time to say goodbye

Going home after this exchange semester feels a little bit like a breakup - not only because of the amount of tears involved. In both cases you are leaving behind a piece of you, a life that might have changed you, and go back to the life you had before. But it will be different,...

2 x 22h on the train

What can you do within 22 hours? Maybe watch an entire season of your favourite TV-show or all Star Wars movies in a row – or go from Saint Petersburg to Kasan by train. That’s how we started the new year! Travelling by train is quite popular in Russia. Who hasn’t heard of the Trans-Sibirian Railway...

Flying home for Christmas …

… it sounds romantic and nice – which it is of course – but returning home for Christmas also means a lot of stress. Almost every hour of my stay back home was scheduled, as I wanted to spend time with as many friends as possible and not miss all the Christmas gatherings. And, of...

Brace yourself: Russian music is coming!

You are sick of Last Christmas and need a break from all this christmassy music? Well, let's listen to some Russian music then ... RASA - Под фонарём This is one of my favourites that always get stuck in my head. It's not a very complex song, but nice to dance to - be it...

Baby, it’s cold outside …

... and with cold, I mean that temperatures dropped below zero - day and night. Although I'm a snow lover, I'm not really a fan of the cold. Still, I chose to spend the winter in Russia, the country representing coldness - but there are many ways to escape, or maybe even better, embrace the...

time flies

Next week it will be three months that I came to Russia, for some of the exchange students their stay here is already over now! Although that's not the case for me and I have another two months left, I feel stressed. First of all, I don't have the feeling that my Russian improved as...

hello darkness

Days are getting shorter and shorter, literally every day. When I go to university in the morning it's still dark, when I come back home in the afternoon the sun is already setting. Some days the sun doesn't even make it through the clouds. I don't know how other people deal with this, but I...

But sh**, it was 150 rubles!

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who love thriftshopping and those who hate it. Guess what - I belong to the first group (as you can easily tell after throwing a glance at my fancy hat). Nevertheless, so far I only made it to one fleamarket in Piter - but therefore...

golden autumn – wilting crowns

I didn't notice when exactly, but one of those days during the last weeks the leaves suddenly turned golden - and the parks of the city into magical places, thanks to the autumn sun. With the golden leaves also girls with leave crowns came up. It didn't take long to notice that crafting wreaths out of...

DOS and DONT’S in Piter

What to do once you made it to Piter after following my preparation tips? Here's a list of dos and don'ts I created for you to make your life easier. 1.  DO get a Russian SIM card Although Piter might seem like a European city, it's far from being in the EU-no-roaming-zone (the roaming fees...