On Saturday I walked over to the center of the city without using any form of public transportation but my feet and I was proud. When I got to Nevsky, I explored this little mini mall across the street from Gostiniy Dvor and discovered this awesome little section that sold quirky, unusual Russian doo-dads, where I found something that was perfect for my mother (it was a wallet that looked like two hands pressed together with the phrase, "Всё моё" threaded on to it). Then I stopped in at Dom Knigi to buy a book in Russian (I picked one by Gogol) and took myself to the Russia version of Subway! That was a feat in itself because I had to order all my ingredients in Russian, but I was successful and got everything I wanted! I basically just chilled there and attempted to read my Gogol until it was time to meet up with the other students.
That night we first went to the local laundromat/bar, Stirka. I had read about it in my guide book, but hadn't been there yet so I was pretty excited - it had a very chill atmosphere: it was small, but there was a DJ, a disco ball, a bunch of hipsters with dreads, a couple of groups playing Russian Scrabble, etc. And best of all, I ordered Kirschenbeer, which is basically just beer with cherry syrup - yum!
Then we went to the German bar that I had been hearing a lot of good things about from my friends in the program. It's a tiny, tiny bar, but extremely welcoming - when you open the entrance door, the bartender, Sasha, immediately starts calling you to, "Come in, come in! Join the crowd!" and so on.. We met the Vladimir group there and got to see our friend from ND, Jeff, for the first time since we'd been to Russia. It seemed like their group had gotten really close - we definitely want to try and go visit them some time this semester if we can ever get ourselves organized to travel!
On Sunday, my family went out for the morning, so I secretly ran the stairs (they told me it might upset the neighbors, but I do it anyway when they're not around hehe) and, drumroll, I don't know what came over me, but I gave myself a haircut.. My host mother had cut my bangs for me the day before, and, while she had done a good job, I decided that I wanted them a little bit shorter. After I had overcome that obstacle, I started looking at my layers and decided, what the heck, and trimmed them too. I was surprised at how liberating it was! And it actually turned out looking pretty good, if I do say so myself. I may never pay for a haircut again!
After that excitement I went to Mega, the HUGE mall, but made the mistake of going to the one that is super far away, not realizing that there is actually one pretty close to my home. But I found a lot of really good sales (70% off!) and bought myself a new hat, earmuffs, and fluffy scarf, as well as a new, bright green towel from IKEA. I also got my host sisters some gifts for the prazdnik on Monday (pens with a windmill on top and phone keychains).
When I got home, my host family was having a dinner party of sorts with one other family that they had invited over. It was the first time that I had ever seen them pull the table out (they put it in the living/computer/girl's bedroom) and have a meal all together. It reminded me of Thanksgiving :-) . And I got to experience the Russian tradition of toasting (a lot! my host father kept trying to get me to drink vodka, but I stuck with my wine - I swear those Russians are tanks with their national drink!).
After dinner, I went out to go meet the Vladimir group one last time before they went back. I took them to Dacha to go and see my tutor, Sasha, DJ and I think they really enjoyed it! We ended up staying even later than Sasha works, around 2:30 or so, so I had to take a cab home, but it was worth it. I also got to hang out a little bit with some of the people that Sasha had introduced me to last week, so that was nice too. At one point in the night, I ordered the Vladimir group a round of shots and Sasha's friends were like, "Do you want to be drunk?" I think that at first they thought I was buying the shots just for myself, but I cleared things up haha.
Monday was a fairly chill day - my host sisters had a lot of fun with their gifts and they got me a really cute shirt with a flower on it. Later on in the day, I went out to go buy a hair straightener and bought my host mother some mimosas from the street (they are EVERYWHERE on Women's Day here!), which she also seemed to like.
Yesterday was a regular class day, but we also had our excursion last night to go see the ballet, Swan Lake, at the Mikhailovsky Theatre. It was soo beautiful - I don't think I've seen a ballet since "The Nutcracker" so it was really neat to watch and listen to! The theatre itself was gorgeous also... After the show, a small group of us went to a small cafe for a little while to celebrate our friend, Nina's, 21st birthday. It was very chill, but a nice way to end the evening.
Today we are going to banya again (but we'll do it right this time ;-) ) and from there I have to go to work at my intership for a little while.. After that, depending on what my tutor says, I may be hanging out with her for a short time or possibly going to a karaoke bar for Nina's bday. Should be a pretty full day, but it's better than being bored...
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