Tips from the Field! – 06/09
Even though I have only been in Saint Petersburg, Russia a little over two weeks, I feel as if I have adjusted well to life here (although the adjustment period was not without its ups and downs). Here are some tips that I learned from experience and from other people, on how to survive the first few days in Russia. First of all, I begin with tips for before you get here. Eat sour candy and practice your “Russian street face.” Also, to practice navigating the Russian streets, have your friends throw things at you as you try to dodge them while keeping a good walking pace. This will be invaluable when trying to dodge other pedestrians on Russian streets. Even though you may only be here for a short time, I recommend not trying to do and see everything in one week. As some of us say here, it is easy to get “museum-ed out.” Classes are intimidating the first week, but once you realize that the teachers are not going to bite your head off for completely butchering their native tongue, you calm down and it starts to get a little easier. You quickly discover that you can speak a horribly mutated form of Russian that the other students in the program will understand, but no Russian ever will. I found that not always hanging out in a group and doing basic things alone, like grocery shopping and eating lunch, can help build confidence. Many Russians do not have a coffeemaker in their home. I learned that the trick to drinking instant coffee is to psych yourself out by repeatedly telling yourself that it is not coffee, it is just another warm brown beverage with caffeine. You will develop your own style of interpretive dance when trying to explain what you want in a store. The I-don’t-know-if-the-problem-is-with-my-phone-or-my-SIM-card one is super fun. Even if through dance you have only succeeded in making the clerk even more confused, don’t worry! It was a good workout for you, and you’ve given the clerks an interesting story to tell when they get home. Everybody wins. Make no mistake, it will rain. Wander the streets with no goal in mind, but look around at everything — this will help familiarize you with the city. Cemeteries are best visited on chilly overcast days. It adds a somber feeling that sunny days simply lack. However, I would not recommend doing a boat tour on days like these. You’d be surprised at how useful having a student ID is. Here in Saint Petersburg, you can get into the Hermitage for free with one. I recommend buying books; they are much cheaper here, but don’t start out with the classics. Buy a cheap Russian mystery or romance novel and work your way up from there. You’d be surprised at how much you can understand without a dictionary, and how many interesting new words you can learn. The most important lesson that I have learned here is don’t take anything, including yourself, too seriously. Mistakes will be made, but it is best just to laugh them off and not to be consumed by failure.
Julia Baker
George Mason University, St. Petersburg, 2009
American Councils Study Abroad Programs 1776 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Suite 700 Washington, DC 20036 Tel: 202-833-7522 | Fax: 202-833-7523
© All Rights Reserved. | Legal