Allergies can be a real problem, and those of us unlucky enough to have them understand how disrupting they can be in daily life. If you are going to be living in one of the apartments near St. Pete with a pet owner, there is going to be some difficulty. Depending on the severity of your allergies, there may be some things that you can do to make the situation a little bit better.
The important thing to remember is that pet owners love their pets, and you need to be respectful of that, At the same time, your roommate needs to be respectful of your situation. Your first instinct may be to tell your roommate to just keep the animal in his or her room at all times; but honestly, that isn't fair to the animal. No animal should have to live a good portion of its live locked in a small room.
So what do you do then? You obviously don't want the animal's hair everywhere, as you won't be able to sleep through all the sneezing you will be doing. Well there are several things you can do. If you are still looking at St. Petersburg apartments, you should agree to find a unit that has wood flooring instead of carpeting. Animal hair and dander congregates much easier in carpet, and can be much more difficult to clean. I guarantee that with wood floors, you will have a much easier time.
That is not to say that you won't have to clean however, as animals will still shed on the floors regardless of what they are made of. While you are not exempt from cleaning, you should make your roommate understand that it is his or her responsibility to take care of the animal hair. You are making a sacrifice to allow the animal to live in the unit, so it only makes sense that your roommate can sacrifice some time to vacuum the floors a couple times a week so that you won't have any problems. This is especially important if you do end up living somewhere with carpet.
Something else you can do to limit allergy problems in St. Petersburg apartments is to make sure that the animals do not jump on the furniture. This is especially important for furniture such as couches and chairs, which can easily trap and retain animal dander. If your roommate has a cat, this might be a problem as cats always like to look for high places. Make sure that your roommate provides the cat with alternative places to climb so that it won't be rolling all over the living room couch.
The final and most obvious thing you can do to make living in St. Petersburg apartments with a pet owner easier, is to keep your room off limits. Always have the door shut, and train the animal not to approach the room. Your room is your sanctuary, and there is no reason why the animal should ever be in there. Keep your room blocked off, and you will always have an animal free zone to escape too.