I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything, but things have been crazy lately. I kept telling myself that I was going to write about my time in St. Petersburg and go from there, but I'm beginning to think there is just too much to say about Peter and not enough time to say it all, so I'll give you all a short version.
As part of my program here in Moscow we went on an excursion to St. Petersburg for a weekend. I rode in a sleeper train for the first time in my life and enjoyed the experience quite a bit. We did all the touristy things like checking out the Hermitage and doing a tour in the canals and I have to say, when it comes to beauty Peter beats Moscow hands down. Peter is an absolutely gorgeous city with a nearly unfathomable amount of culture held within it. They say that to spend just a minute at every piece of art in the Hermitage it would take you twelve years to explore everything, and the Hermitage is just one (albeit the most famous) of the many museums in St. Petersburg. The Hermitage is easily the most incredible thing I've ever had the pleasure to see. It's one thing to do a google search of a famous artist's works, it's another entirely to be standing in front of them. I can now say I've seen original works by people like DiVinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, van Dyck, Rembrandt, and others. The sheer amount of artwork there is difficult to put into words, and I only spent a few hours exploring a small section of what was offered. After visiting the Hermitage, we went to several cathedrals including St. Isaac's which was also extremely beautiful.
Saturday night in Peter we went out and partied with some friends from Germany who had been studying at MSU with us, but were going home after the weekend. Needless to say, I had a pretty fantastic time, right up until I woke up the next morning. We were supposed to go on more tours, but those of us who had gone out the night before decided to sleep some more (we got back to the hostel around 5am if I remember correctly, and the tours started at 9am) and we went out on our own and explored some more. We took a boat tour around Peter, which required about all the strength I could muster in my hung over state and went back to the hostel to meet with the rest of the group. After dinner we took a sleeper train back to Moscow and resumed classes on Monday.
I really enjoyed seeing St. Petersburg, but I feel now more than ever deciding to go to Moscow was the right choice. When we were in Peter everyone was extremely European, and some people straight up would not speak Russian with me. While it was considerable easier to get food and do the day to day, I'm quite certain that I would be learning less Russian there because I wouldn't need to use it as frequently. Also, it didn't feel like I was in Russia. I have heard people say that St. Petersburg is a European city, not a Russian one, and after going there, I think they're right.
But that's all about Peter, if you want to see pictures, they're on facebook.
We also went to two small towns here in Russia, Vladimir and Suzdal, which were both very beautiful and interesting. Unfortunately we spent 4 hours on a bus to get to Vladimir, 20 minutes there, 45 minutes getting lunch at a mall (and not a local Russian restaurant, which I don't understand), an hour in Suzdal, and then 4 more hours on the bus back home. I was not a very happy camper and I really wish we could have seen more of these two cities. Regardless, it was still a pretty cool trip and I found out they brew some really good honey beer in Suzdal.
Since getting back it has pretty much just been more of the same. I'm working hard to keep up with my course load at MSU and trying hard to understand Russian. For the most part I'm able to get around in my daily life without any troubles, but occasionally I run into little problems. It's always the things you don't expect of course. The other day I wanted to buy a pack of gum from one of the street shops (there are pharmacies, food vendors, and little miscellaneous goods stands about every ten feet in Moscow), but I forgot the word for gum. The women thought I wanted green cheese, which is a thing, and seemed to get pretty upset when I told her that wasn't what I wanted to buy. After about two minutes of arguing with her about not wanting the cheese I finally stuck my head through the window of the stand, pointed at the gum I wanted and said, "that, I want that!" It was a bit of an unpleasant experience, but I got my gum.
For those of you that I haven't told yet, I have started dating a Russian girl here in Moscow. Her name is Anastasia Khokhlova, Nastya for short. She's in her last year at the journalism faculty here at MSU and is originally from Sakhalin Russia. I could probably go on for a long time about her, but I'll try and keep it short. She's unbelievable smart, I'm constantly thinking when I'm around her, she's beautiful, and despite that fact that she's usually pretty quiet she can be quite fiery at times too, which I love. Seeing things through her eyes is incredible because we often have such different views about things like law and philosophy.
Other than that, there's not really anything new going on in my end of the world. We had our first real snow fall today though, so that was pretty cool. As always, please feel free to contact me, I love answering questions and I love hearing from everyone back home.
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As part of my program here in Moscow we went on an excursion to St. Petersburg for a weekend. I rode in a sleeper train for the first time in my life and enjoyed the experience quite a bit. We did all the touristy things like checking out the Hermitage and doing a tour in the canals and I have to say, when it comes to beauty Peter beats Moscow hands down. Peter is an absolutely gorgeous city with a nearly unfathomable amount of culture held within it. They say that to spend just a minute at every piece of art in the Hermitage it would take you twelve years to explore everything, and the Hermitage is just one (albeit the most famous) of the many museums in St. Petersburg. The Hermitage is easily the most incredible thing I've ever had the pleasure to see. It's one thing to do a google search of a famous artist's works, it's another entirely to be standing in front of them. I can now say I've seen original works by people like DiVinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, van Dyck, Rembrandt, and others. The sheer amount of artwork there is difficult to put into words, and I only spent a few hours exploring a small section of what was offered. After visiting the Hermitage, we went to several cathedrals including St. Isaac's which was also extremely beautiful.
Saturday night in Peter we went out and partied with some friends from Germany who had been studying at MSU with us, but were going home after the weekend. Needless to say, I had a pretty fantastic time, right up until I woke up the next morning. We were supposed to go on more tours, but those of us who had gone out the night before decided to sleep some more (we got back to the hostel around 5am if I remember correctly, and the tours started at 9am) and we went out on our own and explored some more. We took a boat tour around Peter, which required about all the strength I could muster in my hung over state and went back to the hostel to meet with the rest of the group. After dinner we took a sleeper train back to Moscow and resumed classes on Monday.
I really enjoyed seeing St. Petersburg, but I feel now more than ever deciding to go to Moscow was the right choice. When we were in Peter everyone was extremely European, and some people straight up would not speak Russian with me. While it was considerable easier to get food and do the day to day, I'm quite certain that I would be learning less Russian there because I wouldn't need to use it as frequently. Also, it didn't feel like I was in Russia. I have heard people say that St. Petersburg is a European city, not a Russian one, and after going there, I think they're right.
But that's all about Peter, if you want to see pictures, they're on facebook.
We also went to two small towns here in Russia, Vladimir and Suzdal, which were both very beautiful and interesting. Unfortunately we spent 4 hours on a bus to get to Vladimir, 20 minutes there, 45 minutes getting lunch at a mall (and not a local Russian restaurant, which I don't understand), an hour in Suzdal, and then 4 more hours on the bus back home. I was not a very happy camper and I really wish we could have seen more of these two cities. Regardless, it was still a pretty cool trip and I found out they brew some really good honey beer in Suzdal.
Since getting back it has pretty much just been more of the same. I'm working hard to keep up with my course load at MSU and trying hard to understand Russian. For the most part I'm able to get around in my daily life without any troubles, but occasionally I run into little problems. It's always the things you don't expect of course. The other day I wanted to buy a pack of gum from one of the street shops (there are pharmacies, food vendors, and little miscellaneous goods stands about every ten feet in Moscow), but I forgot the word for gum. The women thought I wanted green cheese, which is a thing, and seemed to get pretty upset when I told her that wasn't what I wanted to buy. After about two minutes of arguing with her about not wanting the cheese I finally stuck my head through the window of the stand, pointed at the gum I wanted and said, "that, I want that!" It was a bit of an unpleasant experience, but I got my gum.
For those of you that I haven't told yet, I have started dating a Russian girl here in Moscow. Her name is Anastasia Khokhlova, Nastya for short. She's in her last year at the journalism faculty here at MSU and is originally from Sakhalin Russia. I could probably go on for a long time about her, but I'll try and keep it short. She's unbelievable smart, I'm constantly thinking when I'm around her, she's beautiful, and despite that fact that she's usually pretty quiet she can be quite fiery at times too, which I love. Seeing things through her eyes is incredible because we often have such different views about things like law and philosophy.
Nastya and I
Park on the outside of Moscow Nastya and I visited
Other than that, there's not really anything new going on in my end of the world. We had our first real snow fall today though, so that was pretty cool. As always, please feel free to contact me, I love answering questions and I love hearing from everyone back home.
First snowfall in Moscow, outside my apartment building
Vladimir
Vladimir
Suzdal
Suzdal
Suzdal
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Inside an old church in Suzdal
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Outside of church in Suzdal
Suzdal
Suzdal Kremlin from a distance
Suzdal
