Cafés Imitate Life in St. Petersburg
Why so? These places are well-lit enough to make us feel quite grown-up, yet at the same time dim enough to blur sharp contours and veil any possible defects. They are hothouses for planting delicate blue-eyes boys and frilly girls, and the ideal climate for them to coexist . Cafés are miniature models of an ideal society, a surrogate for life.
It was in cafés that we learned our first lessons of jurisprudence when the waiters wanted us to pay for something we hadn't ordered (and we consequently had to prove we hadn't eaten something that wasn't ever on our plate), and there we learned to conquer and defend our territories when someone tried to invade our favorite table, and, of course, our first steps toward each other were made in cafés. All successful tactics of hunting were mastered there. All in all, the institution of the café is very much aligned with the school education system and is organized in a similar way: the same three basic levels, same pop quizzes, and even "star" pupils.
All the cafés in St. Petersburg are divided into 3 groups to serve "students" of elementary, secondary, and higher education. This law is unwritten, but everyone - even the slowest kid in the class - knows it.
Take the obscure and cheap Ideal Cup, a chain of outlets. Its main purpose is the general education and social development of a child from 12 to 17 years of age. You can acquire some basic skills, such as being able to distinguish between espresso and cappucino, but learning subtleties and details is out of the question, e.g. flirting doesn't always lead to further relationships, which is the most painful experience of the next stage, the "secondary school" cafés.
For most young people, this stage passes in Coffee House, another chain. It's probably the most difficult period of education, when you must cultivate three qualities: patience (flirting doesn't always lead to further relationships!), optimism (but maybe this time it will!), and flexibility (flirting might not lead to a further relationship with that particular guy, but maybe instead with his cute friend!). If you fail to master these concepts then you must repeat the level until you manage to pass the exams or get fed up and leave. For example, my friend chose the second option (she wasn't brilliant, it was clear from the beginning) while I moved on to higher education.
This "university training" takes place in casual restaurants, conceptual places with exclusive interiors, like Face Café, Art Deco, or Abricosoff. The curriculum here includes putting all your preciously learned skills into practice, getting addicted to good coffee and good service.
Having only entered the third stage a month ago, I'm not very familiar with the schemes involved, but some say the exam consists of leaving the cafés never to return. Maybe this means leaving with someone with whom you have serious plans for a joint future, I'm not sure. Anyway, graduation marks your final and irrevocable maturity, when you have to go out of the cafés and into the scary real world. Thinking about it immediately fills my stomach with butterflies (of course with butterflies, what else could fill an art student completely?).
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SECONDARY:
Ideal Cup (Идеальная Чашка)
www.chashka.ru
Nevsky pr., 130 (and many other locations)
HIGH SCHOOL:
Coffee House
(multiple locations)
COLLEGE AND BEYOND:
Abricosoff (Абрикосов)
Nevsky pr., 40
Café Art Deco
Griboedova nab., 64
www.cafeartdeco.com
Face Café
Griboedova nab., 29
St.Petersburg,
Russia
