Hello dear friends!
Today's adventure: a public bath! I'm continuing with the plan I've been using all along, which is not to really have expectations, so I don't end up really surprised.
Also today's adventure maybe: finishing the second front half of my cardigan. That means only sleeves and button bands and then finding buttons in St. Petersburg!
Tomorrow's adventure: the Hermitage!
Also, Anna, I don't know if you read this blog, but I hope you do and you should, and I thought of you last night. (I think of the F-cones every time I see them in the street, but this is different.) Because SPAIN (where you will be in the fall) and RUSSIA (where I am now) were competeing in the semifinals for the European Cup. So basically, I watched your study abroad country beat the pants off mine in football. 0-3. Ow. Well, good luck against Germany, anyway.
Also, to mimic Linden, I just want to make sure you all know about my other blog.
Now, off to search the internet to find a new monument in St. Petersburg that I can tell my conversation class about on Monday. (p.s. I just had to look up monument right now, because all I could think of was памятник. Whoa.)
Friday, June 27, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
So currently taking an EMT class and putting off various paperwork tasks I must accomplish. Eek. However, I have a tan/sunburn because I went to the doggy beach today with a German Shepherd puppy. He's so cute, and I have decided that if I had time, I would go German Shepherd instead of Rottweiler. However, seeing as I will be in med school soon, somehow it feels like I will not have the time for a German Shepherd, since they are high maintainence (though super-cool). FYI, I am still covered in sand from this trip, since I have not yet showered. So you know.
An advantage of this summer: I now know how to save lives. I'm literally like a super-hero, though not like Superman, since you have to be born that awesome. I'm still waiting for the radioactive spider, however. Until then, I will settle for administering oxygen and resetting bones and strapping people to backboards. *Le sigh.*
Starting my accounting class this Saturday, which is less heroic but still pretty damn cool when you get down to it. I mean, taxes should be a cinch next year. Right? Right?!?!
In my EMT class there is actually a girl who is my year, in Wellesley, who was on the swim team back in high school! (The grammar in that sentence made my teeth clench in angst, possibly because I am parsing sentences or something, but I care not. Gwahahahaha!) It was rather bizarre to walk in and see her. It's funny, because the first day it was weird and I didn't really enjoy conversation with her, mostly because she was acting pretty shallow and I was probably being pretty bitchy. I left the class saddened because we had actually been pretty good friends in high school. As time passed I realized that we had both just been shy, and though we had both changed, we had changed in ~the same direction. The wonders of a liberal arts education in America, I guess.
Finally, I have something to show y'all.
AHAHAHAHA! It was AWESOME! IT'S AWESOME! Despite the swelling and slight pain. Getting it was so zen and painful, but in a grounding way. You all should definitely get them. Though you should pay less than I did, because the tattoo was more painful for my bank account than for my back. ERG. My next one shall be a Superman symbol. I tingle in anticipation - but not in a creepy X-Filesy MOTW way.
An advantage of this summer: I now know how to save lives. I'm literally like a super-hero, though not like Superman, since you have to be born that awesome. I'm still waiting for the radioactive spider, however. Until then, I will settle for administering oxygen and resetting bones and strapping people to backboards. *Le sigh.*
Starting my accounting class this Saturday, which is less heroic but still pretty damn cool when you get down to it. I mean, taxes should be a cinch next year. Right? Right?!?!
In my EMT class there is actually a girl who is my year, in Wellesley, who was on the swim team back in high school! (The grammar in that sentence made my teeth clench in angst, possibly because I am parsing sentences or something, but I care not. Gwahahahaha!) It was rather bizarre to walk in and see her. It's funny, because the first day it was weird and I didn't really enjoy conversation with her, mostly because she was acting pretty shallow and I was probably being pretty bitchy. I left the class saddened because we had actually been pretty good friends in high school. As time passed I realized that we had both just been shy, and though we had both changed, we had changed in ~the same direction. The wonders of a liberal arts education in America, I guess.
Finally, I have something to show y'all.
AHAHAHAHA! It was AWESOME! IT'S AWESOME! Despite the swelling and slight pain. Getting it was so zen and painful, but in a grounding way. You all should definitely get them. Though you should pay less than I did, because the tattoo was more painful for my bank account than for my back. ERG. My next one shall be a Superman symbol. I tingle in anticipation - but not in a creepy X-Filesy MOTW way.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
i'm in st. louis! missouri! state #4 of the trip! and i'm not dead yet!!
i'm biking! still!
crossed the mississippi yesterday (on a bridge, alas we did not ford by bike)
today is a rest day; we're staying at courtney merrell's house; that's kind of cool. i mean, it's pretty cool inside, rather warm outside.
basically, feeling like a hooligan nomad, and liking it a lot.
also biking, did i mention that?
i'm now also splitting myself between two blogs, which i think you all know, but just in case:
http://onebigbike.blogspot.com
also, have converted a few people to kate bush. quite excellent, was finally able to do the wuthering heights dance for the first time in a long time. SO GOOD. still.
less than two months till the new x-files movie! get pumped!!
love,
linden
i'm biking! still!
crossed the mississippi yesterday (on a bridge, alas we did not ford by bike)
today is a rest day; we're staying at courtney merrell's house; that's kind of cool. i mean, it's pretty cool inside, rather warm outside.
basically, feeling like a hooligan nomad, and liking it a lot.
also biking, did i mention that?
i'm now also splitting myself between two blogs, which i think you all know, but just in case:
http://onebigbike.blogspot.com
also, have converted a few people to kate bush. quite excellent, was finally able to do the wuthering heights dance for the first time in a long time. SO GOOD. still.
less than two months till the new x-files movie! get pumped!!
love,
linden
Saturday, June 14, 2008
As many of you know, (and the rest of you might be surprised to find out), I have never (before today) been outside of the Central and Eastern US time zones. My family and I spent about a week in Canada several years ago, but that hardly seems international.
So, the transatlantic flight was an adventure. Lufthansa is a very nice airline. The food was good (I have so much to compare it to, of course… but other well-traveled students said it’s really good for airport food). I had never even been on an airplane that served a meal, come to think of it. Anyway, it was pretty good. I sat between two people and didn’t realized you could adjust part of the headrest forward, so I didn’t get a lot of sleep, but I knit a bunch, and by the time we got to St. Petersburg, I was halfway through Huck Finn (which I have so far found extremely enjoyable).
The airport in Frankfurt was nice; their airport police ride around on bikes, which is neat. On the way back I might try to bring a few Euros, since we were thirsty, but didn’t have the right currency to purchase anything.
St. Petersburg has been lovely. I am so happy I am here. We stayed in a hotel the first night (Morskoi Vokzal) on Vasilevskii Island, which is the island Smolny Institute is on. Between lunch at the hotel and dinner at a nearby restaurant the first night, we went on a bus tour of the city, narrated by the woman running the cultural portion of the program. The intention was to give us a basic idea of the layout of the city, to show us around so we could recognize things. It was really helpful, even though we were all tired and might have fallen asleep on the way to Smolny Cathedral, and it might have taken us the rest of the tour to figure out where that was on the map. I’m not naming names.
Today (I left Minnesota on Thursday and arrived in St. Petersburg on Friday because I’m 8-9 hours ahead of y’all, depending on which time zone you’re in, but I’ll let you figure that out for yourself) we had orientation in the morning, with breakfast and lunch at the hotel. They went over the main points in the handbook, and there wasn’t much that surprised me. The couple days before I left, I started to worry about safety-related things, but I realized here that it’s probably safer here than in Chicago (the main threat to me is petty theft), and the fact that it stays light so late helps, too. In the afternoon, they did a little bit of oral testing and then drove us to our host families. There’s four levels of teaching, and they were using the oral tests to decide between putting people in level three or four. I think I'm going to be in group three. The upper two levels get to take a class on either literature or politics. Guess which one I picked.
So, the transatlantic flight was an adventure. Lufthansa is a very nice airline. The food was good (I have so much to compare it to, of course… but other well-traveled students said it’s really good for airport food). I had never even been on an airplane that served a meal, come to think of it. Anyway, it was pretty good. I sat between two people and didn’t realized you could adjust part of the headrest forward, so I didn’t get a lot of sleep, but I knit a bunch, and by the time we got to St. Petersburg, I was halfway through Huck Finn (which I have so far found extremely enjoyable).
The airport in Frankfurt was nice; their airport police ride around on bikes, which is neat. On the way back I might try to bring a few Euros, since we were thirsty, but didn’t have the right currency to purchase anything.
St. Petersburg has been lovely. I am so happy I am here. We stayed in a hotel the first night (Morskoi Vokzal) on Vasilevskii Island, which is the island Smolny Institute is on. Between lunch at the hotel and dinner at a nearby restaurant the first night, we went on a bus tour of the city, narrated by the woman running the cultural portion of the program. The intention was to give us a basic idea of the layout of the city, to show us around so we could recognize things. It was really helpful, even though we were all tired and might have fallen asleep on the way to Smolny Cathedral, and it might have taken us the rest of the tour to figure out where that was on the map. I’m not naming names.
Today (I left Minnesota on Thursday and arrived in St. Petersburg on Friday because I’m 8-9 hours ahead of y’all, depending on which time zone you’re in, but I’ll let you figure that out for yourself) we had orientation in the morning, with breakfast and lunch at the hotel. They went over the main points in the handbook, and there wasn’t much that surprised me. The couple days before I left, I started to worry about safety-related things, but I realized here that it’s probably safer here than in Chicago (the main threat to me is petty theft), and the fact that it stays light so late helps, too. In the afternoon, they did a little bit of oral testing and then drove us to our host families. There’s four levels of teaching, and they were using the oral tests to decide between putting people in level three or four. I think I'm going to be in group three. The upper two levels get to take a class on either literature or politics. Guess which one I picked.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Whoa!
Russia!
Departure to Minneapolis/St. Paul airport commences in 3 hrs 45 min.
I seriously need to sleep right now.
G'night.
OH ALSO I made a reference to Star Trek TNG earlier tonight and felt quite accomplished in my ongoing pursuit of geekdom. (Kathryn - I was reflecting on the fact that you noticed Sci-Fi was playing little introductiony things at the beginning of a couple of the Firefly episodes during that marathon, and I realized that the TNG theme kind of serves as a basic introduction.) I have seen two (2) episodes, and have now referenced the show twice (2x) in my life. I doubt I can maintain that ratio, but we'll see...
Russia!
Departure to Minneapolis/St. Paul airport commences in 3 hrs 45 min.
I seriously need to sleep right now.
G'night.
OH ALSO I made a reference to Star Trek TNG earlier tonight and felt quite accomplished in my ongoing pursuit of geekdom. (Kathryn - I was reflecting on the fact that you noticed Sci-Fi was playing little introductiony things at the beginning of a couple of the Firefly episodes during that marathon, and I realized that the TNG theme kind of serves as a basic introduction.) I have seen two (2) episodes, and have now referenced the show twice (2x) in my life. I doubt I can maintain that ratio, but we'll see...
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