ISA Training Day 3: Registration, Day 1 Training, and Pass through Ulitsa Repina in the Afternoon

I woke up that morning feeling thrilled because that was the first day of the training. I prepared everything: a notebook, some pens, even I brought a laptop. As usual, caffeine from a cup of coffee helped my eyes wide open. I and my fellow trainees accompanied by Tatyana (Mom) and Artyom walked out of the hotel door after everyone's ready. Ah, forget to mention. We have one more trainee, Rubel. He's from Bangladesh. Wait! Is it destiny or just a coincidence that his name is also the currency used in Russia, рубль 'ruble'? I don't know the answer.

Neva River atmosphere in the afternoon.

(Photo by me)

So, the place for the registration is at the Institute of Earth Sciences of Saint Petersburg State University. Around 4 blocks to the east of the hotel. It's only under 1 km (900 meters to be precise) from the hotel. We walked there. As I said before, walking in the city is pleasing. The sidewalk is quite wide, the weather is just right for walking, and one important thing, nothing will block us when we walk. If you're from Indonesia or any other country that walking in the city is an unusual thing, you can relate what I said.

Before continuing reading, I just want to tell you that the previous story can be read here (Day 1) and here (Day 2).

The registration was not that complicated. Everyone gave the passport and the staff from the school checked it. They then handed us a form we need to fill. Then that's it. They returned our passports and let us start our first course.

But, hold on! Turned out the first course was not on that building, not even in that institute. One more to make it more dramatic: not even in that Vasilyevsky Island. It's on the other side of the Neva River. That's okay though. When else can I visit many places in a city as cool as Saint Petersburg and also participate in training? Am I right?

The name of the institute where the course held was VNIIOkeangeologia. The main work of the institution is to carry out a geological study of the Continental Shelf,  World Ocean, Arctic, and the Antarctic. The place is at Angliyskiy Prospekt. It's near New Holland Island that we visited it on day 2.

VNIIOkeangeologia building (uploaded by Дмитрий Ежов on Google Maps)

The first lecture on Marine Environmental Studies was given by Livia Ermakova. I quite understand in the end that there are several faunas that exist in every type of deep sea mineral. In addition, the lecture also explained how the effects of the equipment used for mineral production on the surrounding environment. Some of these effects can be avoided and some can be minimized. Sound interesting, eh?

The next lecture was given by Natalia Konstantinova (Natalia that picked us up on day 1, remember?) on the topic Deep sea minerals: Co-rich crusts. From the lecture, I understand more about one type of deep sea mineral and how it is different from other deep sea minerals. 

Anyway, before the second lecture, we had lunch at the restaurant called Ресторан Ирис (read: Restoran Iris) at Ulitsa Dekabristov. The foods offered are all mouth-watering. I decided to order a bowl of cheese soup for the appetizer and a plate of rice with salad with meat for the main menu. Our photo during lunch is at the beginning of this post above.

The restaurant we had lunch during training. (Uploaded by Restoran Iris itself on Google Maps)

Our complete formation during lunch. From left to right: Rubel, Dolo, Amina, Jose, Isuri, Bia, Me

After that day course, Artyom suggested us to take a street named Ulitsa Repina on our way home. We thought: "why not?" Because the street is located on Vasilyevsky Island, we need to pass the Blagoveshchenskiy Bridge again to get there. I was amazed by the amazing atmosphere on the banks of Neva River during the afternoon. Some people seemed to relax while fishing by the river.

Neva River atmosphere in the afternoon.

The trainees: Jose, Me, Isuri, Dolores, Amina, dan Rubel. I guess Bia was dealing with her lost suitcase, so she's not on the picture.

Ulitsa Repina (or Repina Street) is located right behind Rumyantsevsky garden, which we also visited that day. That garden itself is a nice place just to sit and look around. There are many trees (duh!) with some statues and, yeah, fountain! Back to the Ulitsa Repina. So, to be honest, at first, I thought that the street is not that special. It is just a narrow stone-paved street. A little research from the internet, I realized that this is a historical street. It's the narrowest street in the city with only 5.6 meters in width. In addition, this is the only street that still paved with stones. Interesting, isn't it? Wait until I tell you one more intriguing fact about this street!

When I said historical, I meant a "real" historical. People said that during the blockade of Leningrad, in the winter of 1941-1942, corpses were taken to this street from the city center, it was a morgue street. Some people believed that the street helps people to make the right decision and soothes the unnecessary bustle of thoughts in the head. Is this the reason why I felt a strange atmosphere when I passed the narrow road at that time? How would I know? If only I knew this fact before.

Ulitsa Repina with the silhouette of my fellow trainees. Damn! I can't see the same thing again from the photo after knowing the fact that it used to be a morgue street.

That's enough for Day 3 story. 

Read the other stories from this post series on this link: http://www.abialghifari.com/2020/10/isa-training-story-complete-list.html