The whole IES gang traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, during the week of March 20-26. Everyone was extremely excited about the "exotic" (for lack of better words) destination. During our first full day, we took a bus around the city and saw some of the major city center sites like the "Bronze Horseman," St. Isaac's Cathedral, The Church of Spilled Blood, and a few others. We returned to the hotel for lunch, ate, and then walked to University of St. Petersburg after lunch. During the walk, I started to feel really sick, but I tried to suck it up and not complain. After our 45-minute trek, we finally arrived at the University. I walked up to Janka (our IES Student Assistant) and the tears spilled through as I explained that I felt sick. The two of us did a complete turn-around and traveled 45 minutes back to Ibis Hotel, where my feeling sick evolved into being sick. I rested in my hotel room for a few hours, but the sickness only escalated. Janka decided to take me to the American Clinic (thank goodness it was not an actual Russian clinic), and they quickly decided to admit me to the hospital due to my condition. My condition caused me to become severely dehydrated, so they hooked me up to an IV-drip immediately. I had the IV for four days (fluid and antibiotic drips), had two shots in the bottom muscle (ouch), and had my blood taken twice, and ran a few other tests. My two doctors spoke English; however, I had the most interaction with the nurses who did not speak any English. Well, one nurse did and she sat down with me one day and told me about her life as a nurse in New York, how she hates working in Russia, how Russian men are "drunks" and "don't want marriage...only other things," and that she and her boyfriend are having problems. I sort of felt like I was in some Russian Twilight Zone, but it was nice to have the company.
I did not eat for a period of 18 hours, and when the nurses finally brought me my breakfast on Tuesday morning, I was a bit upset to see bland porridge and English Breakfast Tea sitting on a tray. The food did not get much better as the meals passed. I got a plate of rice for most meals (even for breakfast one morning), and one afternoon I got some nasty, mushy grain. On Wednesday (my final night), I received what I like to call "The Last Supper": a plate of rice, cabbage, and ground beef all mixed together...SOO EXTRAVAGANT! Needless to say, I had Katrin (the IES leader) bring me some bland crackers and wafers for in between meal times.
The IES leaders visited me on a daily basis, and my friends also came to visit me during my stay. I was so happy to have visitors and they even brought me flowers--it was very sweet! Otherwise, I think I truly would have gone crazy lying in that room for four days! I was released on Thursday afternoon and rejoined the group for about 1.5 days before we traveled back to Berlin.
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