Congratulations to all of the new graduates of Oberlin College!
This past week has been crazy and this week will get even crazier. I need to write a paper in the next two days, go to Moscow, come back and pack, and get on an airplane to go home.
If you want to hear about all of the fun things I've done in my final two weeks in Russia, you'll have to contact me once I'm back in the States (which you should do anyways).
My schedule:
June 1st-7th : Philadelphia
June 7th-12th: Pittsburgh
June 12th-end of summer: Aspen, CO.
Let me know if you'll be in any of those places!
Also, look at the youtube videos for the Eurovision entries from Spain, France, and Latvia...they're hilarious. Obviously, Russia won!
Thanks for reading my blog this semester and I look forward to seeing all of you soon!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
1 down...4 more to go!
So, I just finished my first final, which went pretty well I think. I just have 3 more Russian language finals (most of which will be incredibly easy) and one paper to write in English. Then I'll be done!
I only have 2 more weeks to go here, which is actually making it really hard to get through. The fact that I'll be home in 2 weeks makes me much more focused on getting home than on enjoying my last weeks here. But, on the other hand, there are lots of great things coming up: Backstreet Boys concert, possibly another trip to Moscow, going to Petergof to see the fountains, etc.
Not much has been going on lately because we've just been working hard. This weekend I went to a modernized version of "La Traviata" (kind of strange), a cemetery where more famous people are buried (like Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky, etc.), and a monastery (where we had a tour led by the meanest monk possible. He got really mad at other tourists taking pictures of him and started complaining to us about the "savages from the West." Needless to say -- a bit awkward). I also visited the Armenian Church with an Armenian friend of mine. In my opinion, it was much nicer than the Russian Orthodox churches I have seen so far. It seemed a lot less intimidating and cluttered; there was also a service going on which was very beautiful.
This past week I had one experience with the Russian lack of understanding of the word "tolerance." We had actually discussed in school how Russians do not understand that word at all, so when it was announced as my conversation topic for the discussion club, I did not expect great results. It fully lived up to my expectations. Russians think that tolerance is simply patience. One girl said that she once saw a history textbook from America, and it didn't say that Russia won WWII (Russia thinks they won WWII and will not take any other explanation). She said that was intolerant of America.
Also, St. Petersburg won the European cup in soccer! Go Zenit!
Congrats to those of you who have already graduated!
I only have 2 more weeks to go here, which is actually making it really hard to get through. The fact that I'll be home in 2 weeks makes me much more focused on getting home than on enjoying my last weeks here. But, on the other hand, there are lots of great things coming up: Backstreet Boys concert, possibly another trip to Moscow, going to Petergof to see the fountains, etc.
Not much has been going on lately because we've just been working hard. This weekend I went to a modernized version of "La Traviata" (kind of strange), a cemetery where more famous people are buried (like Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky, etc.), and a monastery (where we had a tour led by the meanest monk possible. He got really mad at other tourists taking pictures of him and started complaining to us about the "savages from the West." Needless to say -- a bit awkward). I also visited the Armenian Church with an Armenian friend of mine. In my opinion, it was much nicer than the Russian Orthodox churches I have seen so far. It seemed a lot less intimidating and cluttered; there was also a service going on which was very beautiful.
This past week I had one experience with the Russian lack of understanding of the word "tolerance." We had actually discussed in school how Russians do not understand that word at all, so when it was announced as my conversation topic for the discussion club, I did not expect great results. It fully lived up to my expectations. Russians think that tolerance is simply patience. One girl said that she once saw a history textbook from America, and it didn't say that Russia won WWII (Russia thinks they won WWII and will not take any other explanation). She said that was intolerant of America.
Also, St. Petersburg won the European cup in soccer! Go Zenit!
Congrats to those of you who have already graduated!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Moscow for real
Moscow and St. Petersburg are big rival cities -- kind of similar to Pittsburgh and Cleveland if I think about it. People in Petersburg will go into long tirades about all the bad things about Moscow if you even mention the city. So, I headed into this trip with a fairly negative expectation about what I was getting into. I expected Moscow to be dirty, overcrowded, boring, etc. Instead, I was greeted by a completely different city.
First of all, it takes about 7 hours on the train to get to Moscow. We went on an overnight train, which was an experience to begin with. I've never really traveled by train and I kind of enjoyed it. We had compartments for 4 people, with a bed for each. It was fun to hang out and travel with my friends on a Russian train. It even sounds like an interesting experience.
The train got into Moscow at 6 am and we headed straight to where we were staying (a dormitory for the blind...it had a central location). We had a few hours to sleep and then we were off. The first thing we did was meet up with our old man guide for our first walking tour. Instead of taking us to Red Square first (which we actually couldn't do because it was Victory day and the military parade was going through Red Square -- invitation only), we went into the botanical gardens of Moscow State University. They were beautiful! Moscow, to begin with, is already tons more green than St. Petersburg. The city has made an effort to create tons of parks and green spaces, which makes it very appealing. While the parks in Petersburg were created for the royalty (so they are gated in and sometimes hard to access), every time Moscow took down a set of circular walls surrounding the city (3 times), they replaced that space with parks. So, you can actually walk all around the city by walking through these strips of park. After that, we went to Red Square and did more of a walking tour around the center.
In general, Moscow is a lot more of an American like city than St. Petersburg. The metro system is incredibly complicated (but therefore useful, unlike the one here), the city is cleaner, and generally fairly efficient. It almost felt like we were in an entirely different country because we had this picture of a Russian city in our minds from our Petersburg experience, and this was totally different. It's more expensive, but definitely somewhere I would prefer to live over Petersburg.
Other highlights of the weekend: a circus performance (of course! I was also notified of the mouse circus that performs in Moscow. If I make another trip there, I'm going to try to get tickets. It sounds like something not to be missed), a sculpture garden that contained old Soviet sculptures that have no homes anymore (lots of Lenins and Stalins), and going to a cemetery where tons of famous people are buried (Yeltsin, Khruschev, Shostakovich, Gogol, Chekov, Rostrapovich, Kabelevsky, Skriabin, etc.). The cemetery was incredible because the gravestones were so creative and unique. There were tons of Russians walking around and laying flowers at graves.
We also went on a tour of the Kremlin, and I visited one of the synagogues and the Contemporary History museum. That museum was actually really overwhelming and full of Russian pride. Despite the fact that Medvedev was only inaugurated a week ago, his portrait was front and center.
One of the best things was the fact that a restaurant where we ate a lot forgot to order food for vegetarians so we got to order from the menu! We found a great American tasting sandwich.
In conclusion, I really loved Moscow and was kind of disappointed to come back here. I'm hoping to make another trip (mostly because Lenin's mausoleum was closed and I feel like I can't leave Russia without seeing Lenin), but who knows what will happen. Possibly we just enjoyed Moscow so much because we're about ready to return to the States. It definitely made us realize the things we'll appreciate.
Only three more weeks to go!
P.S. My friend Katie was talking with her host mother last night about Putin. Her host mother expressed how great Putin is and how everyone loves him. When Katie said that many people in the U.S. don't like him, her mother said "that's because you have too much propaganda in America." We thought it was funny.
First of all, it takes about 7 hours on the train to get to Moscow. We went on an overnight train, which was an experience to begin with. I've never really traveled by train and I kind of enjoyed it. We had compartments for 4 people, with a bed for each. It was fun to hang out and travel with my friends on a Russian train. It even sounds like an interesting experience.
The train got into Moscow at 6 am and we headed straight to where we were staying (a dormitory for the blind...it had a central location). We had a few hours to sleep and then we were off. The first thing we did was meet up with our old man guide for our first walking tour. Instead of taking us to Red Square first (which we actually couldn't do because it was Victory day and the military parade was going through Red Square -- invitation only), we went into the botanical gardens of Moscow State University. They were beautiful! Moscow, to begin with, is already tons more green than St. Petersburg. The city has made an effort to create tons of parks and green spaces, which makes it very appealing. While the parks in Petersburg were created for the royalty (so they are gated in and sometimes hard to access), every time Moscow took down a set of circular walls surrounding the city (3 times), they replaced that space with parks. So, you can actually walk all around the city by walking through these strips of park. After that, we went to Red Square and did more of a walking tour around the center.
In general, Moscow is a lot more of an American like city than St. Petersburg. The metro system is incredibly complicated (but therefore useful, unlike the one here), the city is cleaner, and generally fairly efficient. It almost felt like we were in an entirely different country because we had this picture of a Russian city in our minds from our Petersburg experience, and this was totally different. It's more expensive, but definitely somewhere I would prefer to live over Petersburg.
Other highlights of the weekend: a circus performance (of course! I was also notified of the mouse circus that performs in Moscow. If I make another trip there, I'm going to try to get tickets. It sounds like something not to be missed), a sculpture garden that contained old Soviet sculptures that have no homes anymore (lots of Lenins and Stalins), and going to a cemetery where tons of famous people are buried (Yeltsin, Khruschev, Shostakovich, Gogol, Chekov, Rostrapovich, Kabelevsky, Skriabin, etc.). The cemetery was incredible because the gravestones were so creative and unique. There were tons of Russians walking around and laying flowers at graves.
We also went on a tour of the Kremlin, and I visited one of the synagogues and the Contemporary History museum. That museum was actually really overwhelming and full of Russian pride. Despite the fact that Medvedev was only inaugurated a week ago, his portrait was front and center.
One of the best things was the fact that a restaurant where we ate a lot forgot to order food for vegetarians so we got to order from the menu! We found a great American tasting sandwich.
In conclusion, I really loved Moscow and was kind of disappointed to come back here. I'm hoping to make another trip (mostly because Lenin's mausoleum was closed and I feel like I can't leave Russia without seeing Lenin), but who knows what will happen. Possibly we just enjoyed Moscow so much because we're about ready to return to the States. It definitely made us realize the things we'll appreciate.
Only three more weeks to go!
P.S. My friend Katie was talking with her host mother last night about Putin. Her host mother expressed how great Putin is and how everyone loves him. When Katie said that many people in the U.S. don't like him, her mother said "that's because you have too much propaganda in America." We thought it was funny.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Moscow preview
So, I just had a fantastic weekend in Moscow, but our train got in at 6:30 this morning so I'm kind of exhausted and can't think straight. Therefore, I will post tomorrow when it will hopefully make more sense. I just wanted to let my loyal readers know I haven't forgotten them (i.e. Caitlin Seeley).
Monday, May 5, 2008
A week with my family...
So, I took the past week off of school and spent it touring with my family. It was really nice not to have to go to school, but it felt very strange to be in the mass of tourists that have suddenly appeared in Petersburg. The main streets are twice as crowded as normal, because not only is the weather nicer (so more Russians go outside), it's the beginning of tourist season. I can definitely tell why, though. Right now, I sun sets at about 11 pm...which is the craziest feeling. Your day lasts much longer than it normally would, because you don't realize it's getting late. I went to an evening ballet performance with my family (a modern dance-ish version of Cinderella -- I actually really liked it!), but when we exited the theater, it felt as if we saw a matinee. It's really an interesting experience to have elongated days.
Other than that, I don't have much to note from the past week. I saw a lot of things I had already seen, saw some new things (a battleship, Mendeleev's apartment/office, the geological museum), and ate much better food then normal. Thursday was May Day, and we actually witnessed a demonstration. First, the angry labor unions walked by, with signs demanding better wages and pensions. Next, came Putin's party, complete with his youth league marching with flags with his face on them. That was a little creepy. Then, came the socialists, the communists, and then some angry people yelling about death wearing black. Not quite sure who they were.
The thing that really struck me in the past week was how much I've adjusted to life here. Until my parents commented on how dirty the city was, I had forgotten. I think the demonstration only struck me as being out of the ordinary and a little scary because my family was there and looking at everything from a different perspective. I'm not sure if it's good or bad that I've become numb to some of the more depressing/disturbing signs of life in Russia.
In other news, the Pussycat Dolls were staying in my parents hotel in St. Petersburg. They saw them celebrating post-concert in the lobby.
To all those at Oberlin, enjoy your last week of school!
Other than that, I don't have much to note from the past week. I saw a lot of things I had already seen, saw some new things (a battleship, Mendeleev's apartment/office, the geological museum), and ate much better food then normal. Thursday was May Day, and we actually witnessed a demonstration. First, the angry labor unions walked by, with signs demanding better wages and pensions. Next, came Putin's party, complete with his youth league marching with flags with his face on them. That was a little creepy. Then, came the socialists, the communists, and then some angry people yelling about death wearing black. Not quite sure who they were.
The thing that really struck me in the past week was how much I've adjusted to life here. Until my parents commented on how dirty the city was, I had forgotten. I think the demonstration only struck me as being out of the ordinary and a little scary because my family was there and looking at everything from a different perspective. I'm not sure if it's good or bad that I've become numb to some of the more depressing/disturbing signs of life in Russia.
In other news, the Pussycat Dolls were staying in my parents hotel in St. Petersburg. They saw them celebrating post-concert in the lobby.
To all those at Oberlin, enjoy your last week of school!
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