BRIC: St. Petersburg, Russia (Week 1)
Our first week on the BRIC program has been a success. We are currently in St. Petersburg, Russia and are still acclimating and getting settled. We spent the first few days of this week learning about St. Petersburg; we visited Peterhof Palace and Park, a Lenta store, St. Isaacs Church and many more famous and important places.
Classes started on Monday at the St. Petersburg Graduate School of Management. We have spent the first few days of class discussing important Russian literature. It is so great to read about something and then go see it in person, especially in a place as foreign as Russia. For example, we read and discussed Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground and then learned about Dostoevsky’s life in St. Petersburg one hundred years ago on a walking tour. The group has already gotten so close and is looking forward to getting to know each other even more over the three month span of our trip. Every day is an adventure in St. Petersburg and it is important to always embrace the ambiguity. We have been adjusting to the differences between Russian and American culture ranging from differences in food to the language barrier, which is a difficult challenge. Hopefully over the next few weeks our Russian gets better. As a class we have been learning one useful Russian phrase every day. We are looking forward to the adventures that are sure to come!