It's time for me to leave Moscow, but I hate goodbyes. I've made a lot of friends, and it's always difficult to leave them. Anyway, I think that I've improved my Russian, and I'll continue to work on it when I'm back in Sweden.
I'll leave the dormitory now, and in six hours (6:59 p.m. Moscow time) I'll go to Riga by train. I'll be in Riga between 10:05 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. (Eastern European time), when I'll return to Sweden with M/S Silja Festival. By 09:30 a.m. (Central European time), I should be back in Stockholm. The whole trip is only 77 €, plus the metro ticket in Moscow. I think this trip in itself will be a small adventure. :)
There are of course stories that I haven't told yet. I'll try to update my blog later.
söndag 1 augusti 2010
lördag 31 juli 2010
Heat and smoke in Moscow
During my entire stay in Moscow, it's been unbelievably hot. Apparently, there was a temperature all-time high in Moscow on Thursday (two days ago), with 38.3 °C. I didn't notice, however, since most days have been similar, and actually quite close to the old record.
I find it difficult to focus in the heat, and we don't have any air conditioning in the institute. This means that I haven't been able to study as efficiently as I had hoped.
The temperature has also caused fires outside of Moscow. I don't see any smoke right now, but I have seen it a lot during the last week. Despite the fact that this part of Moscow hasn't been exposed that much to the smoke, it's sometimes even been difficult to sleep because of the smell. I'm told that in some parts of the city, the particle density is 30 times higher than the usual. The authorities have issued recommendations about keeping the windows closed, which is of course impossible in the heat.
fredag 30 juli 2010
The eventful last days in St. Petersburg
I've decided to continue this blog in English, since there are many potential readers who don't speak Swedish. For example, more than 60 % of my Facebook friends are non-Swedish.
I'll wrap up, as briefly as I can, the end of my exchange semester in St. Petersburg (in June 2008 – yeah, I know that I'm a bit behind). Just a few days before I was supposed to leave Russia, I realized that a crack has started to show above the identification page in my passport. Immediately, I contacted the Swedish consulate general in St. Petersburg, and asked for advice. They told me to come by and show them my passport. The next day, I went to the consulate, where they looked at my passport and explained that even though the Swedish authorities still regarded my passport as valid, the Russians might be of a different opinion. They might let me cross the border, but they might just as well decide that the passport is fake and tear off the identification page.
From here on, I had to run around to get new passport photos, withdraw money, exchange some of them to dollars and so on. I rapidly needed a new regular passport as I had to apply for a US visa (because of my summer internship in California) as soon as I was back in Sweden. It was possible to apply for the new passport in Russia, and have it delivered to Stockholm after manufacturing, where I could pick it up on the day of my arrival. I also needed an emergency passport (it looks similar to the regular passport but is pink, has fewer pages and is really expensive) in order to leave Russia. When crossing the border, Russia requires an exit visa, which is normally the same as the entry visa. However, the multiple entry visa that I had was naturally only valid together with my old, broken, passport. Thus, I needed to get a new visa for my emergency passport. For a whole day, people from the consulate as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs worked to arrange everything with the Russian authorities so that I could leave the country.
I was leaving Russia by car across the Finnish border. As I didn't have the possibility to visit a consular post at the border, I had to go to the consular post at the airport Pulkovo the night before. I was waiting for a phone call from the consulate, in order to know when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had completed all the paperwork and had it approved by the Russians. Knowing what time the consular post closed, I eventually had to leave for the airport without knowing anything, but luckily I got the phone call on my way there.
After arriving at Pulkovo, I entered the arrival hall and passed by the No Entry signs on my way towards the baggage claim. In the end, I found the phone on the wall, which I needed to use in order to get in touch with the consular post. After having waited for a while, a man showed up. He looked at my broken passport and at my visa, and concluded that "This is a multiple entry visa. No one told us about this, and we can't do anything about it. You need to apply for a new visa with your dean, and you can't leave Russia tomorrow."
Rather dispirited, I returned to the arrival hall, where I met Natasha, who was working at my university. She was standing there, holding a sign which said "Mr Pagrotsky". I told her the whole story, and made some phone calls to the consulate. At the consulate, they were really upset and told me that the answer I had gotten was wrong. They could and should have issued a new visa, and had done so in similar situations earlier. But unfortunately, it was a Russian governmental decision, which the Swedish consulate could do nothing about.
I spent some more time speaking with Natasha, when the person she was waiting for arrived. It turned out to be Leif Pagrotsky, who is one of our most famous Swedish politicians, having held, among other things, four ministerial posts. He shook my hand and introduced himself using his first name. Natasha suggested that I'd join them in the car, so that I wouldn't have to go back from the airport using marshrutkas and metro. Pagrotsky agreed. It turned out that he was on an advisory board for my university (GSOM), and he wanted to hear my opinions about the school as I had studied there for four months. And that's how I ended up in a car going to Pushkin (24 km outside of St. Petersburg), sitting between Leif Pagrotsky on my left and a consul from the Swedish consulate on my right. Having arrived in Pushkin, we said goodbye and I returned to the city together with Natasha. That was one of the moments in my life where I have regretted the most not bringing a business card with me.
When I was finally back in the dormitory, it was past midnight. Up until this point, I had not studied for my last exam at all, because of all of the passport and visa problems. I studied a few hours, slept a few more, and then went to write the exam in the morning. It was one of my worst exams yet, but I managed to pass it with an E. Then I packed all that I had in something like an hour, and hurried out to the waiting cars.
At the border, I tried to hold the passport in such a way so that the crack couldn't be seen. The border guard took the passport, kept my migration card, stamped my passport and visa and then handed them back to me. Luckily for me, she never opened the passport wide enough to see the crack. The sensation of freedom gave me a hint of what it must have been like to cross the border before the fall of the Soviet Union...
I'll wrap up, as briefly as I can, the end of my exchange semester in St. Petersburg (in June 2008 – yeah, I know that I'm a bit behind). Just a few days before I was supposed to leave Russia, I realized that a crack has started to show above the identification page in my passport. Immediately, I contacted the Swedish consulate general in St. Petersburg, and asked for advice. They told me to come by and show them my passport. The next day, I went to the consulate, where they looked at my passport and explained that even though the Swedish authorities still regarded my passport as valid, the Russians might be of a different opinion. They might let me cross the border, but they might just as well decide that the passport is fake and tear off the identification page.
From here on, I had to run around to get new passport photos, withdraw money, exchange some of them to dollars and so on. I rapidly needed a new regular passport as I had to apply for a US visa (because of my summer internship in California) as soon as I was back in Sweden. It was possible to apply for the new passport in Russia, and have it delivered to Stockholm after manufacturing, where I could pick it up on the day of my arrival. I also needed an emergency passport (it looks similar to the regular passport but is pink, has fewer pages and is really expensive) in order to leave Russia. When crossing the border, Russia requires an exit visa, which is normally the same as the entry visa. However, the multiple entry visa that I had was naturally only valid together with my old, broken, passport. Thus, I needed to get a new visa for my emergency passport. For a whole day, people from the consulate as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs worked to arrange everything with the Russian authorities so that I could leave the country.
I was leaving Russia by car across the Finnish border. As I didn't have the possibility to visit a consular post at the border, I had to go to the consular post at the airport Pulkovo the night before. I was waiting for a phone call from the consulate, in order to know when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had completed all the paperwork and had it approved by the Russians. Knowing what time the consular post closed, I eventually had to leave for the airport without knowing anything, but luckily I got the phone call on my way there.
After arriving at Pulkovo, I entered the arrival hall and passed by the No Entry signs on my way towards the baggage claim. In the end, I found the phone on the wall, which I needed to use in order to get in touch with the consular post. After having waited for a while, a man showed up. He looked at my broken passport and at my visa, and concluded that "This is a multiple entry visa. No one told us about this, and we can't do anything about it. You need to apply for a new visa with your dean, and you can't leave Russia tomorrow."
Rather dispirited, I returned to the arrival hall, where I met Natasha, who was working at my university. She was standing there, holding a sign which said "Mr Pagrotsky". I told her the whole story, and made some phone calls to the consulate. At the consulate, they were really upset and told me that the answer I had gotten was wrong. They could and should have issued a new visa, and had done so in similar situations earlier. But unfortunately, it was a Russian governmental decision, which the Swedish consulate could do nothing about.
I spent some more time speaking with Natasha, when the person she was waiting for arrived. It turned out to be Leif Pagrotsky, who is one of our most famous Swedish politicians, having held, among other things, four ministerial posts. He shook my hand and introduced himself using his first name. Natasha suggested that I'd join them in the car, so that I wouldn't have to go back from the airport using marshrutkas and metro. Pagrotsky agreed. It turned out that he was on an advisory board for my university (GSOM), and he wanted to hear my opinions about the school as I had studied there for four months. And that's how I ended up in a car going to Pushkin (24 km outside of St. Petersburg), sitting between Leif Pagrotsky on my left and a consul from the Swedish consulate on my right. Having arrived in Pushkin, we said goodbye and I returned to the city together with Natasha. That was one of the moments in my life where I have regretted the most not bringing a business card with me.
When I was finally back in the dormitory, it was past midnight. Up until this point, I had not studied for my last exam at all, because of all of the passport and visa problems. I studied a few hours, slept a few more, and then went to write the exam in the morning. It was one of my worst exams yet, but I managed to pass it with an E. Then I packed all that I had in something like an hour, and hurried out to the waiting cars.
At the border, I tried to hold the passport in such a way so that the crack couldn't be seen. The border guard took the passport, kept my migration card, stamped my passport and visa and then handed them back to me. Luckily for me, she never opened the passport wide enough to see the crack. The sensation of freedom gave me a hint of what it must have been like to cross the border before the fall of the Soviet Union...
söndag 20 juni 2010
Nystart för bloggen
Att skriva något nytt varje vecka under min utbytestermin i S:t Petersburg visade sig inte möjligt i praktiken, i alla fall inte när man försökte skriva så mycket som jag. Eftersom jag har rest en hel del under de senaste två åren, har dock en del intressanta saker hänt, och en blogg är kanske det bästa sättet att presentera det på. Av en kompis fick jag rådet att skriva kortare avsnitt varje gång, och samme kompis pushade mig ytterligare för några dagar sedan om att börja blogga på nytt, så jag ska göra ett försök.
Just nu sitter jag på tåget från Kiev till Moskva. Har för några minuter sedan lämnat den ukrainska passkontrollen i det lilla samhället Konotop (Конотоп) och fått min ukrainska utresestämpel. Gränsen är en bit bort, men jag antar att själva gränsen i sig är obevakad, så därför hamnar kontrollen i de sista samhälle man stannar i. Räknar inte med att ha Internet så länge till (jag surfar med mitt ukrainska SIM-kort som mest har täckning i städer), men så småningom ska jag försöka berätta mer om vad som händer under resan. Det kommer nog också bli en sammanfattning av vad som hände i slutet av mitt utbyte, och kanske en och annan anekdot om vad som hänt senare.
Läser du bloggen får du gärna skriva en kommentar, så jag får någon press på mig! :)
Just nu sitter jag på tåget från Kiev till Moskva. Har för några minuter sedan lämnat den ukrainska passkontrollen i det lilla samhället Konotop (Конотоп) och fått min ukrainska utresestämpel. Gränsen är en bit bort, men jag antar att själva gränsen i sig är obevakad, så därför hamnar kontrollen i de sista samhälle man stannar i. Räknar inte med att ha Internet så länge till (jag surfar med mitt ukrainska SIM-kort som mest har täckning i städer), men så småningom ska jag försöka berätta mer om vad som händer under resan. Det kommer nog också bli en sammanfattning av vad som hände i slutet av mitt utbyte, och kanske en och annan anekdot om vad som hänt senare.
Läser du bloggen får du gärna skriva en kommentar, så jag får någon press på mig! :)
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