Blogs from Moscow, Northwest, Russia, Europe - page 61

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Europe » Russia » Northwest » Moscow December 27th 2006

28/12 Arrive Moscow with Ben and Rachel very excited no one speaks english which is real cool to see a country thats not really westernised. After 2 trips into moscow to find our hostel the hostel owner finally picks us up and we go to bed around 4 am real tired. Next day up quite late and venture into city centre have a look round and have lunch by pointng to pictures on the menu didnt do to bad tho. 29/12 Get up early and head to red square real beautiful. Take a tour round the kremlin with a guide and learned lots about the history of Russia. Saw St Basils cathedral and learned that the architect had his eyes cut out when he was finished so he couldnt replicate it! harsh!! Found a bar and ... read more
Museum in Red Square
Entrance to Kremlin
Cathedral inside Kremlin

Europe » Russia » Northwest » Moscow December 7th 2006

I have one more day left in Moscow.... It is so strange to think I will be in America in just two days. America seems like a dream to me now. A very good dream. But I don't know how I will fit in when I come back. I'm different than I used to be. I'll be freaked out when strangers smile at me on the streets. I'll put on pajamas before anything else whenever I return home. And I'll make borsch. And blini too. And cut up tomatoes and cucumbers, salt them, and garnish them with parsely. And I'll walk tons just for the heck of it. And probably a whole lot more that I don't even realize right now. I'm nervous, sad, and excited all at the same time. I've been trying to keep ... read more

Europe » Russia » Northwest » Moscow December 4th 2006

Renee and I decided to explore the area called "Sparrow Hills", which is a hilly part of Moscow that overlooks the center of the city. It is quite beautiful with a large wooded area and the Moscow river at the edge of the woods. Since Moscow State University was close by, we decided to take a look at it. MSU is enormous with 33 floors and is quite impressive from the outside. We wanted to see what the university looks like from the inside. So, we decided to try to get in with the student ids from our university. Thankfully, the guards didn't look at our ids very hard so they didn't notice that they were for a different university. The inside of MSU is even more impressive than the outside. Huge marble columns and marble ... read more
Tallest tower of MSU
Inside MSU
Stores in MSU

Europe » Russia » Northwest » Moscow December 2nd 2006

I wrote an entry a few days ago about the Moscow ballet but my computer suddenly lost internet and I haven't been able to get it back. So sorry everyone for the long delay. I've had a very eventful week. Tuesday all of us went to the Kremlin ballet. It was incredible. We saw a ballet called "Daughter of the Pharoah", which is about a pharoah's daughter who falls in love with a slave. There were no words so I could understand everything as well as Russians could. The dancing was incredible with probably around 30 dancers. The costumes were equally incredible and each dancer must have used at least 4 different costumes during the performance. It was also held inside the Kremlin, which added to the magic of it all. Wednesday we toured Mosfilm, which ... read more
Class picture with our Speech prof
Class picture with our Grammer prof
Having dinner at Apshu for the last time

Europe » Russia » Northwest » Moscow November 24th 2006

Es geht mir immer noch gut. Auch wenn die Euphorie soeben einen kleinen Daempfer bekommen hat (ist aber noch genug vorhanden). Es liegt vielleicht am Wetter, denn das koennte nichteinmal in England schlimmer sein. Doch ganz langsam. Ich bin wiedereinmal platt. Geistig, nicht koerperlich. Gibt immer mal solche Tage wenn die Seele eine Auszeit benoetigt. Die Elektritschka ist zu voll, die Metro ebenso, der Schuh hat ein Loch, Internet geht nicht und die Milch ist sauer. Und in unserer WG ist es zur Zeit auch ein wenig zu ruhig, man hat Zeit zum gruebeln. Gruebeln, komisches Wort… Dann kommt man heim, macht einen Tee, eine Kleinigkeit essen, duschen gehen und man fuehlt sich ein wenig besser. Vielleicht ist der Tag gerettet. Einfach kurz zuhaus anrufen, etwas lessen und frueh schlafen gehen. Auf dem Weg zum Bett ... read more

Europe » Russia » Northwest » Moscow November 23rd 2006

It's 11:30 pm now in Moscow. Somehow I'm getting wireless internet in my appartment, hence I am able to write. Today is Thanksgiving. All of us met up and went to a restaurant near the center of Moscow. The meeting was at 6pm, but it was dark already. We had to walk a ways to the restaurant but it was wonderful to see the center of the city when it is dark. The center is definitley the most beautiful part of Moscow. At the restaurant we had turkey, mashed potatoes, salad, and tea. Our director arranged for the restaurant to make a truely American meal just for us. I'm so glad that we were all able to get together. It would have been sad if we weren't able to celebrate Thanksgiving. It is one of my ... read more

Europe » Russia » Northwest » Moscow November 19th 2006

How about those Buckeyes yesterday! It was a late game here, but well worth staying up for and watching! I stayed in Moscow last night right across the street from the Embassy. It was only a three star hotel, but very nice, clean and felt safe. The only problem, I almost went to jail trying to take pictures of the Embassy. You would think as an American, I can take pictures of my embassy, but that is not what the gaurd thought when I tried to explain why I was taking pictures. Do not worry, I did not get smart with anyone, but it does not make much sense, but you will see some pictures from my hotel room of the South Entrance to the Embassy. The other pictures you will see are of the Russian ... read more
US Embassy
US Embassy
US Embassy

Europe » Russia » Northwest » Moscow November 12th 2006

Yesterday we all went to Moscow's museum of modern art. I don't particularly care for modern art, but the prices for tickets are included in the program price, so I decided to check it out. Most of the pieces weren't terribly interesting-big red squares, random shapes decorating a real urinal, ect. However there were some really cool ones too. I loved one with huge, impresionistic trees and a lone person in the middle. I also loved one that was a mosaic of many different pictures and each picture looked like there was motion in it. Faded behind the main characters were where the characters used to be-so you could see the motion of the guitarist strumming the guitar and the like. After seeing the art exhibit, Dan, Krisitin, Tyler, Kristin's host sister, and I all went ... read more
Walking through the snow
Dan and Tyler
Getting ready to go out into the cold

Europe » Russia » Northwest » Moscow November 10th 2006

So Jungs und Mädels, Ich habe mich schon länger nicht mehr gemeldet, und es war wirklich viel zu tun. Doch hier mal kurz die Zusammenfassung der letzen zwei (fast drei) Wochen. Diesmal in Stichworten, da ich grad ein wenig im Zeitverzug bin. 1.Die Mafiaparty: Nun, dies war wirklich eine Party des Jahrhunderts. In unserer WG waren 35 Leute, alle irgendwie im Mafiaoutfit und wir hatten sogar kleine Pistolen gekauft. Dazu wurde Poker gespielt und sich natürlich über das Ohr gehauen. War super spassig, wir hatten vorher Kürbisse ausgeschnitten und den Nachbarn geschenkt, und dann das ganze als Halloween-Party deklariert. Frei nach dem Motto: englische Tradition, könnte ein wenig lauter werden also bitte keine Miliz rufen sondern es uns erst sagen. Die Miliz stand dennoch pünktlich um 0000 Uhr vor der Tür als die Party gerade auf ... read more
Die Jungs 1
Die Jungs 2
Mafiaparty 2

Europe » Russia » Northwest » Moscow November 9th 2006

It was too late getting back last night to post anything so I am writing tonight about the performance. Except the monolog, there was no speaking in the performance, it was all dance and acting. I can not say I really enjoyed it, but it was well worth the 150 rubles (~$7) to go see it. It was a very small playhouse. It maybe held 50 people. There were only four cast members and the performance was called "Departure of the Puppetteer" but I think that is not the correct translation as they were more marinets. Alex must have told everyone that some American was coming. After the monolog, the director came up to me and asked me if I understood. Now how did she know I did not speak Russian. I had a turtleneck and ... read more




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