The search is on! Now that I've got my internship lined up and the summer is fast approaching, it's time to find lodgings in the Venice of the North (aka Peter's Great Folly).
I've been looking online and found several places, but everything seems ridiculously expensive to me. Part of this is that my preferences are considered luxuries to Russians. A real bed, not a fold-out couch? A washing machine, you won't just hand-wash? A full kitchen? What extravagance! And so, the cheapest options are still at the upper end of my budget. Maybe I'll be able to negotiate down, but this is Russia--nobody's easily intimidated.
My honors' program--who will be paying my rent--has been extremely evasive every time I bring up concerns about cost. The general feeling of their end of the correspondence is "find something safe, not too expensive, that you like--preferably with a host family or roommate." My appeals that finding a host family or roommate when I have no connections here besides the ones my abroad program has provided have so far fallen on deaf ears. As have my frequent allusions to wanting more independence in the summer (and thus not putting much effort into the host family idea).
So if anyone has suggestions or words of advice on apartment hunts in general, or Petersburg specifically, please let me know! I've never done this before, so every bit of knowledge is welcome, ever that which is considered common sense among *real* grown-ups.
In other news, midterms have arrived. Not nearly as stressful as this season is at Conn, but still some added pressure. I've realized that part of my recent malaise is that I don't get a spring break while in Russia. It's odd, but I didn't miss it until I realized that after midterms we just go right back to class. This piece of news is almost as bad as when I discovered in 5th grade that because Canadians don't celebrate Presidents' Day, I would have to go to school on my birthday for the first time EVER. Okay, so it's not nearly as bad as that, but I've been reminiscing about Canada recently for some reason.
In a development that I'm sure will only interest my parents and the few other readers out there interested in my academic future, I've begun researching for my thesis. Yes, for once in her life, this procrastinator is starting a project months before she has to. At the urgings of my advisor, I'm reading up on translation theory and Russian literature. By which I mean I'm reading things in English about Russia. A lot of it is really interesting, actually, and the history geek in me is finally getting some attention after several years of lying dormant. This book in particular is fascinating to me, as it discusses "Russian Characteristics" that are still somewhat true today, almost 100 years later. [Note: it was written in 1912, 7 years after the first revolution and 2 years before the 2nd and 3rd]
On another unrelated topic, my program is taking us on a trip to the second biggest beer factory in Europe (behind Heineken) on Wednesday. Hopefully it'll be a more interesting tour than our excursion to the water treatment museum this past Wednesday. Seriously. We went to a museum dedicated to the water treatment center of St. Petersburg. For 3 hours we toured an old water treatment plant that has been turned into a museum discussing the methods and mechanisms of clensing water. THREE HOURS!
And then I went to Carl's Junior (a burger place slightly above McDonald's in the fast-food hierarchy). Which is the only thing that saved the day. Well, that and successfully navigating my way back to the metro stop from the clinic. New routes around the city are always a victory in my mind. A trait I've definitely inherited from my dad.
Yes, faithful readers (family members) I have once again fallen ill. Nothing as serious as bronchitis this time, merely a minor case of conjunctivitis. Which I somehow managed to self-diagnose. Seriously. I woke up after a nap Monday afternoon to goop in my eyes and thought "I probably have cunjunctivitis". Which was later confirmed by a doctor who gave me eye drops with anti-biotics and steroids in them. Think the steroids will improve my vision? I always wanted to have a superpower...
No comments:
Post a Comment