Goodbye for now, Russia… скоро увидимся!

Well, the time has flown… again. My time in St Petersburg always seems to fly by and suddenly I have to return home again. But this time will be the last (hopefully)! After my final year at university I’m hoping to come back full-time to St Petersburg. My two months at Liden & Denz have been really great, and I’ll be really sad to leave!

The Lidenz Experience

My time at Lidenz has been so enjoyable – the students, the teachers and the atmosphere make it a really nice place to study and a pleasure to arrive to in the mornings. I feel like I’ve learnt a lot during my stay, and the classes have brushed up my grammar – thank you to Natalya, Zlata and Lyuba for all your help!

The internship side of my stay here has also been a lot of fun… working together was so chilled and all the interns are a great group! It’s been great to let my creative side out whilst writing articles here and managing the school’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I’ve learnt a lot about different Russian customs and cool places in St Petersburg, and I’ve enjoyed sharing my favourite things and places with the world through my blog posts.

Russia 3.0

This year was my third time in Russia, and I’d have to say that Russia well and truly out-russia’d itself. Zooming down an empty Nevsky Prospekt at 3 a.m. with loud Russian hip-hop playing (do not try this at home), or getting caught in the rain and having my хозяйка-бабушка give me a stern telling-off (“This is your second autumn in St Petersburg, YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN TO LEAVE WITHOUT AN UMBRELLA!”), sit me down, and make me wash my feet with vodka to “warm me up from the inside”. This, followed by a cup of tea (also with added vodka, really constituted the most Russian experience that I’ve had thus far.

However crazy it is, it’s Russia’s russianness that makes me love it so dearly – people really care for their friends and they’re open to meeting new people and trying new things. Through my time here I’ve started to pick up these customs and I think I’m a much better person for it…

The Winds of Change

The end of my stay with Liden & Denz brings my entire year abroad to an end. 8 months in St Petersburg, 6 months in Germany, and a lot of independent work and organisation have meant that I have developed hugely as a person over the course of the year abroad. My time in Russia has changed me most remarkably, I would say – I fell in love with a beautiful city and met some truly incredible people here. I have become much more direct and outgoing (it no longer takes me 3 minutes and 1000 sorry’s to ask a stranger for simple directions, thank God), and I like to be a good friend and host – I will never show up as a guest somewhere empty handed again!

I will happily take my newly-learned habits of tapochki-wearing, putting mayonnaise in salads and eating огурцы after vodka back to the UK and put them into practice in the year ahead. St Petersburg and Liden & Denz – thank you so much for a wonderful experience, я уверена что скоро еще раз увидимся!

Posted by Alana Hopkins

I'm Alana, an intern at Liden & Denz St Petersburg, spending the summer in Russia's fantastic northern capital. Follow me on my adventures around the city!