St. Petersburg, Russia

Dear Mom,

I have the sniffles and I miss you.

Today we leave St. Petersburg, and sail towards Poland. It's been a great three days here.

To be honest, I think Russia surprised us all a little bit. Many of us went in with a set of expectations that ended up being challenged the longer we spent in the country. It started with the information we received. Based on the design of the program, Semester at Sea has us do a lot of preparation before going to a country. For Russia, I read a history of Russian politics in my Comparative Politics class, and in sociology we read about Russian fatherhood. We had coffeehouses and chatted at dinner, and the night before each port SAS does a major run-down of what's going on in the country we're visiting.

In Comparative Politics, when people were asked to name the first word that came into their head when they heard the following words: Russia, USSR, communism, the majority of the class said:
communism; communism; bad.
(as an exemplary, enlightened political science scholar, these were not the first words that came to mind. I'll admit it though, my own thoughts weren't so different.)

Then in our cultural introduction meeting, we learned more about the situation in Ukraine, and an assortment of cultural differences between Russians an Americans (things like disarming prolonged eye contact (findings: very, uncomfortably true), and some phrases, etc).

Then in our logistical meeting, we learned more about safety, crime, and racism.

In short, Russia sounded like a desolate place full of unsavory characters.

Most of those things turned out not to be a problem, although some things were.

Things that were true:
- cold
- crazy levels of pickpocketing
- beautiful
- subtle racism


things that were not true
- creepy communist vibe
- antagonism towards Americans


Cold
Yes. Plain and simple. I was told St. Petersburg only has about 60 purely sunny days all year. It drizzled two of the three days I was there, and all three were overcast.

Pickpocketing
This also turned out to be true. Our guides were very vigilant about reminding us to clutch our bags closer whenever we slipped. However, while touring the Hermitage museum, the man next to me (a professor) did get pickpocketed and his wife saw it happen. I've heard a bunch of other stories as well.

Beautiful
St. Petersburg has such a long, rich history, and it's buildings are centuries old. While there, I visited a ballet school to watch renowned Russian youth rehearse and perform, and visited the Hermitage Museum. Both of these experiences were beautiful and inspiring.
At the ballet school, we met with the director and watch 12, 13, and 17 year old students perform. The girls were already on pointe and had performed across Europe. They were so talented, and so young, and yes I felt a tad inadequate.
The Winter Palace in particular was gorgeous. The palace is a part of the Hermitage museum and the museum's architecture is equally as stunning as the artwork inside. If anyone knows of any 250 year old palaces on the market with an intimidatingly large throne room, let me know.
The museum itself is huge, with over 16,000 paintings alone. Like the Louvre, it would take years to look at each painting for even just a few seconds.
I was planning to visit Catherine the Great's Palace about an hour outside of STP to see the stunning rooms, and also a trip to experience authentic Russian food, but unfortunately the cold did me in and I got sick. I guess that just means I'll have to return one day!

Subtle Racism
I had read up a bit on racism before setting sail because I was curious, and we did discuss it a bit in preparation. Russia is a relatively homogenous country so in some parts of the country, people just haven't experienced many minorities. Personally, the worst I experienced were some inquisitive stares and a disdainful look from customs. Others had more negative experiences, and I know a fellow voyager whose arm was grabbed roughly but thankfully then released. Many of my friends, however, were treated like celebrities and had numerous photo requests. People were genuinely surprised to see black people. To be honest, I did a lot of reflection on race while there.

Communist
St. Petersburg feels like a few other European cities. To a traveler, the government does not feel omnipresent except for an overabundance of police near where we were. While we were there, they were gearing up for local elections, and there were a lot of geeky posters of balding white men with over-colorful backgrounds and yellow block letters in Russian promising some sort of undeliverable.

Antagonism
The only antagonism I ever experienced was discussing Ukraine with our guide. She started off saying "Russians are mostly ambivalent towards the US" and ended with "yes, there's definitely tension over Ukraine and US involvement. Definitely." So... yes on the antagonism front? Unclear.

I had a great time in the first stop and hope to post some photos soon! I will also post an entry entitled "Life at Sea" because there's lots to say about living on a ship.

Love,

Nicole

PS: a sad update. Because of the Ebola outbreak and health concerns, we will no longer be traveling to Senegal and Ghana. I'm disappointed about this as I feel that it changes the whole nature of the voyage. However, I do understand SAS' reasoning and I just hope that the outbreak will be controlled and people both sick and at risk receive proper care.