Caledonia’s calling, and now I’m going home

Well, I can’t believe that’s my five weeks at Liden & Denz up! The time really has flown by. When I first arrived, the sun was shining, it was 32 degrees, Petersburg was at its best. Quite frankly, this little Scotsman found himself spread-eagled many a day at Marskovo Pole, enjoying the unexpected but welcomed heat-wave. But just like any good thing, it was not to last. Just like the weather at home, it’s now back down to a Baltic 14-degrees, lots of cloud, and a little bit wet. To use a Scottish turn of phrase, it’s affa dreich (it’s quite miserable). It literally does feel as if fate is preparing me for going home.

My experience at Liden & Denz

Ive met a lot of interesting people here at Liden and Denz, I wish you all the best! xxx

I have absolutely enjoyed my time here. The lessons with Liden & Denz in my mornings have been incredibly useful, and I want to thank Lyuba, Zlota and Nataliya for their help and patience. They have all been fantastic, and I have learnt a lot. After a whole year of being in Scotland, it has been so refreshing to be back in an immersive course, like when I studied in Yarik and in Piter.  I remembered more than I thought, and I really do think that just in this short time my Russian has improved.

The internship too has been a great experience. The freedom that the blogger internship offers means that you can write about anything that interests you, so I’ve had a lot of fun researching and writing. I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading my articles, abound with my random film references! But I’ve also gained a feel for what it may be like to work in the media sector, so if my plans for world domination go to pot, at least I have this experience to fall back on.

Three little babushka’s sitting in a library…

The library catalogue in St Petersburg

I absolutely love St Petersburg. Although the entire population of Scotland could live easily in this one city, you can breathe here. There is no rush about it. There is always something new to be found, new bars, restaurants or cafes, museums, art galleries and so on. The friendliness of people in such a large city, however, never ceases to amaze me. As I said in my hello post, I’ve been researching my dissertation whilst I’ve been here. So, I built up the courage to sign up to use the National Library here. You might be forgiven in thinking that using the library would be quite simple, but it was actually a bit more complicated than I first thought it would be.

Enter the ever-reliable Bab. If I gave a bad impression of Russian babushkas in my stereotypes post, I sincerely take it back. No less than three lovely little babushkas took time out of their day to help this confused little Scotsman get to grips with the very construed Russian system of finding and ordering books. Literally, they showed me how to do everything step by step, as if I was 10 again. It was far from being patronizing, rather it was quite touching. Even a couple of hours after I had settled down, they each came up to me now and again to ask how I was getting on. I joked with one about not having such a system back in Scotland, to which she heartily chuckled, gave a knowing smile, and uttered that all-too-famous phrase: «Это – Россия».

Пока, Россия, моя любимая…

This is Russia. In that one phrase you can encapsulate and construe any sort of meaning you want, and people will understand. And for me, quirks and all, Russia really is a fantastic country. Each time I come back, 4^th and counting, I always learn something new. I know that when I go home, I’ll face the same old questions of “Why do you like Russia so much?”. And I guess it’s because the Russia of our media is constantly in conflict with the Russia that I know; it’s not as black and white as it appears.

So, what would I say to an incoming student or intern to Liden & Denz? Be prepared to be challenged in more ways than you’d expect but know that at the end of it you’ll achieve so much. Enjoy the uncertainties, be prepared to make necessary mistakes; just enjoy the ride.

(P.S., enjoy this short video of St P – it gets my goosebumps going every time I watch it… This is why the city is so great)

Posted by Thomas Reid

A passionate Russian and history student, I'm here in bonny St P. to build on my knowledge of Russian and learn more about the shared history between Scotland and Russia.