Today, I decided to stop being an anti-social person and go on our boat tour even though it was raining (joy to me). Luckily the rain subsided (temporarily) enough for us to enjoy the end of the boat tour. We went through most of the placese I walk past every day, and say a few things I didn't know the location of. It wasn't a bad experience, but not being able to walk around and see things did make it quite boring. We ended up playing card games near the end of the whole excursion, because at that point, we kinda knew everything.
And arriving back at the River Fontanky, I decided to go with the group to Kunstkamere, because, I had been planning on going, but I didn't want to go that quickly. But then again, what's the point of waiting around to do things? If I didn't go today, I probably wouldn't have gone later.
A little bit on Kunstkamere, it's Russia's first public museum with oddities found throughout Russia, and then later throughout different cultures in the world.
The museum starts off with the Native Americans here, so it's quite an interesting thing to see this section.
So far, so interesting. The following room was a look into Japan and Africa, which was actually pretty cool. By the way, I advise you to scroll through this slowly... well because.... Something interesting is coming up.
Now, this next room is dedicated to Peter the Great's anatomical anomolies. If you get sick easily, scroll down quickly, if not... Be prepared to look at a room that appears to be out of a horror movie. It is filled with deformed fetuses, organs, ligaments, and so on and so forth. It was very creepy to be in this room, but to be honest, it was the first time I've ever seen anything like this. And yes, all of those kids are real. (Yikes).
And then my little expedition ends off nicely with a trip to Asia, which contains Indonesia, India, and China. What a nice way to get off from the horror of seeing presumably 300+ year old fetuses.
Overall, a great museum, just a little creepy to visit. Last picture contains our tutor Lera, who just happened to have wanted to pose for this last picture. Oh well. I would certainly like to return to this museum sometime soon, but I can't go alone. I feel like I'd freak out with the fetuses and ligaments of children everywhere. (The fact that it is filled with children bothers me, not the fact that it's body parts.)
September 3rd, 2016
I was feeling particularly drained from going to a karaoke bar the night before, where apparently I sang "Ain't that a kick in the head" by Dean Martin wonderfully. Even got praise from a few strangers! That was pretty neat. But at the same time, the occasional bout of homesickness kicks in, and tagging along with an introverted nature, I knew it was time to try the burrito place down the street.
I went to Bros. Burritos, a self proclaimed Mexican Street Food Cafe. "With a European Face". Interesting. Ordered a Steak Burrito with the hottest sauce they had and took it home.
My only response to that burrito was that it actually tasted good. Excluding the cucumbers they added, I quite enjoyed it. The sauce was spicy, but not spicy enough to burn your mouth, and it actually had taste! I would have photographed the burrito but.... I ate it.
Also, in keeping with my introverted habit, I went to the gym right before that burrito and only said a total of 5 words. Здравствуйте. Спасибо (x2. Once on receiving my Key fob, and when receiving my entrance card). До свидания. It was quite nice to blank out to that. And then I spent the rest of the day playing Diablo 3. Woohoo!
September 2nd, 2016
Took my Russian Intensive final, and then went out to eat at Craft Brew Cafe, which was apparently a good place for burgers according to our program coordinator Michael. The burgers were okay in my honest opinion, but then again, I didn't get it medium rare, so that explains it.
Later that night I decided to be social and joined the American and Russian students at a Karaoke bar named Poison. There I decided to sing "Ain't that a Kick in the Head" by Dean Martin, and it took them over 2 hours to get my name called! Can you believe that? But anyways, before that I decided to start drinking because... I'm legal in Russia. But they did have some nice drinks. The first one I drank was called Zombie
Soon after that, I decided to get a Long Island, 2 shots of a Ice cream flavored drink, and then ended it with a White Russian. Then the singing began. No one recorded me, but boy, did I enjoy people actually enjoying my voice (They might have been drunk as well, but take that former choir instructors! A little bit of sassiness always helps.)
Decided to call it a night after going out for some air. All that attention on me killed my nerves. Before leaving I started talking to this guy named Igor and his girlfriend Anna. They were the ones singing all the Rammstein songs (to which I sang along to.) Very nice people, would love to meet up with them again.
And that concludes this blog post. I rarely take videos, and no one recorded me singing, so I'm somewhat upset at this!
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