A week or so until we go

Hi all

I decided to set up a blog for our school trip to the SPIMUN (St Petersburg Model United Nations) Conference, and so here it is. It won't just be me prattling on though, I promise. The point of this is for you all to read updates from the students. Being a blog, it will contain photos of each day, plus give you all back in Qatar the chance to post your own comments. It will be like you are in Russia with us. Just stick your head in the fridge while you read it!

Well we have just over a week until we leave and the resolutions are suddenly appearing rapidly on my email account. They are all at different stages of completion right now and will have to be beefed up a little if they are going to hold up on a world stage but I have faith. I do. The excitement is beginning to build up inside me now. I can't wait to see the "Venice of the North" (St Petersburg that is, not Manchester). I know very little of the history behind the city so I have been swotting up a bit so I can keep up in conversation with Ms Pattison without looking too ignorant. If you know a little as I do, just check out the Wikipedia entry on St Petersburg. Its a complex story just trying to keep up with the various name and nicknames the place has held over time, let alone the revolutionary action the place has encountered. My own favourite nickname is the "window on Europe" from Pushkin. A million images filter past my minds eye.

One thing I'm not really looking forward to is the cold, and I expect the students are thinking the same. Saying that, they are having a mild winter in Europe this year so the temperature could be as high as 6 or 7 degrees C. Mmmm toasty! I tried really hard at the early meetings to stress the importance of thermals etc, especially as some of the group have never really been out of Qatar in the winter months. Lets hope they listened.

Mr W