This summer, I spent six weeks studying in St. Petersburg, Russia. I stayed with a host family, took daily classes in language and literature at St. Petersburg State University, and spent afternoons exploring the city’s many museums, parks, and cafes. The trip was an enriching cultural experience that both challenged and delighted me as I learned to navigate the city on my own and grew accustomed to hearing and speaking Russian all the time.
I also had the opportunity to conduct research while abroad, in which I examined state-sponsored narratives about natural resource dependence in Russia. Since my return from the program, my project has been featured on the RPSS website and my paper will be published in this semester’s issue of The Monitor, a journal devoted to promoting undergraduate international research on campus.
The highlight of the whole trip? Attending a performance of Swan Lake at the Mariinskii Theater!”
