Day 1

   After sitting on the plane for almost a day, we finally arrive at St. Petersburg through the flight from Taipei to Singapore to Moscow and to the final destination. Along the way to the hotel we’re living, which is called Hotel Derovaski, I’m impressed by the Russian’s architecture and the beautiful view. We’re pretty lucky because the weather today is really nice, about 3 or 4 Celsius, and the sky is clean with bright sun. Usually, the temperature would be below zero. There are several memorials, and each of which has their own amazing history. The first impression I have for Russians are that both men and women are super tall, and we’re like dwarfs to them; Russian women are really beautiful and attractive; also, Russians always sound pretty aggressive which is the result for being a communist country for such a long time; moreover, they’re pretty strict, which can be seen from the experience that when we’re shopping at the supermarket, we have to put our bags in lockers outside. While going through the x-ray checking, we have to take off our shoes and take out the computers from the bags! The hotel we’re living is probably the smallest one that I’ve ever lived, and the room is so tiny that when three people are in there, the suitcases won’t be able to open. From the outside, the hotel looks small, however, it’s long on the inside. There are lots of halls crossing together, which is like a maze. There are only a small portion of Russians speak English, which is so inconvenient for us and it’s so hard to communicate. The first day of our trip doesn’t start pretty smooth, so I hope that everything can go well for the rest of the nine days. Russia, the mysterious country, it makes me really want to explore more about it.