Could you please advise me if any, or which areas of St Petersburg are considered unsafe. My question is really for Stanj or anyone who knows St P well. My son will be studying there from mid-Feb as part of his university course and we will be visiting in May. I have heard of attacks on foreign students and a rise in nationalism, is this being exaggerated or is there a real problem.

Thanks, Stanj, in anticipation,

Hilary

Hello hmf

I can undersrtand your concern due to the world wide negative publicity concerning Skin-heads Facist groups. There really are no bad areas that are more dangerous in the city like in most cities where there are "bad" neightborhoods that "nice" people do not visit. Street crime and violence is pretty rare compared to other cities of 5,000,000 people but it still occurs. By staying in areas where there is general activity if late at night would certainly be wise, this means all the places the kids normally go anyway. He will probably live and attend school on Vasilievsky Island where about 15,000 live in the school year. It it right across the river from the Palace Embankment(Hermitage, Winter Palace, Admiralty, St Isaac, General Staff etc) which is a haven for kids with clubs, cheap by nice cafes, pedestrian streets, shops catering to them and generally a cool place to hang out and one metro stop from the city center. The skin heads do not dare show up there, the whole community has mobilized to monitor any sightings and report their movements to the police who have been cracking down hard on the gangs. The gangs stay out of the city center also which now means they are pretty much confined to remote suburbs where the attacks have occured for the most part, where foreign(dark skinned or S.E. Asia)wondered along late at night. The outer suburbs are not know for crime but the areas the skin heads can roam keeps shrinking and it is getting harder for them to recruit because of the public awareness and recent cooperation with investigations. By various estimates there are only about 3,500 skin-heads, a lot fewer in any major city in Europe or the US but here they targeted foriegners from Africa , Asia and the Caccasuses which generated world wide news reports. The attacks really outraged locals and there were marches and demonstrations in support of anti-facist laws and restriction that have been passed.

If your son keeps his head about him and does not wonder in dark remote areas of the city alone he will likely never see a skin head, most students haven't either. The places his friends will be frequenting are in the city center and on the island. Every student I've talked to from other countries has repeated about the same thing, they love being here and many are planning to make it home. I am in weekly correspondance with a student from Boston who returned home just before Christmas after a year here. She is so "home sick" for her second home of St Petersburg that she is planning on changing majors just to be able to get a longer stay. All the kids seem to grow up a lot here, because they are treated like adults and there are so few restrictions that they have to learn to moderate their own behavior instead of pushing limits as in the west. You have never been around such a nice mature but fun loving group of kids anywhere. They seem to be proud that they get to share a rare cultural experience on such an intimate level. Your son will love it. If he needs some introductions or recommendations let me know.

hmf, plz don't be offended by my post, but safety of your son mostly depends on his skin tone (i'm really sorry to say that). If he's "white" he should have no problem, if he's something darker the risk grows with his "blackness". It also grows depending how far from city center he is. I'm not trying to scare someone off, there are some places in city where all international pple hang out and enjoy themselfs with no problem, not rich busimessmen i mean, but mostly students from all around the world. But this city has problems, very deep problems, that our officials are too ashamed to face. Rise of rasims is NOT exaggerated, one of my friends was murdered by skinheads (his mother was russian and father congolese), some pple i know were badly injured. This is the hard truth.

Many thanks, Stanj, for your reply and information-you have partly reassured me.However my son will not actually be studying at the State University, some students including my son, have opted to go to the Benedict School-on ul. Pskovskaya-staying with a family which we have been told is normally further out and no more than 30 mins walk from a metro stop. We won't know the address etc of the family until he gets there. They have been advised not to be out alone late at night and not to be the last one to be dropped off in a taxi, in the latter case to make plans to stay with another group member's family.

On a lighter note, do you know if the hydrofoil to Peterhof will be running by May 10th?

Thanks again,

Hilary

Hi Hmf

The hydrofoil should be running by the 1st week of May and end at the end of September but this year the season was extended well into October because it was such a mild fall.

Unless your son just likes to walk, he will use a mini-van probably to get to the metro so he will not need much walking alone. Same with going out at night, kids always go out in groups, not because of safety issues but because they are kids and very social. The clubs kids go to are safe, and few kids drink much because they grew up being able to drink beer any time so it is no big deal or any sort of rebelion to sneak beer as in places where it is prohibited. As a result, most kids drink fruit juice and exotic coffees. I am sure he will have a ball here, besides being in a very academic environment, where almost every kid attends a university or institute. He likely will never have been around such a highly educated population before and the expectation to excel academically seems to rub off.