The Beginning

Hi everyone,

Most of you are well aware that i am going off to Russia for my year abroad for 2010/11, so i thought that i would create this blog so that you can see what i am getting up to and hopefully allow people to see Russia in a different light, rather than just referencing vodka.

Anyway I have arrived in St Petersburg and finally have internet and starting to settle in. I am staying with a 'babushka' which literally means grandmother, but rather is the name for an old woman. Unfortunately i have not had that much of an opportunity to talk to her yet since she went straight off to her dacha (summer cottage), however i will give a more detailed post about her later on.

Anyway her flat is pretty cool. it hasn't been decorated in ages so therefore it has loads of crazy stuff, giving the flat a very strange atmosphere. Here are some photos:

And the kitchen:

Since i have the weekend free i decided to do some sightseeing and actually find out where my university is. Fortunately my Uni is only a 15 minute walk away and the building itself is extremely nice:

The area where i am living is actually really interesting. Dostoevsky actually wrote his book 'Crime and Punishment' two streets away from the university. The area was known as the dirtiest, grimiest area of St Petersburg and is where the homeless and beggars lived. i actually went to where Raskolnikov was supposed to have lived:

Though admittedly the house looks nice, this area (called Sennaya) has been the subject of renovations since 2003, but i think its pretty easy to imagine it as a dusty outer suburb of St P.

I also live right next to the really arty part of St P which i have yet to explore but here is a bit of graffiti that definitely made me chuckle:

Thats it for today since I need to cook dinner but i am aiming to have a new post every 2 days or so make sure to stop by when you have a bit of spare time!