As my friends from Swarthmore start to prepare themselves for heading back to campus, it's finally starting to sink in that this semester I won't be. Instead, I will be studying for a semester in St. Petersburg, Russia. God- and procrastinationhabits-willing, this blog will be a regularly updated travel diary of my trip, and thus a way for me to keep in touch with friends and family at home and abroad elsewhere.
For the benefit of those of you with whom I haven't been as in touch as I probably ought, a brief Annie-update: I just finished the fall semester of my junior year at Swarthmore. I'm in the Honors Program there, which means basically that rather than regular courses in my major and minor I take seminars worth twice the credit, and then there is an external examination at the end of my senior year on that material rather than a thesis or some other kind of internal evaluation. I've decided on an honors major in Political Science, with an honors minor and regular ("course") major in Russian. Hence the Russia trip.
First, some information about the program. I will be studying at the Smolny Institute of Arts and Sciences, Russia's first liberal arts college. The college was founded as a joint project of Bard College and St. Petersburg State University, and has about 400 students. It's a sort of experiment in the democratization of the Russian education system. Other than the Russian language courses that program participants are required to take, I'll basically just be enrolling in the college and taking courses in Russian with Russians. I'll also be living with a host family. So far all that I know about this is my adress, and that I'll be living with a woman called Alla Alexandrovna who, as far as I know, doesn't have any other family, or pets, living with her.
The last several weeks have consisted primarily of getting ready to go; installing Russian spell-check software, getting necessary vaccines and blood work, buying a full-length down coat (St. Petersburg is on something like the 60th parallel...) and the like. On Friday I leave home to spend the weekend at Swarthmore and say goodbye to everyone who is around, and the following Monday leave for Bard College for a pre-departure orientation. We all fly to St. Petersburg together on the 24th.
As email and other internet-based forms of communication will be my primary way of keeping in touch at home, please post lots of comments or questions, write me emails (to which I promise I will respond!) and also to share this with anyone and everyone who you think might be interested. Also, if you want to receive a postcard, just email me your mailing address and I will be happy to oblige!
I hope everyone is well. Keep in touch!
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