Russian travel.
Mar. 25th, 2010 12:16 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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learn_russianHello, I have a few questions regarding traveling to Russia. I'm going to Moscow and Petersburg for a few weeks and I just have some questions. I think that's way too off-topic for here, so I was just wondering if anybody knows of any active-ish, english language communities that might be able to address those kinds of questions and could provide some good discussion. I'm not having much luck with live-journal's search feature.
Thanks, and feel free to delete this if even this question is too off topic. Apologies if so!
Edit:
Ok. So you guys seem plenty willing to help even if it's a tad off topic, so I'll share a few general questions here. But basically any 'from america to russia' tips will be appreciated!
So first off, I'm not overly concerned about language issues. For one, I have at least some experience with Russian. I'm pretty rusty, and very basic, but it should be enough to get me by considering the nature of my trip. Additionally, I can read Russia pretty well (again, at a very beginner level, but still,) so that should help.
Also, I am going on a kind of class trip. It was supposed to be a 3 week intensive language study, but not enough people from little town in the US were interested in putting down tons of cash for 3 weeks of basically torture in Russia. I thought it sounded awesome, though!
Anyway, it's basically been reduced to a tour trip, which I don't think is as exciting (I was really excited to actually learn the language a bit!) but still pretty awesome, considering I've never traveled. We have a member of the faculty from the Russian department at my school coming along and kind of guiding the trip. She's fluent in Russian and I've heard she doesn't even speak with an accent because she has Russian family. Additionally, a couple of the students are at a very high level of Russian speaking. With all these crutches, I think I'll be ok.
So my first question: Jogging in Russia. I've recently started jogging and I thought it would be cool to continue while I'm in Russia. We're also going to have some 'off time' where we will basically be sitting around doing nothing, or doing whatever we want to do and I thought jogging would be a cool way to kind of see a bit of the city, and also pass some time.
However, I don't know if this is safe at all. Do you think it would be safe for a lone 20-something American girl to do some jogging in the mornings in Moscow and Petersburg? Maybe if I could get another student to come with me? We're staying at a hostel, but I don't have the name or exact location right now.
This might not be important at all because I'l probably just be exhausted all the time from all the things we'll be doing.
Second: How do Russians typically drink their coffee? I mean specifically coffee from cafes and stuff. I do love my coffee and tea and I would like to know how to order it so I'll get something that I enjoy.
Third: This is a slightly academic, guided (sort of) tour trip, but we have a lot of say in what we do and wwhere we go and we have plenty of time to do our own things. We probably have a ton of the general, standard tour things scheduled in, so I'm just curious about other, less typical things I should do/visit/see while I'm there.
I'm particularly interested in things to see around Petersburg. My instructor is not as familiar with Petersburg and said she doesn't have much planned for there. I'm big into Russian literature, especially Petersburg literature, so I'm REALLY excited to go there, more so than Moscow, honestly. I'm just worried I'll end up not knowing what to do with myself and just sit around all day consequently. Any tips?
Thanks, everybody!
Thanks, and feel free to delete this if even this question is too off topic. Apologies if so!
Edit:
Ok. So you guys seem plenty willing to help even if it's a tad off topic, so I'll share a few general questions here. But basically any 'from america to russia' tips will be appreciated!
So first off, I'm not overly concerned about language issues. For one, I have at least some experience with Russian. I'm pretty rusty, and very basic, but it should be enough to get me by considering the nature of my trip. Additionally, I can read Russia pretty well (again, at a very beginner level, but still,) so that should help.
Also, I am going on a kind of class trip. It was supposed to be a 3 week intensive language study, but not enough people from little town in the US were interested in putting down tons of cash for 3 weeks of basically torture in Russia. I thought it sounded awesome, though!
Anyway, it's basically been reduced to a tour trip, which I don't think is as exciting (I was really excited to actually learn the language a bit!) but still pretty awesome, considering I've never traveled. We have a member of the faculty from the Russian department at my school coming along and kind of guiding the trip. She's fluent in Russian and I've heard she doesn't even speak with an accent because she has Russian family. Additionally, a couple of the students are at a very high level of Russian speaking. With all these crutches, I think I'll be ok.
So my first question: Jogging in Russia. I've recently started jogging and I thought it would be cool to continue while I'm in Russia. We're also going to have some 'off time' where we will basically be sitting around doing nothing, or doing whatever we want to do and I thought jogging would be a cool way to kind of see a bit of the city, and also pass some time.
However, I don't know if this is safe at all. Do you think it would be safe for a lone 20-something American girl to do some jogging in the mornings in Moscow and Petersburg? Maybe if I could get another student to come with me? We're staying at a hostel, but I don't have the name or exact location right now.
This might not be important at all because I'l probably just be exhausted all the time from all the things we'll be doing.
Second: How do Russians typically drink their coffee? I mean specifically coffee from cafes and stuff. I do love my coffee and tea and I would like to know how to order it so I'll get something that I enjoy.
Third: This is a slightly academic, guided (sort of) tour trip, but we have a lot of say in what we do and wwhere we go and we have plenty of time to do our own things. We probably have a ton of the general, standard tour things scheduled in, so I'm just curious about other, less typical things I should do/visit/see while I'm there.
I'm particularly interested in things to see around Petersburg. My instructor is not as familiar with Petersburg and said she doesn't have much planned for there. I'm big into Russian literature, especially Petersburg literature, so I'm REALLY excited to go there, more so than Moscow, honestly. I'm just worried I'll end up not knowing what to do with myself and just sit around all day consequently. Any tips?
Thanks, everybody!
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no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 06:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 07:10 am (UTC)This is international travelling community.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 07:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 07:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 07:36 am (UTC)not that bad :)
Date: 2010-03-25 07:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 07:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 07:57 am (UTC)Re: not that bad :)
Date: 2010-03-25 08:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 08:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 08:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 08:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 09:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 12:13 pm (UTC)Even the beginner level is not available everywhere.
Knowing "Май нэйм из Вася" is not enough :)
no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 12:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 06:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-25 09:42 pm (UTC)First is jogging: It really depends on where you are staying, I think. My roommate was supposed to be doing her summer training schedule for soccer when we were in St. Petersburg, but our dorms were not in a very nice part of town. There was a park nearby but most times of day it was pretty empty, and the surrounding buildings were bordering on abandoned-looking (not sure if they actually were). She ended up running up and down the stairs a few times every day to do the running portion of her workout. This worked out well because a)We were on the top floor, 13th I think, and b) We had no hot water for showers for a week and a half, so she got nice and warm before taking hers. So you may just have to ask around when you get there, and see if there's a well-monitored and populated park for running.
As for coffee, at the little snack-bar at St. Petersburg State University where we had classes, they had little instant-coffee packet things that tasted amazingly like home. I missed overly sweetened and processed food substances, I guess? Which is not to say that they had any real coffee in them, but I didn't look hard for real cofee after a few failed attempts. We went to Кофе Хаус during a fit of Starbucks withdrawal, and it was . . . not. Not like American coffee shop food, and not like good Russian food. It was more like Russian food with all the tasty stuff removed? Alas, I can be of no help there.
If you get a St. Petersburg guidebook (Lonely Planet is good) there might be a section of literary things! There are lots of author's houses and Famous Places where Famous Things Happened. We walked to a few, but it's all hazy now.
hey...
Date: 2010-03-27 02:38 am (UTC)about coffee... in the big mall beside red square (Gum or tzum I forget...) there is a good coffe shop with wireless intenet access and tasty ice cream.
you can take coffe how you like, but usually it is smaller portions but smaller... myslef always каке сакаром с молоко' coffee with milk and suger ;) Unless of course you are with students or not in coffeeshop where you may get russian/turkish style with coffee beans in your coffee.... let them settle and enjoy the caffiene buzz.
about jogging... probably safer than many american cities... but I'm not a local to say. I'd do it but I'm 6" tall guy with martial arts training...
Finally, I would joing travellers social networking site 'couchsurfing.com' and check what events are happening... for example when i was there i stayed with on russian for free and organized a trip to MosFilm, the big film studio and it was awesome. if you join, seach my projile johnnyendeavour and i have some moscow people in my references that were great for showing me around just because I'm a cool traveller guy from canada.
And...study the subway map before you go in the subway for sure... and if you are brave - next time go to Minsk in Belarus ;) There you will find a real test of your russian! Oh... and study your russian slang before you go - it can be very useful. детка! все ништак. в москва клeва чеувак. :D
Oh finally.. make a profile on vk.com the russian facebook so you can impress all the russians that you are cool and 'ni chai-nik'
ok other finally... if you want to fit in bring your high heels and leave the jogging pants at home. Its St. Petersburg not chicago!
Re: hey...
Date: 2010-03-27 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-27 09:16 pm (UTC)I guess I'm kind of picky when it comes to my coffee, but maybe visiting Russia and living in a hostel will be kind of like camping/backpacking when even foldgers singles taste good!
I think we're already planning on trying to do the Crime and Punishment tour, but I'll look! HOpefully we can find a few other cool things. Thanks!
Re: hey...
Date: 2010-03-27 09:34 pm (UTC)All the Russian he use in his comment is wrong
VK accounts do not impress people (Typical reaction would be like: - I have a facebook account – So what?)
Slang is NOT useful – I wouldn't recommend to use it in any conversation.
I have no idea what "ni chai-nik" means
Re: hey...
Date: 2010-03-27 09:52 pm (UTC)I was considering digging around couchsurfing and maybe finding and english speaker willing to do "coffee and a drink" because, unfortunately, given the nature of our visit, we're probably not ACTUALLY going to be able to interact with too many Russians. But I don't know, I don't really like bothering people, so I probably won't.
Ha. Thanks for the tip. I think I'll avoid learning any slang. I think a lot of Russians have enough reasons to hate young American tourists with out also having me totally screw up their language and colloquialisms. Anyway, I'm worried far less about impressing Russians than just, you know, not making them angry and annoyed.
Anyway, our instructor has told us, that judging from past trips, we should expect to be ruthlessly yelled at by strangers at least a couple times while we're are there, either for not understanding that we're doing something culturally wrong, or perhaps just for being American students. I'd prefer to not really know what they're saying. I've been practicing up on phrases like: "Извините, Я плохо говорю по-русски." or maybe just "Я не говорю по-русски." and "Извинúте. Я не понимаю." I think I'm pretty good at the later since it was my most-used phrase in class. Ha.
Re: hey...
Date: 2010-03-27 10:02 pm (UTC)I didn't get a whole lot further than "in moscow" anyway.
And i can't even stand facebook, I don't think I'll be making any MORE accounts.
Maybe I'll venture into slang if I someday decide to live in Russian for 5-10+ years.
Re: hey...
Date: 2010-03-27 10:11 pm (UTC)P.S Now I am trying to imagine reasons Russian have to hate young American tourists. - And I am failing miserably :-)
Re: hey...
Date: 2010-03-27 10:22 pm (UTC)She gave a number of situations, ranging from old woman just yelling at you for being dirty, sloppy Americans as you walk down the streets, to a laundry lady shouting and 'flipping out' because you took to the wrong streets at a hostel, to walking outside with wet hair.
She also described some of these 'shouting' session as nothing more than very animated "unwanted advice."
I think older generations of BOTH countries tend to have negative views of members of the other country. I know my grandparents were completely shocked and MAYBE a little disgusted when I said I was learning Russian and visiting Russia.
Then again, I would just expect a little bit of a cold-shoulder or a few disapproving looks, not any actual shouting.
Re: hey...
Date: 2010-03-28 01:16 am (UTC)"сакаром с молоко" isn't very sound grammatically but here at least you got the actual words right.
Re: hey...
Date: 2010-03-28 01:17 am (UTC)Re: hey...
Date: 2010-03-28 02:11 am (UTC)Having lived in Minsk for 14 months, taught english for nine, I stand behind everything I said with the exception of my very poor written spelling in russian. its should have been кофе. Spacibo oryx.
чаиник = slang for beginner ie newbie. I had great fun studying russian slang with my friends... mind you after being in country a year already. I'm not recommending you use it necessarily, but you will hear it on the street, on the bus and in the grocery store. It can help a lot when a taxi driver wants to charge you double or triple the fair price. knowledge, its always useful. You still have to use your head of course.
And typical reaction where I was... "что фасебук?" Maybe its different in st. peter's burg, but not for average in my experience even at the linguistic university where I was a student for 14 months in Minsk. LJ actually is surprisingly popular still in russia... most of my canadian friends stopped using it long ago.
As for yelling... the American's I knew never complained about being yelled at. The koreans, and turks, on the otherhand had lots to complain about.
For myself, I can't wait until I go back. Great times, amazing people, and I miss it a lot.
Re:
Date: 2010-03-28 02:39 am (UTC)But this will be a good preliminary trip until I get the language down a little better.
Re: hey...
Date: 2010-03-28 05:02 am (UTC)from America to Russia
Date: 2010-03-29 01:19 am (UTC)As to your other questions- language wasn't much of a problem, although at the time I was there, I spoke Russian pretty well. I'm not a coffee drinker myself, but you're likely to find more consistently good tea than coffee (the international natures of Moscow and St. Petersburg aside). I didn't have nearly enough time in St. Petersburg, but I really enjoyed the Hermitage (what a shock :) and the Russian Museum of Ethnography. The latter is an anthropological museum, and it documents all the cultures that rarely are mentioned when people speak of Russia.
At any rate, enjoy! I have no idea when I will visit St. Petersburg next, but I look foreward to it with great anticipation.
Re: from America to Russia
Date: 2010-03-29 01:38 am (UTC)And I can definitely deal with only good tea.
Anyway, thanks for all the info. I'm super excited.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-31 09:05 pm (UTC)I would definitely do it myself without fear, but of course there are some stories that it might be unsafe. If you have doubts, take somebody with you. Unfortunately, most places in SPb and Moscow are not good for it, because the air is polluted.
2. Coffee
In SPb there are several cafe networks: Идеальная чашка, Кофе Хаус, Республика кофе, which have a wide range of coffee. They use terms: "эспрессо" for strong coffee in a small cup, "американо" for less stronger coffee, "каппучино" for coffee with milk foam, "латте" for coffee with a lot of milk (I think that's international and you might know this terms). Wide range of teas is available almost in any cafe or restaurant, and you are usually asked about the tea blend which you prefer (black or green at least, черный или зелёный, and if it's green, then с жасмином или без, with or without jasmine)
I live in SPb and I can meet you for a cup of coffee if you'd like too and answer any other questions (leave me a personal message from my Livejournal userinfo page)
no subject
Date: 2010-03-31 09:42 pm (UTC)Hey, you're going to a foreign country. Don't order the stuff you know - it is NEVER the same as what you have at home :)) Try local things.
Anyway, here's a few guidelines.
Most cafes in both Moscow and St.Petersburg have both tea and coffee.
Most offer black and green tea.
Black tea, Russian way: black (no milk,) and sugar. Many Russians add lemon, and some add milk, but if you want lemon or milk, you have to specify it. It's чёрный чай с сахаром; I guess you know the words for lemon and milk :)
Green tea. In Russia, it's either Central Asian, or Chinese. Big network cafes (like Кофе Хауз or Кофемания in Moscow or Идеальная чашка in St.Pete) offer a variety of Chinese green teas. Most Russians (just like people in Central Asia and China) do not take sugar or milk with green tea, whatever its origin.
It's hard to find red tea or white tea, you have to go to very chosen specialized places (China-oriented, mostly.) If you really want to check out great teas in Moscow, go to Клуб чайной культуры in the Hermitage Garden (Сад Эрмитаж, metro Chekhovskaya, http://www.chaiclub.ru/.) They also have an affiliate place in St.Petersburg (see their Web site.)
Coffee. Most places offer, at least, capuccino and espresso (капуччино, эспрессо - they sound the same in Russian.) Some offer Americano and decaf (без кофеина). Big network cafes have more flavors and sorts. Do specify if you want milk, cream, or more sugar when you order. Specialized cofee places like Coffee Bean in Moscow offer flavors (caramel, vanilla etc.); they are normally listed on a blackboard near or over the barista area.
Coffee-to-go (tall American-style paper cups with a plastic lid) is not widely spread (except in Starbuckses, of which there's still only a few, and McDonaldses, but we are not seriously discussing McDonalds' coffee, aren't we?) -- in most places, coffee comes in small or medium-sized cups, and you are expected to consume it inside the place.
Re: hey...
Date: 2010-04-01 01:36 am (UTC)Thanks for the info. :)