St. Petersburg- Day 4

Julie,

Well today was a good day especially after the two marathon days we had. Today our classes were only 2 hours long each and then were over by lunch time. The other good part about that is I really enjoyed both classes today. Like I said before, I think the content from these classes are going to be very useful to me, but I was nervous that I would have a hard time getting into the classes. This wasn't the case today. The only wishful thinking that I have now (which I have had throughout this program) is that I wish there was a way to apply what we are learning in class to the EXACT scenarios that I currently am facing at work. It is funny cause every professor will walk us through examples and my thoughts will be along the lines, "oh wow, that is cool, now I wonder how I can apply that to a medical practice." Because medical practices are small businesses and typically operate on cash basis as opposed to accrual basis and have their own third party payer system, they have to be thought of in a different way. Anyway, in a perfect world, I think it would be cool if each student could work with the professor to do practice problems, etc that would apply directly to their current business and industry. :)

After class, today was set up to be the corporate tour day. Usually I pick a corporation to attend, but for Russia they only gave us two options. One was a brewery (high interest to everyone else, no interest for me), and the other was the "Russian Wal-mart." So, a lot of the class decided that this would be a good time to go to the Hermitage. The Hermitage is a HUGE museum with all sorts of paintings, sculptures, armor, historical vehicles, etc.  It was originally the Winter Palace of Catherine the Great. All in all this was a dream land for Eden I am sure. For me it was a good experience. 

Here is the line we stood in for about an hour. If you can't

tell it wraps all the way along the side of the building and then

into the entrance that is all the way on that far side. Once we

got out of the shade it was HOT, so the time felt like it went

even slower, but thankfully a few of our classmates bribed 

our little group that was well ahead of the other group to let

them come up with us by buying us ice cream.

It was the first ice cream I had eaten here in Russia since coming back.

Mmmm, I forgot how much I loved the ice cream. Not a delicacy, but good!

I had a Nestle Maxibon, which was one of my favorites when I served here.

Needless to say it was a good reunion.

Once we got inside, we found out even more good news... FREE TICKETS!

Students were free to get in so luckily most of us had our Duke IDs. Sweet! That

saved me about 13 bucks!

Some of my classmates were making fun of me because when we finally got in,

we walked by a couple of rooms of art and then the first thing I pulled

out my camera for was this stairway. But can you blame me, those are a lot of stairs!

This is Rembrandt's "The Prodigal Son" 

This was the one I definitely wanted to see so

it was really cool to find it in this MASSIVE museum.

Seriously, a lot of our time was spend trying to figure out where the heck

we were going.

This is DaVinci's "Madonna with Child"

I couldn't believe how awesome these doors were. I mean they were just 

doors in a random room of a HUGE palace. Crazy!

Michelangelo's "Crouching Boy"

Can you believe these rooms, massive yet decorated/designed

down the the little details in the ceilings.

For some reason these knights on horses made me think of

Mason. I thought he would have liked it.

This was the like "When Animals Attack" room. All these pictures are HUGE

and just stacked side by side.

Monet

A few of the square in front of the Hermitage from the 2nd floor of the

Hermitage.

Van Gogh

Picasso

Wow...

Wowzer...

Wowzastic!

Needless to say the Hermitage was a great experience and a lot of fun. I was pretty exhausted from standing/walking for like 3 1/2 hours, but very glad I did it!

Well that was pretty much our day. After the hermitage, I've pretty much been at the hotel, although I also did some research on where I can go to get souvenirs and such for the family.

Now I am off to do some homework and get to bed early!

Love ya,

Brock