Readjusted to the States [Final Blog]

Like the title says, I’m back and readjusted to South Carolina. I’m happy to see my friends and family but I miss all the excitement of being out there. Thanks to Beyond Boundaries and the Benjamin Gilman scholarships I was able to successfully pursue my goals.

Just eight months ago I was surfing the Web trying to find a good Russian program and the means to pay for it. After a montage of applications, trips to the Study Abroad office, and sending all kinds of documents here and there, I took to the skies and saw another side of the world.

Do I want to travel more? Heck yeah! But I’m 22 years old, unemployed and done with school. Now, I’m keeping my options open. I’m looking at teaching abroad gigs, internships and even the military. I just want to live a life that will allow me to pursue all my interests (foreign affairs, journalism, fitness) at once. This trip to Russia was an epic one. I want to have many more just like it.

Thanks for reading my blogs. Hope you enjoyed it!

до свидания!

-Derek Legette

Safely back in the States, but to call it a “bittersweet feeling” is an understatement.

My returning flight from London to Atlanta went by just smoothly. My parents picked me up and I’ve been back home for two days now. It feels great being back in Columbia but I miss all the fun and excitement!

Seeing Russia (and London for a brief moment) was incredible - I absorbed different cultures and lived in an environment different from my own. I saw beautiful sites, paintings and works of art while living in St. Petersburg. And the nightlife was just that, it had a life of its own! People were ecstatic over the raising of the city bridges while bars and clubs stayed open with loud music and folks dancing for endless hours until 6 a.m.

My language skills in Russian actually went up a notch too. Even now, I sometimes feel like naturally responding to people in Russian whenever someone talks to me. And I was only there for five weeks. Imagine how much I could learn if I did a year-long intensive program over there!! Which is something I’m looking into at the moment.

Sure I could go back to Russia next year or later (hint hint Winter 2014 Olympics) but even if I do, I won’t be with all the friends I’ve made this summer. Not just the Americans, but the Finnish, French and German students were all great people who wanted to learn and have fun at the same time. We’ve shared some memorable moments together. But now with some of us going back to school, others graduating and a few hunting for work, we have to go our separate ways. Will we see each other again? Maybe, but we won’t all be together.

I’m so glad we have Facebook!

Last night in Russia. Smoked cigars on a boat though!

It’s the eleventh hour here at St. Petersburg. Right now everyone’s packing up and booking their flight tickets for our afternoon flight back to London tomorrow.

Yesterday, after we finished finals, we did a city boat tour through St. Pete’s waterways. The sun was shining on us and the warm air couldn’t be better! Some of the guys picked up some cigars not found in the States so we could really celebrate the occasion. Huffing and puffing the smoke with our shades on and all our worries thrown into the pleasant breeze, we looked like some serious VIPs out there!

Also, I finished all my classes and got my results back. Honestly, I didn’t do as stellar as I had hoped to in my electives, but I got a B in my language, which matters the most to me. I only studied Russian for one semester and I did well in one of the intermediate classes! My hardwork and studying really paid off.

Alas, five weeks is nowhere near enough time for one to learn any language, especially the “pyccku”language. I didn’t meet that many Russians here either! But I now have the burning desire to come back to St. Petersburg so I can learn more and have more fun! The Gilman Foundation has no idea how their scholarship really gave me more goals to achieve!