I love studying abroad because, no matter what you’re doing at any given moment, as long as you’re speaking Russian while you’re doing it, it becomes an intellectual exercise. This is why, when I woke up this morning and remembered starting a conversation with the Russian stranger standing behind me in line for the bathroom at the jazz club last night (after perhaps one too many vodka tonics), I could be proud instead of embarrassed. All I really remember of the conversation is that she was born in St. Petersburg and I told her my life story. I’m amused to say that I genuinely do feel proud. I also feel proud for stealing a roll of toilet paper from the bathroom, but not because I was speaking Russian while doing it. Danny and I just needed some for the dorm.

The jazz club, called The Other Side, had a blues band last night. But as it was a Russian blues band, the music had a unique twist to it. I’m used to listening to Russian bluegrass, and there are just certain genres of music that, when sung in Russian, just sound completely different from what you’re accustomed to. It was still awesome, so we returned again tonight for some acoustic Cuban music and have plans to go back next weekend as well to see a band that the bar describes as “post folk”.

Tonight I went to dinner at an Azerbaijani restaurant with a few friends from the program and a few new ones as well, Benny and Kostya. Benny is a German also here studying Russian. We met him in the dorms when he was also asking for help using the internet. Kostya, Benny's roommate, was born in Tajikistan during the Soviet Union but lives in Germany now, so he speaks fluent Russian and German. Since Kostya doesn’t speak English and Benny doesn’t speak Russian well enough yet, all three languages were being spoken at various points during dinner, depending on who was talking to who. Kostya is a very interesting guy and impressed us all by drinking an endless amount of vodka during dinner. I’m happy with how many friends we’ve made here from outside the ACTR program. Russians and international students alike. That also didn’t happen (for me) in Vladimir. It’s amazing to me that I could have a delicious dinner with wine and friends, having fun and, again, since I’m speaking Russian, I end up learning as much as if I had been in class that whole time. I came out of dinner with some new vocabulary and explanations of Russian cultural habits, courtesy of Kostya.

I was really excited about posting some new videos but I’ve been having some problems uploading them and am too tired to deal with it right now. I will try again tomorrow. I did manage to get one online, which is very short. I just happened to catch on video the happiest moment of my entire life:




Tomorrow I will probably do homework and maybe another solo walk around the city. My first impressions of Peter have held up: it definitely feels like home.