Survived the Bridge Crossing!

Happy Sunday from St. Petersburg! Just got in from church (and a little informal choir practice, ha!) where I met a very sweet girl from Ghana who is studying here for the year as well, and got to know the guys who sing in the 'choir' a little better too. Spent some time with them after Mass instead of the usual coffee with the consular workers, though I did talk to them briefly too. The priest also came by to introduce himself officially too. I've read at Mass the last two weeks and it appears I'm going to be the first reader most weeks when no one volunteers, which is fine by me!

This weekend has been great - Friday after class I went to the Russian museum where there are icons from the 12th century, among many other things. Friday night my host mom and I made dough for Russian cinnamon rolls and other pastry, made cinnamon rolls that night and ate them while drinking milk and watching a hysterical comedy series nice and late at night. They were delicious, and we left the rest of the dough for the morning when we made a giant cheese and a giant apple and cinnamon pastry (both of which are already gone, between me and Pasha we took care of them real quick). After baking, I headed to a sports bar with some friends to watch the local football team (Zenit) beat a rival Moscow team! Great fun. When I got home I watched a movie with my host mom, she helped me understand what was going on but it was essentially a love triangle with some classic Russian actors so it was pretty easy to follow and I understood more and more as the movie went on. Then last night we went out dancing to a club not far from the main street in town. It was incredibly crowded but very fun - and I met a German-speaking Russian who is applying to work in England outside during one of our breaks for air. He was very nice and we chatted for a while, made me realize how difficult it is to switch back and forth between languages that aren't my native language, I'm determined to practice that more! 

So to get home in St. Petersburg after a night on the town is extremely entertaining. I live on an island, and at night about 1:30 all the bridges to said island from the mainland go up to allow barges to pass through. From 2:45-3:15 one bridge to my island goes back down, if you don't catch that you're stranded on the mainland til 5 am (which isn't as bad as it sounds, all the clubs are pretty much open all night and there are more 24 hour cafes than you can count so if you're with friends it would be absolutely fine). We managed to grab a cab and catch the bridge - no public transportation runs after midnight - by driving down an ally and beating the traffic. Driving across the bridge you can see the other bridge that is still up, it is an incredibly beautiful and rather unique sight - didn't have my camera though and we got across the bridge in a flash anyway. Every other time I've gone out its been on the island or I've been home before the bridges go up, so I was excited to have made my first successful bridge crossing! Just one of the more entertaining pieces of life in St. Petersburg! 

Today we're probably headed out to one of the park islands in the city, then I'll be home kind of early to finish up homework and take a nap before chatting with the parents tonight! Love you all and thanks again for reading, feel free to comment/message/tweet/email/etc. questions if there is something specific you'd like to know! Just put new pictures up on facebook, so head over there to see them all! Paka (Bye) for now - b