Monday, July 30, 2001
Tuesday, July 31, 2001
Wednesday, August 1, 2001
Thursday, August 2, 2001
Friday, August 3, 2001
Saturday, August 4, 2001
Sunday, August 5, 2001

Pre-Trip Journal Week One Week Two Week Three Week Four Week Five Week Six Week Seven Week Eight Week Nine Week Ten Week Eleven Week Twelve Week Thirteen Week Fourteen Week Fifteen

Monday, July 30, 2001
Unbeknownst to me and my fellow students, our schedule changed today. In place of our Monday Reading class, we now have Culture of Russia. Our Reading teacher will be our Culture teacher, and we will have a new teacher for Wednesday's Reading class.

I would be really excited about this new course, except that I took a semester of Russian Culture at the U. I think this one will have about the same content, except it will be taught in Russian. Actually, I'm happy about that part, because I learned some interesting Old Russian words today.

Olga came over this evening, but she is not feeling well. Yulia and I went for a short walk with her, and then she went home to get some rest. I hope she feels better soon.

Tuesday, July 31, 2001
Vanya is horrible! I came home today, and he was acting like he wanted to play with me. He followed me into my room, jumped on the bed, wagging his tail, etc. I started to pet him, and got down on my knees so we could be at eye level... WHAM! He bit me right on the nose. I put my hand to my face and it was covered in blood. I just started to cry. Not so much because of the pain, but out of shock and frustration.

He got me pretty good. He tore the left side with one of his teeth, and pierced a hole in the right. My nose is pretty swollen, but the real sore spot is on the inside where one tooth landed. Yulia feels pretty bad; she brought me some flowers as an apology.

Other than being attacked by a long-haired Chihuahua, I had a pretty good day. I went to a professional photography shop on Nevsky Prospekt and found some black and white film. I spent the afternoon wandering around the city, taking pictures. (It was a good day for photos, because the clouds were very dramatic.) I also brought my digital camera, and I hope to have those photos ready soon.

I went back to the fortress, and saw the exhibit of medieval torture devices. I wish I hadn't. I hadn't had lunch beforehand, and afterwards I decided it was a very good thing. I have a feeling my face was green when I walked out the door. It was so incredibly disturbing. Not only were the implements on display, but they gave vivid descriptions of what it was like for the victim. I'm not sure what I got out of it really, except for a new feeling of horror at the evils humans are capable of inflicting on others.

I wanted to go into Peter and Paul's Cathedral today, but the ticket office closed early for some reason. I really wanted to see the royal burial vault, mainly because Nicholas II and his family were finally laid to rest here. (I received an interesting book about the mystery surrounding the deaths of the Romanovs for graduation.)

See the photos

Wednesday, August 1, 2001
My nose hurts a lot today as a result of the bruising. Still, I think it is going to heal up just fine, thank goodness. Vanya knows that he did something very bad, and has been trying hard to make up with me.

I met an American guy today who's younger sister graduated from Macalaster. (He's been to St. Paul a few times!) He's a nice guy, and I appreciated his company quite a bit. We just took a walk this afternoon, along with searching for a stationery store where I could buy mechanical pencils and a plastic folder.

I got my photos done from my walk around the city yesterday. I guess I was mainly shooting with my 35mm, so there aren't that many to show on the web.

Thursday, August 2, 2001
On my way to Smolny today I got trapped in the park. Apparently, they have decided to close it for repairs. Unfortunately I was one of many people who was inside when they decided to do this. I got caught, and ended up wandering around for a while before I managed to find a way out. At this point, I decided to stop a car, since I was running pretty late, but none would stop. So I walked to Shpalernaya and ended up taking a taxi about 3/4 of a mile for 30 rubles (highway robbery).

I met Yulia at 4 p.m., and we went to Pizza Hut. The funny thing about Russia is that they don't sell pizza here with Italian sausage. We got the New Yorker which is topped with ham and mushrooms.

On the way home we were so distracted that we got on the subway going the wrong way. It was definitely the joke of the day. The train stopped, and Yulia said, "This train must not be going all the way to Obukhovo." So we got off, and as she was asking the guard if the train was going to go any farther, I noticed that we were at Primorskaya, the station on the edge of the Gulf of Finland. Finally I got Yulia's attention; she was so embarrassed, because the guard had looked at her like she was completely crazy. Our mistake turned out to be a big blessing, though, because we got seats, and the train was packed like sardines by the time we got back to where we started.

I spent my evening fixing Yulia's computer for her. I guess her printer hadn't worked in about 6 months, and her computer wasn't playing any sound. Now everything works, and she is very happy.

Friday, August 3, 2001
Yulia is so happy about her computer. She said that she almost came in and kissed me this morning when she turned it on and started using it. I spent the day today fine tuning the system, so now it even works faster. I didn't really know what else to do. We needed to clean the apartment up, and I wanted to help, but Yulia told me that I could be the biggest help if I just stayed out of her way.

Tonight we had a bachelorette party, or devichnik, for Natasha. She and Ilya are getting married next Saturday. Olga and I decorated with balloons while Yulia made hors d'oervres. Everyone showed up around 8 p.m., and we just sat around the table eating. It was a quiet, yet pleasant affair.

Yulia had hoped for a wild party, but it turned out to be pretty calm. Around 9 p.m., the guys started calling, around midnight they came up to our apartment. With that, I decided it was time to go to bed -- guys aren't allowed at bachelorette parties!

See the photos

Saturday, August 4, 2001
We spent the morning cleaning up the apartment after the party last night. Yulia was very anxious, because Kyle was arriving today, and she didn't hear from him once he got to Moscow. About 5:30 he called from the St. Petersburg Airport, and said he would take a cab over. It was great timing -- Yulia was about to leave for the airport to wait for him.

Kyle and Yulia got engaged today. Kyle is so proud, he practically shouted it on the streets when we went to the cafe this evening. The food was good, but I got the distinct impression that the English conversation was annoying some people. They turned the music up really loud; I think it was to drown out the sound of our voices.

When we got home, we watched Mr. Mom on DVD, but Yulia fell asleep. Kyle and I enjoyed it, though! It had been a long time since I had seen it, but it's still pretty funny!

Sunday, August 5, 2001
Kyle and Yulia went to the dacha today, to see her parents. I didn't mind staying home alone at all -- Kyle left his laptop and a case full of DVDs. So I happily watched movies all day long -- in English! I saw Bachelor Party (which put our little devichnik to shame!), Sweet November, and one of my all time favorites, Independence Day. It was great!