Day 5

So... we've been in Petersburg for 5 days now... doesn't really seem like it has been that long, but in the scheme of the trip we've barely begun. We are starting to feel a lot more comfortable with the city and Russian culture and get over our initial culture shock... which is the worst I've experienced in the 5 countries I've been too. I've heard that a more deep culture shock can often hit you after 1 1/2 to 2 weeks after which you really accept your surroundings... we'll see if this happens. We have actually spent a lot of our time just sitting in our room (which is larger then we expected with a double... very hard... bed, 2 comfortable sitting chairs with a small desk and ample closet space) and sleeping a lot. We've had upwards of 12 hours of sleep each night, just adjusting from the jet lag. The light is definitely odd... it looks like 4 in the afternoon with a nice orange sunset for about 3 hours well past 9pm or 10pm... the city is equally busling even at the later hours and could easily... and does... fool you into thinking it is afternoon, not bedtime. We've been eating McDonalds a lot, just because we can muddle through ordering it.... the names are essentially the same, but it is funny to seem them in Cyrillic. We started our Russian classes yesterday, and are the only 2 beginners currently in the school. So we essentially have a personal tutor. This should change over the next week as more student arrive from other programs. We took a bus tour (some of the attached photos) which was the first event with the CU group. They are all nice and we got comfortable with each other pretty quick. One of the students is fluent in Russia which made a huge break from the restaurant difficulties of ordering. The bus tour took us all over the city, which is huge and has history on every corner. We also walked around yesterday, which was the most we've done. We also got cell phones which is really nice because we are not linked with the rest of the group. We took the subway which was crazy. The escalator that descends into the station is indescribably long. Maybe 1000 feet or more... and is the deepest subway in the world. We look forward to doing more Russian as it is slowing increasing the ease of getting around. Well, that's it for now. Paka!