Yet another extreme experience…

Coming back home at half past one a.m. I had to realize, that water started to run from the ceilings… the flooring was all wet. At 3 a.m. the emergency agency answered our calling attempts to tell us, they will inform the necessary people at 9 a.m… At 6 a.m. after the neighbors both below us, and the one below them also called, this time promising an humble reward, an emergency crew of two people came, by the way, mentioning they represent 50% of the agency’s man power, having more than 70 requests for this evening all around the city..

We spent an hour searching, we broke a closed lock and at the end got on the ceiling space under the roof… There had to be one person (for more than 100 flats) with a key and the necessary infos, but apparently he/she wasn’t there.

Finally, we found out, that someone, at some point, for some reason (Oleg from the flat below speculate there was a problem with the water, which may have been frozen in any time after November) had opened a valve of a water-pipe right above our flat and of course didn’t tell anyone, nor cared to close it now, when the temperatures started to get above zero…

Thus… after cleaning the floorings, with our wall papers and ceilings all dirty-wet and without electricity in our rooms, we can finally go to sleep under the tactless melody of the water drops remaining and dream about the other surprises the coming spring has prepared for us…

INTRODUCTION

This short article will be an attempt to describe the challenges I experienced so far, working for the eLearning Team of the Berlin School of Economics and Law from Sankt Petersburg, Russia. In this context, three main aspects will be closely examined: infrastructural obstacles, “the distance factor” – increased complexity and remoteness from the team, as well as the need of coping with working in a new life dynamics.

1. THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Productive and efficient working from distance requires above all stable Internet connection. Connection with speed less than 1 mbps (~ 122.1 MBps) multiplies the working time by a certain factor. The following 4 paragraphs summarize my experiences in the first three month in finding a suitable solution.

1.1. Working from the FINEC Dormitory for exchange students

In the FINEC dormitory for foreign students there are two wireless networks. They serve the approximately hundred students. One provides connection for the left and the other for the right wing of the dorm. Often a signal is available only in the community rooms or the kitchens. In the first three months I was able to work productively, mainly in the community room of my floor and only at night, for during the day the internet connection was often overloaded and there were just too many people around. Once I had to spend more than 7 hours answering eMails and solving the tasks induced, as the semester in Berlin just started. Normally, I wouldn’t need more than 4 hours for the same workload.

1.2 Working from the University

In the first month I tried several times to find places in the university, where I would be able to locate a reasonable wireless network and hopefully an atmosphere, where working could be productive. Among the places I tested was also the university library, which often can be better described as a big room for group work. On different locations I was able to find some protected networks, no one I asked, however neither students nor lecturers or even a person from the IT team, knew the necessary passwords. In the library there was supposed to be wireless LAN. Sadly, I didn’t have the luck being there, while it was working. After several attempts I stopped trying.

1.3. Working using Mobile Internet

Mobile Internet is pretty popular in St. Petersburg and there are many providers. One needs to purchase an USB modem (from 1000 rub/~25 €)* and sign a contract, paying different monthly fee. Such connections are pretty comfortable, for they work basically everywhere. The prices for 900 kbps start from 900 rub (~23 €)* per month. Very popular is the Yota 4G network. With the 450 rub (~11 €)* per month tariff of SkyLink, providing a speed of 128kb/s I was able to check my eMails and log in to our learning management system for a reasonable time, however this was only the case, when no more than three internet sites were opened simultaneously. For everyone considering working from distance in St. Petersburg and not living in a private room or flat, I would recommend using similar connection for at least 900 rub (as of February 2010) tariff per month.

1.4. Working from a private room or flat

The best internet one can get is in a private room or flat. Though the city is segmented between different providers for different regions, making every one of them a monopolist in his area, the price-performance ratio is more than satisfactory. In my case this was Cubionet. Paying 450 rub per month (as much as for the 128kb/s Skylink wireless connection) provide me with a 32 times faster wired connection.

1.5 Hardware

In case one works on projects in a virtual world, e.g. SecondLife, it is advisable to consider the technical specification of the used machine. Though I am in general very pleased with my Lenovo S10e, in such environment I feel sometimes unpleasantly restrained.

2. “THE DISTANCE FACTOR”

This term I use to describe the complexity co-occurring with the distance and the arising feeling of “not being” part of the team. Now I really appreciate our weekly team meetings and the small talk. It was fascinating to find out, how much essential information our personal contact provide (or in my case didn’t provide), often unrealized. Most frustrating were messages including phrases, such as “as we discussed in the team meeting” or “according to what X said/did yesterday”. For me this meant in the most cases up to 10 minutes researching in order to understand, what is actually meant by that, for tasks I was responsible for. For such I wasn’t, similar messages were mostly ignored. In the worst case scenarios, even after ~15 minutes I couldn’t find out the necessary information, which forced me asking “obvious” questions and feeling guilty about it. On the other hand, messages with subject “for ivan” (”just fyi”) or similar, presenting a concrete task or a couple of sentences with background information, e.g. links, proved to be very helpful and time-efficient.

3. NEW LIFE DYNAMICS

The most intangible challenge was the change in my life dynamics. My thoughts and my work dichotomized, thus staying “plugged-in” was a serious task – especially in the beginning. Being an exchange student, trying to get the most from the people, the language and the culture of a completely new country, in addition to visiting all necessary lectures and wanting also to spend a while with the other exchange students, can be very time demanding. Spending 10 hours per month (in the first quarter only on two or three days) working as an eLearning coach in a country, where electronically supported studying is not really popular, is certainly not enough to keep it on one’s mind. What I found very useful were some funny or interesting sources, links, articles, etc.  Subscribing to a mailing-list, where one gets ca. 15 eMails daily, though accompanied with not really very pleasant feeling, while opening your mailbox in the morning, certainly did the trick. In this case, however there is a real danger of immerging sense of a significantly increased “overall working time”.

CONCLUSION

This brief report illustrated the main challenges, in terms of the infrastructure, “the distance factor” and the new life dynamics, which I have encountered so far, working for the eLearning Team of the Berlin School of Economics and Law from Saint Petersburg, Russia.

* all foreign exchange calculations are made of a RUB/EUR rate of app. 40/1.

Firstly, I went to one on Sadovaq str. 24 (ул. Садовая, 24), for it is near to FINEC – my university. After paying 190 rubles and waiting 15 minutes (instead of the 5, written on the price list)  I got, instead of the 10 ordered photographs, only 6. The world didn’t seem so bright to me, after trying to explain the miss-understanding to the extremely impolite employee. This unpleasant experience cost me more nerves, than everything else I experienced so far, including the loss of my passport. I left the studio, after being arrogantly told, that for another 6 photographs I would have to wait additional 20 minutes. Though knowing the possibility of existing geometric progression between the time promised and the real waiting time with a common ratio of 2 was not very high I, felt extremely angry…

Sadly, as an inexperienced foreigner, one doesn’t really have good chances in flawlessly getting such important photographs somewhere else, without spending considerable time in research and traveling through the city. “Qrkiy Mir” (standing for Bright World) have a big range of services and 21 studios in St. Petersburg. I wouldn’t be surprised, if they are monopolists in the region. The other photos I needed, I did in another studio of “Qrkiy Mir” on Nevskiy Prospekt 6, (Невский Пр., 6), for it was on my way to the Otta clinic.

Helplessly, I decided to scan a street map I found walking down Nevskiy Prospekt – which is like “The Street” in Saint Petersburg, hoping I could find the clinic there. A polite man saw me and asked, If he may helped me in any way? I was thankful and explained to him, where I need to go. He than showed me on the big street map, where the clinic is located. Furthermore, he took out of his bag a couple of smaller city maps of the center of Piter and offered me one in exchange for a beer (пиво). Well, for I was already regretting I went out there without a map, this felt like a blessing – directly from heaven. One beer costs around 30 rubles – I gave him 50 (ca. 1.1 euro)! He was more than pleased – so was I. This guy didn’t look as one, who has studied marketing, however he offers one of a kind service, and he does it very professionally..

Anyway, now that I knew where I had to go, I went down Nevsky Prospect on the way to the Hermitage. On Nevsky Prospect 6 (Невский Проспект, 6), I found another “Qrkiy Mir” photo studio and went there to get the additional 6 photographs I needed. This time I ordered them for two hours (160 Rubles), considering I would need so much to get the test done and eat something afterwards.

After crossing the Dvortsoviy Most I saw a couple of limousines in front of the Museum of War ships. I think many couples in Petersburg go there, when they marry. After sharing this observation with my tutor Eva, I was left with the feeling, that for those, who can afford it – a limousine seem to be a necessity… no comment…

The Otta clinic is located directly behind the Central Naval Museum (Центральный военно-морской Музей) and looks, just like the university – very underground. The location could be used in some Hollywood movie, describing the life after a Third World War. The plot would present survivors, which are forced to live in primitive societies. The one with the biggest gun has the most power. Surrounded by many “friends” and women, he would parade by denigrating every person. Sadly, I couldn’t think of anyone playing the hero, who than comes and beats up all the bad guys by himself, bringing hope to the whole world and of course rescues a girl, who than eventually falls in love with him. I thought about Medvedev, for some reason…. but he didn’t quite fit for the role…

In order to arrive at the clinic itself one should enter through the iron gate, even if it is chained. After the big green sign than go to the right and follow all the other small pointers. Inside the clinic one experiences Russia as the land of contrasts – again. Everything looks, as it should – clean and sterile. One even has to put on some funny blue nylon socks (5 rubles) in the entrance-hall.

After going through the door you’ll see two counters – the registration and the cashpoint. For registering you give your passport (or a copy of it) explaining, what you need – in my case an AIDS test (Сертификат об отсутствии ВИЧ-инфекции). After getting something like a receive you have to go to the cashpoint and pay 410 rubles for the service.

Afterwards you are instructed to go to room Nr. 8, where a blood sample is taken. I didn’t have anything to eat or drink before-wards, and this turned out to be, not the cleverest thing I’ve done so far. I felt kind of sick and couldn’t stand on my feet. The woman working there brought me a cup of tea, with a lot of sugar and repeatedly wiped my face with a wet towel for not less than 10 minutes. It felt nice to get so well taken cared of.

On the next day, directly after putting the blue nylon socks, I went to room Nr. 8 and got the – Thanks God – negative results. I wanted to buy some flowers to express my gratitude to the nice women, however there were just so many things on my mind – I totally forgot.

This article is the first of the two-part series and illustrates the preparation and the registration process, as experienced by myself. The second article presents a registration guide, created on the ground of information, sadly I did not possess, as I had to register.

Thanks to the advices of my tutor Eva and the report of Friederike I felt relatively well prepared and must confess I feel pretty happy about, how everything worked out for me. Let us however firstly observe

THE PREPARATION PART.

What you may bring along with you from your country of arrival, except of course all relevant documents and belongings, are 3 photographs, in case you have some, lying around. Otherwise doing them in Russia would probably be cheaper. The first photo you can use for your dormitory admission card (пропуск общежитие), the second photo for getting your student ID (студенческий билет), and the third you may use for issuing a library card (читательский билет). In contrast to the photographs needed for your multi-visa, there aren’t any special regulations about those ones. Thus, if one can recognize you on them, they will do just fine. With the dormitory admission card you are supposed to go to the administrator of the dormitory, and get it stamped. It serves as evidence, that you live there. You have to show it to the guard ladies in the first couple of weeks, when entering the dormitory.

More information about the dormitory will follow in one of my next posts. For issuing a library card you just go to the library, on the first floor in the university, bringing along a photo and your student ID.

AN ALTERNATIVE REGISTRATION METHOD

Most of the people go, as instructed by their tutors, to get registered at the international office, first thing on the day after the arrival. If you decide that waiting should be your new hobby, this may be a good idea. However, I am sure you may find better ways to spend your first week in St. Petersburg. Many students complained they waited for hours, in order to get information about, what they need for registering. Afterwards, they had to come back, after filling all the papers and wait once again.

I wonder, how is it possible, that no one thought of providing the exchange students with a written guide and the necessary papers beforehand or at least putting them on a place in the international office, where they can just pick them up and start preparing them, without having to wait so long?

Anyway…. presentimenting the long lines in front of the international office I decided to firstly get my AIDS test (Сертификат об отсутствии ВИЧ-инфекции) and the 6 matte photos (матовые фотографии) – in size of 3,5×4,5 millimeters – done. The AIDS test I did in the Otta clinic (Клиника Отта) and the photos at a Qrkiy Mir (Яркий Мир) studio. There is some other photo studio, right next to the university, however we were advised not to go there – no details were presented. I followed this advice.

Because of lack of Information I was forced to complete the rest of the registration “ordinarily”. I was lucky, for after returning from the Otta clinic, the women in room Nr. 7 of the international office were just handing out the gathered passports with some of the necessary copies. Apparently, the last 5 or 6 hours they spent collecting them, doing the necessary copies, filling out some papers and now they were returning the passports with the copies. I explained, I just came there, so one of them simply got my passport and did the necessary procedures right away. Here I also used one of the photographs, I brought with me from Berlin and were told to come on the next day to pick my student ID (студенческий билет). After ca. five minutes I got registered at FINEC, got my copies, and was ready for going to room Nr. 9, where the applications for the multi-visa, were supposed to be handed in. Of course, firstly one was supposed to receiving some additional papers and instructions… after waiting for hours (:

The real reason I am happy, about how things worked out for me is the fact I needed not more than 2 hours for the whole process, including applying for my visa. Why? I just didn’t wait… I always went through the doors of the offices, ignoring all other people, standing on the lines. I know it is not the nicest thing to do, but the other option – mentioned many times so far – didn’t really felt worth considering…

Why was it possible?

Well… firstly all students waiting in front of the rooms of the international office are foreigners, most of whom have very low knowledge of the Russian language. Many are for the first or second time in a foreign country, thus coming, staying and waiting together. As everyone else they don’t understand, what is really going on. Hence, if someone just goes through… well he must, in comparison, know what is he doing…

In addition, most of them are only familiar with registration processes, which are much better organized. Thus, the situation they find themselves in is completely new. Moreover, the women working in the international office don’t really care, who is coming next or if the order of entrance is correct. To them we are all the same, there are no numbered tickets or anything in that sense. Therefore, it is not “first come – fist serve”, but more like “first enter – first serve”. Ergo, if you act self confident enough, you are able to skip the waiting part. At some particular moment one may look at you more repiningly but, normally one is not sure, what exactly is going on and also has no time to react. It is of course important not to do this with people, you already got to know on the first evening (:

The best solution in this case is, saying to you tutor to grab your hand and just walk you through the whole process. I saw one girl doing this with the student she was “responsible” of. I felt both anger and respect. Fact is… I don’t even remember, how the exchange student looked like. He was in this case “innocent”. (:

This article is the first of the two-part series and illustrates the preparation and the registration process, as experienced by myself. The second article presents a registration guide, created on the ground of information, sadly I did not possess, as I had to register.

The time goes by… the more I experience, the less time is left for creating… and there is just so much to write about… I have the feeling the last entry in this blog will be published long after I’ve left Saint-Petersburg… (:

This post, however will stress on the most important thing I learned here so far… inevitably intertwined with the fact I am starting to “understand” the “new” world around me…

This article is the first completed after I finished my exchange year. Most of the informations presented I wrote on 24.09.2009 – exactly one year ago. The new infos will be presented in green.

As trivial as the term “inter-cultural differences” may seem… I needed three months to internalize it.

Here I must confess – as Bulgarian, whose home country’s culture is pretty similar to the Russian -  I thought, I would adapt extremely fast… When I think about it now… I have the feeling some Germans adapted faster than me…. I guess, the 5 years spent in Germany influenced me much stronger than realized…

Coming in Piter from an industrialized country, it was hard not to compare the differences… and they are, oh so many..

Walking down the streets, my attention was constantly attracted by some “discrepancies” – frowzy buildings and streets or the absurd order of the trash beens in the yard of the university. Negative emotions arose when meeting unfriendly staff in cafes and restaurants or seeing the raw attitude of strangers towards each other. Shocking reality hurt when reading the story of Sergey Magnitsky.

I judged and judged… criticized and pitted .. Not in front of my newly met Russian friends, of course, however in my mind.. always.. all the time.. without realizing it.

And what exactly did this bring me… apart of negative emotions? Not really that much. Inter-cultural differences, were always interpreted from the perspective of the foreigner… the one coming from the country, where things at least seem to work… Sometimes I wanted to scream out loud:

“Why are you doing this?!?! It may seem the best thing to do for you at the moment, but in the long run – you are damaging not only yourself but all the people you love and care for….”

It is not easy to express, what I’m trying to say… not, that things can not be done “better” here… however, as absurd some facts seemed to me, as absurd was the fact I put the Russian reality in the context of the German one… This simply doesn’t work!

And… it is funny, now when I think about a story a friend of mine told me, concerning her experiences in Saudi Arabia a week before I came to Saint-Petersburg.

The main character was some swiss guy working in Ryad, who was always judging and criticizing the Arabian culture, emphasizing on the differences between his home country and Saudi Arabia… At the end of the day, he didn’t moved out from a particular diplomatic quarter, lived pretty lonely and no one really respected or liked him…

I asked my tango teacher a couple of weeks ago: “There are so many different tango styles. And for a beginner it seems so difficult to dance even one correctly. How do you manage to enjoy and dance tango with people, who have learned and practiced a different stile?”

- “You emphasize on the things you have in-common and ignore the differences.” – I still smile, every time I think about his answer (:

In addition, at different classes at the BSEL particular soft skills and behavior patterns in a foreign country were emphasized upon… and yet the real-life experience was just so different… the reality, in which one plays his prejudiced role turned to influence the character much stronger, than the message comprehended from a couple of presentation slides… Nevertheless, I feel, I have to list some information from my “Organisation Behavior in International Companies” course with Prof. Dr. rer. pol. L. Hofmann and hope it will help someone else too:

• “Assume differences until similarity is proven.”
• “Emphasize description rather than interpretation or evaluation.”
• “Practice empathy.”
• “Treat your interpretations as a working hypothesis.”

Try not to judge… not to criticize… Russia is Russia and things work here differently… and there is a reason for that… many reasons, perplexedly resulting in the reality around…

Now comes the critical question: Does it mean, one should try to filter the negatively comprehended reality, in order to feel better in the surrounding environment?

I still don’t have a satisfying answer… do you?

It feels so refreshing…

new country, new city, new language, new culture, new mentality, new people, new habits, new weather, new daily routine, new problems, new solutions, new visions, new impressions, new dreams…

a new life!

Feeling free to gestalt it, the way you want, to start it over again… Like a newborn with two and a half decades of experience.

Have you ever wanted to do something and never had the time or the
time never felt right? Have you ever wanted to put a bad habit on a side, but never actually managed to do so?

Be good or bad, nice or rude, introverted or extroverted, responsible or frivolous, an honest man or a liar, loved or hated, the badass or the prince, hard working or lazy…

you could be everyone!

The question is: How to get the most of it?

If you imagine, that shortly before you die and lose your 21 grams you are going to see a flash-back of this part of your life, what do you want to see, to feel to think of?

A museum; a theater play; a football game; some other game; a lecture in marketing; or in finance; days you’ve done some sports; weekends you spent drunk in some clubs; girls you have slept with; someone you helped; someone you used; someone you hurt; someone you loved?

Many may think, why not just be yourself?

Well.. being yourself is the easiest thing to do, isn’t it? You can sit, wait, don’t think, do nothing and you will be yourself. You can also do and be everything mentioned above, plus many more and you will still be yourself… maybe another-self, nevertheless of yours.

Once again: how to get the most of it? What will bring you a step further? What kind of experiences, observations, thoughts, attitude towards life, information will provide you with the most beneficial knowledge and wisdom for YOUR future?

I have no idea… All right, maybe some ideas…

it must be nothing you’ve experienced so far, nothing you’ve seen or felt, nothing you can imagine… but than how to search for it, how to find it?

Put yourself outside your context, outside everything you know… go to Russia (:

On the first Wednesday after getting my invitation I went to the embassy with all papers prepared – it was also the first week of June. The whole procedure was supposed to take ca. 4 weeks. I hoped there wouldn’t be so many people applying for a visa at that time of the year and I was lucky – mine was done in one week. Moreover Wednesday is that kind of day, where not so many people find the time for such tasks – the most chose Mondays or Fridays. Therefore again, if it suits you I strongly recommend applying on Wednesday in the first week of June.

This article is the last of the three-part series and illustrates my experience in the Russian consulate in Berlin. The first article emphasized the importance of finding the right information and preparing all the documents necessary for the application. The second one concentrated on filling out the visa application form.

For I read about the DKB internet bank account, where you get a free VISA card, allowing you to withdraw cash all over the world without paying fees, I decided to get one. The offer of DKB sounded too good to be true, therefore I didn’t apply on the Internet but wonted to do it in person. It worked our great and now, after trying it out in Russia and in Bulgaria beforehand I can only advise you to get one. The Russian consulate and the DKB office are not far away, thus I decided to deal with both on the same day – open the bank account first and apply for the visa afterwards. For the place to open the bank account was not the one showed on the internet site, but a couple of perpendicular streets to Friedrichstrasse in the south, finding it and opening the account took me 30 minutes more than expected. It turned out that this was not bad at all, for I arrived at the consulate exactly 2 min. before 09:00 and getting on the head of the line wouldn’t have brought much.

A couple of minutes thereafter one man came outside and started gathering all the passports of people wanting to get a visa. I would recommend getting a position next to the fence, across the door. There were not so many people waiting there, the most tried to get closer to the door. On the marked spot (see the picture) you can give your passport to the guy, just by stretching your hand. Approximately 10 min. thereafter the same guy came out again and started counting the names of the passport holders letting them in and returning the passports, one by one. Following the crowd I arrived at a big room. The next thing to do was to say to a not necessarily very friendly guy, sitting behind a desk, why was I there. “Мне нужна виза”, showing my passport and a big smile was sufficient. He then gave me 2 tickets with the same number, explaining that I have to give one on counter #2 and keep the other to myself. Don’t forget the “Спасибо” with a bigger smile, even if you don’t understand a word. That was the case with me, so I just asked a woman, who seemed pretty confident with the situation and she friendly explained to me, how the whole thing works.

I gave the number on counter #2 and waited. In the meanwhile the man there, who certainly has “the power” basically threw out an old lady, because she was badly informed and came to the embassy, wanting a visa just with her passport. I don’t think she has ever used the internet but it didn’t seem he cared. He just told her to get out and come back when she has the necessary papers, without any further explanation. The poor woman felt so offended. Some nice people explained to her, what she had to do and she was gone. This event brought me to thinking about the Russian mentality, very similar to the Bulgarian one. And about the way the normal people help each other and stand together against the ones with the “power”. It took about 30 min till it was my turn. The guy there was extremely unfriendly towards me as well. I smiled, said “Hello”, but no answer returned. I really think he is very unhappy with his job, extremely unmotivated and probably the son of someone with influence in Russia or at least in the Russian embassy in Berlin. I tried to say, I wasn’t sure how to fill in some fields, in reaction to which he knocked 3 times on the bar of his desk. It felt like “I don’t f***ing care, what the f*** you want, just give me that damned papers”. I said “Пожалуйста” with the biggest smile ever. He then returned the papers gaved to me from my university – “Bekanntmachung über die vorläufige Anwendung des deutsch-russischen Abkommens über die Erleichterung des Reiseverkehrs von Staatsangehörigen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und Staatsangehörigen der Russischen Föderation” (not that it concerns me (: as a Bulgarian citizen) and another document presenting the contract of co-operation between FINEC and the Berlin School of Economics and Law (“Vertrag über die Zusammenarbeit zwischen FINEC und der HWR Berlin”) without even looking at them. As next he glanced at my health insurance certificate, filled out the missing fields and gave me a bill. With the bill I was supposed to go to the pay desk, pay for the visa, get the bill stamped and return to him. For I was about to be an exchange student, I didn’t had to pay anything, thus I went to pay desk got the bill stamped and returned to him in about 2 minutes. He then told me that I can collect my visa next week. Very honest “Спасибо” made him shake his head agreeably, which felt like “Yeah, yeah… I know, I am so generous and have just done you a big favor.” Another woman was also to come back next Wednesday. Unfortunately, her flight was on Tuesday afternoon. She explained that to the “power-man”. Against all expectations, he told her normally, she should come Tuesday, and again shook his head agreeably, when she honestly thanked him. The advantage of speaking even a little bit of Russian is huge and gets a bit smaller and smaller with every next level of proficiency. It reminds me on the graph of a logarithm function.

That was all for now – I went home, extremely pleased, could however not held myself of thinking, what kind of life does this “powerful” man have? Was he one, who got laughed at and beaten up at school? What kind of education, did he have? Did he get his notes bought by daddy, did he go to a university, did he have to? What kind of parents does he have, do they take him seriously? And last but not least, how long did he have no sex?

COLLECTING THE VISA

One week afterwards I went to collect my visa. This time my coming 5 min. before 12:00 was planned. Note, the consulate accepts applications only from 09:00 till 12:00, and hands documents out only from 12:00 till 13:00. The guy, who gathered the passports last week, gathered the bills this time. When I came at counter #2 the man with the “power” didn’t greet me back, again, this time however he smiled (: All in all the whole process took ca. 15 minutes this time.

This article is the last of the three-part series and illustrates my experience in the Russian consulate in Berlin. The first article emphasized the importance of finding the right information and preparing all the documents necessary for the application. The second one concentrated on filling out the visa application form.

I do hope you’ll find this article useful! In case you have any questions, something to add or additional experiences to share, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment!

After receiving the official invitation (e.g. from your university) one has to fill out the visa application form. Therefore I used the guidelines from visum.de and of course the references from the consulate. The first source emphasizes the content and the second the printing of the application form, and correctly gluing the picture. I must honestly confess, both information sources weren’t elaborate enough and I still had many doubts about some particular points.

Therefore, I had 6 different versions of the application form, including one, where only the basic data was filled in. This is something I recommend to everyone: a semi-blank form with a spare photo and glue in the bag, when applying for a visa. The idea of two times going and waiting at the consulate didn’t seem very teasing therefore the preparation time was considerable.

This article is the second of the three-part series and concentrates on filling out of the visa application form. The previous article emphasized the importance of finding the right information and preparing all the documents necessary for the application. The last one illustrates my experience in the Russian consulate in Berlin.

Hopefully the following instructions will save yours:

• For questions about points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 21 of the application form using the guidelines should be sufficient.
• Point 7 “Zweck der Reise”: “Studium” or “Tourismus” – both would be accepted, if you are a student. For a tourist only the obvious one should be used.
• Point 8 “Kategorie, Art des Visums”: “Student” “or “Tourist” – depends on point 7
• Point 9 “Anzahl der Einreisen”: “Mehrmalig” (reiterated) is correct, though the one you’ll become will be most certainly “Einmalig” (one-time). Don’t get confused here. When you extend your visa in Russia you’ll get the “Mehrmalig” visa. The difference between is, that with “Einmalig” you’ll have the right to go only once in Russia, and after leaving you’ll need another visa to come back. With “Mehrmalig” you may leave the country and come back, as often as you wish in the period of the validity of the visa, of course.
• Point 10 “Datum der Einreise in Russland”: In my case “01.09.XX” – it is written on the official invitation. Therefore one should not fill out the application form, before getting the invitation. At least at FINEC there is no easy way to arrive beforehand, because the most of the personal of the university are on vacation till 31.08. This means, if you want to arrive earlier you will need in addition to your student visa a tourist one, you will most probably not be picked up from the airport, you’ll not have an arranged accommodation and you’ll have to go to some other country (e.g. Finland or Estonia) on the 31.08. On 01.09. you’ll have to arrive again to St. Petersburg. For I didn’t felt so confident in my language skills and the stress seemed too much, I did not applied for a tourist visa additionally, knowing I have to rebook the flight I bought for the 14.08.09 and pay 200% in addition to its original price. Yes, I would have certainly benefited from this information earlier.
• Point 11 “Datum der Ausreise aus Russland” 31.07.XX – again should be the same with the one on the invitation.
• Point12 “Wie oft waren Sie In Russland”: “0″, for I wasn’t in Russia never before. Important is, that using numbers here is correct.
• Point 13 “Zu welcher Dienststelle?”: on some of my application forms I wrote: “FINEC, Sadovaya Str. 21, SPb191023Russland”. However, on the one I hand out, I left the field open. The man, working in the consulate filled it in for me. If I would apply for a visa again, however I would try with “FINEC, Sadovaya Str. 21, SPb191023Russland”. At the end of the day I really don’t think it makes a big difference.
• Point 14 “Reiseroute”: I left this field blank. However, if in future the regulation became more strict, a nice solution, based on the guidelines of visum.de may be: “St.Petersburg-Moskau,St.Petersburg-Wladivostok,St.Petersburg-Kaliningrad” – the trip to Moscow is a necessity, according all student reports I read. Kaliningrad is in my opinion the most interesting place to visit west from St. Petersburg. And with Wladivostok, lying on  Pacific Ocean you basically get access to every city in the east of St. Petersburg, for you may always explain your are still on the way to Wladivostok, if necessary (:
• Point 15 “Besitzen Sie den Nachweis über die in Russland gültige Krankenversicherung”: “SOVAG AG” was korrekt in my case
• Point 20 “Ort Ihrer beruflichen Tätigkeit oder Studiums, Dienststelle”: “HWR Berlin, Badensche Str. 50-51, 10825 Berlin” – there was no place for the telefon, fax and email, but in my case it didn’t matter.

This article is the second of the three-part series and concentrates on filling out of the visa application form. The previous article emphasized the importance of finding the right information and preparing all the documents necessary for the application. The last one illustrates my experience in the Russian consulate in Berlin.

The rest is more or less a good preparation of all the necessary papers. For there were many unclear things to me I decided to write this article, for all who may encounter similar problems.

This article is the first of the three-part series and emphasizes the importance of finding the right information, and on the preparation for the application. The next article in the series concentrates on the filling out of the visa application form and the last one illustrates my experience in the Russian consulate in Berlin.

FINDING THE RIGHT INFORMATION

The most important sources of information I firstly got (all in German) were from “Vostok”, the site of the Russian consulate and many student reports from ILIAS – the internal content management system of my school. They provided me with sufficient basic knowledge.

Furthermore, in the report (in German) of Steffanie Ressler and Jens Zimmermann – studying in Dresden, who went to St. Petersburg in the autumn of 2005 I found a nice list of places to visit (point 4. “Ausgehen”), and information about visiting Moscow, Novgorod, Helsinki and Tallinn (point 5 “Sehenswertes im Umland”), which seem very useful. From the report (in German), written in 2009 by an unknown student from Heidelberg I found most interesting the information about the medical care (p. 14), the transportation system (p. 15) and about traveling in Russia (p. 19). Most helpful, was also the report from 2006 (in German) from Friederike, also studying in Heidelberg. She explained many things very comprehensively, including how to register at the university and how to extend the visa once in St. Petersburg. More on the topic of registration will be presented in another post.

PREPARATION FOR THE APPLICATION

Though one can not apply for a visa, without an official invitation, one could prepare a lot in advance:

1. get some bio-metrical pictures
2. get a proper travel health insurance (Reisekrankenversicherung)
3. fill out and sign a health insurance blank (Versicherungskartenformular)
4. make sure your passport will be valid for the whole period of your visit
5. if you are a foreigner in Germany, you’ll also need a copy of your registration card (Meldebescheinigung)

More detailed explanation is provided on the site of the Russian consulate and on the site of Vostok.

Some of you may also find useful my personal experience in terms of the points listed:

1. Following the advice of my flat mate, I got my pictures done in a studio behind the Potsdamer Platz Arcaden – nothing extraordinary, the price was average for that kind of service in Berlin. I showed them the printed instructions, they took the pictures – everything worked out fine. It took about 1 hour to get them done and in that time I used the internet in Sony Center.
2. This point is more interesting. HanseMerkur AG was recommended to me, and for “Vostok” also advertises them I thought this would be it. Well, it wasn’t - I come from Bulgaria and I wanted a health insurance for a year in Russia. Apparently such combination of country of origin and country of future residence was unacceptable. No comment on that, however I was forces to search for an alternative. Again on the “Vostok” page I found some very interesting information about the possibility to get a health insurance by SOVAG AG – company based in Hamburg, financed with Russian capital. Their health insurance costs approximately 150 EUR less. SOVAG also offer a multi-language 24 hours telephone service in Russia and according to “Vostok”, the cost transfer works much easier. Hopefully, I will not be able to give you information about it gathered through personal experience. Nevertheless, with the insurance from SOVAG, done in the office of VOSTOK I had no problems getting my visa.
3. Note SOVAG also have an office in Berlin, however they don’t issue health insurances there! Now it is also possible to do it online.
4. If you wonder what is the Nr. of the insurance it is the first number you see on the paper, starting from the top.

The next article in this three-part series concentrates on filling out the the visa application form. The last one illustrates my experience in the Russian consulate in Berlin.