I slept in till 8:30 on Saturday and proceeded to do all of my laundry efficiently and by hand. Usually I just toss a few things into the shower with me and rub it with soap until it smells nice, then rinse, ring, and hang up. This time I used a bucket, some detergent, I let things actually soak, and a sloshed it around using lot of elbow grease. Enough elbow grease to give me a blister. It was hardcore and laid back all at the same time. I ended up not going out Friday night due to a bad stomachache. Since I was still feeling that Saturday, I called it an early night.
Since that sums up Saturday, I’ll move right along to Sunday. Philly and I met up for 3 hours in the afternoon on Nevskii Prospekt, except much further from Dom Knigi and other touristy sites. She’s only one metro stop from me, making her the person who lives closest to me. Everyone else that I’ve met so far lives on the island, at least 40 minutes away from me. Well, except Philly now of course. She showed me her McDonald’s Internet haven, how to buy a metro card, a good grocery store for my vegan/vegetarian needs, a book store (where I finally bought a map…), and a monastery that is ideal for wondering and reading. She visited Siberia with her dad last year, and decided to come back again this year for her study abroad. She was so grateful to the hosts that took care of her and her dad while she was here the first time, she wished she could have been able to show her gratitude. That was part of her reasoning for coming back, but she also finds Russia fascinating and just wanted to experience it.
I think that is the reason a lot of international students and tourists in general come here: to see if it’s actually as different as it’s made out to be. In some ways, St. Petersburg feels like any large city. There is efficient public transportation, a lot of people, tall buildings… but aside from the beautiful architecture, I can’t currently pin point the big difference. The one that all the hype is about…
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