Universality of Beer

Last Wednesday we had a sign up excursion to the Baltika Brewery. Baltika is the main Russian beer, and they also produce other beers such as Carlsberg. I thought it would be a lot of fun to check out the factory and compare it to some of the other breweries I visited last semester. Although I did get a free mug and a few sample tastings at the end, it was definitely very different from any of my other experiences. The Baltika Brewery is definitely not a common tourist location, we were the only people there other than the actual employees. The tour was extremely high security, with constant swiping of ID's and forbidden photography. We weren't allowed to walk around by ourself. Our group was always accompanied by our tour guide who was rather dull and monotone. There was very little action occurring on the conveyor belts of the factory, making many of us wonder how they are such a successful company, or maybe it was just "break time?" Otherwise, the beer tasting at the end of the tour was a great success and it was still really cool to see the stark contrast between European and Russian breweries.

On Friday my culture class visited the Dostoevsky Museum. Along the way, we walked past a few of his former places of residence. The museum itself is a replica of his final apartment in St. Petersburg. That is where he wrote The Brothers Karamazov and eventually died. It is so intriguing to actually study the works of authors like Dostoevsky and Pushkin in St. Petersburg; it truly contributes to the mythical "Petersburg Text."

The cigarette case written on by Dostoevksy's daughter on the day he died.