Research pays off!

We have started our internship at AIR, a Russian PR-agency in St. Petersburg. During my research I’ve found a wiki for and from exchange students. A pity I’ve found it now and not earlier as there is also an entry about studying in St. Petersburg.

Enjoy!

(carina)

Short Notice About My Whereabouts

The last few days have been really crazy: Just really shortly.

On Monday I met Dima and Mascha (Dima spend the last semester in Graz as an exchange student and Mascha is his girlfriend who also has been to Austria quiet a lot of times – and has even been to EIBISWALD) at the Faculty and they asked me whether we wanted to join them to go to Ryazan (Russian: Рязань) with them, where the University KVN-Finals (in Russian: КВН) would take place. I instantly agreed and so about 6 hours later at 12 o’clock at night Andrea (my roommate) and I met Dima and Mascha at some metro station where the bus to Ryazan awaited us*. We went on “board” with nothing else then a purse, a toothbrush, some chocolate and HUBBA-BUBBA AND an extra pair of socks.

The journey started and about 18.5 hours later we arrived in Ryazan. KVN-Finals started at 7 o’clock on Tuesday. It turned out that KVN is kind of a show or competition where groups compete against each other. The group that is the most funniest, that makes the best jokes, wins. In Russia it is a really popular game. Already in school there are KVN-clubs, in University still and then also for adults there are competitions. We went to the finals of the University competition because our Faculty team also competed there – actually they came in second. It was quiet interesting as there were four different contests and different kind of jokes were made – also some politicall ones.

But for Andrea and me it was especially funny because we didn’t understand all of it and after the contest, about three hours later, we already went back to Piter, again by bus, again about 17 hours of road-trip (but this time we could still get some proper food – not just chocolate and Hubba Bubba).

to get some idea about the distances and stuff, I created a google-map with the location of Ryazan

* Anna unfortunately didn’t feel to good, so she didn’t come along. ;(

(carina)

The World Is So Small! – More Austrian people in St. Petersburg

As you might already know, already in our first week we met two students from Austria, Julia and Maria, with whom we still keep hanging out. There just seems to be a “magical bond” between Austrian people in Russia.

So also today when meeting up with Geraldine Kraus, an Austrian lady (who I know because she comes from my hometown and because her daugther used to go to school with my mum and because she used to be the teacher of one of my aunts [uff! confused now?]), it was quiet comfortable to “hang out” with her, talk to her and walk around Saint Petersburg.

Why am I writing all this?

Feeling Austrian in Piter
First, I think it is quiet interesting, that when you are with either people from your “nationality” or at least with people who speak your language (also with Andrea, our roommate from Germany) there is some special bond. There is some weird comfortability, some closeness that sometimes is even kind of weird. Still sometimes this “speciality” is also quiet useful: There was never really anything like a big “HOMESICKNESS”, as I always had some people around me who felt I little bit like me, who I could talk to about my problems – without having to fear, that I would offend them, if I spoke about my problems with some facettes of Russian culture. And today there was also this genuine feeling, that even though I was in St. Petersburg, it felt like being in Austria, somewhere, in some city I don’t know yet (and where a lot of Russian tourists are).

Successful Austrians in Russia
Secondly, it was very interesting as Geraldine Kraus is a very interesting person and her reason for being in Piter is also quiet interesting and I would say, it has even some newsworthiness (still I put this fact to the end of my blog entry – I am very sorry for those who are journalistically interested in my/our blog-entries). Geraldine Kraus actually retired a few years ago but since about 2001 she used to be in touch with Russian schools. At home she used to do “Schulentwicklung” (development of eduction) and some day she also started to consult some Russian school close to Moskow about how to develop their school (system). Some years later also in the “Leningrad Area” (the area around St. Petersburg) she started to develop a programm for “school inspectors” or better to say for the education of school inspectors.

Well anyways, I think this is interesting, because in Austrian media it is always said that the Austrian school system is very bad, but then it is very interesting to speak to this lady and that she is telling me, that she actually also helped to develop (the school system) in other Eastern European countries. Sometimes Finnish and Austrian knowledge is brought to these countries and sometimes it is just Austrian knowledge. And so this really surprised me as the Finnish school system in Austrian media is very often mentioned as a rolemodel for the Austrian school system. – I am not going to comment on Austrian understanding of a good school system and the differences I have already experienced between U.S., Italian, Austrian and Russias school system because that would be too much for now. But I thought I had to share this knowledge about successful Austrians in Russia with you.

(carina)

Little time and short days

We are starting into our last week of university. It’s only three more weeks that are staying in St. Petersburg and as I am writing this and thinking of it, it is a pretty weird feeling. It’s 9 in the morning here and it is only starting to get light. Days here are very short and thus to me it feels like time is passing by even more quickly.

(anna)

Being Girly Again

Forever young … Andrea and I just got tattoos on our hands and we are chewing “Hubba Bubba” chewing gum. The Skittles over here are also great. Everybody loves candy, especially women. The sweeter the better.

hubbabubba

kiwi

erdbeer

bubba

hubba

cola

mango-maracuja

“And girls just wanna have fun …” could be the title of our small night blogging session. Because simple is easier than complex.

(andrea+carina)

Halloween, Houswarming, “Lying-In”, Sushi & Co

We haven’t postet a lot about going out lately but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we haven’t been going out. Actually it’s quiet the difference. During the last two weeks we were out quiet a lot and it was a WHOLE LOT of fun.

Friday – Halloween

Halloween: Fun in Karinas Flat

On Halloween we were at a really nice friend of ours – Karina – and then we went to the Club “Achtung Baby”. In order to get free entrance Anna “pretended” to be a ballet dancer and even gave a little show of her skills. Because pictures say more than doesn’t words, you should check out flickr for some impressions.

Saturday Night – “Lying-In”
While Anna was at a concert, I was at another great party on Saturday night (unfortunately I don’t have any pics). Our roommate Andrea and I went there and didn’t return until the next afternoon. Because of the metro’s and the bridge’s timetables, all the guest just stayed there. We had a big “Bettenlager” – “bed camp” would be the literal translation but I am afraid there isn’t such a word in English, maybe even something like “lying-in”.

Thursday Nigth – Housewarming Party & Sushi
Last Thursday we were invited to “Новоселье” (Housewarming Party) and it was really cool. We were invited to this very nice flat, in a new built apartement complex. Katja, a very dear friend, invited us. When we arrived a lot of nice Russians and a really good buffet awaited us. That night we even learned who to make “Sushi” ourselves.

Partying here is a lot of fun, especially with Russians. They really know how to party and how to enjoy one’s time.

(carina)

Contacts, Contacts, Contacts

So many things have been going on lately, that I don’t really know where to start, but I have to share some thoughts, experiences or rather ongoings with you.

1st Work Experience: Lesson – Russians and Their Networking
Today we have talked to Vadim, the head of the English departement and also one of our two coordinators, about a PR-internship. Quickly he hooked us up with a very nice “девушка” (translated as girl or better to say young lady but actually Russians use the word “девушка” for speaking about any female, whether she is five or 99 years old, selling fruits in a shop or still playing with her dolls). Enesch, thats her name, again instantly hooked us up with another guy (Actually I think it is her boss).

Half an hour later she already called to tell us that she had talked to her director and that we just need to call him to negotiate with him ourselves. Well, tomorrow we are gonna do that. I am excited and also a little “scared” because of talking Russian on the phone with this guy. But it will work out just fine, I’m sure (That’s how I keep motiviating myself). I will keep you updated on that one. By the way this internship would be at an PR-agency called Agency Information Resources.

2nd Work: More Prospective Work
We have another internship option. A lady from the PR-departement of our Faculty would help us with. We have an appointment with her tomorrow.

3rd Interview: PR in Russia
I am excited because tomorrow I am gonna “interview” one of my teachers about PR in general and PR in Russia. The result you will find on this blog soon.

4th Language: Happy Just Because of Simple Russian Language Skills
I have the feeling that my Russian is improving any day. I am soooooo very excited. The downfall: It seems that my Italian and Spanish is just disappearing as quickly.

(carina)

Туфли or better boots?

There is this cliché that women think of shoes a lot. With us this is definitely the case at the moment. We are now sharing our observations with you – can you find some answers to our questions?

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the highest heels of all?
No matter how old they are, no matter in which shape they are, no matter where they are, no matter which weather, what Russian women have in common are their shoes. Sometimes it seems as though they were competing for the “highest high heel in the country”. Sometimes we really admire how ALL of them can walk in these shoes.

Do you fancy my funky shoes?
The choice of shoes is really huge, some pairs are really super-funky. We have already found a lot of shops with funky shoes, but everyday that there is even more funk around.

How do high-heels affect architecture?
For weeks we have been wondering why the stairs in our faculty and also in other buildings are so flat – with sneakers you can easily take three at a time. As Carina was wearing high-heeled shoes today, she suddenly understood that they must be high-heel friendly stairs.

Umbrella or high-heels?
Today it is raining cats and dogs. One reason for wearing high-heels could simply be the rain and the pot-holes full of water. High-heels serve as stilts and women can walk over the water.

Any more questions?
We still have plenty and have already planned the next shoe project.

(carianna)

One month … and we are following the current

We are celebrating our jubilee. We have been to St. Petersburg for a month now. Time seems to be flying and maybe it’s because of the distances and the time you are spending in public transport that days seem to be over so much more quickly than at home.

We are expecting our first guests next week. That’s really crazy. We are looking forward to it, though.

We had a really interesting lecture yesterday. We watched some well-known Russian cartoons and discussed the picture of the Russian character and mentality that was drawn in them. One of the cartoons was about a hegdehog that fell into a river and decided to just follow the current.

Somehow we are “following the current” here. To some extent that is probably what you have to do. If you want to go by metro during rush-hour and you are already queuing at the entrance, you are kind of stuck. You are following the current.

We are following the current as we are trying to adapt to Russian lifestyle. There are times that we don’t have hot water. For a day or maybe two. That’s just what it’s like and we are fine with that. We might have been overwhelmed by bureaucracy during the first days, but when we got our train-tickets for Moscow (yeah, we are going to Moscow), we expected to be queuing at the train-station for some time. If this is the way things are done over here, we do them that way. We are growing and learning. Intercultural communication and understanding at its best – and we are happy about this experience.

(anna)

“Aquapark” in the dorms

The water made its way from the 10th floor to the ground-floor

Pipes broken in dorm – water almost everywhere

We were sitting at our desks, after a long day out, checking our e-mails, when we heard water dropping down. We wondered whether any of our roommates had forgotten to turn off the water in the kitchen properly. Looking outside, we saw water dropping down from the ceiling in the kitchen.

After a few moments of surprise, our roommate Mischa and the two of us also decided to have a look outside to the hallway, where more people, commotion and water were to be found. We didn’t really think a lot, just remembering scary news stories. Within secondes, we pakced our most important things – money and passports – and just left the building, yelling at local people that they better leave as well right away. We just thought that there could be some electrical problems or the whole building might just fall apart.

On our way downstairs, we were already carrying a backpack (just laptops and important stuff like toothbrushes), our purses and an umbrella. There were only few people leaving the building and we weren’t even sure whether it was better to stay or to leave. As everything happened so out of the blue, we were just very insecure about the whole situation.

We called our coordinators and asked them what to do, whether the dorms were secure at all. We don’t think that we were overreacting or making things worse then they were, we weren’t panicing, but we really wanted to get some reassurance.

After all, it turned out that some water-pipes had broken on the tenth floor and water was flooding down all the way to the ground-floor. It was a whole lot of water. Here’s a picture from the entrance area we took when we left the building.

At the moment, we are back in our room and we just hope that we can stay there all night long without any further interuptions (It is kinda crazy that the internet is actually working, but that brings back some normality).

We will definitely blog more about this crazy evening, but at the moment, we are just having a cocktail and some food for stress-release.

(carianna)