In Anna Melikian’s 2015 film Pro Lyubov (About Love), a film divided into vignettes focusing on modern love ala Love Actually, one of the vignettes focuses on a young woman from Japan who comes to Russia due to her love of Russian literature. While in Russia she hopes to find a Russian boyfriend. She goes […]

Why did you choose your program and location? Ever since my older sisters did semester-long study abroad programs while they were in university, I knew that I wanted to do the same. Having studied Russian at university for two years, going on a program in Russia or Ukraine made a lot of sense for me. […]

Students in St. Petersburg report spending about $80-110 a week average over the course of their stay. This covers groceries, city transport, an occasional meal out, school supplies, modest weekend entertainment, and other general living expenses. Note that this guide assumes 65 rubles = 1 US dollar. Prices current as of May, 2019. In This […]

Health issues are always unnerving no matter where you are in the world, but serious medical issues abroad can be even more stress. You don’t know if the quality of the health care is going to be what you are used to or even what you need. SRAS students are supplied with health insurance (as […]

After two months in Russia where have I been? Only in St. Petersburg, but what have I seen? The entire country. How is this possible? Well, I took a tour of the Grand Maket Rossiya. The word “maket” in Russian can be translated as “layout” or “model,” and the Grand Maket is the world’s second […]

Some of our students report not feeling culture shock at all. Some are surprised by how much culture shock they experience. Often, those most affected are those who did not expect it. So how can you prepare to live in a new culture and get the most out of the experience? How do you prepare […]

The Anna Akhmatova Museum at the Fountain House is a charming museum that provides both a glimpse into the life of the famed poet and the culture of St. Petersburg that she lived in the 1930s and 40s. Akhmatova is one of the most well-known poets of the Silver Age of Russian literature whose poem […]

After my first few weeks in Russia I noticed that I was starting to amass quite the collection of plastic water bottles. Due to the fact that the tap water in St. Petersburg is unsafe to drink I resorted to buying bottled water more frequently than I ever had in the US, and because my […]

The following is a quick overview to some of those services and products that students often need in the course of a semester or summer abroad. This covers everything from haircuts to pharmacies and gyms to computer repair. Students should generally expect to need to speak at least some Russian when seeking out these experiences […]

Eurasia today is quite affordable. Students are often surprised how far their dollars will go even in major cities like St. Petersburg and Warsaw – and very surprised at how far they go in places like Bishkek and Irkutsk. However, students can also be surprised at how easy it is to run into troubles – […]

The Museum of Russian Vodka in St. Petersburg uses vodka to take visitors on a delightful stroll through Russian history. One can even sample different varieties of vodka along the way. The museum is located a block and a half away from the Aleksandrovskiy Garden at Konnogvardeyskiy Bulvar 4, and operates from 12 pm to […]

St. Petersburg’s Annenkirche is a sight worth seeing. An Evangelical Lutheran church built in the 1770’s, the building has seen many reincarnations throughout its life. During the time of the Soviet Union the building was used to house a cinema, then until the early 2000’s the space was transformed into a nightclub. The nightclub remained […]

In terms of climate, Sochi is not what you would expect from a Russian city. Sochi has a humid subtropical climate that somewhat resembles central California. Average temperatures range from relatively comfortable winters, at 11°C (52°F), to very comfortable summers, at 24°C (75°F). Just outside the city limits, the Caucasus Mountains rise abruptly, giving the city […]

Travel within Russia is comparatively inexpensive and, while studying in St. Petersburg, I’ve been able to see many great cities will keeping to a student budget: Sochi, Murmansk, Irkutsk, and now Kazan. Kazan is unique and now one of my favorite Russian cities. This uniqueness stems largely from the Tatar and Muslim influences in architecture […]

Oh, look, a forest. The first thing that I noticed after touching down at Pulkovo Airport (other than how exhausted I felt) was a wide belt of trees on the runway. Whether or not they are enough to be considered a forest, I am not positive. But it definitely felt like an appropriate first sight […]

Travel in Russia is extremely cheap when compared with taking domestic flights in North America. For example, where a flight from Nova Scotia to Montreal with a duration of an hour and a half would be close to $600 round trip, I made a four day trip from St. Petersburg to Irkutsk (a 9 hour […]

At some point in your SRAS program in St. Petersburg, there will be a trip to the Hermitage. Sergey is the usual tour guide for this trip, and he is full of stories and inside facts that you would have never gotten if you had gone on your own. When you’re walking toward the Hermitage […]

When I arrived in Russia I knew that one thing I wanted to do was see the Northern Lights. Many Russians seemed to think that this was ironic as I am Canadian and one can see the Northern Lights in Canada’s Arctic regions as well. What Russians do not know, however, is that traveling in […]

Upon my arrival to St Petersburg, Russia in September I was fully aware that I would be spending the holidays in a foreign country. This was because roundtrip flights back to North America are expensive, especially during the holiday season. The only reassuring thing about being away from my family in Canada during the holidays […]

When I took off from Chicago at 6pm one evening at the beginning of summer, I was not entirely sure what I was in for. Flying across the globe on my own? I had never even left the country! While I wasn’t sure at that moment what my summer would entail, looking back, I can […]

SRAS bought us concert tickets as part of our cultural program. It was an exciting opportunity to see modern Russian popular culture. I had never been to a rock concert before, and I especially had no idea what to expect of one in Russia. Our eager guide, Alina, told us that we’d be going to […]

Six blue line stops north of Nevsky Prospect  is one of the most enjoyable and authentic experiences that I have had in Russia. Rows and rows of stalls selling clothes, antiques, jewelry, tools and everything in between. Some sellers shout about what they’re selling, while others discuss prices and make sales with shoppers. This is […]

In Saint Petersburg you could go to a museum every day for 3 months and not visit them all. There are a few that are simply must-see — some for their magnificent art and architecture, others for their historical value, but there is one in particular that everyone should visit for its sheer uniqueness. Kunstkamera […]

“To get there, take Minibus 287 or Bus 186 and transfer to Bus 545.” As I heard this, I almost couldn’t believe it. Just how many buses were in this city? And how could it be possible to learn to use them in just a summer? My next thought was, why even learn? I can […]

10:17pm sunsets and 3:30am sunrises. That was my initial description of St. Petersburg when friends and family asked how my study abroad experience is going. The 18 hours of daily sunlight that mark St. Petersburg’s “White Nights” are nature’s gift to the northern city that is Russia’s cultural capital. Though the sun sets at around […]

I embarked on the Cuba-Russia Connection program offered by SRAS in May of 2018. However, this incredible program really began months before me landing in Cuba. SRAS’s communications with me and the resources they offered before the study abroad trip helped set me up for the great experience that was the Cuba-Russia Connection. SRAS emailed […]

When I first walked by a heart-shaped waffle sign reading “Vaffel & Wine”, I thought that it seemed like an odd combination for a restaurant — and why was it spelled like that?  I did not end up visiting until a few weeks later when a few of us happened to be walking by and […]

A long list of St Pete restaurants to try out isn’t necessary when you’ve landed on the quaint restaurant known as Conchita Bonita. Located on 39 Gorokhovaya St, Conchita Bonita is a dark, modest, and welcoming Mexican restaurant thriving in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Conchita, which is the diminutive word for “shell” in Spanish, and bonita, […]

A semester or year stay abroad requires considerable planning. If you will be spending winter months in most SRAS locations, luggage can quite easily become unwieldy, which can mean airline charges for overweight bags. Planning what you need in advance can help you avoid this (and help you avoid forgetting something important). Invest in good, […]

Just outside the walls of the mighty Peter Paul Fortress, on a Neva River beach, is a different kind of architectural grandeur. The Sand Sculpture Festival (Фестиваль песчаных скульптур) takes places every summer here in central St. Petersburg.   Each year has a theme; this year (2018) the theme was “World Masterpieces,” and the festival […]

Maybe you’ve heard of Pacman, Donkey Kong, and Space Invaders, but what about Rally Авторалли-М), The Humpbacked Horse (Конек Горбунок), and Torpedo Attack (Торпед Атака)?  While Americans were shoving quarters into arcade machines to play game after game, those in the Soviet Union were dropping in 15 kopecks in just the same way. A few […]