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Life at 28 Grahzdansky Prospect

I spent 5 weeks at "EMOP", a school at St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University located at 28 Grahzdansky Prospect. Living in St. Petersbug is definitely an interesting experience...we didn't have any hot water for 2.5 weeks, so that meant nice arctic cold showers every day. The water itself is infested with enough metal pollutants, bacteria, and parasites to keep you in bed for a day or so. The food was also pretty random. For breakfast they served kasha, which I didn't particularly care for, and these odd cheese covered hot dogs, which I didn't even touch. The bread was delicious though, and I must have consumed an entire loaf a day. I'll hand it to the Russians - they know how to make damn good bread. For lunch we would have soup, although it didn't have much of anything in it - it was basically broth, so you would dump in a few spoonfuls of sour cream to thicken it up. When they served borscht, though, ohhh that stuff was good - I'd have about 4 bowls. There was usually some sort of meat dish...it was always fun trying to guess what it was. We usually had dinner at a place on Nevsky or a blini place, but dinner was alot like lunch...in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they just served leftovers from lunch for dinner.


The mammoth building that houses EMOP. This is where I lived, studied, and ate...well, sometimes ate.


A view of the lovely surrounding area.


Ditto. There is the bus stop with Bus #31, our mode of transportation to the Lesnaya metro stop. The bus stops also had kiosks, in case you ever got thirsty or hungry waiting for the bus, which happened often because they were so slow.


More of the surrounding area.


My side of the room. I had to put my blanket over the window because we arrived at St. Petersburg during the famous "white nights"...basically it is light outside 24 hours a day.


Kate's side of the room.


Harry Potter (Matt) and myself with our Russian language teacher, Tatiana.


Kate, Will, and Myself in fur commie hats.


Russian dorm food....yech!


We took a break from studying for our Russian final to have a little fun. The Russians thought we were crazy. Myself, Matt (aka Harry Potter), and Kate in front of EMOP.


Owen in front of EMOP.


Kate, Harry Potter, and myself


Kate studies Russian while Potter attacks from behind.


Myself in a gas mask, and Kate. It was Kate's gas mask...I almost got one but decided against it. Good thing, too, because I would have had a great time explaining that one to the Brits when they searched all my luggage at Heathrow.


Will and Myself.


AIFS St. Petersburg Summer 2002 class...minus a few people.


Jamie, myself, and Kate...all the luggage is ours...we bought alot of souvenirs.

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