Oh, but as a sidenote, for those interested, family members and whatnot, I'm currently in Berlin and will be traveling around Germany for the next two weeks. After a little over 4 months abroad, I will finally be back home on December 30.

In less than an hour, we're getting an a bus to the airport and, in 4 hours, will be leaving Russia. Regardless of the fact that I know I'll be back in Russia soon, this is the official end to my study abroad blog. Thanks for reading.

If I have time, I might have one or two more final videos to post of my time in Russia before we leave on Wednesday morning. But if that doesn't happen, here are the last videos I will post. The first shows the birthday celebration with my professor at her apartment. The second, summing up my experiences trying to visually document the past semester.

Yesterday, we went to my professor's apartment to celebrate my birthday, Gina's birthday and Brandy's birthday. We took the opportunity to introduce her to some typical American birthday traditions: lighting candles on a cake, singing "Happy Birthday", lighting fireworks in the living room, drinking vodka and cutting the eye out of a dead fish's head with hands wet from its gushing blood. She gave me a book of Anna Akhmatova's poetry and we got home at 5 in the morning. Right now I should be researching the global sex trade and its connection to Russian Organized Crime for a 3-page paper and presentation due on Tuesday (my birthday) but instead I have opted to not do that.

I don't know how to sum up everything I've done since I stopped writing. We're leaving so soon, and getting to that point of the semester where you have to think "this is probably the last time I'm ever gonna do this" every time you do anything. It's very depressing. I found a Nazi lighter at a market. It's probably fake, I guess. But interesting. Alycia came and went. Thanksgiving too. My host mom observed the 1-year anniversary of her husband's death, and I helped her prepare by chopping up vegetables for a few hours. It was a nice experience to share.

Strange, right? A Ukrainian woman living in Murmansk falls in love and marries a man. They love each other madly and have a wonderful marriage until he dies of throat cancer (from smoking). And out of all her friends, relatives that she has amassed over the course of her entire life, her only company and help on the evening of the day she commemorates the one-year anniversary of his death, a very important day according to Russian tradition, is me. And thus I end up playing a somewhat important role on a somewhat important day in the history of this woman's life. Someone I didn't know 4 months ago and will likely never see again. The next day at dinner we drank wine while she told me about how wonderful he was (though I'd heard it many times before) and I proposed a toast "to Garik".

I miss home and have many reasons to be excited and pleased about returning, but I will miss Russia terribly and will do everything within my power to return whenever life presents the slightest opportunity to do so.

The last videos of the cruise! I got tired of editing them so just threw some of my favorite moments together and that's all you get to see for now. I have other footage of other stuff and the cruise happened an entire month ago, so we're moving on.





Today was no school! Gina is sick! On Friday we're going as a class to see the opera La Traviata. Halloween was great! We made food, mostly under Gina's instruction, while Stacy made decorations and Nathan offered supplies and a venue. Swine flu is apparently raging in the US? Have any of you gotten it?

It's snowed a few times here but hasn't stuck. Here's a picture of my host mom listening to music on my iPod.



















Here is a picture of a Kalashnikov rifle-shaped vodka bottle.















Here's a picture of a kitten.

Move over God, because there's a new God in town, and her name is Nastya Vasilieva. I don't know about your God, but my God got me a free ticket to see Swan Lake at the Mariinsky Theater. Does it really get any better than that? Not to mention, she swung us by this beautiful synagogue nearby, as I have not yet been to a synagogue in Peter, so that I could catch one last glimpse at my old God. JK, of course, I love all Gods equally. Anyway, a lovely experience, to put it mildly. She's such a cool person, and conversation comes so easily with her. She treats me like a younger sister, spending all of first intermission trying to hunt down an English program and buy it for me so I could understand the plot of the ballet. I kept telling her not to worry about it, but she persisted and eventually found one in the hands of the elderly woman sitting beside us. Granted I don't know much about ballet, but everyone knows beauty when they see it. It was amazing.

I saw my first dead body in Russia on Wednesday. Finally! Everyone's got their own dead body story in Russia, really it's the strangest thing. Walking by the metro on our way to the excursion at the Museum of Political History, we see a body on the ground covered in a sheet that does not cover all. Two men, perhaps police, were standing idly by doing nothing, maybe waiting for transport, but acting strikingly nonchalant. I would assume it was a homeless man, died perhaps of the cold or hunger, not too "exciting" but all the same... it would surely have attracted more of a crowd in the US. Especially in such a crowded place. Maybe not? Either way, interesting stuff! Dead bodies!

Speaking of which, Halloween! I am part of a team that has been tasked with arranging a party at our resident director's apartment. Tomorrow I'll hunt down some sort of costume. Keep your fingers crossed for some quality fake blood!

On Saturday I had one of the best experiences of Russia. My tutor invited me to her apartment for a dinner party. It wasn't until after I arrived at her apartment that I discovered she wanted me to spend the night. My Russian was horrible enough on Saturday that I apparently missed the telephone conversation wherein she asked and I accepted the invitation. I decided to roll with it. My tutor, Nastya, and her fiance Yuri were the hosts, and their guests were Lena, Lena and Dima. They made the entire dinner, like good little хозяйкаs in training, and then we preceding to drink a lot and have great conversations. It's the first time I've been a part of something like this as the only American, and that's probably why it was so amazing. After a while, especially after the drinks, and after I got to know and like them all so much, words started running together and it didn't matter that I didn't understand them all the time. I forgot we were speaking in Russian and it felt like we were just talking. It was just so fun.

С днём рождения кому-нибудь, который родился в этот день!

More videos!

I have a lot of footage from the Volga cruise but have only successfully uploaded a few of the edited videos so far. Here is what I've got right now with more more more to come. It's all in chronological order.





In the meantime.... Halloween is fast approaching, as is a visit from an American friend. My first and only visitor during my time studying abroad in Russia! Alycia, friend from back home, will visit in late November and stay with Nina and me. I cannot even imagine how fun that will be.

Wednesday we will tour the Baltika beer factory!

And now I don't know what else to say, thus:




(Press play)

Well it's certainly been a while, hasn't it!

Obviously I couldn't update the blog while on the Volga cruise but, I'll admit, now that I'm back in Peter it's been difficult for me to make updates. For one, living in a home without the internet makes things substantially more difficult. Also I guess at some point every semester I begin to tire of relaying every aspect of my life abroad. There's a lot of joy in writing about my observations and experiences but at the same time it can also feel like an obligation. Also, my English sucks. I'm not even going to try to write eloquently today.

The bottom line is, the Volga cruise was amazing. Epic. Fantastic. It was my first cruise ever, and I'm really eager to take more in the future. Just living on the boat itself was a lot of fun. I have many videos which I can't upload now because of a slow internet connection.

My life at the moment: same as before, I suppose. My tutor's invited me to see whatever I want at the Mariinsky Theater this month because she has a friend that can get us a discount. My host mom has invited me to The Russian Museum this Saturday but I think I might skip that to show the kids from Vladimir around town (they're coming this weekend!) On Sunday I might prepare for a class presentation by baking cookies with Gina but overall I'm trying to have a low-key weekend. If anything, I've found that the quality of my life would improve drastically if I slowed down a bit and got more sleep. I mean sure, "live fast die young" but not till I've graduated college, preferably.

I already have to go, but will be back soon. Всего доброго!

This Sunday, exactly three weeks from the day I was supposed to move from the Petersburg dorms into my new home, I actually moved. It's been quite a week. It's hard for me not to think of this era as Alla Round 2, the sequel to my first semester studying abroad in Russia (hence the nickname "Nina Vasilievna: 2 Fast 2 Furious") but Nina is, of course, not Alla. (She is also neither fast, nor furious.) They have similarities though. I realized, when you request to live in a home with as few people as possible and end up living alone with one woman, they likely have volunteered their home because they are lonely and want company. Which is actually the worst situation I could possibly be in, considering that I wanted independence and alone time more than anything.

Nina has a sad story for deciding to start hosting American students, which is that her husband died last December of throat cancer, and she became very lonely. Over the summer she hosted a girl, and it was her first time hosting anyone. I'm her second student, and our time together will be the longest she's ever had someone in her home. I'll be with her during the one year anniversary of her husband's death. She can't even discuss him without beginning to cry. It's brought us closer together, and her strong emotions don't scare me, but I suddenly feel a great sense of responsibility to know that I am helping her get through her husband's death. Because that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm her cure for loneliness, I'm there to listen and to make her life that much brighter. Which is great, because Nina is a really wonderful, sweet and caring person. Her husband, from the sound of it, was also one-of-a-kind, and his death has left her devastated. According to her, they did everything together. Even just to go round the corner for groceries, they would do it together. He had many friends and everyone loved him. Nina has one son, 29 years old, named Alyosha. I met him briefly, and even then I could tell he is an unusually polite and lovely person. Alla was sweet but Nina seems to smile more, be more genuinely happy, sort of a sunnier person in general. She LOVES music, always has the radio on during all meals, and will sing along at various points, reminding me that she's a very modern person with a wide-ranging taste and impressive knowledge of all genres.

Whereas I never socialized with Alla outside of the home, and she never invited me to, Nina wants to go a lot of places with me. If I ever go to the ballet, she told me, I'm required to bring her along. Nina loves the ballet, more than anything else. Alyosha used to be married to a famous ballerina, though Nina didn't volunteer her full name. Nina loved her but they divorced, and now Alyosha is living with a woman that Nina really doesn't get along with. She told me all about it over dinner tonight, and looked very sad. In addition to her health problems, it seems that Nina's having a difficult time with life right now. I guess that's a lot of pressure to keep someone else happy, but apparently I'm already doing a good job. Nina told me tonight she misses me when I'm not home, and she's already become very used to me. She tells everyone that I'm a good person, and we sometimes discuss that we're happy to be living with each other. So I guess it's worked out.

On Saturday evening, we're all boarding an overnight train to Moscow to start our "mid-semester" trip. We'll spend half the day in Moscow, go to Ulyanovsk (where Lenin was born) and then get on a boat from there. The majority of our trip is a cruise down the Volga, stopping by various cities along the way, until our final destination of Astrakhan, which is a city on the Caspian Sea. After Astrakhan, we'll take a 2-night train all the way back to Peter. We're all pretty excited. I probably won't be able to use the internet for the entirety of the trip, but I'll make up for it with what I assume will be great videos after I return. And we'll be back on October 5th.

Anyway, I'm gonna try really hard to get a couple videos up before I leave on the cruise. There's a few in the works and I guess they're reasonably amusing. I'll be online less often in general since I don't have internet at home. Internet is much easier to access in Peter compared to Vladimir, but I just don't need to seek it out every day. I guess that's all I have to say for now so... hope all's well where you are.

Does someone want to do a study on the psychological damages of taking cold showers? That would interest me a great deal.

Anyway, I'd like to wish everyone* a Happy New Year today!

Yesterday in grammar class, we were going over Russian idioms. We got around to reading some phrase that means, more or less, something along the lines of "go to hell". At this point, Tatiana Aleksandrovna pauses, looks intently at me and, as I'm the only girl in the room at the moment, says "Laurie, Russian women never say this". I ask, "because it's too rude?" She says yes. It is a man's phrase. This coming a week after I take an interest in a movie Luke brings up during class, to which Tatiana Aleksandrovna replies that there's no need for me to watch it, the movie is a "man's movie", too violent, not for women. Then she calls Tyler a "grammar hooligan". I love this woman.

I hung out with my tutor yesterday, mostly just going over vocabulary in various coffee shops. At one point her fiance, Yuri, comes to join us, and we begin talking. Nastya asks me what Americans think of the whole Russia invading Georgia incident. I begin my politically neutral (though honest) explanation of my perspective, and notice that the entire time I"m talking, Nastya and Yuri are constantly exchanging glances. Then later I find out he served in the military for 5 years as an engineer working on rocket ships. So I tell Yuri he must be very smart and he gets shy, then I turn to Nastya and tell her she's smart, and she also gets shy.

I'll have some new videos up hopefully before our big Volga cruise, which starts next Friday. Enjoy the weekend.



*Jews

The date for moving out of the dorms keeps getting pushed back, which is why I haven't posted anything yet. But I'm pretty sure I will have information by the end of this week.

Today I spent several hours after school with my tutor, Nastya. It was the first time we have met and hung out since the river cruise where everyone met their tutors. In my opinion, we really click. I mentioned before she wants to be a speech therapist, but that's not entirely true. Her first major in college was speech therapy, and she's currently working at a hospital doing something with speech therapy. But she wants to eventually be a psychotherapist. I think her second major in college was psychology, and she's currently taking exams to hopefully get into grad school for psychology. Today she had to drop some papers off at the hospital and took me along because she thought I'd want to see it. It's the first time I've seen a Russian hospital. She told me it was considered one of the better hospitals because it's clean and has good machines. This surprised me somewhat because, from what I'm used to seeing of American hospitals, it looked considerably more shabby. But looks are deceiving, especially in Russia. I sat on a bench in the section of the hospital where they train people who have had strokes or brain injuries to relearn tasks like cooking and whatever. I'm not sure what the term is in English, or I forget. Like physical therapy but for the mind. We also saw a man walking back and forth down the hall, and Nastya explained that his injury was not physical, but mental. I wouldn't have known this just by seeing him. I'm SO glad she took me. We have the opportunity to see stuff like this over the course of the program, during excursions and whatnot. But it's always in a big group of Americans, so I feel like I'm just on a tour sight-seeing. This time I felt like I was really gaining insider access.

Later we went to a cafe because Nastya wanted my help for her last exam tomorrow. It's an exam on English, and I was really excited she asked for my help. I'm tired of constantly asking other people for help, it was nice to help someone else for a change. She went over a list of vocabulary, all technical terms regarding psychology. She said she wanted to practice pronouncing the words, and asked me to correct her. It was kind of funny to hear her speak English for a change. Then we started sort of talking linguistics. I asked her what her favorite word in English is and her answer was "washing machine" because of all the "sh" sounds. I realized that, having studied speech therapy, she must also be interested in phonetics and such, which is great for me. She said she tries to listen to English-language songs and understand them, but she can't. She demonstrated by singing "My Humps" and, needless to say, I was quite taken aback by hearing her try. I don't know, it was just a lot of fun.

At one point I asked her if it would be a bad idea to try the blintzes with red caviar at the fast food place I like. She said she didn't know cause she never had it there, but it was better to buy caviar in a store and make it yourself. Then later when we were discussing Russian movies, she said that I should come over to her apartment sometime so she could make me blintzes with caviar and we could watch one of her favorite Russian movies, Admiral. Personally, for me, it sounds like the perfect plan. She lives with her fiance and a female roommate, apparently. She wants to meet again on Friday to visit St. Isaac's Cathedral.

She just sent me a text thanking me for getting her fired up about the English language.

Walking down a street in St. Petersburg, discussing the functions and names of various parts of the brain in Russian with a girl born under the Soviet flag. As a 7-year old kid from Maryland dreaming of becoming a veterinarian, how could I possibly have seen this coming? There are just some moments that seem so bizarre you step outside yourself and think "is this really my life?" Those are the moments I live for.

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As a sidenote: there comes a special time in every blogger's life where he/she realizes people are actually listening to and caring about what he/she is saying. Stemming from this pleasant and initially humbling realization, the blogger understands the power inherent in having a voice. I'm about to abuse this power. The following is intended neither to educate nor provoke thoughtful consideration of foreign cultures. Indulge me.

1) What is Kanye West's problem?

2) I've been listening to this guy's album on repeat for the last week. The artist is A.A. Bondy and the song is "Black Rain, Black Rain". I can't not share.

At home in America, at home in Russia, or in the Russian dorms, it makes no difference. Wherever I'm living, some lady is inevitably going to come into my room and clean it without my permission. I wasn't really aware this would happen in the dorms, but I was very surprised to come home today and see that my bed had been made. All valuables are safe, and I guess I'm just amused. As always.

A few quick things to mention: I somehow forgot to say I went to the Hermitage on Saturday for the first time. We didn't stay long but it was a good introduction. I'm guessing there will be many more trips. Host family thing should be resolved, and I should have a permanent home (wherever that may be) by the end of the week, so I'll update then.

Also, here's a shoutout to my Grandma for being so cute.

Gina's MacBook died today. I'm writing about this because it just reinforces my point: when you go to Russia, things will not work out the way you planned. You may be thinking, well, this could have happened in any country. It was simply a bad turn of events that has nothing to do with Russia. You're wrong. However, Gina just so happens to know a young man of a nature geeky enough to fix the problem. Which reinforces my other point: don't worry, because things will work out anyway. Maybe I am the only one who sees the connection between hard drive failure and the Russian Federation, or Matt Parelman and a determined faith in the successful resolution of life's problems, but you're not the one with the blog. So don't worry about it.

The following videos are a bit longer than the last and I regret to say lack flow as well. But, in my opinion, they’re more entertaining and interesting. For the first video, the first girl you’ll see is my tutor, Nastya. She’s from a small town near Moscow, I forget the name, and is getting married in October. She’s 25. All of the students and their tutors were on a little boat tour of the city. It was beautiful and fun. Nastya is very nice and studying to be a speech therapist, so she’s perfect as a tutor. We get along well.

The first video has more scenes from the city. The second shows some friends. I had a bunch of people over to my dorm room for drinks before we went to the jazz club. Everyone you’ll see is studying here in my group, except for two. Eric introduced himself to us after walking past us on the street and hearing us speak English. Benny is the German I mentioned in my previous post. Enjoy.

I love studying abroad because, no matter what you’re doing at any given moment, as long as you’re speaking Russian while you’re doing it, it becomes an intellectual exercise. This is why, when I woke up this morning and remembered starting a conversation with the Russian stranger standing behind me in line for the bathroom at the jazz club last night (after perhaps one too many vodka tonics), I could be proud instead of embarrassed. All I really remember of the conversation is that she was born in St. Petersburg and I told her my life story. I’m amused to say that I genuinely do feel proud. I also feel proud for stealing a roll of toilet paper from the bathroom, but not because I was speaking Russian while doing it. Danny and I just needed some for the dorm.

The jazz club, called The Other Side, had a blues band last night. But as it was a Russian blues band, the music had a unique twist to it. I’m used to listening to Russian bluegrass, and there are just certain genres of music that, when sung in Russian, just sound completely different from what you’re accustomed to. It was still awesome, so we returned again tonight for some acoustic Cuban music and have plans to go back next weekend as well to see a band that the bar describes as “post folk”.

Tonight I went to dinner at an Azerbaijani restaurant with a few friends from the program and a few new ones as well, Benny and Kostya. Benny is a German also here studying Russian. We met him in the dorms when he was also asking for help using the internet. Kostya, Benny's roommate, was born in Tajikistan during the Soviet Union but lives in Germany now, so he speaks fluent Russian and German. Since Kostya doesn’t speak English and Benny doesn’t speak Russian well enough yet, all three languages were being spoken at various points during dinner, depending on who was talking to who. Kostya is a very interesting guy and impressed us all by drinking an endless amount of vodka during dinner. I’m happy with how many friends we’ve made here from outside the ACTR program. Russians and international students alike. That also didn’t happen (for me) in Vladimir. It’s amazing to me that I could have a delicious dinner with wine and friends, having fun and, again, since I’m speaking Russian, I end up learning as much as if I had been in class that whole time. I came out of dinner with some new vocabulary and explanations of Russian cultural habits, courtesy of Kostya.

I was really excited about posting some new videos but I’ve been having some problems uploading them and am too tired to deal with it right now. I will try again tomorrow. I did manage to get one online, which is very short. I just happened to catch on video the happiest moment of my entire life:




Tomorrow I will probably do homework and maybe another solo walk around the city. My first impressions of Peter have held up: it definitely feels like home.

I guess I should post, it's been a few days. Honestly though the past few days have just felt like more of the same. Except for that I know all my teachers now and have met my peer tutor. Her name is Nastya. I like having the videos explains things for me. It just gets tiring trying to convey all these details with actual words. I will have a new video up probably tomorrow. Again nothing very interesting but you will get to see more people (proving I have more than one friend here), some scenery, my tutor, my dorm room and various other things. In the meantime I can say that I love all my teachers. Big surprise. When do I not love all my Russian teachers? My classes are speech practice, grammar, phonetics, politics/modern Russia and an elective. I chose a syntax class, as it came highly recommended by my friend Bridgett who studied here last semester.

I don't know why it seems as though I understand Russian speech significantly better than when I was here in the spring. I think it can simply be attributed to an increased level of confidence. I don't freeze up every time I hear a single word I don't know. Everything is just smoother. I do feel that classes are in actuality easier than in the spring but I have been enjoying them so far. The university building is much nicer than the one in Vladimir. The teachers are very nice and very good here but the teachers in Vladimir really were a lot more maternal and familiar with us. So I miss them of course.

Tonight I am going to a jazz club and tomorrow probably Peterhof so we can see it before the fountains are turned off. There's so much to do here. And it really doesn't feel like school, more like a really long vacation. I mean, studying Russian is fun, so really where's the work?

St. Petersburg does not feel like Russia. Or at least the Russia I came to know earlier this year. I am enjoying myself and have ample opportunity to practice my Russian, but I am feeling a lack of Russian cultural education. No offense to Peter, I love the culture of this city, but it is so western. Occasionally I feel something lacking in Peter that I expected to find upon my return to Russia, but I can't really explain what. Again, I resented it when politicians used the term "real America" during last year's election and I don't want to say that Peter is anything other than "real Russia". But it is different. I now know why all my friends in Vladimir chose to stay in that city after their initial stays in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Being in Peter, even more than Moscow, makes me realize how rich my experience was in Vladimir. The next time I am in Russia, under whatever circumstances and for whatever reason, I think I should aim to live in a smaller town again. (Though if I were to choose a city in which to live, based purely on personal preference, St. Petersburg is an easy winner.)

I'm far from an expert, but at this point, having now been to all 3 locations of ACTR study, I am in a much better position to recommend where a student should study their first semester. St. Petersburg would make a much easier transition from one culture to another, but you won't fully know Russia until you've been elsewhere as well, so I wouldn't really recommend it to those seriously interested in Russian culture (by culture I mean behavior and norms, not the arts. Peter might actually be a better place for artistic culture). Vladimir might be the most immersive and authentic experience, but if you're like me and get bored in small towns, you'll have to be willing to make that sacrifice. I've never actually lived in Moscow but based on what I know so far, I think it's a good compromise between St. Petersburg and Vladimir, if it's your first time in Russia. If it's not your first time in Russia, go to Vladimir. Period.

Oh also I should mention that on Wednesday I ate dumplings filled with chopped up cow hearts. Really good.

I'm on the third floor lobby of my dorm stealing wifi from the hotel across the street, and just ran into three Chinese students trying to do the same. They were having trouble so they approached me to ask how. But they speak basically no English and very little Russian. Their computers were all in Chinese characters. So helping them proved a challenge. But I got at least one of them online. That's the great thing about this dorm, there are students from all over the world studying Russian. Definitely an interesting experience.

We went to school for the first time today. All we had was testing so they can place us in groups according to our level tomorrow. Today I got lucky and my oral assessment went perfectly. I understood everything she said and responded reasonably well.

I have a friend who used to go to GWU named Ben. Ben once introduced me to another student living in his dorm who he knew was studying Russian. Yesterday, as I walked into a meeting with the whole group, I ran into this other student, named Matt. I knew he was in St. Petersburg but still, this was a great surprise. In addition to this, he's already friends with a girl here who I've been spending a lot of time with, named Gina. And finally, Matt, Gina and I all live extremely close to each other. Really right around the corner. At least, when I move into my real home we will. This is great because Matt knows the city very well and is a very advanced Russian speaker. He's studying here on a Fulbright scholarship. Last night he took us around to help Gina find an adapter, and then we went back to his (huge and dirt cheap) apartment with a few drinks. He invited me to attend Yom Kippur services with him and said he could get me into a real Shabbat dinner with some Russians. He also knows cool jazz clubs and pretty much just everything anyone could want to know. It really is weird, the Russian-studying student population in the US is a really small world. The more programs I do, the more I find that I know someone who knows someone else. It's happened several times over the course of orientation.

My phone number is +7 921 794 5379.

This is probably gonna be the least cohesive and uninteresting video I will post here, but I have nothing but time on my hands and wanted to show you what I’ve filmed so far. Some of it’s just us hanging around the dorm. Some of it is on the streets of Peter. Nathan, our resident director, is also shown at about 53 seconds into the video.



Honestly it's a pretty terribly video but I thought it would be fun to see some of the people I'm here with and just generally see where I've been. I promise there's better to come.

The most important thing I could ever tell anyone planning to study abroad in Russia is that you should never go to this country expecting things to work out the way they’re supposed to. That’s not what Russia does. Maybe you’re better off in Germany. If you have a good sense of humor and a spontaneous side, you could really thrive here. That being said, I think Russia is perfect for me.

Everything’s been wonderful so far. Don’t get me wrong. What you might mistake for complaining is more like amusement. Today would have been the day I would have met my host mother and got to know my new home. Instead I’ve moved into a different room in the dorms and I’ll be here indefinitely, though supposedly not long, until she gets better. I have a double room to myself. My suitemates, with whom I’ll be sharing a bathroom, are two other boys from our program, Daniel and Michael. Daniel had chosen to live in the dorm and will be all semester. Michael’s family is doing renovations and aren’t ready for him to move in. But he has gone on to meet them and see the home. So at the moment, Nina and I are the only pair to be currently unacquainted. I’m sure she’ll be worth the wait.

I’m very happy with the situation now, though, because I’ll be living pretty independently for the next few days. In the lobby on my floor, we can get free wifi most of the time from the hotel across the street. There’s a TV in my room with, among other channels, Russian MTV. I’m not worried about a lack of home cooked meals because Теремок, the Russian fast food chain, is basically my new favorite thing ever and they’re all over the city. I live near the center. All the students here are great, and I really like a lot of them, but the introvert in me is dying for some time alone and, since we have the day free and it’s been raining all morning, this looks like the perfect opportunity to just lay around and relax. Last night I managed to sleep from the relatively normal times of about 1 AM to 10. I was shocked to realize how well I slept, but it’s only 1:30 PM now and I’m already exhausted.

Yesterday, in the early evening, I went out with some people from our program: Gina, Cameron and Katie. Gina was meeting up with a friend of hers who she met on her first study abroad trip (to Vladimir 4 years ago, actually, funny coincidence) named Clare. Clare is studying in Peter with the Bard-Smolny program. Clare also brought with her a Russian girl named Regina who she met on the street at one of those Michael Jackson things where everyone does a synchronized dance on the street. We sat outside at a café talking and walked around a little. Then Clare, Gina and I split off so Clare could show us her neighborhood on one of the islands, I forget which one. We walked down a very charming street with musicians playing on all sides, and I thought of New Orleans (which is also like Russia because drinking on the streets is allowed). I said to Clare that Petersburg seems to have a lot of hipsters and she enthusiastically agreed. Outside of a Carl’s Jr. in the center we saw a girl with blue hair, spiked bracelets and a torn Sex Pistols shirt get kicked out for being drunk and then starting a fight with the security guard. I like this city.

We're staying in a Petersburg dorm for the weekend and are supposed to move into our real homes tomorrow. But I won't be, because my host mom got sick a few days ago and is currently in the hospital. Apparently the home stay coordinator informed ACTR of this already, but the information was never passed onto me. Until she gets out, it looks like I'll be staying at the dorm. The home stay coordinator seems to think she should be out within a week, but she's going to check on the situation anyway. Not really sure what she got sick with. Not really sure what's happening at all. Don't really care though. As long as I get there soon.

Russia. Well at least it's proof that you can get sick in the summer.

We got cell phones/SIM cards today and walked a bit more around the city. Nothing really exciting has happened yet. Last night we were in town and a man took a picture of me. He walked up, showed me the picture and asked if I wanted to buy it. He also asked me where I was from. Since I was an AMERICAN refusing to BUY SOMETHING, he informed me I was cheap. He was serious, but I laughed. Then walked away. This wouldn't have happened in Vladimir. This may be my second time in Russia but my first living in a big city. Which we were all also reminded of by the fireworks that went off outside our dorm building about two hours after we'd all fallen fast asleep. And of course all our windows were open to let the breeze in. They weren't the pretty kind of fireworks, they were the loud illegal kind.

I got гречка с капустой и яйцом и вода с газом at Теремок. Maybe they are frequented for their блины but the гречка was delicious. Even better than the stuff they served at the school last semester. And super cheap. I think I know where I'll be eating lunch from now on. I also got a пирог с капустой last night for dinner, and it was also delicious. Conclusion: cabbage is a wonder food.

The weather is perfect. Is there anything better than the wind?

I am in an internet cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia. I've prepaid for my time here, and can't figure out how much time I have left, so I'll have to make it quick. Not really a problem since I'm exhausted and I've only been in the country for about, I don't know, seven hours. I'm not bursting with things to say like last time. Orientation was no big deal and I'm not consumed by the wonder of Russia the way I was last time. I've been here before. Russia. Not Petersburg. Still, it's familiar. Being here takes no getting used to, being back in Russia simply feels good. And I've realized it's the only country outside of the United States that I've been to more than once.

Anyway, my first impressions of Peter were not what I expected. The weather is my favorite thing so far, and while it's very beautiful, I'm not terribly awestruck. The canals are amazing but there are more important things to me here that I'm noticing. I'm more impressed by the mood, the pace. It's not as boring as Vladimir or chaotic as Moscow. It also doesn't feel as alive as Moscow, but just very comfortable. So where Moscow may be a better breeding ground for adventures, I've already decided that Petersburg feels like home. Again, I've been here a mere seven hours but that's what I decided is my feeling towards this city at this point. It may change. But I plan to write if it does.

So many things are different now. I'm coming into this semester with hindsight and experience, albeit a meager two months of experience, but I made enough mistakes last semester to know better this time around. I've already been speaking Russian a great deal and, to my surprise, I've been really genuinely enjoying it. I'm getting ready to work harder but enjoy it more. I do think individuals are highly influenced by their environments and, while I can't blame my laziness entirely on Vladimir, I do think it was not the best place for me and influenced my day to day habits. Here I already feel like I can breath better. We're also not starting out in the dead of winter, so that must help as well.

Basically, I'm safe, happy and really, really optimistic. I can see no reason why this won't be an incredible semester.

I will be returning to Russia exactly one week from today, so I'm restarting this blog. I'll be living in St. Petersburg this time. The word on my host mom, Nina Vasilievna Dovgart, is that she enjoys crosswords, music, and knitting. She has a son, Alexei, who is married and lives separately but visits often. I'll live near the center with a 15 minute walk to school. So far so good.

On the way back home from Russia, I'll be stopping by Germany to do some independent travel for a couple weeks. I'll be back home on December 30th.

My mailing address is:
191186 St. Petersburg
ul. Kazanskaya, d. 6
Laurie Spector
RUSSIA

I definitely have different expectations and goals going into the semester this time around. I guess that's obvious, last semester was my first trip to Russia and I didn't know what to expect. I'm gonna try to travel more, make more Russian friends, immerse myself in the Jewish community and speak a lot less English. But we'll see what happens.

Early Sunday morning (Moscow time) I left Russia to return home due to a family emergency. Because of visa problems, I won't be returning to finish this semester. The plan for now is to find a job and practice my Russian however I can. My goal is to return to Russia this fall, to study in St. Petersburg for another semester. 

Thanks everyone for reading. I might still occasionally post here to reflect on any experiences or events that I didn't talk about before. Either way, my first trip to Russia has come to an end and I'd say it was a success.

I think this week I finally experienced true culture shock for the first time. I had never really understood what culture shock is. When I asked some people here, they said it resembles immense frustration towards the host culture. But I never understand what separated mere frustration from "culture shock". I think this week I got my answer, and it involves the need to almost continuously cuss out Russia and all its citizens under my breath and around the clock with immense vigor. I don't know if this was just a bad week or if it just takes this long to get that fed up, but I was very angry several times recently. Not nearly enough to want to leave, but enough to want to severely beat every single person who taunted me for speaking English on the street with friends or laughed at my Russian. Maybe culture shock just means when you can't take it anymore and clumsily begin to hate countries at large for these trivial experiences. When you find yourself saying "Oh my God Russia, just go kill yourself", etc., it means something. Especially when, up until that point, you spent years of your life dedicated to Russia, its people and its language.

And of course I still am in love with Russia, supposedly this feeling is normal and obviously temporary. Russia is a difficult enough country to live in but, when you can't really speak Russian, it's just that much harder. I took a large van home yesterday instead of the normal bus/trolleybus, which I've done many times before, but when I left the driver honked at me and started yelling. I had no idea why, I had paid as soon as I got on the van. But I couldn't make out what he was yelling at me, so I said I didn't understand him. And he, almost disgusted, just quietly told me to close the door and drove off. Really that's not a big deal, and usually I wouldn't care much, but after several such experiences all occuring within a short time period, it just can get to you. It's bad enough the driver was surly and accusatory, but the fact that I couldn't defend myself turns it into something else, and that feeling of helplessness, vulnerability and weakness is difficult for me to get used to. By far the most difficult part of studying this language, the times when I feel most frustrated, is not the lack of vocabulary or the complexity of the grammar, but just... that feeling when you don't understand another human being and you want to so badly.

Some weeks are better than others, but usually it goes day by day. No question I'm happy I've been here and I want to be here for a long time. There's no more worthwhile challenge, for me at least. Russia can ultimately be depressing as hell but it makes me happy.

Important: do NOT send me any mail or packages.

Here are some more pictures:

This says "I love Vladimir." The city, not a person.

One of the streets I walk down on my way to school.

The Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. 

A monastery in Moscow.

The sign translates to read: "President Dmitriy Medvedev is watching you."

During breaks in class, we usually sleep. On this day Kelsey was scratching Madelyn's back.

I finally watch some Russian television news and all I really learn is that today marked Barbie's 50th birthday? I swear this story was running all day. That and something about a pastor getting shot. 

We spent the night in Moscow. I guess the highlights were a puppet theater performance of Gulliver's Travels, lunch in a Georgian restaurant and a visit to that huge cemetery. It was all nice. I was really happy to stay in a hostel again. I forgot how nice they are, and we heard a lot of Americans, which was thrilling for me. I miss the sound of Americans speaking English. That's what I miss the most. Which I wouldn't have expected. It's just the sound of me belonging, fitting in, I guess. I kind of miss that.

On Sunday morning I left the hostel early to buy my friends some flowers for International Women's Day. In Vladimir and Moscow, you can find tiny 24-hour flower stores or kiosks on every block. It's extremely common throughout the year. Somehow giving flowers is either more common or important in Russia than the US. On this day, men are practically required to buy flowers for the women in their lives, whether they be girlfriends or mothers or teachers. I approached a kiosk to buy the flowers, and there was a young boy, maybe about 17, also there to buy something. He looked giddy, excited, full of energy, smiling. After buying his flowers, he wished the women working there a happy holiday, turned to me and did the same, then immediately set off running down the street. It was really sweet. The holiday definitely trumps Valentine's Day, it's a much bigger deal though both are celebrated in Russia. 

Alla lectured me the other day because she said I go to Madelyn's apartment too often. It was the most tense moment of our relationship and it annoyed me a great deal, actually. She has many good, legitimate points but overall, in truth, I'm not her real daughter and I should be allowed to spend my time where I want to. Madelyn's host mom (and Madelyn) has invited me over and seems fine with my spending time there. I shouldn't eat her food, though, I admit it's right that I eat at home, but otherwise, I don't know. I think Alla wishes I spent more time at home in general, and it bothers her that I'm spending it in someone else's. She refuses to call my cell phone when she worries about me cause she says she doesn't want to bother or control me. But still I feel a little restricted in her home. Of course I knew, more or less, what I was getting into when agreeing to live with a host family. But still, part of the reason I came to Russia was to be more independent and sometimes I don't feel that living with Alla. This is why I want to stay in Russia longer, but maybe not with a host family again. And as comfortable as I feel living in Alla's home, and as much as I like Alla, I wouldn't want to live with her another semester. But I'll definitely visit.

This Sunday is International Women's Day. It's actually a very big deal here. We got a day off school on Monday, even, so I'm going to spend a night in Moscow with a few people. I'm not even sure what we're doing, but I do know I want to visit the big cemetery where famous people are buried. I think it's Novodevichy Cemetery. Eisenstein, Chekhov, Bulgakov, Gogol, Krushchev, Prokofiev... the list goes on. 

And on Friday our planned excursion as a group is a day-trip to a nearby town called Suzdal. 

Send me a package/letter! I suddenly realized today how badly I want them. Shipping is expensive, so only if you can. But if you can and want to, please do! Here's the address:

600006 Vladimir

Tsentr Russistiki KORA

Ul. Vorovskogo, d. 14

Laurie Spector

RUSSIA

I will say that I am listening to the album "Chelsea Girl" by Nico for the first time and it is just beautiful. Highly recommended. No one comes here for music suggestions but I can't help myself.

Alla, what am I going to do with you? Last night I arrived home to have Alla tell me she cleaned out my backpack because she had knocked it over while cleaning my room and everything spilled out. Not to call Alla a liar but, to be perfectly blunt, I don't believe her. I'm not upset. I think she's hilarious. But at least it's good to know that literally nothing I own is safe anymore. Goodbye privacy. She did write me a note the other day that began with "Laurie, my sweet". She obviously cares a great deal for me and if she's curious enough to take some liberties with my personal possessions, so be it. I'm living in her house for Christ's sake. And it's not like I have anything to hide.

There are local government elections today in Vladimir. Alla won't be home all day because she's working at the polls. A girl slept on our couch last night, but I'm still not clear on who actually she is. She left early this morning. I think her name is Zhenya. I guess it's not that important. 

I was approached by some Jehovah's Witnesses while walking down Ulitsa Mira yesterday. Honestly it was pretty neat. The men said hello and that they wanted to show me or tell me about something. Then they pulled out their literature and I saw the word "Jehovah", so I told them I was interested but I don't really speak Russian well. They took out a book with a little message in several languages and flipped to the English page, and I was completely amused by this. I know exactly how to deal with this type of situation in America but it was a little more delicate trying to explain in Russian, because they kept doing that thing where they want to get your contact information so they can hunt you down. I said "this is not my religion" and the man, even a bit irritated, explained that they weren't trying to convert me, just inform me. So I asked for a website and this seemed good enough to satisfy them, but really it was a very pleasant experience and... funny. 

I forgot to mention we accidentally came across a synagogue while in Moscow that second time. I walked right past it but the others saw and called me over. It was really amazing, actually, because I keep meaning to find the Vladimir synagogue but I haven't done it yet. It definitely reignited my interest, though, and it made me homesick only a little. I bought a Russian-Hebrew dictionary from the gift shop, though in retrospect I think I could've gotten a better souvenir. 

This is frustrating, it really is getting harder and harder to write even though I'm getting better stories. I'm sorry if I'm writing less often but I'll try to get back into the swing of things.

Today, for no reason whatsoever, Alla left me a note on the breakfast table. I will do my best at translating it:

"Laurie - my friend,

Heat the blintzes and sausage in the microwave. Drink the tea. Bon appetit. I will be home at 7:30 tonight. Until then, bye!"

I'm not sure why she did this, because we've gone through the morning breakfast ritual every day for the last month and I've done just fine up until this point without the luxury of notes. But her affection for me seems to be increasing. She keeps pressing me to play the guitar for her and I keep saying I'm shy. But then she said I'm like her daughter, and I shouldn't be shy. Also recently, I was going out of the house and had just taken a shower, so my hair was a bit wet. She insisted that I blow dry it and, while I was trying, she took the blow dryer away from me and started doing my hair. Not even drying it, she started curling it up and styling it. She was laughing, I was laughing, it was... such a sweet moment. My dear friend Alla.

Our day trip to Moscow was very easy. The train is fast and comfortable, and we have just enough time to do something of interest in Moscow and be back home for dinner. It's a full day but not nearly as exhausting as the Chinatown bus from DC to NYC. The main event was eating lunch at T.G.I Friday's. I got a chicken sandwich and some lame tropical mixed drink. The buffalo wing appetizer was, in all honesty, probably the best part. But being there, with the American-sized portions, American food, American service, it didn't do much for me. I guess I never liked that aspect of America to begin with so I didn't miss it. But it was amusing and interesting to experience it nonetheless. Russian service with a smile? When one of the employees shouted goodbye (in Russian) on our way out, the first thought to cross my mind was immediately "what the hell? Why is she saying goodbye to me?" It just seemed pointless and strange. Surprisingly, I don't miss that American politeness. It's just not practical. It's not... efficient. Why say something you don't mean? I reserve my smiles for when I'm actually happy. I could talk more about this, but I'll do that later.

Finally, I have some pictures. Click on any picture to see a bigger version.

A funny sign for a restaurant in Moscow called "Sorry Babushka". (babushka means grandma)

My friend Madelyn on the train ride home from Moscow.

This was on the first trip to Moscow with our entire group. These three girls are my entire class: Sarah, Madelyn and Kelsey in front of St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square.

A typical breakfast, laid out for me on the table every morning when I wake up. There's kasha at the bottom, kind of like sweet oatmeal. Blini, which is just blintzes, and some meat. And tea of course. Tea with every meal.

We were on the Moscow metro. The trip a few weeks ago. Everyone was tired. From left to right, random Russian, Meagan, Faye, Reese, random Russian. But EVERYONE is sleeping.

Here's a picture of a picture of Alla and her husband, presumably many years ago.

A Russian Starbucks on the Old Arbat street in Moscow. There were actually several.

Here is Alla and her youngest son, Kostya. I took this picture in the kitchen.

Okay, here's a random picture I stole from someone else in the meantime. I'm posting it because I took it, but I'm not actually in it. Pictured from left to right is Kimberly, Faye, Madelyn and Chelsea. We were on Red Square in Moscow, in front of St. Basil's Cathedral. Just gives you an idea.

I'm kind of trying to work on getting some pictures up here. Part of the problem is that I've taken very few since I've been here. Maybe a dozen? But the one picture I'm very eager to post is of Alla and her younger son, Kostya. Otherwise, I don't know, part of not feeling like a tourist here involves not really feeling the urge to take pictures. I guess I'll have to force myself eventually.

So, what is there to say. Yesterday I saw a performance of Nikolai Gogol's "The Government Inspector". It's a play. I didn't understand the action at all. At intermission my friends explained the general plot, but I couldn't help zoning out during the second half and didn't really follow the rest. I did truly enjoy it though. I genuinely like theater at least partly due to the experience itself, watching the actors, the atmosphere. And it makes me really want to see the play performed in English. We got tickets to see ballet next Saturday, which will be nice because of the absence of language. Same goes for music. Tonight I might be going to a hookah bar and tomorrow I'm taking a day-trip to Moscow. I guess the primary goal of the visit is to find American food that people are craving, namely buffalo wings and McDonalds. I think we're going to find a TGI Friday's. Honestly I haven't craved ANY food since I've gotten here but I like Moscow and would be happy just to be back there for a small adventure. 

An interesting event on the bus: I was going home one day on trolley #10. The bus was pretty crowded. I'd always noticed on buses that people never get up for other people.. in other words if there's an elderly person and all the seats are occupied, no one gives up their seat. No one expects it either. It's just the way things are. It made me slightly uncomfortable at first but honestly I've always felt somewhat awkward on the bus, so I just decided to play along. But today, for some reason, I just couldn't take it anymore. The bus was very crowded and I watched as the smallest little woman, leaning on a cane, boarded the bus and took her position standing next to me while I sat. I became so uncomfortable I decided to stand up, but suddenly a woman behind me started saying something. Honestly I couldn't understand, but I did make out that she was telling me to sit back down. The woman on the cane made no motion to take my seat, and honestly I have no idea what happened expect for that my offer was not well received. But days after the event, I still find myself thinking a lot about it, curious. The woman who told me to sit down was not with the cane lady. I thought so at first but later realized they didn't know each other. What did the cane lady feel when I offered the seat? Did she want it or not? Is it pride or is she just accustomed to standing? Does anyone ever offer up their seat in Russia? I'm kind of sick of seeing older women being forced to stand on the buses, especially because these buses drive so erratically. The ride is not smooth and it can be tough to hang on at times. This, I guess, is what I was talking about before. People here expect less comfort, whereas I'm used to the people at home expecting to be catered to. Patches of ice at home are viewed as serious hazards whereas here... they just deal with it. I kind of love that. But there's still so much I don't know or understand about everyday life here. I make my assumptions and judgements based on observation but not really discourse, so they're definitely not complete or even correct. I have much more contact with Americans than Russians at the moment, but that's my choice. I'd like to get more used to life here before reaching out. I guess. Or maybe it's just laziness. 

I'm not sure that my Russian has improved much since I've gotten here, only that I'm more used to speaking in Russian. And in that sense it's easier, but this may be merely psychological. I'm so used to communication being difficult that I think going home will be very strange. Just, everything being so easy all of a sudden. To say whatever I need to say. As if I didn't already know how important communication with other people is... I guess it's also a good sign that I couldn't care less about how much I stand out now. At the beginning, I'm not sure how hard I tried to blend in, but I guess I cared more. At this point, I don't try and I don't care. I bought black nail polish. I'm acting more myself. 

A speaker from this program at orientation said something I've thought about constantly the entire time I've been here: traveling gives you the opportunity to discover yourself in a new context. Here I am, in a new place with new people, so what parts of myself have remained and which parts have evolved? I've been both pleased with and disappointed with the aspects of myself that have stayed. But at least I know myself a little better. That knowledge is worth a lot to me. I know more what I'm capable of and what my limits are. I know a little more of what I want out of life and, at the same time, a little less. Well, a lot less. Whatever.

I forgot to mention an interesting detail. Last Thursday, I think it was Thursday, Alla didn't go to work. She got a call that she didn't have to come in. When I asked why, she replied "crisis", and strangely with a smile. I guess she's not worried about job security, but occasionally she doesn't have to work due to the financial crisis. A friend at school said the same thing happened to her host mom.

This weekend I bought a guitar and went ice skating. It's such a comfort now to play music again. And actually I think this weekend marked a turning point in the sense that I feel a little more myself than I've been so far. It's a very different experience living in another country than merely traveling as a tourist. Traveling is wonderful, but living, really making a home and a life for yourself in a new place, is somehow simultaneously mundane and exhilarating. Day to day life is always, to some extent, trivial but when each day to day activity is new and strange, what you end up with is a disorientating dichotomy of wanting to record every single second of your life in pure wonder while, at the same time, just kind of growing accustomed to it, I don't know... let's just say writing in this blog has become increasingly difficult. Well, I don't know, it was difficult from the start. I'm just saying, this isn't merely a study abroad experience, I really feel like I have a new life in Russia. A new, strange life. And I'll admit, I want to stay.

I guess I do have more stories and thoughts but it's Monday and... Mondays suck just as much in Russia as they do in the States. Apparently.

I went to Madelyn's apartment in Dobriy on Tuesday because we had to do homework together. When I got there, she had already mixed the dough for chocolate chip cookies and then baked them while we worked. I think watching Russians eat the cookies has been one of my favorite experiences so far. Just based on the fact that chocolate chip cookies are such a classic American food, that EVERYONE has had them and pretty much everyone loves them. But the Russians were trying these cookies for the first time. I don't know, cookies and desserts are just different here. Chocolate chip cookies shouldn't be and aren't really that different of a food to them, but it's still something new, something slightly different from what they're used to, so just the subtle hesitation preceding the first bite was enough to fascinate me. I brought some home and watched Alla make her way through one, commenting on it, guessing at the taste of grapes, and finally, upon the last bite, concluding that it does, in fact, taste good. That's really what gets you here, the subtle differences. Alla herself constantly comments on the fact that I don't put sugar in my tea. How can unsweetened tea be worth drinking?! 

I have some plans this weekend, most of it still hasn't been decided. I really like living in Russia.

I forgot to mention... when I got home from Moscow and walked in my room, I was a bit surprised to find that Alla had cleaned and rearranged all of my possessions. She's been pretty good at staying out of my room so far, but I guess this past weekend she just couldn't help herself. All the objects on the shelves and desk had been rearranged, my bed was made, but the weirdest part was when I opened my closet and found that all my clothes had been folded and my suitcases moved around. I mean, everything in my room had been moved. Apparently moms are the same whatever country you're in. I love Alla.

Moscow! This weekend gave me some MUCH needed perspective on my life right now, being in Moscow and getting to see another side of Russia. It's been very surreal going straight from home to this small Russian city without ever having been to this country before. I've felt almost like I've been dreaming, that this isn't my real life, more because something about it just doesn't feel real. I guess it's just such a huge difference, Vladimir from DC, that my mind has just not been able to wrap itself around this lifestyle, I have no previous experience to compare this to. But going to Moscow has helped greatly. All major world cities have something in common, some kind of quality that always feels familiar... I almost felt like I was home again in Moscow, I felt immediately more confident, comfortable, alive even. 

I was completely prepared to dislike, even hate Moscow based on what I've been told by other people. For some reason, people often like to discuss the bad sides of the city. Often what you'll hear is that Moscow is ugly, at least compared to St. Petersburg, the city is dirtier, more crowded. And sure, it's a big city like the rest of them. But Moscow contains great beauty. I still haven't been to St. Petersburg and, yes, I'm sure on the surface there is no comparison, but in no way do I consider Moscow to be ugly. My first time on Red Square was at night, and it was breathtaking. World class art, theater, immensely important history... I don't think I had any bad thought about Moscow the entire time I was there. It's just... majestic. A wonderful city with so much to do. So what did I do?

We took a train Friday morning and arrived around noon, checked into the hotel and had lunch. With a few hours of free time, I headed to the Tretyakov Gallery with Sarah and Faye. Wonderful art, of course. There were many paintings I loved but the only one I can remember is the one that's pictured above, and it's called, I believe, "Princess Tarakanova". I also saw familiar portraits of Dostoyevsky, Pushkin and Peter the Great. Icons, religious art. After this we met at a theater to see a modern interpretation of the opera The Marriage of Figaro. It was sung in Italian with Russian supertitles, meaning I really didn't know what was going on at all. So I decided to focus on the music instead. It was a great experience and I think my first opera that didn't involve marionettes (Prague). After the opera I decided to join Reese, Kyle, Chelsea and Kelsey to walk around Red Square, this being, of course, my first time. An ice skating rink had been set up on the square, so we watched the skaters for a while. After taking some pictures, we left the Square only to run right into the path of some police officers, which is generally always a bad thing in Russia. They asked for our documents, probably after hearing us speaking English, which is a very common thing to have happen to you in Moscow. I had all my documents, but not my train ticket, and since my registration indicates that I'm living in Vladimir... as the police officer put it, "we have a problem". He told the other 4 that they were free, but brought me over to the side. Immediately Reese, one of the year-long students, come over and tried to help. His Russian is much better than mine and he's been in this situation before, apparently. He's also... a more resourceful and clever person in general. The thing I've been told about Russian police officers, of course, is that they're usually looking for a bribe. And bribing, in general, is much more common and accepted as normal in Russian culture. Even at orientation we were instructed on how to handle situations where police officers decide to be difficult and imply that a bribe is needed. Reese began by calling our resident director, Tom, who instructed him to stall... so Reese continued to speak in English on the phone saying "I'm stalling, I'm stalling, it's working well, blah blah blah" etc., hoping the police officers don't understand English. Eventually then we got in touch with Elena Vladimirovna, my Phonetics teacher who had accompanied us on the trip, who got on the phone with the police officer. After a short conversation, after the police officer repeatedly stating that this is a big problem, eventually the conversation ended with the police officer handing the phone back to Reese and saying simply "иди (go)". Elena Vladimirovna, generally speaking, is someone we are all somewhat in awe of. A great representation of the kind of women Soviet times created... immensely strong, intelligent and capable. We returned to the hotel immediately thereafter.

Saturday we had the entire day to do as we pleased. I joined a city bus tour headed by the Moscow resident director, and was joined by a few of the Moscow and Vladimir students. We drove around looking at famous sites, stopping only a few times. Bolotnaya Ploshad (Swamp Square) is one example, where we saw a sculpture I really loved by Mikhail Shemyakin called "The Children - Victims of Adult Vices". Click on that link for more information. After the tour I had lunch at an Italian restaurant with about 5 other people, and we went to Mikhail Bulgakov's apartment afterwards. We tried to find the Pushkin Museum but the line was too long, so I went with some friends to Dom Knigi (House of Books), which is a big book store. I bought a few English language books because I miss reading in my own language: Dostoyevsky's "Notes from the Underground" and Nabokov's "Transparent Things". After Dom Knigi, we walked along Stariy Arbat, watched some street performers, got dinner in an underground mall food court (I had sushi and beer), walked through GUM, the huge wonderful shopping mall on Red Square, watched some more ice skating and finally went home, exhausted.

The next morning we had a group tour of the Kremlin Armory where we saw Peter the Great's boots, thrones, carriages, and other treasures. We also walked around inside the Kremlin, where we saw some cathedrals, including the Cathedral of the Archangel. When we were inside, we were treated to maybe the most beautiful singing I've ever heard and, in such an old beautiful cathedral, it was just... indescribable. Absolute pure perfect beauty. We had lunch, sat around at a cafe in GUM and finally returned home. 

So Moscow was... well I did much more in that weekend than I've done in my two weeks in Vladimir. But I'm glad that I'm studying, at least for now, in Vladimir as opposed to Moscow. Everyone describes Petersburg as the Western city but, compared to Vladimir, Moscow is very Western. The stores, clothing style, everything. There is no escaping the fact that you're in Russia when in Vladimir... you're smothered and constantly reminded by that fact. But in Moscow it would be easier to embrace the familiar Western qualities of the city, to occasionally indulge in homesickness by visiting an American restaurant or to avoid speaking Russian too often. Vladimir is definitely more immersive, and more Russian-flavored, if that makes sense. Moscow life would be more busy, more stimulating maybe, but, in terms of getting to know Russia, of knowing what Russia and Russian alone, with minimal outside influences, really means, Vladimir is the place. We can visit Moscow, we'll have several opportunities to do so and it would be good. I'd like to live there at some point for at least a short time, I definitely have plans for Moscow, but it's good to finally understand Vladimir in a comparative perspective, and I have a better grasp of what I'm doing and where I'm doing it now.

To answer a few questions:

1) What kind of cars do you see in Russia: 

Normal ones. I've only really paid attention a few times. It's like cars anywhere else... some look expensive, some look broken down. Of course the cars looked nicer in Moscow but nothing has really stood out for me so far.

2) How would you describe the clothing, what is style in Russia? What are the colors?

It's funny, most of what I see on people is their outdoor winter clothing so I'm very familiar with coats and such. In Vladimir there's definitely a Russian style that also exists in Moscow, though Moscow fashion is much more Western. Women wear warm coats, hats, scarves, boots, the works. They're wrapped up very well. Most outfits seem to contain leather and/or fur. It's hard for me to describe exactly, but Russian women do look, on average, more well put together than the average American. The men wear a coat, hat, boots, whatever. But the hats are very big and warm and furry looking. For women and men. I see fashion in the malls, where things like jeans and shoes just look so different than what would be popular in America, but in a European way. Colors are darker. 

3) What has Kostya been up to since he's been home? And how old is he?

Kostya is 19. I haven't seen him at all because I was in Moscow this weekend. Everyday that I get home, he's already gone out and he gets home late after I'm asleep. As far as I know, he goes out every night, which makes sense since young Russians often go out to clubs and he's on vacation from school. Kostya is a cadet, studying to become an officer in the Russian army. His brother, who I think is around 25, is already an officer. Their father was in the army... I finally asked and found out he died from a heart condition. I asked Kostya if he'd like me to introduce him to the West Point guys in our group. He said he'd heard of West Point but it would be a bad idea to meet them because he's a "secrets man".