Adaption is the key

Well, we have some problems with the water in our flat:

Actually I thought the purpose of taking a shower is to get clean ;-) but on the other hand there are rumours which say that exactly this way Abramovich and other Russian oligarchs made their first million: black gold coming out of the tap! I am developing plans to collect it...

Statistics sucks

The previous weekend was party as usual, nothing interesting to mention. On Sunday I attended the «Афиша» music festival. The highlight was Cold Cut from the UK: good electronic music and fantastic video animation!
Last week I spend most of my time doing my statistics home assignment. My killer course, like twice as much work as for the rest of the courses together... I expected to learn about different statistic tools but NO, I have to fresh-up my (non-existing) statistic skills! Wednesday night was the farewell party of Andreas, a fellow student from St. Gallen, who spend some time here to study Russian. It was once again in our favourite bar: die Kneipe. A German place (Münchner Weisswürste etc.) run by Claudio, a Swiss guy from Davos. They have an own in-house brewery and produce fantastic beer! The location next to the Saint-Petersburg State University main building attracts many students (actually the beer promotions from Monday to Wednesday).
After handing in my statistic assignment on Thursday night we decided to do a little party: We spend the night in Datcha, a cozy bar in downtown Pieter. Friday night once again some guests in our place and Saturday relaxing... both days of the weekend were dedicated to in- and outdoor sightseeing: field of Mars, Summer Garden, Aurora battle ship, Kunstkamera, navy museum, Yussupow palace etc. (my excitement of taking pix resulted in 500 shots, see a selection on Flickr).

there is a price for having fun

For me it is having a cold for the past couple of days... to be honest, fair enough! It was a lot of fun so I don't mind too much ;-)

• Friday: Blini @ Agnes & Sara's place, warm-up @ the irish, czech & danish gang's place and then cadillac club! For me the evening finished kinda early coz...
• ... Saturday early morning: I participate in a Russian music video clip shooting! We were shooting outside Pieter in an old parc. The whole clip was "Alice in the wonderland" style. You won't guess my role, see yourself (only for my flickr contacts - sorry). My first time on a video, movie whatever shooting so I had a lot of fun with the crew. Ok, my dress was also pretty entertaining for the crew members that didn't know me before. Saturday night I was all exhausted so I went to a nice Turkish place (I miss Turkish food) for dinner then straight to bed.
• Sunday 7am: Getting ready for the second day of shooting. This day was more tiring as the weather just sucked. Ok it made the atmosphere more real but I think most of the crew suffers a cold this week as it was raining all the time and kinda cold! I left the place in the afternoon to get ready for a meeting with the Swiss community of Saint-Petersburg. Actually it was a special occassion as Herr Bundesrat Blocher was visiting the city! Therefore the Swiss consulate organised a reception... and I could shake a Bundesrat's hand, what an honour!

Rest of the week: poker night, clubbing and of course studying... well, we had also various discussions about the current situation in Russia and the world, especially the killing of Anna Politkovskaya (see: "A Sobering Effect of Politkovskaya’s Killing" and "Politkovskaya Deserves Justice") , racism in Saint-Petersburg (for example "Students Tense After Hate Killing") and the reactions to the nuclear weapon test in North Korea.

Socialising

Friday night was dedicated to our official inauguration party. 20 official and at least the same amount of inofficial guests! It was a very funny night without to much collateral damage... ok a couple of glasses. We planned a kind of jazzy loungy style party but it ended up being hardcore drum'n'base at 3am. Pictures will follow soon...
Saturday night as I got out of the university (no no I was not studying but this is the only place I have internet acces at the moment...) I receive a message from Nicolas telling me that our landloards take us out for a classical concert to Peterhof. It was amazing: baroque music in on of the dancing halls of the palace. The last performance of a festival series organised by... one of our neighbours. On the way back we receive the invitation for the after-party / opening of the Sculptures restaurant in Pieter (some impressions...). There amazing jazz music, nice wine and plenty of people that see and want to be seen ;-). As the event only last till 1pm we decided to go to Decadance. The name of the club says everything about the place...
Sunday working, studying, relaxing and in the evening Andrea Boccheli was performing in front of the Hermitage. As it is next door I took a look. Nice concert but shitty weather.