19 September 2018

Finding the Neva

"I'm glad you made it here!"
 - Constantine


I spend a day unwinding and walking around the city before I would search for Academy. I walked around the beautiful and richly decorated streets of St. Petersburg. Sculpture and embellishments on the facades fascinated me. Something you don't see often and gives the city a royal feeling.

I managed to stutter some simple Russian phrases as I searched for needed products in the stores. Usually asking if they spoke English first but the answer was always no. I did manage to get all of my necessary products through much hand gesturing and grunting similar polish words.

Next day I finally needed to go to the Foreign Office at the Academy, and so I use an old map to find the river Neva where it lies. After bending around a corner, I finally managed to get a glimpse of the building I was yearning to witness over the years. Happiness and tears came to me.

I stumble my way into the main corridor where I gesture my way into what is the office for foreigners and where I meet the person in charge. I shake his hand and try my best to explain to him how and why I'm here. Surprisingly he is quite happy with my low level of Russian where he proceeds to only speak in Russian. I nod my head to most of it and I manage to understand most of what is required for the course. And he states I will learn the language in no time at all! I nod.

He takes out s few sheets of papers, which is the contract, and I happily sign the document which could have anything written on it. Which right afterwards the whole office loses no time to start laughing over my last name as there is an unnecessary "soft sign" at the end. Immigration says it's necessary. There are some things you can never escape in life. Afterwards I was still lacking much documents still needed. The person in charge, Constantine, helped me find the accommodation for the start of the course. I immediately went over to the other side where I will be spending the rest of the year on the English Embankment.

There I meet Dmitri. Possible the man who knows the best English in the entire city. I state that I need a room and I need the cheapest they have. I will be bunking with another roommate which will probably be a Chinese student. At this point I didn't care who it is, as long as I have a room somewhere in the vicinity.

Sounds great, I'll take it.

I got the keys to my room and saw my room with two beds. Though feeling a bit uneasy, I decided to still remain in the hotel room till then. 

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