A Week of Small Adventures
Tuesday, February 22nd was both mine as well as group 2's day off. We were scheduled to go see several different museums that day including: Gorky, and Chekov. The night before Marina sent us an email saying that she had to reschedule from 1pm to 3pm, because she had to administer a standardized test to a student. The morning of the excursion, however, we received another email from her, saying that she had become very ill, and couldn't take us.
I met Chris and Rachel in the cafe for lunch, and they both felt that we should do something today since our plans got canceled. Rachel really wanted to see Gorky Park, which is an amusement park, but in the winter they have ice skating and perhaps some other winter related sports. We went back to her room, pulled up a map, and figured out how to get there. So we hopped on the metro, and got off at парк-култура which was contacted to another line we needed to get onto called Октябирская. We couldn't seem to find the tunnel for Октябирская, but we eventually found a sign saying it was closed. So, we went back on the red line and found another connection for the stop we needed. Once we exited the metro station, Chris turned pale, and said, "CRAP, I don't remember the name of the street we are supposed to be on!" Chris was our designated tour guide for this adventure. We found a large map of the part of Moscow we were in on a billboard outside of the metro. Chris wasn't 100% sure, but he thought we needed to make a left, and just follow the street up, and Gorky Park would be right there. Well, we walked, and walked some more, until we decided to just give up. As we were retracing our steps we found a mall. It didn't look like much from the outside, but everything was over priced, and we couldn't afford anything in there. We went back out into the cold, and right next to the metro we found a buffet called Му-Му. The food was really good, and reasonably priced. They had all different kinds of soups, stuffed chicken, blini, a bar and so much more. We all agreed that МГУ needed one of these.
Once we got back to the metro station for the the university, Chris and I headed to Ашан to stack up on snacks and food. Rachel head back to the dorms without us, because she was invited to go to the Slovakian Embassy and she needed to get ready. When we asked her, what could possibly be going on there, she said that she had no clue, and was told by her Polish and Czech friends to meet them there. Rachel is a whole lot more brave than I am. I don't trust people I barely know to take me somewhere and not give me details on what is going on. Regardless of her not knowing the facts, she did make it back in one piece and she had a good time.
When I got back to my room, it was around 9pm, and promptly opened my bags and took out the snacks I bought. I spent quite a bit of time roaming the isles trying to find something that I knew I'd eat. I found these little tiny crackers, that were covered in honey, and let me tell you, they are delicious, just a pain in the butt to get out of the package. I also found these cookies that were covered in chocolate. Ever since I arrived in Russia I have been craving chocolate like there is no tomorrow, so those definitely made it into my basket. I was completely shocked to find on the shelf a package of Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. My heart almost melted with glee. I stopped at Media Mart on the 2nd floor to buy a water heater so I can have tea whenever I wanted it. Media Mart is the combination of 4 or 5 Best Buys. It's ridiculously huge, and the amount of choices you have on electronics, kitchenware, phones, movies, everything and anything is outstanding. I managed to find a little water heater for 560 rubles. I'm very happy that I bought it, because every single day since then I have been using it. I bought some green mint tea to go along with it. The water heater and my cookies were the first thing I opened that night.
I always thought that the saying, "The way to a woman's heart is chocolate," was such bull crap, however, that night, it was so true. One bite out of those cookies, and it was like greeting a lover. My American friends said that the day when we went to McDonald's the french fries tasted like home. These cookies to me, however, were home and more. They certainly weren't as good as my homemade cookies, but still, the taste of the chocolate and the texture of the dough, was so satisfying. A week with no American food, and you see what a chocolate chip cookie does to me. Who knows what will happen when I go home to PA. I'm gonna get so fat!
Wednesday, February 23 was Day of the Russian Army. There were no classes, and many of the native students went home to spend it with the war veterans in the family. This is basically the version of Veteran's Day in America. They supposedly have a parade and a memorial in Red Square to those who died for their country and for those who are serving/retired. I didn't do much today, I mostly caught up on homework, talked with people from home, and relaxed.
At 11pm, I was on Skype with Marcus, and I started to hear really loud noises. At first I thought it was the people above me moving furniture or something, but then it got almost overwhelming loud. I looked out my window, and on the corner of the opposite end of the main building, I saw smoke. After a few seconds, the thought finally registered in my head that it was fireworks for the holiday. Unfortunately I couldn't see them, but I bet it was quite the show, because it went on for a good 20-30mins. Trevor, however, was lucky, and living on the other end of the building, he climbed to the top of one of the towers, and got to watch the show while overlooking Moscow.
Thursday, February 24
Thursdays are officially my least favorite day of the week. This is because I have Чтение и Понимание Текста and Russian Political Structure. Reading, is the one class that always seems to kick my butt. I got to class with 10 minutes to spare, so I hung out in the classroom with Group 2. The bell rang, so I walked over to the classroom next door and it was empty. I waited a few minutes and no one came. I thought to myself, ok, either the room number changed or class was canceled and I never got the memo. I tried calling Marina, but for some reason or another, her phone wasn't working. Trevor arrived shortly after classes started, and saw me looking confused. He is part of Group 1, and he didn't have any classes other than Political structure, which didn't start until 2:10. He and I got lunch together, then headed to the fifth floor to relax on the comfy bean bag chairs until it was time for class to start. We had an hour to kill, so I decided to work on homework that wasn't due until next Wednesday. I made a lot of progress, and thoroughly enjoyed translating an article on early 20th century Russia.
After my political structure class, I went back to the dorms with the boys and got dinner in the cafe. I headed back to my room, caught up on emails with friends and family and began thinking about my current goals in life and where they are taking me. I sorta feel like a little kid who is getting ready to touch a hot stove and their mother tells them not to, but they do it anyway. I took American Politics last semester at SUNY Albany, because I wanted to understand how the US government operates. I hated it. Then I came to Russia, and OH Look! They offer a Russian politics class! I'll take that so I can understand how those crazy communists operate (they are the 2nd most popular party in Russia, right before Putin's democratic United Russia, scary, no?). And guess what? I hate it. I can barely keep my eyes open. The professor will start making a point then he just goes off on some tangent in which I soon forget what the original point was. Plus the class is 3 hours long, which really doesn't help. I will do well in it, because that's just how I operate. I refuse to fail at anything, it's always B or better, nothing else is acceptable. What my point is, as an agent for the government, FBI, DEA, whatever, I need to have some sort of understanding/interest in the workings of the government, because as an analyst, I'd be working for politicians. That to me just screams trouble when A) I want to be interested in it, but B) I for some reason or another can't be.
I began to think, what else is there in life that I love doing and that I'm good at. One word came to mind. Writing. I began to think that maybe working for the government really isn't for me. Since I have been working on my blog, it has made me realize how much I miss writing, and editing photos, and working on videos. I couldn't help but look at the Journalism major that SUNY Albany offers. They have so many different courses and a few really appealed to me
Broadcasting journalism especially caught my eye, and so did Social Documentary Photography, as well as a few others. Maybe in the fall I will take a class, and just see how things go from there.
I'm thinking that I've just been so focused on finding a career where Russian can bring me big bucks, and not so much at what can make me happy and defines me as a person. With Russian and journalism, I'm sure the language would still come in handy for covering stories and getting interviews and possibly even more. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be a famous anchorwoman. I got the looks for it, right? Or even better, I might be the next Barbra Walters!
I'm not saying that I'm giving up on criminal justice, just that maybe I forgot who I am in the heat of the loss of jobs over the years and instead focused on who I want to be and just how successful a particular field can make me. Working for the government at the time seemed like the only way. Now my eyes are starting to open to other possibilities, and maybe it's not the only way to go.
Friday, February 25
I had two classes today which were over at 2:10. While it was still daylight, I headed over to the mall and to Ашан where I ate a late lunch and shopped for a pair of sneakers. Ever since the summer of 2009, I trained and practiced like crazy for the Silver Crown Feis,(I am an Irish Dancer). My legs were not used to the intensity at which I was putting them through, and I got the worst shin splints of my life. Whenever it gets really cold out, and if the shoes I'm wearing don't have really good support, they come back full force in both of my legs. From walking around in -14 F degree weather, walking on ice and snow, and from wearing heavy boots everywhere I went, my legs were screaming, and there wasn't much I could do about it. I didn't pack a pair of sneakers with me, and those are just about the only type of shoes I can wear until the shin splints go away. The mall had an Adidas and a Reebok, I managed to find a nice pair of sneakers in Reebok, but spent a little bit more money than what I wanted to. Prices on shoes and sneakers are relatively around the same price as in America, but perhaps just a little bit more expensive. Malls in Russia do not have department stores like Macy's, or JcPenny, they are all just small, name brand stores and boutiques.
I also found a neat little bookstore that sold DVDs, video games, and CDs. I could have spent hours in there, but I didn't want it to get dark before I left the mall. I picked up two novels, and a geeky bored game for Marcus. The rest of the evening past by without anything interesting. My friends stayed in for the night, and passed on wasting money on clubbing.
Saturday, February 26th
It was great being able to sleep in late and taking the afternoon to relax and do nothing. Earlier in the week to make up for not going anywhere on Tuesday, Marina bought us tickets to see a concert featured with Чайковский (Tchaikovsky) music. It was for 7pm, so I got the others to agree to meet me at 5:30pm so we can walk together to the metro then to the concert hall.
Marina left us directions, which we followed to the best of our ability. Her directions made it sound like, get off at this stop, look for a building, walk for 10 minutes, then you'll be there. Well, it was more like, walk for an hour, then you'll be there. We had been walking for a while, when we decided to call up Marina, she said that the hall is past the Bolshoi theater. We had just arrived at the Bolshoi theater and the performance was going to start in 15 minutes. We called up Greg who left earlier with Will and Dan to pre-game. He told us that we were a good 30 minutes away from the theater and to get back on the metro, take the green line 2 stops, and that the theater is directly above the station. Why Marina couldn't have just given us those directions, which were so simple, and made perfect since, and would have saved us a ton of time...the world may never know. We were 10 minutes late, and they wouldn't let us in. Both myself and Spencer seemed to be the most upset by it. As a musician, I was really looking forward to listening to Russian classical music, I have a deep appreciation for our early brilliant artists. I wish I could be talking about how fantastic and beautiful the orchestra sounded, but instead I'm telling you more about Russian mentality. Oi.
On the bright side, it was Tara's 20th birthday, so we took her to the Starlite diner, ate some delicious and overpriced food, went to a bar, and a club, then headed home before 1am. It was an interesting night.
I met Chris and Rachel in the cafe for lunch, and they both felt that we should do something today since our plans got canceled. Rachel really wanted to see Gorky Park, which is an amusement park, but in the winter they have ice skating and perhaps some other winter related sports. We went back to her room, pulled up a map, and figured out how to get there. So we hopped on the metro, and got off at парк-култура which was contacted to another line we needed to get onto called Октябирская. We couldn't seem to find the tunnel for Октябирская, but we eventually found a sign saying it was closed. So, we went back on the red line and found another connection for the stop we needed. Once we exited the metro station, Chris turned pale, and said, "CRAP, I don't remember the name of the street we are supposed to be on!" Chris was our designated tour guide for this adventure. We found a large map of the part of Moscow we were in on a billboard outside of the metro. Chris wasn't 100% sure, but he thought we needed to make a left, and just follow the street up, and Gorky Park would be right there. Well, we walked, and walked some more, until we decided to just give up. As we were retracing our steps we found a mall. It didn't look like much from the outside, but everything was over priced, and we couldn't afford anything in there. We went back out into the cold, and right next to the metro we found a buffet called Му-Му. The food was really good, and reasonably priced. They had all different kinds of soups, stuffed chicken, blini, a bar and so much more. We all agreed that МГУ needed one of these.
Once we got back to the metro station for the the university, Chris and I headed to Ашан to stack up on snacks and food. Rachel head back to the dorms without us, because she was invited to go to the Slovakian Embassy and she needed to get ready. When we asked her, what could possibly be going on there, she said that she had no clue, and was told by her Polish and Czech friends to meet them there. Rachel is a whole lot more brave than I am. I don't trust people I barely know to take me somewhere and not give me details on what is going on. Regardless of her not knowing the facts, she did make it back in one piece and she had a good time.
When I got back to my room, it was around 9pm, and promptly opened my bags and took out the snacks I bought. I spent quite a bit of time roaming the isles trying to find something that I knew I'd eat. I found these little tiny crackers, that were covered in honey, and let me tell you, they are delicious, just a pain in the butt to get out of the package. I also found these cookies that were covered in chocolate. Ever since I arrived in Russia I have been craving chocolate like there is no tomorrow, so those definitely made it into my basket. I was completely shocked to find on the shelf a package of Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. My heart almost melted with glee. I stopped at Media Mart on the 2nd floor to buy a water heater so I can have tea whenever I wanted it. Media Mart is the combination of 4 or 5 Best Buys. It's ridiculously huge, and the amount of choices you have on electronics, kitchenware, phones, movies, everything and anything is outstanding. I managed to find a little water heater for 560 rubles. I'm very happy that I bought it, because every single day since then I have been using it. I bought some green mint tea to go along with it. The water heater and my cookies were the first thing I opened that night.
I always thought that the saying, "The way to a woman's heart is chocolate," was such bull crap, however, that night, it was so true. One bite out of those cookies, and it was like greeting a lover. My American friends said that the day when we went to McDonald's the french fries tasted like home. These cookies to me, however, were home and more. They certainly weren't as good as my homemade cookies, but still, the taste of the chocolate and the texture of the dough, was so satisfying. A week with no American food, and you see what a chocolate chip cookie does to me. Who knows what will happen when I go home to PA. I'm gonna get so fat!
Wednesday, February 23 was Day of the Russian Army. There were no classes, and many of the native students went home to spend it with the war veterans in the family. This is basically the version of Veteran's Day in America. They supposedly have a parade and a memorial in Red Square to those who died for their country and for those who are serving/retired. I didn't do much today, I mostly caught up on homework, talked with people from home, and relaxed.
At 11pm, I was on Skype with Marcus, and I started to hear really loud noises. At first I thought it was the people above me moving furniture or something, but then it got almost overwhelming loud. I looked out my window, and on the corner of the opposite end of the main building, I saw smoke. After a few seconds, the thought finally registered in my head that it was fireworks for the holiday. Unfortunately I couldn't see them, but I bet it was quite the show, because it went on for a good 20-30mins. Trevor, however, was lucky, and living on the other end of the building, he climbed to the top of one of the towers, and got to watch the show while overlooking Moscow.
Thursday, February 24
Thursdays are officially my least favorite day of the week. This is because I have Чтение и Понимание Текста and Russian Political Structure. Reading, is the one class that always seems to kick my butt. I got to class with 10 minutes to spare, so I hung out in the classroom with Group 2. The bell rang, so I walked over to the classroom next door and it was empty. I waited a few minutes and no one came. I thought to myself, ok, either the room number changed or class was canceled and I never got the memo. I tried calling Marina, but for some reason or another, her phone wasn't working. Trevor arrived shortly after classes started, and saw me looking confused. He is part of Group 1, and he didn't have any classes other than Political structure, which didn't start until 2:10. He and I got lunch together, then headed to the fifth floor to relax on the comfy bean bag chairs until it was time for class to start. We had an hour to kill, so I decided to work on homework that wasn't due until next Wednesday. I made a lot of progress, and thoroughly enjoyed translating an article on early 20th century Russia.
After my political structure class, I went back to the dorms with the boys and got dinner in the cafe. I headed back to my room, caught up on emails with friends and family and began thinking about my current goals in life and where they are taking me. I sorta feel like a little kid who is getting ready to touch a hot stove and their mother tells them not to, but they do it anyway. I took American Politics last semester at SUNY Albany, because I wanted to understand how the US government operates. I hated it. Then I came to Russia, and OH Look! They offer a Russian politics class! I'll take that so I can understand how those crazy communists operate (they are the 2nd most popular party in Russia, right before Putin's democratic United Russia, scary, no?). And guess what? I hate it. I can barely keep my eyes open. The professor will start making a point then he just goes off on some tangent in which I soon forget what the original point was. Plus the class is 3 hours long, which really doesn't help. I will do well in it, because that's just how I operate. I refuse to fail at anything, it's always B or better, nothing else is acceptable. What my point is, as an agent for the government, FBI, DEA, whatever, I need to have some sort of understanding/interest in the workings of the government, because as an analyst, I'd be working for politicians. That to me just screams trouble when A) I want to be interested in it, but B) I for some reason or another can't be.
I began to think, what else is there in life that I love doing and that I'm good at. One word came to mind. Writing. I began to think that maybe working for the government really isn't for me. Since I have been working on my blog, it has made me realize how much I miss writing, and editing photos, and working on videos. I couldn't help but look at the Journalism major that SUNY Albany offers. They have so many different courses and a few really appealed to me
Broadcasting journalism especially caught my eye, and so did Social Documentary Photography, as well as a few others. Maybe in the fall I will take a class, and just see how things go from there.
I'm thinking that I've just been so focused on finding a career where Russian can bring me big bucks, and not so much at what can make me happy and defines me as a person. With Russian and journalism, I'm sure the language would still come in handy for covering stories and getting interviews and possibly even more. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be a famous anchorwoman. I got the looks for it, right? Or even better, I might be the next Barbra Walters!
I'm not saying that I'm giving up on criminal justice, just that maybe I forgot who I am in the heat of the loss of jobs over the years and instead focused on who I want to be and just how successful a particular field can make me. Working for the government at the time seemed like the only way. Now my eyes are starting to open to other possibilities, and maybe it's not the only way to go.
Friday, February 25
I had two classes today which were over at 2:10. While it was still daylight, I headed over to the mall and to Ашан where I ate a late lunch and shopped for a pair of sneakers. Ever since the summer of 2009, I trained and practiced like crazy for the Silver Crown Feis,(I am an Irish Dancer). My legs were not used to the intensity at which I was putting them through, and I got the worst shin splints of my life. Whenever it gets really cold out, and if the shoes I'm wearing don't have really good support, they come back full force in both of my legs. From walking around in -14 F degree weather, walking on ice and snow, and from wearing heavy boots everywhere I went, my legs were screaming, and there wasn't much I could do about it. I didn't pack a pair of sneakers with me, and those are just about the only type of shoes I can wear until the shin splints go away. The mall had an Adidas and a Reebok, I managed to find a nice pair of sneakers in Reebok, but spent a little bit more money than what I wanted to. Prices on shoes and sneakers are relatively around the same price as in America, but perhaps just a little bit more expensive. Malls in Russia do not have department stores like Macy's, or JcPenny, they are all just small, name brand stores and boutiques.
I also found a neat little bookstore that sold DVDs, video games, and CDs. I could have spent hours in there, but I didn't want it to get dark before I left the mall. I picked up two novels, and a geeky bored game for Marcus. The rest of the evening past by without anything interesting. My friends stayed in for the night, and passed on wasting money on clubbing.
Saturday, February 26th
It was great being able to sleep in late and taking the afternoon to relax and do nothing. Earlier in the week to make up for not going anywhere on Tuesday, Marina bought us tickets to see a concert featured with Чайковский (Tchaikovsky) music. It was for 7pm, so I got the others to agree to meet me at 5:30pm so we can walk together to the metro then to the concert hall.
Marina left us directions, which we followed to the best of our ability. Her directions made it sound like, get off at this stop, look for a building, walk for 10 minutes, then you'll be there. Well, it was more like, walk for an hour, then you'll be there. We had been walking for a while, when we decided to call up Marina, she said that the hall is past the Bolshoi theater. We had just arrived at the Bolshoi theater and the performance was going to start in 15 minutes. We called up Greg who left earlier with Will and Dan to pre-game. He told us that we were a good 30 minutes away from the theater and to get back on the metro, take the green line 2 stops, and that the theater is directly above the station. Why Marina couldn't have just given us those directions, which were so simple, and made perfect since, and would have saved us a ton of time...the world may never know. We were 10 minutes late, and they wouldn't let us in. Both myself and Spencer seemed to be the most upset by it. As a musician, I was really looking forward to listening to Russian classical music, I have a deep appreciation for our early brilliant artists. I wish I could be talking about how fantastic and beautiful the orchestra sounded, but instead I'm telling you more about Russian mentality. Oi.
On the bright side, it was Tara's 20th birthday, so we took her to the Starlite diner, ate some delicious and overpriced food, went to a bar, and a club, then headed home before 1am. It was an interesting night.
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