Nov 18
Why hello there! SO as Nina pointed out today while I was eating dinner, I only have 25 days left here!! It was really sad! She was like, so do you want to go home? You only have 25 days left! And I was like NO!! And she got all happy and was like it's terrible you have such short time left! And she gave me a hug and kept saying so terrible, such short time. Then I asked her if she knew what student she will have next semester and she said not until January, and that if I want I can come back. It was so cute. I'm going to miss her a lot. But it was just a weird moment in general. My life here seems so fake! But I mean, I feel like I am completely happy and never once felt like it was strange that I was in a different country where I could barely communicate, living with a grandma that makes me food and is someone I don't even really know, yet cares about me so much. And just the fact that I have a completely new group of friends here that I never would have met/ even if I did may not have been friends with under different circumstances.
It's just so weird to me; it feels like being on one of the those Real World shows where they just throw a bunch of people together and they are forced to become friends. And it's so funny too because we all know the same people (well I mean plus the random people we have met) but we all have the exact same contacts. It's like ok, instant brand new life with a instant brand new group of friends. But it's so strange how you can become such good friends with people under any circumstances; I know for sure at least some of these people I will definitely see again. And we all went through such an intense experience together that many people will never have the chance to have. It's not just that we all have a random love of Russian in common, but also the experience of coming to Russia and trying to get around and adapt. But it feels just like a fake little part of my life, or a vacation from my life that I don't want to end yet. Don't get me wrong though; being here is not just an easy vacation, especially with class that I feel like I can't just slack off and not do hw with ;p. It's just that almost every day is some kind of crazy adventure, and even things that are normally simple such as asking for help in a store or trying to find somewhere is so much more challenging yet fulfilling when you successfully get your point across. It's fun to watch any tv show, or to read any advertisement or anything because it is so exciting to be able to understand what it says, or at least to try to figure out what it's about.
I can't believe that nothing here got old; I still find the transliterations from Russian to English hilarious, I still find the Russians trying to speak English absolutely fascinating (how they directly translate and use the Russian constructions of sentences)/freakin hilarious when they say adorable strange versions of what they are trying to say, I still read all the signs and advertisements and just anything Cyrillic I see. Ah I'm just not ready to leave yet; I still feel like I just got here, and aside from knowing my way around a lot better, still act like it! Although when I get back, I will be very glad to have free water at restaurants again, toilet paper provided in the bathrooms, and legit salad. I also miss Mac and Cheese and mexican food, but I have found things that get me by to the point where I haven't died yet haha.
Well, I guess I need to stop being so sentimental randomly (thanks Nina) and do my freakin hw. I originally got on because I was starting to plan my post-Russia plans of traveling. I am going to book a hostel in London tomorrow for I think 3 days, and then I'm going to visit Kelly's friend in Ireland for a few days before hitting up Germany! From there I don't know, but at least I have some plan started haha.
Well, Пока! до завтра!! (or whenever, yeah right tomorrow)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
HOWDY
Nov 11!!!
Why hello there! Sadly, I am leaving lovely Roccia in… one month and 2 days. DEPRESSING!!! But actually I am really excited to go back and see you all… and my baby Xeen!!!
SO I pretty much haven’t written in a month, and obviously a lot has happened. Including a trip to St. Petersburg!!! Petersburg was awesome, but it was way too short and I definitely didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked. But it still was a needed break from classes and such. And we did get to see the Hermitage!!! I have a bunch of pictures, I guess that I will be putting up when I get back since I have serious issues with internet everywhere here when it comes to uploading, but it is so awesome! My camera died like halfway through being there ( I was there for about 5 hours, although I will admit I was lost from the group/tour guide for a bit…) but I will just take other people’s pictures that they have posted.
*Ok quick interlude: I’m currently watching The Master and Margarita on tv and if you have read that book you know that Behemoth is a large black cat…and he is pretty much hilarious in this movie. Go watch it. If you understand Russian.
We also saw the Peter and Paul fortress with the church that had the graves of Peter the Great and Catherine and other tsars, and all the Romanov graves INCLUDING Anastasias… since that is just a myth that she wasn’t found. I think it’s a fake gravestone thing. But we also saw the Peter the Great statue, the Church of Christ the Savior on Spilled Blood, Winter Palace (obviously), and many other things just from the outside/walking around/ bus tour on the first day. We also ate at the Idiot (like Dostoevsky’s novel) which had pretty much the most hilarious translation of it into English I’ve that I’ve seen of any translation into English here. And I’ve seen some pretty good ones. Kelly’s friend from Ireland was on the trip with us, and her and I bought these huge poofy black hats with the ear flaps and everything and a soviet symbol pin on the front. We got some nasty/hilarious looks wearing them, besides the fact that we looked all around special needs wearing them. And couldn’t see because they were too big. Mine is a gift though, and I also got a few other things there for people. It was really rainy, and snowed for the first time while we were there. When we got back to Moscow it was snowing too, and there was snow for a few days!! Now it is randomly warm again and just rains and gets my boots really muddy. Poo!
But anyway the train to Petersburg was a bunch of small compartment rooms with 4 beds; I was with Kelly, Anya, and Adriana. So basically it was pretty sweet. No one really slept on the way there because we were too excited and it felt like a giant sleepover or something. While we were in Petersburg, we stayed in a hostel and were served the same exact breakfast every day (a hard boiled egg, some bread and a piece of cheese, tasteless cereal and really…poor quality instant coffee) BUT there was an awesome grandfather breakfast there who would happily seat us and make us eat and he totally made breakfast worth it. He was so cute and awesome, I went everyday because he knew if you didn’t go and it made him sad.
We also became regulars at this really good and cheap café that was like a foot away from the hostel, and had a table and everything. I loved where we were situated (HA!) in Petersburg because it wasn’t in the middle of nowhere like where we live in Moscow, it was actually around Nevsky prospect which is a really famous street and a lot of sights and Idk. It was just so pretty and not ghetto and pretty much awesome. I liked Petersburg, but I am glad I’m in Moscow. Petersburg had bridges and canals and lots of cobblestone and statues and was really beautiful, but it just looked sooooo European! I mean it is meant to be the ‘window to Europe’ but still. I came to Russia to be surrounded by Russian culture. Petersburg was more like a European touristy city. But I definitely still wish I could have been there at least a full week.
K I’m really sorry but it’s already late and I really need to do hw, but I will TRY to write more. We are going to a hockey game tomorrow and a museum Sunday so that should be something to write about!
Until next time!
Why hello there! Sadly, I am leaving lovely Roccia in… one month and 2 days. DEPRESSING!!! But actually I am really excited to go back and see you all… and my baby Xeen!!!
SO I pretty much haven’t written in a month, and obviously a lot has happened. Including a trip to St. Petersburg!!! Petersburg was awesome, but it was way too short and I definitely didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked. But it still was a needed break from classes and such. And we did get to see the Hermitage!!! I have a bunch of pictures, I guess that I will be putting up when I get back since I have serious issues with internet everywhere here when it comes to uploading, but it is so awesome! My camera died like halfway through being there ( I was there for about 5 hours, although I will admit I was lost from the group/tour guide for a bit…) but I will just take other people’s pictures that they have posted.
*Ok quick interlude: I’m currently watching The Master and Margarita on tv and if you have read that book you know that Behemoth is a large black cat…and he is pretty much hilarious in this movie. Go watch it. If you understand Russian.
We also saw the Peter and Paul fortress with the church that had the graves of Peter the Great and Catherine and other tsars, and all the Romanov graves INCLUDING Anastasias… since that is just a myth that she wasn’t found. I think it’s a fake gravestone thing. But we also saw the Peter the Great statue, the Church of Christ the Savior on Spilled Blood, Winter Palace (obviously), and many other things just from the outside/walking around/ bus tour on the first day. We also ate at the Idiot (like Dostoevsky’s novel) which had pretty much the most hilarious translation of it into English I’ve that I’ve seen of any translation into English here. And I’ve seen some pretty good ones. Kelly’s friend from Ireland was on the trip with us, and her and I bought these huge poofy black hats with the ear flaps and everything and a soviet symbol pin on the front. We got some nasty/hilarious looks wearing them, besides the fact that we looked all around special needs wearing them. And couldn’t see because they were too big. Mine is a gift though, and I also got a few other things there for people. It was really rainy, and snowed for the first time while we were there. When we got back to Moscow it was snowing too, and there was snow for a few days!! Now it is randomly warm again and just rains and gets my boots really muddy. Poo!
But anyway the train to Petersburg was a bunch of small compartment rooms with 4 beds; I was with Kelly, Anya, and Adriana. So basically it was pretty sweet. No one really slept on the way there because we were too excited and it felt like a giant sleepover or something. While we were in Petersburg, we stayed in a hostel and were served the same exact breakfast every day (a hard boiled egg, some bread and a piece of cheese, tasteless cereal and really…poor quality instant coffee) BUT there was an awesome grandfather breakfast there who would happily seat us and make us eat and he totally made breakfast worth it. He was so cute and awesome, I went everyday because he knew if you didn’t go and it made him sad.
We also became regulars at this really good and cheap café that was like a foot away from the hostel, and had a table and everything. I loved where we were situated (HA!) in Petersburg because it wasn’t in the middle of nowhere like where we live in Moscow, it was actually around Nevsky prospect which is a really famous street and a lot of sights and Idk. It was just so pretty and not ghetto and pretty much awesome. I liked Petersburg, but I am glad I’m in Moscow. Petersburg had bridges and canals and lots of cobblestone and statues and was really beautiful, but it just looked sooooo European! I mean it is meant to be the ‘window to Europe’ but still. I came to Russia to be surrounded by Russian culture. Petersburg was more like a European touristy city. But I definitely still wish I could have been there at least a full week.
K I’m really sorry but it’s already late and I really need to do hw, but I will TRY to write more. We are going to a hockey game tomorrow and a museum Sunday so that should be something to write about!
Until next time!
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