One Day in the Life of Sara Ashley Nichols

You guys. I was so proud of the title for this post. I've been planning it for a while and all the time I've been very pleased with my own cleverness. Well, Brian assured me that no one else would appreciate it because no one else has ever read the book I'm copying - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. I guess that's what I deserve.

Anyway, here follows a tale of one day of my life. There isn't as much hard labor as ol' Ivan had to deal with. Also, I'm not in Siberia in the middle of winter, but you know... I am in Russia.

So I go to class at St. Petersburg State University, the "faculty" I'm in is located in the Smolniy Institute. I go to school here:


OK, so I don't really go to class inside the Cathedral, but I do go to class in the same complex, in a building about 50 meters from the Cathedral. Every day when I walk to class there bus loads of tourists taking photos, so I'm all like - excuse me, I'm so important, I need to get through to my classes in this historical landmark.

The Smolniy was built as a convent under Empress Elizabeth, but Catherine the Great converted it to the "Smolniy Institute for Young Noblewomen." (like me). So I go to class right by the convent, but a hop away is the Smolniy Institute, which was built in the early 1800s. A school for noblewomen is kind of boring, but don't you worry, Russian history is never boring! (sometimes it is). In the fall of 1917, the Petrograd Soviet moved to the Smolniy from the Tauride Palace. The Petrograd Soviet was an important supporter of the Bolshevik party, and so on October 25, 1917, as the revolution began, the second All-Russian Congress of the Soviets met at the Smolniy to get their revolution on!

The Convent is pretty cool, it's an icy blue color if you can't tell from the pictures. It looks cooler in pictures though, cause its kind of tacky up close... Anyway, I live about a 35 minute walk from school and spend some quality time there.

After school I usually go for a run in the Tauride gardens, which aren't too far from my apartment. There are a surprising number of gardens and parks in this city, and St. Petersburgers are always sunbathing on the warm days. Lots of times in just their underwear. I guess they have to get their years worth of Vitamin D in about 2 months, so they really go for it.

So then I either study some or go to a museum if I have time. I also eat out most of the time for dinner cause its just awkward to cook at Magdelena's. On Wednesdays Tom and I have been going out with some other people we met at school - an Australian, a New Zealander, an Italian, some Frenchies, and a Spaniard. Quite a diverse group - we speak in English. Ok, so my days aren't that fascinating. I really just wanted to talk about Smolniy. Here are some other pictures:

Neva River. St. Isaac's is on the right

Nevsky Prospect at night.

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