Don't drink the water!

This has been one of our biggest challenges the first week in St. Petersburg. The water here isn't potable - if you drink it you're sure to get Giardia - and everything else costs money. My solution so far has been to boil water before I drink it, but I still have to wait for it to cool before pouring it into my water bottle. It's the small things like this that make you realise how privileged we are to live in the States!
And bigger things like having an internet connection. I'm in that cafe again. The one with the russian pop. I've just noticed there's also an ashtray next to me, I guess provided in the hope that I won't dump my cigarette embers onto the keyboard. Honestly, are there people out there who do that? Well, it's nice here nonetheless. And last time I didn't even have to pay. (I'm pretty sure I didn't use the system properly, but the attendant couldn't be bothered to explain it to me). It's pouring outside and has been for the whole day. But after many years of dealing with such weather in London, I have come to the realisation that my skin is waterproof. (Don't look so puzzled, your skin is waterproof too) Nonetheless, it's not much fun to walk around in the rain so I'll probably spend the rest of the evening inside. Maybe for the best, I actually have a lot of work to do. Russian here is hard!
So it's been a couple days since my last post. Our RSL course (Russian as a Second Language) started on Monday and since then I've been pretty busy. Our general schedule is class from 10-1, lunch on our own, and then a meeting and afternoon excursion until around 4:30. Today we visited the Russian National Library and yesterday the Saint Petersburg University library. In the evenings I have homework to do, so I'm not so stir crazy as I was briefly this weekend. How I long for those days... I'm not used to having so much Russian swirling around in my head and it's beginning to take a toll! I was totally exhausted when I got home today. Not that a 90 minute tour of the library was particularly energizing... Tonight might have to be an early night.
Apart from that, I feel like people in our group are beginning to ease up a bit. A friend noted today that although orientation only started 9 days ago, it already seems like we've known eachother for months. Totally true. A lot has happened to us in the last two weeks! This morning I woke up in Russia. Everyone here speaks a different language. They eat weird foods, most things are polluted, and I still can't figure out why anyone would use a gypsy cab as a mode of transport. It's surprisingly easy to forget that much of our world has been completely overturned. I'm getting off topic... I was talking about our group. The people in it are great. There's a lot of energy whenever we're not in a library, and I'm already feeling intellectually challenged. That said, there are still many more Russians to befriend. I can't wait until the start of the semester! (They know how to find the private rooftop bars. They could be nice too.)
What else? Well it's been 7 days since I did any cardio and I'm really starting to feel it. I need to find a gym close to home at a reasonable price. Then I will be truly happy! As for upcoming adventures, I have an essay and presentation due tomorrow, and some grammar and phonetic work (way easier) due for Friday. This Sunday we're taking a hydrofoil to Peterhoff, which might best be described as a Russian attempt at Versailles. The fountains are truly incredible, you should check out the photos on google images. This Saturday is a totally free day, so we're obviously going to go check out the enormous Soviet market in the north of the city. Apparently you can get all sorts of old stuff. I use the word 'stuff' because I really have no idea what we'll find there. Anywhere from the plain t-shirts that I need to buy to Red Army trenchcoats and submarines. Sky is the limit! As you can tell I'm pretty excited.
Well that's all from me for tonight. Hopefully I'll get another post together this week and have more internet time next week. Hope you're all well. Пока!