moscow!

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Well, I made it to Moscow, with few problems. Jaime and Kevin had their luggage lost but it was returned. BEsides that everything went smoothly. MOscow is an overwhelming city. MOscow makes San Francisco look like a suburb. People are constantly going somewhere. The metro is an adventure too. The program directors told us to act a certain way on the metro: no eye contact etc. I don't think Russians are that meant where if I do accidently smile at them they will pounce me. However, they do keep to themselves and aren't friendly on the streets. On the other hand, the Russians that I have encountered on a personal level are very nice and sweet.
Today I had my first class and the teacher is really nice. I am in a native speakers class which is nice becuase it moves at a faster pace. I am the only one in the class of 5 who wasnt born in Russia and speaks it.
Sorry this entry is so jumbled up, but i wanted to write about my first impression of Russia. We flew in at 9 in the evennig and took a bus to the dorms. From the bus i was able to see the Kremlin and St. Basil's lit up in the night. It was amazing. I still can't believe that I am here and seeing all these places that I have heard so much about. I havent gone into St. Basils yet, but I plan on it in the next week.
AT the entrance to Red Square is a plaque on the ground that is the "center of Moscow" and ppl make wishes and through rubles behind their backs. The sad thing is that there are old women standing there collecting the rubles. IT shows that eventhough Russia is becoming more prosperous, there is still a lot of poverty. It is really sad.
AFter Red Sqare we went to "Alexander's Sad" next to the Kremlin where we saw the eternal flame and the tomb of the unknow soldier. We continued to walk around the garden and made it to the MOscow River near another park. There we saw these metal trees with locks on them. When ppl get married they put a lock on the tree to symbolize that they are locked to eachother. I thought it was cute and romantic.

I don't know what else to say. Moscow is a HUGE city, and I hope to explore it more and more as time goes by. I am glad that Jaime and KEvin are here. It is humid and has been raining a lot since we arrived. Yet I have still managed to get covered in mosquitos. thats about it. more later. Poka!


ps. ppl in russia are very interesting. ill give a quick example before my internet time expires: the maids yell at us in the dorms for not being clean. well they havent yelled at jaime or me but they have at others lol. i think im gonna like Russia lol.

shot shot 😊

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Comments

[Ptichkin]

Alexandra, quite an interesting entry About the >>AT the entrance to Red Square is a plaque on the ground that is the "center of Moscow" << That's not the center of Moscow, that's so called "Zero Kilometer" of autoroads. All lengths are measured from here, so don't wonder if you go out of a city by car and see 13 or 17 sign on the road - it's ok. About picking the pockets - there's a tradition, which says that if you throw a coin over your shoulder and make a wish - it will fulfill! Also, i've heard that picking those coins are allowed for poor man here. But I'm not sure Sorry for my poor English (((