Day 1 and contact info

We left JFK yesterday afternoon at 5:15 and arrived at Helsinki early this morning. Then we had a ridiculously short flight from Helsinki to Saint Petersburg. It was amazing flying over the European part of Russia to the airport. Even though this is where most of the wildfires are right now, there are still huge birch forests. And despite all the hype about the heat wave contributing to the fires, the weather is beautiful today! Not too hot and sunny... too bad it can't be like this until January!

Some of us went on a walk today around our hotel, which is just down the street from the school.

The Bronze Horseman

Statue of Peter the Great built for him by Catherine the Great. In Pushkin's poem, the narrator dreams that the statue comes to life, chases after him, and eventually kills him. Conversely there's a legend that the city will never be militarily taken while the statue stands. Maybe it depends on your vantage point? 

It's also a Saint Petersburg tradition to take wedding pictures in front of famous monuments. Today we saw at least three wedding parties taking pictures at this statue.

St. Isaac's Cathedral

The largest Russian Orthodox cathedral in the city (and that's saying something). Under the Soviets it was a museum of atheism, but today it's a church again. Next to the church is a huge field of grass, and today lots of people were just sitting out and enjoying the weather.

The Neva River

Mail: Sarabeth Zielonka

Smolny College / Adams Carroll

Galernaya Ulitsa 58-60, Office 505

190000, St. Petersburg, Russia

Warning – it usually takes 3-6 weeks to receive mail.

Packages: Sarabeth Zielonka

Galernaya Ulitsa 58-60, Office 505

190000, St. Petersburg, Russia

Cell phone: +7 921 650 37 69

If you use Skype to call a Russian phone, it’s only $0.02 a minute.

Russia is 8 hours ahead of the East Coast (11 hours ahead of the West Coast).

Skype name: sarabeth.zielonka

If you use Skype to call computer to computer, it’s free!

I’m not sure yet what my internet situation will be. I know the school has wireless and the dorms don’t. There are lots of internet cafes, but I might also buy a pay-as-you-go modem, depending on how badly I need the internet.