Good to be back, Saint Petersburg!

Hello everybody, my name is Miranda, I am an Italian 24 year old student and I will be spending the next two months in Saint Petersburg, working as an intern at Liden & Denz. 

My love for Russian culture began when I was a little kid and fell in love with “Princess Anastasia” Disney cartoon. I remember being completely hooked by Saint Petersburg’s nostalgic wintery atmosphere, as well as by the fascinating yet tragic history of the Romanov. As years passed by, I got more and more interested in Russian culture and started reading a lot about its history: it seemed unbelievable to me that a country that suffered this many invasions, wars, bloodthirsty Tzars and dictators could still remain politically powerful an astonishingly flourishing in terms of art and literature. I was determined to learn more about this fascinating place, and so I did, by picking Russian as the first language in my university.

My first year of Russian language was a blast: its wavy cursive intrigued me and the Cyrillic alphabet felt like an exciting game, so that after learning how to read fluently I told myself “Russian is not that difficult after all”. Little did I know verb aspects, genitive plural and motion verbs were waiting for me just around the bend. However, despite all the difficulties, I have never regretted my choice.

When I first came here four years ago, I remember being so excited to finally put in practice what I had learnt from grammar books. Walking the streets of Saint Petersburg I really got the feeling of a city infused with history and culture, a colourful yet mysterious place with many interesting stories to tell.

Pushkin, one of the most famous Russian writers, said about Saint Petersburg that it had been built to “cut a window into Europe” (“В Европу прорубить окно”).  I think this quote really sums up the complex yet beautiful soul of this city, that I encourage everybody to visit. 

Overall, I am very happy to be here again, having the opportunity to work for Liden and Denz as a blogger.  I really hope my articles will enable people to learn more about this lively city and beautiful country.  

 До скорой встречи!