Reading week has commenced! Huzzah.

As the title suggests, it is currently reading week :D A time to get some much-needed rest, and maybe do some cultural activities too. Oh, and maybe a little work. It's been so long since my last post that I can't really remember everything that's happened. I'd list key events like I did in my last post, but nothing has been particularly of note. It's not been a bad week, just a pretty regular one... Therefore, I think I'll keep this post short and sweet and just say this...

...I bought a new camera! Yay! This one is a lot more 'portable' than my old one, being around a third of the size, so I'll be taking a lot more pictures from now on. I got a total bargain, a 14MP 5x optical zoom Fujifilm for around £68, plus the sales assistant was amazing. He got shoved towards us in the shop by his fellow employees, presumably because he was the only one who spoke intelligible English... He was lovely and helpful and told me and Pippa we were beautiful and thanked us for being so smiley. It's been so nice not having to lug my huge old camera around, and it means I can carry it around with me 24/7, resulting in more 'snapshot'-style photos. I haven't actually had much to take pictures of since I bought it, but here are a couple of the ones I have taken:

 

(Top left: What was left of the snow mentioned in my last post once I woke up; Top right: Plaque near my house informing passers-by that Lenin once lived there; Bottom: Vodka aisle at the local supermarket... Yes, it's a lot of vodka.)

My plans for reading week are as follows: Russian Museum, Alexandr Nevsky cathedral/cemetery, perhaps visit some other museum-y type things, take lots of photos, go to a party or two and sleep a lot. I'd like to be able to say I had more adventurous plans, but I'm here for 9 months and do intend to do lots of travelling, just not quite yet. There's still so much in Peter I haven't yet explored!

I'll update this again soon, hopefully with more interesting/exciting news...

Naomi :)