To spaz or not to spaz?
Today is March 22nd, well, the 23rd now. An hour ago I was exhausted and ready to fall asleep after a long day of museum touring and shopping for groceries, so what could have possibly got me in a mind set to all of a sudden, not be tired anymore?
Before I get on with the punch line of this little story, we went, meaning Rachel, Marina, and I, to the Pushkin museum, and the other museum dedicated to Pushkin. To my surprise the metro station we got off at was located directly in front of Christ the Savior Cathedral! So, if you are ever here in Moscow and want to take the metro to the cathedral, it's the red line and station: Кропоткинская. It brought back some nice memories of marching in a parade last May with a flag simply to big for me, baring a picture of St. George with the words "Вера и Дело" (Faith and Deeds) written underneath. I put those memories to the back of mind as we were approaching the smaller of the two museums. I was very impressed and after being there, I am making a promise to myself to read all of Alexander Sergayevich Pushkin's poems and stories. The museum has all of these different rooms dedicated to the stories Pushkin wrote. It set the scene with portraits, playing cards, and a smoking a gun. Or in some cases, a rocking chair by the fire place, and papers scattered all over. The make of the museum is of what people believed the style of Pushkin's house would have been. It had many staircases and balconies that you can look down on, and wave good bye or hello to friends or acquaintances. I very much liked the style, but thought it was too open for privacy. I felt like I was either in a hotel or a theater. I suppose, looking at it in a literature view that theater would be the best example.
Soon after exploring the museum top to bottom we took off for the second museum which was also extremely impressive. First off it was huge, and there was no way we were going to finish it with the time we had. We started off on the first floor, and after the first glimpse I was thinking, "Wow, those boys are dumb for deciding to sleep all day and not come with us." The museum is something of a natural history, but of cultures. The first room was from Egypt. It had sarcophagi of pharaohs, ancient pottery, and duplicates of pieces of wall where hieroglyphics were etched on. It had statues of beasts 15 feet tall over the entrances of doorways, their great paws menacingly gripping the pillars and ground beneath them and their bodies taking up the length of the wall. It was breath taking, and really made me want to see Egypt! There were somethings that we are a little morbid, but still fascinating. A girl's mummified head was on display. It was unbelievable to see just how well the skin was preserved, the majority of her face was still wrapped in cloth, but just enough was showing to give the viewer an idea of how well their practices could keep bodies preserved.
Next room was dedicated to the Greeks. I felt like I was in Athens considering all of the marble sculptures and pillars. Never had I ever seen so many naked men and women either, but what is art, if not human? A section was committed to paintings which very much like the sculptures were either very nude or bloody. Don't get me wrong there were a few landscapes, but most of them had to do with life, war, mother and children, lovers, rapists, murderers, etc etc. There was a whole other floor to this building, but it was past 5pm, and we were tired and hungry. Rachel and I said goodbye to Marina, hopped on the metro and made our way to Ashan, and soon back to our rooms.
When I got back to my room, as I mentioned before, I was ready to fall asleep, but it was only 8:30, and I hadn't spoken to Marcus at all today, so there was no way I was going to let sleep get to me. Marcus logged on to Skype around 10:30, we spoke for an hour, and he logged off. I checked my SUNY email, because earlier I had asked my academic adviser when I can start registering for classes and who do I go to since I'm a declared major, also, was I accepted or not into the Criminal Justice field since I sent out my forms back in February and never heard back. Well, my adviser was happy to tell me that I was accepted 2 weeks ago, and that I need to speak to my Russian Major adviser about my class schedule. Yay! Oh, wait...holy crap, what am I going to do with my life? Advanced registration begins tomorrow, or in Russia's time, today! So, I need to know what I'm going to be doing, or rather have an idea to give to my Russian adviser tomorrow.
And now, it is 1am, and I need to decide what the heck I'm going to do...Pursue a few journalism classes, audit a few Russian classes and finish my degree, or get a head start into my field of criminal justice. So many decisions to be made...oi...
Before I get on with the punch line of this little story, we went, meaning Rachel, Marina, and I, to the Pushkin museum, and the other museum dedicated to Pushkin. To my surprise the metro station we got off at was located directly in front of Christ the Savior Cathedral! So, if you are ever here in Moscow and want to take the metro to the cathedral, it's the red line and station: Кропоткинская. It brought back some nice memories of marching in a parade last May with a flag simply to big for me, baring a picture of St. George with the words "Вера и Дело" (Faith and Deeds) written underneath. I put those memories to the back of mind as we were approaching the smaller of the two museums. I was very impressed and after being there, I am making a promise to myself to read all of Alexander Sergayevich Pushkin's poems and stories. The museum has all of these different rooms dedicated to the stories Pushkin wrote. It set the scene with portraits, playing cards, and a smoking a gun. Or in some cases, a rocking chair by the fire place, and papers scattered all over. The make of the museum is of what people believed the style of Pushkin's house would have been. It had many staircases and balconies that you can look down on, and wave good bye or hello to friends or acquaintances. I very much liked the style, but thought it was too open for privacy. I felt like I was either in a hotel or a theater. I suppose, looking at it in a literature view that theater would be the best example.
Soon after exploring the museum top to bottom we took off for the second museum which was also extremely impressive. First off it was huge, and there was no way we were going to finish it with the time we had. We started off on the first floor, and after the first glimpse I was thinking, "Wow, those boys are dumb for deciding to sleep all day and not come with us." The museum is something of a natural history, but of cultures. The first room was from Egypt. It had sarcophagi of pharaohs, ancient pottery, and duplicates of pieces of wall where hieroglyphics were etched on. It had statues of beasts 15 feet tall over the entrances of doorways, their great paws menacingly gripping the pillars and ground beneath them and their bodies taking up the length of the wall. It was breath taking, and really made me want to see Egypt! There were somethings that we are a little morbid, but still fascinating. A girl's mummified head was on display. It was unbelievable to see just how well the skin was preserved, the majority of her face was still wrapped in cloth, but just enough was showing to give the viewer an idea of how well their practices could keep bodies preserved.
Next room was dedicated to the Greeks. I felt like I was in Athens considering all of the marble sculptures and pillars. Never had I ever seen so many naked men and women either, but what is art, if not human? A section was committed to paintings which very much like the sculptures were either very nude or bloody. Don't get me wrong there were a few landscapes, but most of them had to do with life, war, mother and children, lovers, rapists, murderers, etc etc. There was a whole other floor to this building, but it was past 5pm, and we were tired and hungry. Rachel and I said goodbye to Marina, hopped on the metro and made our way to Ashan, and soon back to our rooms.
When I got back to my room, as I mentioned before, I was ready to fall asleep, but it was only 8:30, and I hadn't spoken to Marcus at all today, so there was no way I was going to let sleep get to me. Marcus logged on to Skype around 10:30, we spoke for an hour, and he logged off. I checked my SUNY email, because earlier I had asked my academic adviser when I can start registering for classes and who do I go to since I'm a declared major, also, was I accepted or not into the Criminal Justice field since I sent out my forms back in February and never heard back. Well, my adviser was happy to tell me that I was accepted 2 weeks ago, and that I need to speak to my Russian Major adviser about my class schedule. Yay! Oh, wait...holy crap, what am I going to do with my life? Advanced registration begins tomorrow, or in Russia's time, today! So, I need to know what I'm going to be doing, or rather have an idea to give to my Russian adviser tomorrow.
And now, it is 1am, and I need to decide what the heck I'm going to do...Pursue a few journalism classes, audit a few Russian classes and finish my degree, or get a head start into my field of criminal justice. So many decisions to be made...oi...
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