Living Like a Russian: Familiarizing Myself with the City Before Classes Begin

When I first arrived to St. Petersburg, I was too tired and jetlagged to care. In fact, us all students stayed in a western-style hotel the first two days for orientation. I was extremely homesick, missed my family and friends terribly and I did not even feel like I was in Russia.

That all changed quickly as soon as my host mother arrived. She was two hours late and came rushing in to the hotel for me. She just got off work from the museum and was stuck in traffic. We got into a taxi and headed towards my new home. One thing that throws everyone off is that at first glance and upon hearing me first speak, I sound like I am from here, St. Petersburg, Russia. But the more I talk, the more I say something stupid and then they become confused wondering where I am from. I look Russian, I talk like a Russian, but I don't exactly use the right grammar...and I smile too much. The adventure began in the taxi ride home. I started asking the taxi driver about the music playing on his stereo and after a while he kept looking at me through his mirror confused. This is the story of my life in St. Petersburg so far.

My first impression of my host mother, Irina Mikhailovna is that she is an impatient and annoyed woman. She rushed into the hotel so serious wearing a business suit. However, as the cab ride progressed she warmed up to me more and more. (She had no choice since I couldn't keep my mouth shut and asked a million questions.) She turns out to actually be one of the sweetest, most open, and generous woman.

The"kvartira" or flat is in the smack center of Downtown, about a 20 minute walk to my new university. I got very lucky because a lot of students have about a 1-2 hour commute to school everyday. The taxi arrived to the flat and Irina and I dragged my 50lb suitcase and 20lb carry-on towards my new home. Two young boys, in their teens immediately offered to help us carry up my luggage. The flat is on the second floor past a sketchy staircase and through a huge bulky door with metal, dungeon-like locks to it. It takes a medieval-looking key to unlock that thing. The apartment is compact and lovely with all the typical perks of a Russian apartment (which severely remind me of my aunts and grandpa's houses): two separate rooms for the toilet and for the shower, an immensely small but cute kitchen with a round dining table, there are rugs and black and white pictures hanging on the walls, cabinets for clothes instead of closets, old bookshelves along the walls filled with ancient books that are probably rarely or never read, a hand held shower-head, patterns and floral print on everything from curtains to bed sheets, and a teeny tiny washing machine right in the doorway with no dryer.

My host family is a lovely couple: Yura and Irina with their two cats which they rescued: Senya and Sophia. Since their daughter got married and moved out, my poor host mama became lonely so she started collecting little American students to live in her apartment while they attempted to study in St. Petersburg.

For the first couple of days, the CIEE program kept us all occupied with getting to know the city. We had a bus tour and then a scavenger hunt. I already feel very comfortable with the wonderful city of St. Petersburg and it's starting to grow on me. Despite the fact that everyone takes public transportation to get around, I have no problem whatsoever walking everywhere and in fact enjoy that more. At first, the city seemed a bit scary along with its people, but the more I walk around, the more I begin to feel safer and safer. I realize that although the Russian people look very intimidating on the outside, they are actually very warm, friendly, and generous people. They just have a sort of dry humor and sarcastic side that is only understood if you listen to what they say rather than how they say it.