Dobry den

As you sip your coffee, doubtless Ms Budget Travel is sipping vodka or borscht, this week she is in St. Petersburg, a city of such legendary beauty that Venice weeps at the mention of the Nevsky Prospect and Jerusalem cries when travelers talk about the city built on islands . . .

Enough of the purple prose

Ms Budget Travel is doing a Russian Language Immersion Program. For the full story on this odyssey, check out the San Francisco Bay Guardian website and print editions in February and March --- you can reach their website at http://www.sfbg.com. Ms Budget Travel will let you know whether she, in fact, learns any Russian, gets too much vodka, or freezes to death. She'll also let you whether St. Petersburg is full of pimps, prostitutes, and Russian Mafia who gun down tourists on street corners or whether it's full of folks who go to work and come home to kick back with their vodka.

You know you can trust me . . .

If you go to http://www.weather.com you can check out the weather in St. Petersburg and anywhere else on the globe. . . if you are planning your own visit to Russia you can get advise on a Visa at http://www.interknowledge.com/russia/vis... if you don't live near a Russian consulate.

You still must have a Visa to visit Russia. You must have confirmed lodging before you can obtain a Visa. Even post Soviet state the former comrades aren't exactly saying ya'll come.

You also might want to check out my neighbor here on the Suite at http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/russ... Cheryl's pages on Russia are really useful if you need to know a bit about culture, vodka, and Communism.

And unlike Western Europe where your schoolgirl French or some picked up Spanish might get you by, Ms Budget Travel has heard that 'when in Russia one should speak as the Russians do.'

Which brings us all to http://www.languagestudiesabroad.com

Ms Budget Travel does not know Russian yet. But she does know a bargain . . . and a week in St. Petersburg with language classes, lodging, breakfast, and some dinners only costs $620 (USD) through Language Studies Abroad.

You want to learn French, Italian, and Spanish? They have comparable programs . . .and they do a great matchmaker service involving the families you stay with . . . need to practice piano? Are you a night owl? They'll bunk you with a simpatico family . . ..

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