
Cheese - Russia has some amazing cheese. There is one kind in particular that is a spread cheese that is so creamy you would swear on your mothers grave that it was butter. It goes great on plain bread, or with pasta. They have a lot of European cheese as well. It is fairly expensive though, so try not to get too addicted.
Baked Potatoes - At a restaurant called Koschka Kartoschka, you can get the best baked potatoes you may ever have in your life. They bake the potato, then mash it up in the skin with butter. You can then add whatever toppings you like and they mix it in. I got garlic, cheese, and onion. It was amazing and very filling.
Borsch - This tomato based soup is to die for. Though it is Ukranian, the Russians know exactly how to make it just right. It comes with vegetables, like leeks, and sour cream on the side. If you come to St. Petersburg, you need to eat borsch.
Russian Dumplings - They are like raviolis. They are dough on the outside and meat on the inside. They can be eaten with butter, sauce, or plain. They are exceptionally good and found at almost every grocery store. They make countless varities and kinds, so its best to try as many as possible to know the range of flavors offered.
Chinese Food - This is obviously not Russian, but it is worth noting. We live by the best Chinese restaurant in St. Petersburg. It is called Restraunt Makao. We go there often. It has the best sweet and sour pork and chicken we have ever had. It is about 600 r to feed both of us.
There are so many places to eat in St. Petersburg that we find new things everyday. Being called the cultural capitol of Russia is no small boast. If you want to find good food in Russia I highly suggest coming here.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Classes
In this entry, we're going to talk about our classes - since they take up the majority of our time here in Russia. Here is our class schedules:
Jake - Group 6
Monday 9:30am-3:00pm
Tuesday 9:30am-3:00pm
Wednesday 9:30am-12:50pm
Thursday 11:20am-3:00pm
Friday is a Study Day
Amber - Group 9
Monday is a Study Day
Tuesday 9:30am-3:00pm
Wednesday 11:20am-3:00pm
Thursday 9:30am-12:50pm
Friday 9:30am-3:00pm
Because we both have to go to the University on Tuesday-Thursday, we go together for the full day from 9:30am-3:00pm, and on Wednesday and Thursday when one of us has class and the other doesn't, we use that time as study time. Jake's classes uses one of the same textbooks as my grammar class, so it is helpful when I review with him what my class did previously (as his just started the book a few weeks ago).
All of the classes assign a lot of homework, and it usually is really nice to just relax on the weekends. To get to school takes and hour and a half, and the same on the way back, so our weekdays are also pretty quiet aside from studying and sleeping. However, both of our Russian language skills have dramatically improved.
Time for a fun story...
About a week or so ago, Jake and I decided during our lunchbreak that it would be great fun to splash in one of the giant spring puddles outside the school (think mini-lake) because we were so happy that it was finally warming up. It ended up less of a light splashing and more of an all out war, and while we quickly claimed a truce, we were both soaked before we had to hurry to our next classes so we wouldn't be late. I squished down the hallway to my grammar class and thankfully arrived before my professor, but with enough time to explain to my classmates why I was so soaked.
I was settling damply in when my professor arrived. She took one look at me and said (in Russian, of course) "Emma, are you wet?" I tucked a sodden strand of hair behind my ear and nodded while blushing. I explained that my friend and I had fallen in a puddle. She shook her head and said, "This will not do. Take off your shirt."
To which I gaped at her, feeling very much like a fish, saying, "I'll be okay, it's alright." And she simply shook her head at me and said, "Emma. I am a mother. You cannot wear such clothes, you will get sick. Look, you have your jacket, you can wear that while your shirt dries. Hang it over the heater."
She was quite insistent, so I stood up, and she made Bjorn (the only guy in my class) turn and face the wall while I took off my shirt and donned my coat. She then GASPED loudly, looking at my jeans, which were even more drenched. She ordered me out of those as well, to which I did some more of the gaping and stammering while she insisted, and then I was swiftly out of my socks and pants as well. I hung them all over the radiator, and retook my seat next to Bjorn, while one of the girls from Spain in my class (I am the only English speaker) lent me her coat to put over my legs.
My professor then asked me whether the radiator under the window was hot, and I felt it and said it was warm. She came over and felt it and said they would NEVER dry, and plugged in the portable radiator and turned it all the way up. She then grabbed my pants to hang over the new heater, and exclaimed loudly, and this time in English, "These are soaked, Emma!"
I nodded, quite nearly naked and awash with embarrassment. She said once more, "This will not do. I will find a way to help," and left the class.
She was gone for quite some time, so my peers and I started studying and going over the lesson after about ten minutes. Half an hour later, the professor returned to the class with two bags of clothing, and proceeded to have me try on various pairs of pants. I found a pair that *almost* fit, and she nodded, and around that time the coordinator for my and Jake's program came in, announcing she had got the morning bus to return to take me back to our apartment. I do not even ride the morning bus, but she said I MUST hurry or the bus would leave, as they were unhappy coming back. She rushed off, and my professor looked at me, and said, "Hurry, then, Emma." She then turned to everyone in the class and asked who had a plastic bag for me to put my wet clothes in, and no one did. She gave them all very disapproving looks, before glancing at my shoes which I was about to put on. She asked, "Are they wet?" and then pushed on one with her foot - water flooded out in a mini puddle.
She shook her head, immediately beginning to rummage through one of the two bags of clothing she had. She shook her head again, saying "There are no socks, Emma, but you CANNOT put your feet in wet shoes. You WILL get sick. Wrap your feet in these." She handed me a pair of boxers. Hurriedly, I wrapped each foot in a pair of boxers and shoved them into my sodden shoes. I gathered up my school things and my wet clothes and fled the classroom, my professor yelling after me, "This is why you cannot be friends with men, Emma!"
I rushed outside to find that the bus had, indeed, left already. So I went back inside to the coordinator's office. She looked at me, and shook her head sadly, asking "You missed the bus?" and I nodded glumly. She said that she would call a taxi, and asked if I wanted to get Jake. I nodded, since I realized he would have no idea I left early and would be sitting around waiting for me after class, just as wet as I was.
I pulled up the baggy pants and walked to Jake's classroom on the third floor. I knocked on his door, and his professor answered. I told her in Russian that I needed to speak with Jake, and she asked if it was serious or not, and I said that it was serious. She nodded, and Jake packed up his things and came in the hallway. While he was getting his stuff together, she asked the class in Russian to be sure and let him know what the homework would be. They looked at her blankly, so she turned to me and opened the grammar book, pointing out all of his homework and what he should study. I nodded and told her he would do it. Everyone in his class was peering at me, since I knew most of them, and some of the Koreans were whispering "What's happened?"
But then we were back on our way downstairs, and Jake was looking at me, at the clothes I was carrying versus the clothes I was wearing, and he asked "What happened?"
"We're going home, Jake. I knew that they wouldn't make YOU strip in class."
Laughter ensued.
To this day, we wonder to ourselves, where did my professor get those clothes from? She's the sort of woman I could see accosting random men in the hallway and demanding their clothes, saying "A woman needs them."
In this entry, we're going to talk about our classes - since they take up the majority of our time here in Russia. Here is our class schedules:
Jake - Group 6
Monday 9:30am-3:00pm
Tuesday 9:30am-3:00pm
Wednesday 9:30am-12:50pm
Thursday 11:20am-3:00pm
Friday is a Study Day
Amber - Group 9
Monday is a Study Day
Tuesday 9:30am-3:00pm
Wednesday 11:20am-3:00pm
Thursday 9:30am-12:50pm
Friday 9:30am-3:00pm
Because we both have to go to the University on Tuesday-Thursday, we go together for the full day from 9:30am-3:00pm, and on Wednesday and Thursday when one of us has class and the other doesn't, we use that time as study time. Jake's classes uses one of the same textbooks as my grammar class, so it is helpful when I review with him what my class did previously (as his just started the book a few weeks ago).
All of the classes assign a lot of homework, and it usually is really nice to just relax on the weekends. To get to school takes and hour and a half, and the same on the way back, so our weekdays are also pretty quiet aside from studying and sleeping. However, both of our Russian language skills have dramatically improved.
Time for a fun story...
About a week or so ago, Jake and I decided during our lunchbreak that it would be great fun to splash in one of the giant spring puddles outside the school (think mini-lake) because we were so happy that it was finally warming up. It ended up less of a light splashing and more of an all out war, and while we quickly claimed a truce, we were both soaked before we had to hurry to our next classes so we wouldn't be late. I squished down the hallway to my grammar class and thankfully arrived before my professor, but with enough time to explain to my classmates why I was so soaked.
I was settling damply in when my professor arrived. She took one look at me and said (in Russian, of course) "Emma, are you wet?" I tucked a sodden strand of hair behind my ear and nodded while blushing. I explained that my friend and I had fallen in a puddle. She shook her head and said, "This will not do. Take off your shirt."
To which I gaped at her, feeling very much like a fish, saying, "I'll be okay, it's alright." And she simply shook her head at me and said, "Emma. I am a mother. You cannot wear such clothes, you will get sick. Look, you have your jacket, you can wear that while your shirt dries. Hang it over the heater."
She was quite insistent, so I stood up, and she made Bjorn (the only guy in my class) turn and face the wall while I took off my shirt and donned my coat. She then GASPED loudly, looking at my jeans, which were even more drenched. She ordered me out of those as well, to which I did some more of the gaping and stammering while she insisted, and then I was swiftly out of my socks and pants as well. I hung them all over the radiator, and retook my seat next to Bjorn, while one of the girls from Spain in my class (I am the only English speaker) lent me her coat to put over my legs.
My professor then asked me whether the radiator under the window was hot, and I felt it and said it was warm. She came over and felt it and said they would NEVER dry, and plugged in the portable radiator and turned it all the way up. She then grabbed my pants to hang over the new heater, and exclaimed loudly, and this time in English, "These are soaked, Emma!"
I nodded, quite nearly naked and awash with embarrassment. She said once more, "This will not do. I will find a way to help," and left the class.
She was gone for quite some time, so my peers and I started studying and going over the lesson after about ten minutes. Half an hour later, the professor returned to the class with two bags of clothing, and proceeded to have me try on various pairs of pants. I found a pair that *almost* fit, and she nodded, and around that time the coordinator for my and Jake's program came in, announcing she had got the morning bus to return to take me back to our apartment. I do not even ride the morning bus, but she said I MUST hurry or the bus would leave, as they were unhappy coming back. She rushed off, and my professor looked at me, and said, "Hurry, then, Emma." She then turned to everyone in the class and asked who had a plastic bag for me to put my wet clothes in, and no one did. She gave them all very disapproving looks, before glancing at my shoes which I was about to put on. She asked, "Are they wet?" and then pushed on one with her foot - water flooded out in a mini puddle.
She shook her head, immediately beginning to rummage through one of the two bags of clothing she had. She shook her head again, saying "There are no socks, Emma, but you CANNOT put your feet in wet shoes. You WILL get sick. Wrap your feet in these." She handed me a pair of boxers. Hurriedly, I wrapped each foot in a pair of boxers and shoved them into my sodden shoes. I gathered up my school things and my wet clothes and fled the classroom, my professor yelling after me, "This is why you cannot be friends with men, Emma!"
I rushed outside to find that the bus had, indeed, left already. So I went back inside to the coordinator's office. She looked at me, and shook her head sadly, asking "You missed the bus?" and I nodded glumly. She said that she would call a taxi, and asked if I wanted to get Jake. I nodded, since I realized he would have no idea I left early and would be sitting around waiting for me after class, just as wet as I was.
I pulled up the baggy pants and walked to Jake's classroom on the third floor. I knocked on his door, and his professor answered. I told her in Russian that I needed to speak with Jake, and she asked if it was serious or not, and I said that it was serious. She nodded, and Jake packed up his things and came in the hallway. While he was getting his stuff together, she asked the class in Russian to be sure and let him know what the homework would be. They looked at her blankly, so she turned to me and opened the grammar book, pointing out all of his homework and what he should study. I nodded and told her he would do it. Everyone in his class was peering at me, since I knew most of them, and some of the Koreans were whispering "What's happened?"
But then we were back on our way downstairs, and Jake was looking at me, at the clothes I was carrying versus the clothes I was wearing, and he asked "What happened?"
"We're going home, Jake. I knew that they wouldn't make YOU strip in class."
Laughter ensued.
To this day, we wonder to ourselves, where did my professor get those clothes from? She's the sort of woman I could see accosting random men in the hallway and demanding their clothes, saying "A woman needs them."
Friday, February 27, 2009
Pubs, Alitalia, and Almost Russia
Меня зовут Эмма.
Or at least, for all practical purposes it is now. I tried to tell my professors that my name is Amber, and they would say, "Ammm...." and look at me expectantly. So I would say slower and more deliberately "Am-ber." They would nod, and say back slowly, "Ammm.....?" Until finally I caved and called myself what I knew they wanted me to.
"Emma." Proud acceptance shined in their eyes and a small "ah hah.... Emma...." as they wrote down my name. I never believed it when my first Russian professor in the States took me aside and said "Ahmbare... eet ees not gute name for Russian layne-gwidge. You weel now be Ehmma." Four professors later, and I understand now. Here, I can only be Emma.
Меня зовут Яша.
Apparently I am completely allowed to be called Jake, unlike Emma up there. But I felt bad, so now my name is Yasha. What a great friend, I know.
This is the start of our blog "Russia Impossible", as you will soon enough find out why it is called so. You will think to yourself, "What a clever and aptly named blog title...I never could have gotten to Russia if I were them." But here we are, in Russia...or so we are led to believe.
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An extremely brief and condensed version of getting to Russia
Our Journey began in June 2008. Jake said "Lets go to Russia." Amber, thinking Jake wasn't serious, agreed.*
December swings around and we began to work with a man named Jim, listed on the Consulate website, for Visa processing via mail. (Mistake number 1)
January 1st, Jake gets back from Korea and prepares to go to Duluth to turn in the paperwork to Jim.
January 4th, Jake goes to Duluth and finds that Jim does not technically have an office. After consulting with Amber, we still agree to send him our paperwork through UPS. (Mistake number 2)
January 16th, Jim emails Amber saying that we need to get our school to immediately overnight, FROM RUSSIA, our original invitation letters. Amber emails the school, and calls, even though we know it has closed for the weekend. Amber then emails Jim, asking why, when she asked him 2 months ago about needing original invitation letters, he said "Email copies would be best."
3:00am January 17th, Jim emails, in a panic, that we still have time to get it all done. He then proceeds to blame us for taking so long getting him all of the paperwork, which we sent well in advance.
5:00am January 17th, Jim emails informing us that since we couldn't get the paperwork overnighted from Russia, we would have to pay an extra 300$ each person for the consulate in San Francisco to "Rush" our visa application.
January 23rd, Jim emails saying we should get out Visas by February 1st. Our flight, scheduled well in advance, leaves January 28th.
January 26th, Still no Passports or Visas.
January 27th, Jim emails us saying he had the passports since the 23rd and that they should be arriving on this day. Surprisingly, they do.
January 28th, Amber begins packing. The flight to London is a Success. We get off the plane, find all of our luggage intact, and proceed to find a taxi to bring us to our friends work. The taxi to his work costs us 100 GPS. (180 USD) (Mistake number 3) Outside the work of our friend, amber leaves to go get them, Jake is immediately accosted by local authorities...on the ground of him being a terrorist.
January 29th-February 1st, Pubbing ensues.
11:00pm February 1st, Amber and Jake get dropped off by theirs friends at the airport to avoid another mistake number 3. Flight departs 6:00am, they stay awake, hoping to sleep on the plane. (Mistake number 4)
5:00am February 2nd, Email notification from Alitalia of flight cancellation. Put on next flight at 7:30, or so we were led to believe.
6:30am, Check in. Alitalia informs us that you are allowed 25kg of luggage PER PERSON. Amber and Jake weigh in at 78kg total. Overages paid in stunned silence, and possible future aneurysms (380GPS ~ 500USD.) (Mistake number 5)
6:41am, Amber and Jake buy large amounts of Vodka and wait for the plane. They also discover that you cant spend Alitalia coupons on Alcohol.
7:15 am, Boards the plane to Italy. (Mistake number 6)
7:30 am, Sitting on a plane.
8:30 am, Sitting on a plane.
9:30 am, Sitting on a plane.
10:30 am, Sitting on a plane.
11:00 am, Flight from Italy to St. Petersburg departs.
11:30 am, Sitting on a plane.
11:40 am, Plane in London cleared for Take-off.
3:00pm, Arrive in Italy and began to search for a new flight to St. Petersburg. Around this time we are informed that said flight leaves once a week. We are directed to another counter.
4:00pm, We find the other counter. An angry Italian man begins to insist we leave to Moscow in the next few hours, contrary to what the last lady we spoke to said, and we believe him. (Mistake number 7)
5:30pm, The angry Italian man leaves for the day. Amber demands to know why we are being told different things by representatives from the same company. Friendly Italian lady kindly tells us the other man was an idiot, and that we can leave the next day and stay in Italy at the Satellite Palace Hotel, at the cost of the airlines, for the night. We are sent to a bus stop outside.
7:30pm, We find the bus. We are brought to the Airport Palace Hotel and told to get off. We check-in successfully, much to our surprise due to the name difference. We drop our things off in the room and head outside to explore Italy.
8:30pm, We walk by the Satellite Palace Hotel and begin to panic. Amber and Jake walk in and ask about our rooms. They, much to our immense relief, tell us that we are staying in their Sister Hotel, the Airport Palace Hotel.
11:00pm, Shortly after having fallen asleep after being awake for roughly 40 hours, we received our wake-up call.
The Middle of the Night, Amber and Jake hear a jiggling of the door for roughly 30 minutes, assume its the wind, and go back to sleep when it stop. (Mistake number 8) An unknown time later, Amber awakes to see the room flooded in light, a man entering, and Jake sitting on his bed yelling, "WHO ARE YOU?! No! No! No!". The man leaves. Amber and Jake look at each other in shock, then Jake re-locks the door, and they both go back to sleep.
January 3rd, Our flight from Italy to Moscow is a success. We get through customs in a matter of minutes because we spoke English, not Japanese. We wait for our luggage for about 60 minutes, then enquire about it. It, apparently, arrived in Italy, then was sent back to London for unknown reasons. Our flight to St. Petersburg departs, again. We spent another 2 hours filling out paperwork, and their triplicates. It is stamped by two officials three times each.
We exit the baggage claim, and find an Aeroflot representative. She handed us two slips of paper, and said the word "Bus". We tried to explain the situation to her and ask for a more legitimate response. She replied, "Bus leaving". we ran outside and got on a bus. We began to panic around the time the Bus was driving in the exact opposite direction of the Airport. After 15 minutes of this panic filled bus ride, we arrive at an Airport.
We proceed to walk to an Aeroflot representative, who helps us get tickets. (Mistake number 9) We wait till about 8pm for the flight to leave, and go through security. Once we are through, and at the check-in desk, we are informed that the two of us were given the same seat on this flight. Around 9, our flight to St. Petersburg leaves without us, as usual. We are given new tickets on the next flight. We get through with no problems this time, and Jake buys a baked Potato. Flight gets off with no problems.
Midnight, we arrived at the St. Petersburg airport, and find a taxi. We drive to the address we had, at which point the taxi driver refused to let us out. he claimed this was a cathedral, not a school. We believed him. (Mistake number 10) He instead, dropped us off outside a 24 hour cafe.
3:00am February 4th, We begin to tire. At this point we realize we cannot stay awake until 10:00am, when the office opens. We walk through back, poorly lit, alleys searching for a Hostel or Hotel. We found the former and slept.
10:00am, We arrive at the school, are given schedules. Amber was given a test, while Jake was sent to Class.
12:00pm, Jake and Amber reunite and head across town to their apartment. we were given handwritten directions. We met a friendly man with candy and got in a van with him. He spoke a little French and English, so we rode in the van with him for a while, conversing. (Mistake number 11) He had us get off at a stop not even close to where we needed to go. He leaves. We find a metro and proceed to venture on our own.
3:00 pm, we arrive at our University "Hotel". We are given an apartment, then we both collapsed into our beds and slept.
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* Note: This could be considered our first mistake. If you think so, you are encouraged to renumber accordingly.
Or at least, for all practical purposes it is now. I tried to tell my professors that my name is Amber, and they would say, "Ammm...." and look at me expectantly. So I would say slower and more deliberately "Am-ber." They would nod, and say back slowly, "Ammm.....?" Until finally I caved and called myself what I knew they wanted me to.
"Emma." Proud acceptance shined in their eyes and a small "ah hah.... Emma...." as they wrote down my name. I never believed it when my first Russian professor in the States took me aside and said "Ahmbare... eet ees not gute name for Russian layne-gwidge. You weel now be Ehmma." Four professors later, and I understand now. Here, I can only be Emma.
Меня зовут Яша.
Apparently I am completely allowed to be called Jake, unlike Emma up there. But I felt bad, so now my name is Yasha. What a great friend, I know.
This is the start of our blog "Russia Impossible", as you will soon enough find out why it is called so. You will think to yourself, "What a clever and aptly named blog title...I never could have gotten to Russia if I were them." But here we are, in Russia...or so we are led to believe.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An extremely brief and condensed version of getting to Russia
Our Journey began in June 2008. Jake said "Lets go to Russia." Amber, thinking Jake wasn't serious, agreed.*
December swings around and we began to work with a man named Jim, listed on the Consulate website, for Visa processing via mail. (Mistake number 1)
January 1st, Jake gets back from Korea and prepares to go to Duluth to turn in the paperwork to Jim.
January 4th, Jake goes to Duluth and finds that Jim does not technically have an office. After consulting with Amber, we still agree to send him our paperwork through UPS. (Mistake number 2)
January 16th, Jim emails Amber saying that we need to get our school to immediately overnight, FROM RUSSIA, our original invitation letters. Amber emails the school, and calls, even though we know it has closed for the weekend. Amber then emails Jim, asking why, when she asked him 2 months ago about needing original invitation letters, he said "Email copies would be best."
3:00am January 17th, Jim emails, in a panic, that we still have time to get it all done. He then proceeds to blame us for taking so long getting him all of the paperwork, which we sent well in advance.
5:00am January 17th, Jim emails informing us that since we couldn't get the paperwork overnighted from Russia, we would have to pay an extra 300$ each person for the consulate in San Francisco to "Rush" our visa application.
January 23rd, Jim emails saying we should get out Visas by February 1st. Our flight, scheduled well in advance, leaves January 28th.
January 26th, Still no Passports or Visas.
January 27th, Jim emails us saying he had the passports since the 23rd and that they should be arriving on this day. Surprisingly, they do.
January 28th, Amber begins packing. The flight to London is a Success. We get off the plane, find all of our luggage intact, and proceed to find a taxi to bring us to our friends work. The taxi to his work costs us 100 GPS. (180 USD) (Mistake number 3) Outside the work of our friend, amber leaves to go get them, Jake is immediately accosted by local authorities...on the ground of him being a terrorist.
January 29th-February 1st, Pubbing ensues.
11:00pm February 1st, Amber and Jake get dropped off by theirs friends at the airport to avoid another mistake number 3. Flight departs 6:00am, they stay awake, hoping to sleep on the plane. (Mistake number 4)
5:00am February 2nd, Email notification from Alitalia of flight cancellation. Put on next flight at 7:30, or so we were led to believe.
6:30am, Check in. Alitalia informs us that you are allowed 25kg of luggage PER PERSON. Amber and Jake weigh in at 78kg total. Overages paid in stunned silence, and possible future aneurysms (380GPS ~ 500USD.) (Mistake number 5)
6:41am, Amber and Jake buy large amounts of Vodka and wait for the plane. They also discover that you cant spend Alitalia coupons on Alcohol.
7:15 am, Boards the plane to Italy. (Mistake number 6)
7:30 am, Sitting on a plane.
8:30 am, Sitting on a plane.
9:30 am, Sitting on a plane.
10:30 am, Sitting on a plane.
11:00 am, Flight from Italy to St. Petersburg departs.
11:30 am, Sitting on a plane.
11:40 am, Plane in London cleared for Take-off.
3:00pm, Arrive in Italy and began to search for a new flight to St. Petersburg. Around this time we are informed that said flight leaves once a week. We are directed to another counter.
4:00pm, We find the other counter. An angry Italian man begins to insist we leave to Moscow in the next few hours, contrary to what the last lady we spoke to said, and we believe him. (Mistake number 7)
5:30pm, The angry Italian man leaves for the day. Amber demands to know why we are being told different things by representatives from the same company. Friendly Italian lady kindly tells us the other man was an idiot, and that we can leave the next day and stay in Italy at the Satellite Palace Hotel, at the cost of the airlines, for the night. We are sent to a bus stop outside.
7:30pm, We find the bus. We are brought to the Airport Palace Hotel and told to get off. We check-in successfully, much to our surprise due to the name difference. We drop our things off in the room and head outside to explore Italy.
8:30pm, We walk by the Satellite Palace Hotel and begin to panic. Amber and Jake walk in and ask about our rooms. They, much to our immense relief, tell us that we are staying in their Sister Hotel, the Airport Palace Hotel.
11:00pm, Shortly after having fallen asleep after being awake for roughly 40 hours, we received our wake-up call.
The Middle of the Night, Amber and Jake hear a jiggling of the door for roughly 30 minutes, assume its the wind, and go back to sleep when it stop. (Mistake number 8) An unknown time later, Amber awakes to see the room flooded in light, a man entering, and Jake sitting on his bed yelling, "WHO ARE YOU?! No! No! No!". The man leaves. Amber and Jake look at each other in shock, then Jake re-locks the door, and they both go back to sleep.
January 3rd, Our flight from Italy to Moscow is a success. We get through customs in a matter of minutes because we spoke English, not Japanese. We wait for our luggage for about 60 minutes, then enquire about it. It, apparently, arrived in Italy, then was sent back to London for unknown reasons. Our flight to St. Petersburg departs, again. We spent another 2 hours filling out paperwork, and their triplicates. It is stamped by two officials three times each.
We exit the baggage claim, and find an Aeroflot representative. She handed us two slips of paper, and said the word "Bus". We tried to explain the situation to her and ask for a more legitimate response. She replied, "Bus leaving". we ran outside and got on a bus. We began to panic around the time the Bus was driving in the exact opposite direction of the Airport. After 15 minutes of this panic filled bus ride, we arrive at an Airport.
We proceed to walk to an Aeroflot representative, who helps us get tickets. (Mistake number 9) We wait till about 8pm for the flight to leave, and go through security. Once we are through, and at the check-in desk, we are informed that the two of us were given the same seat on this flight. Around 9, our flight to St. Petersburg leaves without us, as usual. We are given new tickets on the next flight. We get through with no problems this time, and Jake buys a baked Potato. Flight gets off with no problems.
Midnight, we arrived at the St. Petersburg airport, and find a taxi. We drive to the address we had, at which point the taxi driver refused to let us out. he claimed this was a cathedral, not a school. We believed him. (Mistake number 10) He instead, dropped us off outside a 24 hour cafe.
3:00am February 4th, We begin to tire. At this point we realize we cannot stay awake until 10:00am, when the office opens. We walk through back, poorly lit, alleys searching for a Hostel or Hotel. We found the former and slept.
10:00am, We arrive at the school, are given schedules. Amber was given a test, while Jake was sent to Class.
12:00pm, Jake and Amber reunite and head across town to their apartment. we were given handwritten directions. We met a friendly man with candy and got in a van with him. He spoke a little French and English, so we rode in the van with him for a while, conversing. (Mistake number 11) He had us get off at a stop not even close to where we needed to go. He leaves. We find a metro and proceed to venture on our own.
3:00 pm, we arrive at our University "Hotel". We are given an apartment, then we both collapsed into our beds and slept.
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* Note: This could be considered our first mistake. If you think so, you are encouraged to renumber accordingly.
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