William & Mary in St. Petersburg: I'd PutIn a Good Word for It Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

This William and Mary program was a rigorous 6-week program focusing on furthering students' Russian language skills, and included a history course taught by a William and Mary professor. The program was complete immersion, in that students stayed with Russian host families and Russian classes were taught by St. Petersburg State faculty in Russian. The William and Mary professor took students on historically-themed tours of St. Petersburg, highlighting the city's rich history and supplementing the classroom lectures. Most of the students on the trip also took a course during the previous spring semester while still at William and Mary to prepare them for St. Petersburg and their research projects they would be doing. The Russian language courses were split up into two skill levels and would meet for three hours a day, five days a week. There would typically be two St. Petersburg State professors instructing us throughout the week: one for cultural knowledge, one for language training. Both were extremely nice and understanding with those of us who were not quite at the same level as some of our peers. Classes were taught completely in Russian, so it was a great opportunity to become immersed in the language.

On-site administration of your program

Our faculty leader was excellent in making sure everything ran smoothly and everyone was involved. The St. Petersburg State administration was responsive, albeit at times slowly, to things that needed to be resolved, such as a housing situation.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Housing was arranged for us by the administration. The neighborhood I lived in was very safe and was in close proximity to multiple forms of mass transit from which you could access both the university as well as the center of the city. The host families provided all the essentials (bed, sheets, cookware--if they let you; my host family was insistent that they cook for me). My host family was extremely kind and actually knew some English, so we were able to communicate very well.

I heard from other students on the program that their meal experience was far different from mine. However, I can say that my host family would fix breakfast and dinner for me every day. My host mother cooked everything herself and used lots of vegetables and traditional Russian foods, most of which included meat (note to vegetarians and vegans: traditional Russian foods are not friendly to your diets). Finding good blini isn't hard in St. Petersburg, and it's definitely something to try while you're there.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

The way Russians and Americans deal with health issues, even just a cold, is very different. One of the important things to keep in mind in St. Petersburg is to not drink the tap water; you can get very sick if you do.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

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• Host Family

Select all that apply

• Host Family