I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to adequately describe my host babyshka. Marina is a paradoxical woman, and I feel like I’m learning something new and exciting about her every day. I also …
Russia
The Right to Make Mistakes.
My first few days in St. Petersburg have been an exhilarating roller coaster of ups and downs. I explored the city my first day with my resident director and fellow students. We learned how to …
Delays and Jetlag
My neck is in severe pain. It is the only thing I can think about. My mind has turned to mush, and I feel as if I have no concept of time. The past day …
Cheese Curds and Nerves
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the …
Introducing Kaylie
Hello. My name is Kaylie Duffy, and I am a born adventurer who can never sit still. Though I have never left the borders of the United States, I have jumped on every opportunity to …
Picture post
Field of Mars Spas na Krovi eternal flame Nevsky Prospekt in july 1917 Hey Stalin! park around Gatchina palace Gatchina palace
A moment of silence
This morning, during Rush hour, two female suicide bombers set off bombs in the Moscow metro — at Park Kultury and Lyubyanka (where the FSB headquarters is located). There hasn’t been a terrorist attack since …
Classes
I realized that I never wrote about what classes I’m taking. So here goes: I’m studying at Herzen State Pedagogical University, in the faculty of Russian as a Foreign Language. I study only with the …
Paying Homage to a Genius
Since I was feeling a little better after my last run in with the flu/gastrointestinal terror, I decided to pay homage to my favorite author, Dostoevsky, and head over to 5/2 Kuznechny Lane. This was …
At least pointing and grunting is still internationally understood
Trying to read Nabokov in his native tongue is comparable to a masochist gouging his eye out. It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye, and in this case, it’s a sad realization …