It’s not Russia, it’s England.

I don’t want to seem melodramatic, but there have been some things that I’ve found strange and harder to adapt to. I promise I’m not a delicate snowflake that needs to be wrapped up in cotton wool, but these are some of the things I’ve noticed or which have been a bit of a shock to the system in my first couple of weeks back in Exe.

For one thing, the class sizes (especially for Spanish) are HUGE compared to the sets of 8 people in Russia, and even in my second year, because I was put in an advanced Spanish group with native speakers/half native speakers. Not gonna lie, I didn’t like it when I walked in to a room full of almost 20 people. I didn’t say a word the whole hour.

That’s another thing – the lessons are so short. In St Petersburg, our lessons were 1.5hrs each, and we would have 3-4 of those a day. Here, the lessons are 50 minutes each, and they are spread out through the day with lots of time in between them on some days, or all bunched tightly together on others (over lunch time, which also makes me mildly unhappy when I get super hungry and can’t concentrate properly!).

Then there’s also the fact that I have lessons in Spanish again – which I’m super excited about – but which I’m just not used to anymore having been abroad for so long!

Oh, and campus is PACKED. There are sooooo many people, and they all like walking really slowly, which makes it hard for me to arrive to my next lecture on the other side of campus on time in the 10 mins transition time we get given on our timetable.

Little things like that.

Oh, and I’m cycling again. Yes, I still cycle to Aldi once a week and cycle back a crazy amount of food (weight-wise). Drivers here are so aggressive – I’d forgotten about that. Also, the other week was the first time I’d cycled in over a year. It’s all just kind of strange but at the same time familiar.

I’ve also got myself back on the worship team rota / community group for my church here too, and I’ve already served once.

I even got my old job back at the Ram. The menu has changed. It’s crazy but I’m learning fast. The people are different though. I think this is the biggest change I’ve noticed. They are lovely there, but they aren’t the same people I spent hours working alongside in my first and second years. We had so much banter, and we made shifts fun even if they were boring close shifts. But they’ve all graduated. It’s just me, telling all of these fresh first and second years that I’m practically a granny (which is what they think when they year the words, “I’m a fourth year.” Seriously). It’s the first time I’ve felt kind of part of it, but also really not. As in, I’m in my own little bubble a bit. And i feel so much older than everyone else. One of the first things my personal tutor said when I went for my first check in this term with him was, “You look matured”. Which I have to say initially made me think of a ripe fruit or jar of pickled vegetables (oh Russia, what have you done to me?). I think he meant it as a compliment.

I just feel older, wiser – boring, maybe. Mom-ish, even. The amount I have to clean up after my flatmates… And so calm – they were right, you know. Nothing does surprise me anymore. And everything works here in England. You don’t realise how much you take the little things like clean running tap water that doesn’t turn black/yellow for granted, or the electricity and heating always working, for example. The not having to clutch your bag a certain way so you won’t have your things stolen, or the fact that I was able to FINALLY replace my laptop battery over the summer so it doesn’t have to be permanently plugged into the mains (Amazon and Ebay don’t deliver to Russia, in case you were wondering). Being able to ring up places and not worry about extortionate charges for the call. That was a hard one to get past when I had my money stolen off my card in my second term, for example. I’ve noticed that people here complain so much – about everything and anything. Their accommodation, their food, their lectures, the WiFi, the weather…. anything. And I’m just there thinking, what is wrong with you? You have everything! Your life is cushy and comfortable here and you have no right to complain. I’m just grateful to have a job, to have a room to myself and a kitchen that’s nice and clean (when I’ve been using it, anyway), a nice shower and my cello and all of my books and things around me. I don’t have to go to 4 different shops to get all of the different food items I need each week, I can just go to one, once a week. (ALDI for ever!) But some of the people around me (not all, I’d like to point out, but some), just don’t seem to appreciate that they don’t have to work this year or anything like that. I don’t know. Maybe I’m making a fuss about nothing.

Another thing I noticed was how dark it was getting here in the evenings and the mornings, and it kind of freaked me out initially, because it took me back to when (in Russia) you only really got about 4-5 hours of “daylight” per day, and how tired I felt all the time. My first term was so hard. I don’t really know how I made it through. I’m so glad it’s behind me, and yet it’s kind of strange to be able to say, that’s it. Done, over. I don’t have to do it again. And tick the box and move on. It feels like there should have been something else to follow, or maybe it’s just that I made a massive deal about it when it wasn’t that much of one in the first place.

It’s all a bit confusing – at least, it is when I have a spare 2 minutes of head space to think about anything between lectures and Ram shifts and meeting friends and church, etc. I guess this is counter-culture shock… and if you want to know how to deal with it, all I have to say to you is, “you tell me”. I think you just have to do what you did abroad; roll with the punches, accept and adapt. Eventually you’ll get used to it.

I can’t complain, really. Exeter is beautiful. I AM glad to be back, it’s just taking a while for it all to sink in and to accept it. It’s like something inside is kind of resenting the way things are in Exeter now, when before it was the same sort of feeling towards living in Russia, because everything was so different and you had to adapt and accept it all all the time, if that makes sense. Probably doesn’t for those of you that haven’t lived abroad somewhere completely different to what you’re used to. But even if it doesn’t, I appreciate you for reading this far.

Anyway, that’s enough of an update for now. I prefer to keep them short and simple. I barely edit these, you know. It literally sprouts out of my brain and I frantically touch type it out and then publish it, maybe add a few pictures here and there if I have any. It’s more raw and unedited and just ME that way. But to be honest I’ve been taking mini-hiatuses from social media ever since sometime in the middle of my time in Russia when I realised that almost everyone else in my year had gone somewhere tropical and sunny, and I couldn’t bare to look at their highlights anymore. I also got bored of mindlessly scrolling. I got… disillusioned. Good word. Ah, look, another difference I’ve noticed. Another thing that’s changed. They just keep on coming.

No pictures this time I think. That’s all for now!

¡Hasta la próxima! (До всречи!)

Processing.

I always seem to end up writing a post right when I should be doing something else. Procrastination much?

I’ve been delaying writing a post all summer since I got home (in June), mainly because i wasn’t sure what to write, or how to write it, or even if anyone is actually going to read this at all!

So, here it is, after some prompting from my Dad: my post about counter-culture shock and dealing with the aftermath of a year abroad. I want it to be balanced – so not too negative, but not unrealistically positive either. No extremes. Got it.

I remember this time last year when I was about to head off to Russia, (can’t believe it was a year ago now!), all I knew was the mixture of stories that the 4th years had told my set back when I was in my second year. It was mostly a mix of random advice and a load of scare stories.

“The people are so nice”.

“Visas are a pain”.

“Don’t mention politics!”.

“Babushkas will abuse you in the street”.

Oh, and photocopy everything. Literally – every form of ID, insurance receipt, visa, migration card, etc. All of it. Because you might get stopped by the police and asked to show them. I didn’t, fortunately. I was told (by Russians and English people alike) that I looked Russian enough, so maybe that’s why I got away with it. (NB: I always carried the photocopies anyway just in case.)

But anyway – is it any wonder that when I first landed in St Petersburg Pulkovo airport, my first thoughts looking at the soviet-looking building opposite the exit was “What have I done?!”

I think I’d blown things a little out of proportion, expecting St Petersburg to be some kind of Soviet, Red Terror, Hunger-Games like winter wonderland. I was pleasantly surprised in some ways. I actually told some Russian friends that this was what I used to think about Russia and they laughed so hard…

No, Russia is not a big bad place that’s unlivable. Life is hard there, yes. There’s a lot of poverty. You can’t get far (career-wise) unless you’re living in the bigger cities. Even then most jobs don’t earn a lot. There’s not a lot of choice food wise (veggies and fruit especially) because of the sanctions, so that makes some types that we take for granted in the UK a lot more expensive. The winter is tough. Not just the temperature and the snow… they were easy to tolerate, believe it or not. But the ice. Man, I hope I never see so much black ice again for the rest of my life!

I feel like people that have lived in / generally experienced Russia come back with a kind of wry sense of humour towards it. Yes, there was hard stuff, things you found difficult to get used to and accept, but at the same time, you just had to get on with it. It built character. You experienced this Russian phenomenon of just putting up with life, not asking questions, and sharing what you have (even if it’s not a lot) generously with others.

Как нибудь, проживём. Somehow, we’ll live on (or live through it). [Bulgakov’s “Psalom” or “Psalm” – Псалом]

It’s kind of hard to put into words what Russia is like. To truly live there I mean, and not just visit as a tourist for a couple of weeks. You start to come into contact with the different and deeper layers of society, the mentality of the people, and if you’ve studied Russian history (like I have) then you start to see how a lot of it came from the past. Russia has a tragic history. And that feeds into the Russia we have today. So I guess, another tip I have to really understand Russia as best as you can is to study their history – look at where they as a nation have come from.

One thing I’ve noticed since coming back is our negative view of Russia (esp in the UK). The problem is, our media thrashes Russians. And, to be quite honest, it’s really unfair. OK, so the government doesn’t always do the best of things – it’s well-known for it’s corruption throughout history. But the ordinary people there, people like you and me, they are just trying to get on with their lives as best as they can. They don’t have much say at all in what their country does in terms of wars and economy. They often suffer as a consequence of all of the things that the people in charge decide to do. Not everyone supports Putin, guys. In fact, a lot of people don’t. It’s just hidden, and people can’t be bothered to vote because what’s the point if it doesn’t make a difference anyway?

There was a protest in my last few months there after the 2018 election, and none of the onlookers were worried. They knew that nothing would come of it. Some of the lads in my Russian community group even laughed a bit sarcastically about the whole thing, and then moved on to another topic. Can you imagine living in a country where your leaders won’t listen to you and do what’s in YOUR best interests, rather than their own?

I challenge you to think about that next time you want to mouth-off about “those Russians”. Whenever I hear someone doing it I think of my teachers at the university, and my friends from church and from English Movie Night. It bothers me. Enough said.

Since coming back, I think I had a couple of weeks of ‘honeymoon period’ before it all kind of hit me. I just started to feel low, to be honest. My confidence crashed. I doubted myself, felt like I somehow didn’t try hard enough on my year abroad, make the most of it, that maybe I hadn’t grown and matured as much as I’d hoped, become a better person. I don’t know. This could have a lot to do with my personality and the fact that I’m very hard on myself. It’s also hard just coming back from all of that independence and solo survival to being “just one of the kids again”. I’m the oldest of 4 – so my home is quite a busy one.

I’d be lying if I said it was completely over, though hopefully it’s on the turn now. I’m picking myself up. God is great like that. And I HAVE learned a lot. From a Christian’s perspective, I learned a lot about what it really means to trust God in every way. To just get through the 9 months, financially, in the place of my family, etc. There were a couple of really awful things that happened on my year abroad which I don’t think I’d have had the patience to cope with if I felt that I’d been truly alone out there, and didn’t know I had God with me the whole time. (The fire in the kitchen, I had money stolen off my card, I lost my coat, my friends left Russia earlier than me so I had to search frantically for somewhere to live for my last month, to name a few).

I learned that in the UK we have so much that we take for granted. Little things, like everything always working properly. The quality of our buildings and roads… and we should be grateful for that.

So here it is, my processing post. I may write another one when I get back to Exeter on the 19th September to start my 4th year. Going back will be so strange. Especially how few hours of actual teaching we’ll have in comparison to in Russia. I’m looking forward to it, I’ll be living with 3 other girls in a house this time, not a flat. It’s in a really good location, and yes, the regular weekly bike rides to Aldi will continue. I’m hoping to get my job back at the Ram Kitchen, and I’m really looking forward to doing my modules on Spanish for Business and Advanced Translation (in Spanish) this year. I’ve missed Spanish! It will always have a piece of my heart. (For those that don’t know, I used to live in Spain when I was younger).

Until the next post…

Aigues-Morts in France, on holiday with the family!

2 weeks to go

Yes I am counting down maybe a little bit!!

I am super excited to be going home soon and seeing my family again. It’s been a challenging but highly rewarding year, and I feel like I fully deserve my summer holiday now!

It’s got to the point where I’m so tired and I’ve been in Russia for so long that I’m mixing my English and Cyrillic alphabets and writing nonsense words, I can’t speak properly in English, and when I’m really tired my Russian suffers too. Which, at the moment is quite frequently! Currently I’m experiencing the White Nights (Белые Ночи). Yes they are amazing and strange, but it means I’m not really getting a lot of sleep, even with an eye mask!

This picture was taken just before 12 am. The sun was only just ‘going down’. But it’s fully light like the middle of the day from about 2:30-3am.

So now we’re at the other extreme! When before in the winter it was dark all the time and you just wanted to sleep, now it’s light all the time, and you wish you could sleep but you can’t (if you’re sensitive to light like I am anyway).

But hey, I’ve almost made it through and completed my year, and that’s the main thing!

I’ve started translating a bit at church! Only for a short bit at the beginning, but it’s fun and scary and a great experience. Everyone’s really encouraging so that helps a lot 🙂

I also got sent a picture from right at the start of my time here in St Petersburg when I went to an Africa themed student party run by the church! It’s fun to look back – that was a really great evening, it made up for the fact that I wasn’t able to go home and be at my aunts wedding as a bridesmaid that day.

Time has gone by – I wouldn’t have said it’s flown exactly but it definitely has passed.

This coming week will be my last week of lessons. I have a couple of tests, but at the end of it I’ll get my certificate and that will be it! The week after that is completely free so I’ll probably be doing some more sight seeing with friends and meeting up with people before heading home to the UK.

It’s so warm and sunny here at the moment – I’ve not needed a coat in weeks! It’s such a good way to end the year.

That’s my update for now!

Halfway!

Hello once again,

It’s April already and my parents have come and gone for their little trip out here to visit me. I miss them already, but it’s hard to be down for long when the sun is shining and the temperature in St Petersburg is so warm!!

5 days ago when my parents first arrived we were able to stand on the edge of the Neva, which was still covered in ice.

Me standing on the edge of the River Neva. It wasn’t safe enough to really walk out further onto the ice, but it was thick enough at the edge – at least 1.5-2 feet thick!

We went to Peterhoff again and the sea was frozen along the Gulf of Finland – people were walking on the sea, guys.

The Gulf of Finland from the Summer Palace in Peterhoff.

But now it’s all melted and the sun is out and the brown muddy grass patches are turning green. The city looks so different already – and all in the space of 5 days!

The River Neva 4 days later, pretty much completely free of ice.

That was the River Neva yesterday afternoon after we’d walked around the Church of the Savior on Blood and the Fields of Mars (a memorial garden for fallen heroes in the wars).

The Church of the Saviour on Spilt Blood – named this way because of the attempted (and ultimately successful) assassination of Alexander II just outside when it was being built, I believe.

Inside, all of the walls are completely covered with mosaic representations of all of the key Biblical figures and of scenes of the main stories from the life of Jesus. It was truly amazing – and my favourite tourist attraction so far.

After that we walked along Nevsky Prospekt and got presents for people. Nevsky is the Main Street in the middle St P. It’s like Oxford Street in London.

Back on Friday we climbed the Colonnade to the top of St Isaac’s Cathedral, which was so cool because you could see for miles, even though it wasn’t sunny that day.

St Isaac’s Cathedral.

At the top of the colonnade.

The Bronze Horseman – featuring Peter the Great (1st).

We also walked around the Bronze Horseman (above), featured in a famous poem by Pushkin, who, for those that don’t know, is a very very famous Russian poet.

After that we finished the day spending 5 hours walking around the Hermitage.

The State Hermitage / Winter Palace

The main square – Place Square

The peacock clock – believed to have been made by James Cox. It’s an automation and still in working order, although we weren’t able to go hear it as they only let it play every Wednesday at 7pm.

On Saturday we spent the entire day at Peterhoff Palace – the summer palace by the Gulf of Finland. It was sunny but really bitterly cold that day because of the wind. One of my friends from church came with us. None of the flowers were out yet and the fountains were still switched off so they wouldn’t freeze up over the winter, but lots of renovation work was going on so it should be really beautiful in a few weeks when everything’s in full bloom.

The Samson fountain – removed by the Germans when they took over Peterhoff during the Second World War and probably melted down. This is the newer copy made after the war. The other statues were buried in the grounds and never found by the Germans, so they are still the originals, or so I’ve been told.

Then on Sunday, we went to Hope Church and my parents got to meet all of my friends from church!!

After church we ate at my favourite restaurant, Ukrop (it means Dill in Russian – dill is the herb Russians put on everything they eat!). Then I showed them my uni and Smol’ny Cathedral.

Later that evening, we went and listened to a Russian Composers concert at the Music Hall – it was my parents’ wedding anniversary and I only managed to find the tickets last week. I was worried I wouldn’t find anything as events get booked up very quickly, so it was a real answer to prayer!

This concert was the last of 5 from a series called Musical Journey – the first 4 included music from France, Spain and Italy. This concert featured exclusively Russian music – by Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff.

This morning we walked down the road to Kazanskii Cathedral and heard a sung mass (I think!) and it was so interesting and the singing was so beautiful. These last few days have definitely been an unforgettable experience overall.

Now I’m sat on my bed catching up with year abroad work and uni work and missing my parents (they’re the best!), but feeling positive because the sun is shining and winter is over. I only have 2 months left here and I want to make them count!

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to study in such a beautiful city full of such interesting culture. Though this year has had its challenges, it’s definitely widened my view of the world and taught me a lot!

Long time no speak!

Hey everyone,

I can’t believe March is almost over already! Where is the time going?

Here in Russia, it’s not really spring yet. We still have snow and ice everywhere, and the temperature is anywhere between -12 to 0 degrees most days. To us, this feels like spring, because after -24 degrees Celsius I think anything would! I’ve talked to some of my Russian friends about the weather and they reckon it should start to get a bit warmer soon over the next few weeks. But you never really know here.

Last night, I stepped out of my comfort zone again and went to a different house group from my church – basically, the one I normally go to on Saturdays branched off from the main one, which meets on Thursday evenings. I was messaged earlier yesterday, never having been before, and told simply to ‘come’, with no information as to where it would be or when it would start. Fortunately, he got one of the other girls from my usual house group to meet me at the metro station at 18:30. We got there, and started the group off like a regular house group, with some worship songs and prayer time, and then suddenly all the guys got together and surprised us with a late International Woman’s Day party. International Woman’s Day (8th March) is a massive deal here in Russia – we had the day off uni and everything. This celebration was a little late, but it was really sweet. They made eloquent Russian speeches (these are long and very heartfelt!) and they had made us a meal and pudding and wouldn’t let us do anything to help etc. Even getting ourselves a drink wasn’t allowed – they insisted on doing everything! Then after that they gave us a little present in a bag. A mini-cactus and some chocolate. It’s one of the most bizarre but amazing experiences I’ve had so far since coming to Russia. I loved it – though I felt a little awkward and unsure of what to do at some points during the evening! After that on our way home to the metro we all had a little snowball fight and chatted. It was a good evening and I’m so glad I didn’t talk myself out of it and make my excuses!

I’m also glad they got me a cactus. It’s not the most usual flower to get someone on women’s day I don’t think, but they are really hard to kill and need little to no water… and judging by my success (or rather, lack of) with other plants in my room, this one might actually live. It’s not that I neglected them. I honestly don’t know what I did wrong. I watered them once a week like my mum told me, I kept them near the window so they had enough light. I made sure the room wasn’t too cold. Both of them ended up dying. What can I say? I tried!!

Uni this and last week has been a little easier. I feel like I’ve had a small break-through in my russian language acquisition… I understand so much more now, and I can say so much more. My russian is much more accurate generally in terms of declensions (don’t worry if you don’t know what those are – but if you do you’ll understand the struggle that is the case system).

EMN is good too – tonight we’ll be watching and discussing an English classic – the Princess Bride.

All in all, these last few weeks have been challenging but rewarding – I feel like I’m finally getting somewhere with russian this term. I even got round to picking my modules for this coming year in Exeter – I’m so excited to be doing modules on spanish in business and advanced spanish translation. I do miss Exeter a little bit, so I can’t wait for September, though I definitely don’t want to wish away my time here.

There you go, a short and (hopefully) sweet update on my life here in St Petersburg since the last time I posted; (I can’t remember when that was, I’ve fallen off the bandwagon a bit what with all of my work and things!).

More to come I’m sure! Until next time,

до скоро!

Week 1: Lots of change.

Hello again!

Here’s my summary of my first week back. It’s been kind of up and down, but I guess that keeps life interesting, right?

I went to the gym for the first time on Saturday (10th) and learned a few things about gym etiquette here in Russia. People take towels around with them to put on the seats so they don’t leave sweat on them and they are clean for the next person. Seems pretty obvious, but i didn’t notice anyone do this in England over Christmas, which I don’t understand really because it is more polite and considerate to clean up after yourself… maybe I’ll adopt this when I go home in the summer! Be the change and all 😉 Oh and also, it’s perfectly acceptable (apparently) to go up to someone between sets and ask to use the machine while they rest before the next set… in England this just doesn’t happen! It’s kinda rude! That happened to me and I just had to go with it because I assumed it must be a culture thing. The lady only did one set anyway, so it’s not like it took her ages, but it was a bit strange for me. Also, the showers and changing rooms are communal – no shower curtains, so no privacy. Plus, all of the babushkas go and use the sauna, which is accessed via the showers and has a see through door so they can watch people having a shower. They all huddle in there looking very severe. This could take some getting used to…

It’s still really cold here – the lowest it’s got so far was -14 degrees C but felt like -19 (yesterday, on Thursday 15th). Sections of pavement keep getting cordoned off because of the massive sharp icicles hanging off the edges of buildings and balconies… people actually get impaled – I think one person per year or something. We were warned about this last term by our student reps. Most days there are whole teams of people up on the roofs bashing the icicles off the edges of buildings and clearing the hard packed ice off the sidewalks so you won’t trip over while walking places. It’s actually snowing again outside as I write this; according to my phone the temperature outside is -7, which isn’t that bad. I’m just glad I bought my new coat the day before it was -14. It’s royal blue. I was nice and snug. And proud of myself. #adulting

But yeah – over all the week has been a good one. I was worried before I came that my Russian friends at church would have forgotten me because I was away for so long, but on Sunday 11th most of them came up and gave me hugs after the service and said hi. I brought back some English biscuits and sweets for them to try so I’ll be taking those to my next community group session tomorrow if it’s on.

On Monday (12th) we had an induction day and a really long aptitude test and then an interview at the same time. They called us out of the test one by one to do it. It’s so they know which group to put us in based on our ability.

I was originally put in group 3 (again). But then one of my teachers, (she did my interview) said that I could try the group above me (group 2) for a day and see how I find it and potentially move up. It was a tough decision to make. Group 3 wasn’t that hard, although I tend to slip up when responding to questions. I didn’t feel particularly challenged in the same way I was last year, not even that much in grammar and that is normally the hardest lesson. I went and talked to a lady in the office where they assign us to our groups and she looked very doubtful that I would be able to handle group 2’s material. Groups 1 and 2 often have post a-level people in them, so I guess it’s a big deal that they would let me try it out. I really wanted to be in Group 2 so I would be challenged a lot. I ended up trying it for 2 days, and although they are gonna push us hard this term and get us to do presentations and essays and analyse 20th century Russian literature (Ivan Bunin anyone?). I’m going to have to work hard but it will help my Russian so much.

We get Fridays off, thank goodness. Probably because we have so many hours of lessons Monday-Thursday. Friday is ‘library day’, where you do your work etc. I tend to be quite relaxed about getting work done on Thursday evening/Friday because my brain needs a little break from all of the Russian, but now I’m in group 2 I’m going to have to pull my socks up and fit in some extra hours.

My new flatmates are lovely, we are already planning to go out for lunch tomorrow and make a flat meal together. We went out for a meal last Sunday after church too – I’ve converted them to Ukrop!! (my favourite restaurant here, for those that don’t know what it is).

It’s good to be back I guess, although I do miss my family. And considering how nervous I was about coming back, as usual, I’m now wondering what I was so worried about. I’m feeling much more at home here, everything’s familiar.

Next week I’m going to be going to Moscow on the overnight train with my friends from English movie night and Church to a Winter Bible conference. It’s from next Thursday til next Sunday, and I’ll be coming back Sunday night on another overnight train. I’ve never been to a Bible conference before I don’t think, and this one will be mostly in Russian, although the preacher is from a church in Birmingham which one of my flatmates, who is also coming, goes to. Some of my friends are going to stay on a couple of days and come back on the following Tuesday evening, but I don’t want to miss lessons and I’m planning on visiting a pen friend later in May/early June so I’m banking on being able to sight see when I’m there with her.

I think that’s pretty much everything I can think of to talk about from this week. It’s gone by at a good pace, not too fast and not too slow.

Here’s a picture of Smol’ny cathedral to end my post with. My uni meets in the building directly behind this cathedral; the buildings are part of the cathedral. I’m lucky to be studying on such a beautiful historical site.

I flew to the wrong city.

Hey guys! Happy New Year! Just checking in again – I’m currently still in England but I fly back on the 8th February so I’ve got 8 days left of my holiday! Lucky me 🙂 The reason the holiday is so long is because of the visas. They take a while to process and obtain, and students (for Russia, anyway) can choose to spend one term in one city and the next term in a different one, which often means applying for a second visa for their next location. That’s why we get such a long Christmas break. Because I’m staying in St P all year, I just get a really long holiday!

Christmas was great – I’ve really enjoyed seeing family and friends again and just RELAXING. For the first time in years I have no exams to revise for!! There is an assessment for this year though which is fairly straightforward… I have to write two reports in Russian, 750 words each (1500 in total). Both are on topics to do with language learning and cultural competence or employability skills learned/experienced while on your year abroad. I also have to put together a language learning log that tracks my progress and allows me to set realistic learning goals and markers for my year abroad. Then, this September I have to go back a bit earlier than most students to take my oral exam, which will also be about my year abroad.

So – to get to the reason for my blog title: Part of my Christmas present included a return flight ticket to Girona (Catalonia, Spain) to visit my best friend Ellie. The ticket said it was flying to Barcelona (Reus). Turns out Reus is 4.5 hours away from where I was meant to be!! For some reason Ryanair lists the airports in Girona, Barcelona and Reus after ‘Barcelona’, but two of them aren’t actually in the city of Barcelona itself. So I was meant to arrive in Barcelona and catch the train to Girona, about 40-60 mins at most. Instead I had an epic journey up from Tarragona!

My Instagram caption: Enjoying the sights on my unexpected trip to {*drumroll*]… Reus??! #wrongairport #oops #somewherespanishwilldo #suchfun #stillsmiling #fourhoursfrommydestination #adventuresinspain

I was pretty tired by the time I arrived but I made it eventually! I actually wasn’t too bothered by the whole experience – I found it funny! Maybe it’s because it wasn’t half as bad as it would have been if it had happened in Russia! Although I probably would have managed to solve it there too… being too hard on myself with my language learning. But because I was in Spain, I was able to ask people where to go and what to do and figure things out for myself. I’ve never previously had to navigate the train system in Spain, so that was a new experience under my belt.

I went to stay with my best friend Ellie – who I’ve know literally since birth. Our parents were always and still are best friends, and not many people can say they’ve had a friend for almost 22 years. We had a very relaxed week, in the middle of which we travelled to a seaside port town called Llança and stayed with a lovely couple who were very generous and fed us well. We saw some old friends and helped out at a charity shop run by someone we know, and I went for a little wander around the coast all the way to Port de La Selva where my family and I actually spent a couple of weeks several years ago now for our summer holiday.

On my last weekend in Girona, I went to Ellie’s Spanish family’s birthday celebration – we were there til at least 1.30am! It was a joint birthday for several people in the family, and the family is almost as big as my own. It was lots of fun but we were exhausted the next day.

I’m back home in England again now trying to gather the things I’m going to take with me next week to Russia. Current mood: mixed feelings. I’m going to be honest, Russia has been one of the most crazy, wonderful, but difficult things I’ve ever done in my life. I’ve had to be brave so many times and stand on my own two feet and problem solve and cope and it can get very tiring. Last term, as those of you will know who’ve been following my blog for long enough, was really tough in many ways, and I got really homesick. Its fair to say I’m a little nervous, though perhaps slightly unnecessarily so, because there’s no way this coming term will be like last year.

For one thing, I’m much more fluent in Russian than before, and can understand more and know how to deal with situations better and in a more culturally appropriate way. I already have friends out there this time, so I’m not travelling there blind with no friendly faces to welcome me. Some of them are already messaging me because they can’t wait to see me again, which is really encouraging. I also know what to pack and what I’ll need, so I won’t go packing a load of stuff that I won’t be using while I’m there. And I’ve got a lot of big events and things planned for this term – I’m going to a discipleship course in Moscow in February, and then my parents are coming to visit me in April, so we’ll be doing lots of sight seeing. Then my grandparents might come visit me in May at some point, and I’m planning on going to Moscow again to visit a pen friend who I’ve been messaging for years and we still haven’t met! By then it’ll be early June already, and I’ll be getting ready to say goodbye to people – another thing I’m trying not to focus on too much!

It’s kind of crazy how, having been home almost two months, last year feels like it never happened. And I know that this summer when I get back home in June, this coming term will feel like a distant memory once I get stuck back into life in England and preparations for my final year in Exeter.

I guess I just need to keep a positive perspective in mind and, of course, remember that I’m not doing this alone. God’s going with me, and before me. Knowing that is really reassuring!

Any-how…. I never know how to end these posts, so I’m gonna end it with a little Dr Seuss quote I found which I really love at the moment:

You’re off to great places

today is your day.

Your mountain is waiting

so get on your way!

Me sitting in the train station in Reus waiting 2hrs for the next train to Barcelona. That little handluggage case has been well used this year!

Update – last week of term.

Wow! Only 5 days left until I go home for Christmas! How the time has flown… ok so there were a few moments in the term where I felt like it was dragging out, but now that the end is here it feels like it went in the blink of an eye! And so much has happened in these last three months.

Going home is going to be good, but I’m not going to lie, I’ve been enjoying myself so much here recently that in a way I want to stay here a bit longer! So I may come back earlier than I originally intended in January, but it’s all up in the air and will be decided later.

I’ve bought most of my Christmas presents for people here, and I’m going to probably start packing on my last day here, Friday, because I won’t have any lessons. Then I’m going to go to English movie night one last time and say goodbye to people. I said goodbye to people at church too yesterday, mainly those from my house group.

I will miss them all!

But I need a break. I’ve worn myself out this week helping prepare for the party on Saturday, which, by the way, went so well!

I don’t have any really good pictures but here are the ones I do have. I and a friend had to roast some potatoes for the party, and we cut out so many snowflakes to hang up everywhere! Another friend baked millions of gingerbread cookies, and we played silly games like reenacting the Christmas story scene by scene in groups – we were all very creative; for the scene where An angel visits Mary, a guy stood on a chair and two guys stood behind him with a silvery white scarf and fluttered it like wings, and he then proceeded to get his phone out of his pocket and ring Mary to tell her about what was about to happen. You might have had to have been there to appreciate it, but I can assure you everyone was laughing at that point! We also sang the 12 days of Christmas song, which everyone found hilarious. We made a roast dinner for everyone to try (hence the roasted potatoes) and we even made sprouts for everyone and told them that they are traditionally eaten but also hated in England, but they all went so I think Russians like sprouts!

But hey, after all of that excitement, I had to sleep with a hoodie and a hat on last night to try and get my cold to go away – my window in my room lets in draughts so I end up getting quite cold in the night, and that combined with poor sleep and lots of extra activity just really tired me out. I need to make it through this week though because I have more tests! None of them actually count towards my degree but I want to do well to show that I’ve learned stuff and also so they’ll put me into a more advanced group next term. We don’t know if they’ll base that off our test results yet or if they’ll send us another aptitude test by email so it can’t hurt to get good marks.

I’m hoping to go to Ukrop (the chain of vegetarian restaurants) soon with a friend from my group to celebrate he end of term. She won’t be coming back to St P next year, she’s going to Germany for the other half of her year abroad, so sadly we’re going to be saying goodbye for good this Thursday. In fact, I’m the only one from my group returning to St P next year, so that’s going to be weird!

I’ve found housing for next term in a great location near all the shops I normally go to for food etc so I’m really happy about that, and the rent is cheaper so I’ll be saving some of my loan, which can be used for other things!

So yeah that’s me this week. I can’t wait to go home and have lots of hugs and catch up on the advent calendar and play my cello again! I just hope I can defeat this cold!!

In case I don’t post until the new year, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year everyone!

С рождество и с новом годом!

How to cope with Culture Shock

Hello guys!

Small update before I get into my best tips for dealing with culture shock. So it’s midway through my penultimate week and I’ve been Christmas shopping and hanging out with friends as much as possible before I come home. I’ve made some really amazing friends through the student house group I go to on Saturdays and through the English movie night I go to on Fridays. Oh and through church itself on Sundays. All of these things keep me busy and I’m starting to have more up weeks than down ones now, which is so encouraging! My Russian has improved a lot and I’m sure it will improve even more after Christmas when I’m back for 5 months!!

I’m so excited about Christmas, and to make things even better and cheer us up in our final couple of weeks before we fly home, it finally snowed here in St P!

It really helped to pick our moral up off the floor (we all know that end-of-term feeling) and got our excitement up for Christmas. I don’t know where this year has gone to be honest; probably because I’ve been here there and everywhere with uni and travelling abroad etc, and I’ve just not had time to sit down and relax in one place so Christmas is going to be a great time to do that with family.

This and next week I’m taking a load of exams, which don’t count towards my degree but I want to do well in to prove that I’ve improved, so I’ve been revising and working for them. This Thursday I’m meeting up with some other girls from church to prepare for the Student Christmas party on Saturday evening, which is going to be really fun. I’m going to cut out all of the paper snow flake decorations and help make mice pies etc and on the actual day I’m going to wear my Santa hat and Christmas leggings. Just getting into the spirit and all 😉

Christmas definitely couldn’t come any sooner, and although I know I’ll probably miss my friends from Russia while I’m home I also know that I need the break. I’m still not really all that sure when I’ll be flying back out here yet but probably sometime around the end of January or the first week of February.

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas… it’s all that’s on my mind!

Anyway, here are my best tips for how to deal with culture shock. They might not all work, and you don’t have to do all of them, but they are here as suggestions to try and help you settle in a new culture:

1. Don’t isolate yourself. Join some kind of group with a similar interest – if you like dancing, join a zumba class; if you’re a believer, join a church; if you’re into sports, join a sports club, and so on.
2. Isolate yourself. Let me explain – sometimes, everything will just get a bit much and it is quite easy to end up being out every single day trying to make the most of your experience here and saying yes to everyone and everything. While this is good, sometimes it can’t hurt to have some time to yourself to recharge. Especially if you’re an introvert. My first 3 weeks were so ram-packed that eventually I had to be like, no, we’re staying in and having a pyjama day this Saturday and we’re not going to see anyone or do anything. If it will keep you sane, make sure you schedule these times in where you just relax.
3. Try something new – something that scares you! I was terrified – literally, shaking with terror – at the thought of joining the student home group, mainly comprised of Russian students. I genuinely thought they would realise that I don’t always understand or know what to say properly and kick me out and be like ‘you can’t come back here’. As if they would be so mean! Turns out they are such a lovely group of people and they love hearing what I have to say and are always happy to help me out if I can’t remember words. Now I wonder what I was so worried about!
4. Keep in contact (friends and family at home). Some people drop off the face of the planet when they go on their year abroad and resurface when they get back in the summer. I had a friend that did this – he was studying Arabic, and I messaged him when he’d just got out there and then 10 months later finally got a reply (he was apologetic!). While this might work for some, you’ll find re-entry into your old life so much easier if you stay connected.
5. Don’t complain too much. It’s ok to process what’s happening to you with your family and friends, but try and look for the positives about your new home and not always compare it to home. Remember, this new place isn’t wrong, it’s just different. The people that live here don’t know any other way of living – to them this is normal. And what is normal anyway? Everyone think’s they are ‘right’ in their own head. You need to challenge this view and widen your perspective, so try and take the challenge.
6. Think about the positives. I’m so grateful to be here and making the most of all of the new and wonderful opportunities that are available here… I’m definitely growing as a person (confidence especially!) and learning to trust God more with every area of my life, and personally that’s really important to me. Also, not many people have the guts to go on a year abroad – it definitely makes you stand out from the crowd.
7. Accept that you will possibly never be fully converted to the new culture and that that’s ok. Not everyone worries about this necessarily, but you can kind of feel like you have to be a native by the time your year is up… and you just won’t adjust that much or be able to speak the language that well unless you’re an absolute genius or were already studying the language before uni. And it’s ok. Your language will still have really improved!

I hope these tips help.

The tiredness is real…

[Edit: I thought I’d already posted this but I must have forgotten! Here it is, one week late!]

Hello all,

Here is my not-so-weekly update post! This and last week have been so tiring. Last week, it was like I wasn’t getting enough sleep and in lessons I couldn’t get anything right. The tiredness just made it worse, and made my mood worse. By the weekend, I was really having a low moment! This week, by contrast, has been better in the sense that I was able to focus better in lessons and I wasn’t as tired from not sleeping well, so I felt like my Russian improved slightly. But I’m still tired because for some reason my normal bus, the number 5 trolley bus, keeps not appearing at the uni end of my route, so I’m having to walk 30 minutes to the end of Nevsky prospect to get a number 5 or 22 to get home, so it’s taking me even longer basically. And travelling takes up so much of your day, and it really tires you out. So basically at the moment I’m this massive ball of exhaustion, and I don’t want to do my work when I get home, and because the daylight hours are getting shorter and shorter, I’m wanting to curl up and sleep as early as 7:30 in the evening! The sun doesn’t rise until 9am, and starts going down anytime from 4pm. So we’re not seeing a lot of sun here in St P!

The temperatures aren’t too bad, although they hang around 0-1 degree (Celsius). The inside of every building is really well heated, so you don’t need your coat when your indoors. Everyone on the street is wearing these massive insulated coats which go down to the top of their knees. They look like they are wearing sleeping bags, basically. And everyone is wearing a scarf or hat – some children are wearing full on snow suits. Still no actual snow yet though. We were told it would definitely snow before the end of October, but so far we’ve only had this kind of half-rain-half-snow slush occasionally. Mostly just rain and wind. And every day is cloudy.

Apart from the tiredness life here is kind of the same as normal. Most of my classmates are also feeling really tired – more than normal – so it’s not just me. We’re all struggling with culture shock still in some ways. I don’t intend to speak badly of Russia – people do that way too much already, especially in the media – this is more outwardly processing some of the things I’m experiencing and that challenge my Englishness if that makes sense. It’s little things, that just nag at you. For example, in Russia, people don’t like to plan ahead. Last minute plans are totally normal, and last minute plan changes don’t even cause people to blink. I, however, like to have some kind of loose plan ahead of time, depending on what it is… so you can see how this would challenge my ability to just be flexible and go with the flow and try and live like a Russian person would.

Recently, I struggled because my host ‘mum’ arranged something for me which I didn’t want to do. She came and asked me ‘what time can you do tomorrow’, and I didn’t know how to say that I didn’t want to do it so I ended up naming a time, and then the bus made me get home really late from uni which meant I had less time to do work that day, which made me stay up later to get work done and added to how tired I’ve been feeling already.

It’s funny because you never think that you’re going to have a problem. You think you’re so open minded. But when you have to live somewhere else full time for a longer period of time, you realise just how different it is and how all the little things really get to you. It definitely teaches you to be more patient and flexible. But sometimes it does get to you a bit, and that’s why my friend from Church kindly let me stay in her flat for the weekend to give me a small break from everything.

Blog post-

Hello once again, and sorry for my delay in updating you all on my life here in St Petersburg! It’s been a very busy week and I am officially exhausted. But it’s been a great one, for all the business.

Last week was really hard – I was very tired and adjusting to the time difference again after being home for a week at the end of October, which meant that I ended up making simple and silly mistakes in all of my lessons and in any conversations I then had with people outside of class. This week, however, I had some small breakthroughs – so I want to take a minute to feel a **tiny** bit proud of myself for that! I used some new words for the first time, and realised I understood so much more than at the start of September.

At the English movie night on Friday, I was put in the beginners group, which meant that I had to translate a lot of what I was saying into Russian afterwards, which was challenging but I managed to do it and people complimented my Russian, which is so great to hear!

Then, yesterday, I did something really scary, and went along to the new Russian student community group with one of my English friends who had been studying Russian for longer and had been going to the group before. Sadly, my friend is leaving next Saturday and won’t be coming back to Russia because the second part of her year abroad will be spent in Germany, so she kindly offered to introduce me to everyone and offer moral support. I was so scared on the way there in the metro because I was worried they’d do something crazy like kick me out because my Russian isn’t always brilliant and I can’t always understand everything, although as I said earlier I’m seeing improvements finally. But they were all really nice and there was no pressure to talk if you didn’t want to, which was good. I understood parts of it, and I joined in with the icebreaker game and singing at the beginning with no problems, although I did make a few grammatical mistakes. I didn’t want to join the group to practice my Russian though, I know that my Russian is no where near good enough really yet. It was a huge leap, and to be honest I’m wondering if I’m trying to run before I can walk by going now instead of after Christmas (which would be a very Charis thing to do). But I really wanted to join to make some Russian friends, people my age, and also people who believe the same things that I do. They are all really lovely, and although Russians can seem really unfriendly at first, once they know you a bit better they are really kind and want to know everything about you.

It was hard though, because there’s kind of a “western version” of Russian, where they’ve modified their word order etc to be able to make more sense to foreigners, but I f they come from further east they tend to use what is known as “proper Russian” which is a bit different! So it’s a really steep learning curve, but hopefully with time I’ll get better at it.

Anyway, today I’m off to church and then back to my homestay. I stayed a couple of nights at a friends house to have a small break from everything.