This is coming around so quickly. It doesn't seem a second ago since I was sat, weighing up where to stay, city vs provincial town etc! Now that I have made my decisions, booked my flights, passed all of my exams (woo!) and received my official Russian Visa Invitation, there's technically not that much more to be done!
HOWEVER, before I can travel to Russia I need to do two official things. I need to get a HIV test and apply for my visa. Since I leave in four weeks, the time scale that I have to do these things in is actually pretty tight, so I should probably get going.
HOWEVER, before I can travel to Russia I need to do two official things. I need to get a HIV test and apply for my visa. Since I leave in four weeks, the time scale that I have to do these things in is actually pretty tight, so I should probably get going.
Russia as a country has an incredibly high rate of HIV, but of course Russia doesn’t accept any responsibility for that and instead thrust the blame onto tourists coming in from overseas. Therefore, in order to obtain a long-stay visa, you need to provide proof that you don’t have HIV. This of course means that I have to go for a blood test. I have never had a blood test before, and never realised that I had a problem with blood tests until I went with a friend for hers and I almost fainted. Such a drama queen, I know. I've been putting it off but I'm going to get it done next week. After weeks of being teased by my sister (a nurse) and having my veins tapped by her to see which one is ‘a good vein’, I finally have to get it done.
Once I've got my ‘negative for HIV' certificate I can apply for my visa, which in itself is a hugely long-winded process. I am currently drowning just looking at all of the official forms to be filled in and having to cross reference all of my answers with the suggested answers from RLUS. Zzz. I think these two official things are sucking the fun out of my preparation to go abroad. Best get them out of the way!!
Expect an update with information on how much of a baby I am when they take my blood.
On a lighter note, I've been doing a bit of research today into the Russian beauty scene! Finding out which big brands have made it behind the ‘Iron Curtain’. Answer, many! Mainly French, quite expensive, but still exciting.
XxX
Russia is the land of heaven when it comes to nail varnish! They have TONNES of very cheap and good brands, but you'll also find the regular brands we get aren't as expensive as in the UK. I basically built up my collection when I went to Peter!
ReplyDeleteThe best beauty shops are Рив Гош and Л'етуаль (both French names, how interesting...) but you're likely to find lots more things is tiny shops scattered across whichever city you're in!
- Marion
I am so glad you have just told me that. I already have a million nail varnishes, but I don’t want to take them all to Russia with me, so I can't wait to build up a Russian collection instead! I'm about to spend the next hour or so browsing through Рив Гош and Л'етуаль! Very exciting!
DeleteThank you!