МГУ!

Я забыл! I visited Moscow State University last night!

This isn't a real post, but here's the photo of the building (it's another one of the Seven Sisters, so you can compare it to the one from my previous post).

It's a large building. МГУ is kind of Russia's version of Harvard, and the entire campus is this one building. What you can't tell from this photo is that the building then goes on for blocks, besides just being really tall. It's kind of ridiculous how big that one building is.

Can't Keep Me From My Mead!

Ok, so this whole blogging thing takes more time than I really want to give it, so I'll briefly go over what was supposed to be in the last post, and then catch you guys up to the present.

After seeing the Kremlin, I joined two of the people who didn't just want to head back to the dorms, and we wanted to hang around downtown until sunset (we wanted to see the Red Square at night). And so here are some of the photos from that:

This is some graffiti (duh) that is right behind the playground of a school. There is a lot more graffiti than I'm used to in MO, but I think it's more prominent on the East and West coast in the US, anyway.

This is one of the "Seven Sisters" that Stalin built. I've now seen three of the seven, but I don't know exactly what this building is for. Kind of scary (because there are seven, eerily similar looking buildings built by Stalin that you see all around Moscow), but also really cool.

Some church, with a really nice park alongside it.

This is a theater, and the show they're advertising is Ромео и Джульетта or Romeo and Juliet, which I think is fun. I'm also pretty sure those black boxes coming off the building are lamps, which could be pretty at night (although I think they're ugly in the daytime...).

This is my friend Larissa posing with the mascot for a breakfast fast-food restaurant called Му-Му (Moo-Moo). At least the mascot didn't demand 30 rubles to have a picture taken with it, like this guy did on Red Square (he was dressed in some kind of traditional church attire, I think, but he wasn't interesting enough to pay, I don't think).

Okay, that's it for that night! Officially done! [this was all on Sept 17th, 2011]

Then, last tuesday, we went to a Russian Folk Dance performance. I've been looking for videos on youtube that are similar to what we saw, but I haven't had any luck. There was a good amount of this (click to see the video, but it's where the dancer squats really low and alternates kicking one leg out in front of him... just click the link), which is what I expected going in, but they alternated between about 15 different dances representing different regions and ethnicities around Russia. I'll keep looking for a better video that represents some of the stuff I saw.

This is a picture of the theater the show was in. It was a Tuesday night, and the place sold out for a folk-dance show. I don't think that'd be the case in the U.S.

AND FINALLY! Today we went to the Tsaritsyno Palace, which is a place that never really had anybody live in it (or at least, not very many people for very long). The land was bought by Catherine the Great, who wanted her palace to be built there. She hired one of the most famous architects in Russia at the time (Vasili Bazhenov) to build the palace, but when he finished it, she didn't like it. So she had the main building torn down, and she hired another super famous Moscow architect (Matvey Kazakov) to build a different palace, but then she died before it was finished. Not it's just where a lot of brides and grooms go to get wedding photos taken.

As you can see here, there are three brides (progressively getting smaller) in one spot, and there were probably 20 brides in the park in the one hour we were there.

This is the main building of the palace, and is he building that Catharine had rebuilt. There was a fairly clear difference in the architecture in this building, and that of the others.

This is a model that they have of the original building, with the new building in the background.

After the palace, we walked across the street to a honey festival that was going on, where I bought some mead (super sweet, but what else would expect? I can tell why it was popular back in Homer's day.) It might not be the stereotypical Russian alcoholic beverage, but I've never seen it back in the states, so why not?

Lots of different kinds of honey.

Now, you're officially caught up on what I've been doing!!! Whoooooo!!!

Two Stories for the Price of One!

Okay, so because I've gotten behind, you guys will get two updates in one. Because of that, it's a longer post, sooooo sorry. [edit: I ran out of time, this is only the first half. The other will hopefully be posted tonight.]

First, last Saturday we had a trip inside the Kremlin, which is the "official" residence of the President of the Russian Federation (I put official in scare-quotes because I think my tour guide said something that made it sound like he didn't actually live there... but I couldn't hear her super great, so this might be wrong). It has a lot of old monasteries and includes four palaces (each tsar built a new one(?); again, I may or may not have mis-heard this) and other governmental stuff. Now, because I'd taken my nice camera with me for the trip, which is in a camera bag, I wasn't able to take my camera inside the Kremlin (my camera bag looks like a backpack, and backpacks weren't allowed inside—only purses). BUT with my student ID I can get back inside the Kremlin any time I want, and the things I won't be able to see without buying a ticket (inside the Monasteries) are places you can't take pictures of anyway. So it's not that big of a deal.

Anyway, the monasteries are all Russian Orthodox, which is for Eastern Christendom what Catholicism is for Western Christendom (except it never had its own Martin Luther). I really don't know much about the church, but I do know it is similar to Catholicism at least in its heavy iconography (so, so, so, so many saints), except the Russian Orthodox Church actually shares some of its saints with Islam, which I find interesting. The "home" of the church used to be in Constantinople (/Istanbul), but moved to Moscow in the 17th Century. This issue of Moscow being the head of a church ended with the USSR, but I'm not really sure what's going on with that issue now that the USSR is kaput (in all fairness, Russian tour guides talk really quietly, and it was crowded and loud, so this is why I didn't hear all the details).

Anyway, the insides of these monasteries were amazing. You walk in, and every inch of every wall is covered in a mural. All the columns have murals painted on them, and the alter and the "prayer boxes" (spots where tsars and tsaritsas, or now the president, get to pray, but nobody else) are etched with designs. The majority of the paintings were of saints faces, so there are a bunch of bearded dudes looking at you. I think the coolest thing in their murals, though, was their depiction of the devil. He was on the back wall of Annunciation Cathedral, where it looked like they'd used a different technique for painting the wall; instead of being a "normal" painting, where you use colors to differentiate details, entire bodies of the wall were in one color, and then details were etched into it. So the devil was all black, with his feature etched in, and all around him was red, and you could see rows and rows of people standing behind him, and then he was holding a small child (that was a tan color). I was later told that he was holding the soul of Judas, which I find both interesting and a bit repulsive. He's also sitting on this creature that at first looks like a normal bench, but is really a two-headed something-or-other (I thought it looked like a dragon, even though I know better). Then, coming out of one of the "dragon's" mouths is a serpent, that stretched up to another part of the wall, where there's a mural of adam and eve, and so the serpent is the serpent that tempted eve.

Anyway, it's time for me to get to class. My second story is about the ballet/folk dance we attended last night, and I'll try to get it up tonight.

Also, if you missed the photo that I posted only on the blog (meaning, it's not on facebook), click on the title of the blog at the top, and then scroll down past this article to see my previous post.

There will be more here soon, about my trip inside the Kremlin, the Orthodox Churches inside, and my subsequent strolling around downtown Moscow until night fall. For now, here's a photo I took of the Кремль и Красная Полошадь (Kremlin and Red Square) at night, from a bridge over the Moscow River. Click on it to make it bigger!!!!

Open Air Market

Hey! Yesterday was my first day of classes, which was exciting (though not particularly notable). While my Russian classes were taught primarily in Russian, when I something was misunderstood, it could be explained in English if it really needed to be. Here, though, the professor speaks Russian and German, but very little English (some vocab, but not real speaking ability). It was still good, though. There are five people in my group (smaalll, whooo!), and we have until the end of the week to decide if this group is the right level for us or not. I'm pretty sure I'll stay.

Anyway, school isn't interesting. Afterwards, though, I grabbed lunch with a couple people from my class (150 rubles at the university cafeteria, which is about 5 dollars, but it's per plate, which I didn't know, so I can easily get it down to ~70 rubles if I decide I'd rather spend money on other stuff). Then, a group of four of us went to the open air market (рынок) that's really close to the Metro in Vyhino (it's the same Metro my host mom told me not to visit, because it's run by Uzbeki and Tajiki and other Central Asians). I had completely underestimated the size of this market; it is absolutely massive. There are people selling everything from jewelry to umbrellas to shoes to fish in funky solutions to vegetables. Oh, and you can sample almost anything if you want to (one of the guys I was with samples some uncooked bacon fat... I did not, although I did try a grape and pecan and cheese).

None of the photos I took do the market justice. They were all taken from the same spot (so none of the outdoor part of the market), because I didn't really want to be flashing my camera around, and, just as I'd feared, as soon as I started taking pictures, I had the merchants around me shouting "Откуда вы?!" which is "Where are you from??"

For the most part, the merchants became super friendly, and would have great big smiles when we'd talk to them in faltering russian, explaining how we're American's studying here. Some of them even went on to give us a discount on what we'd buy, as they knew we have more money, and they want us to return to their shop. However, I've been warned enough about not letting on that I'm American for a safety precaution that I couldn't help from wondering how much I should stop and chat. There was only one guy who seemed a little sketch when he found out we were Americans (started speaking faster Russian to his buddy, so we just took off), but one guy from Uzbekistan asked if he could take a picture with us, and then I was talking to some Iranians who also spoke really good English (I stayed in Russian, for what it's worth) when I first entered the market. Almost everybody asked us how we liked Russia and Moscow, and what we were studying.

Anyway, it's now Wednesday morning. My schedule for classes is Russian language lessons M,T,Th,F, with Wednesday being reserved for cultural and historical lectures (which means instead of needing to be on campus at 10, classes don't start until 11! because 10 am is just tooooo early to have to do anything!)

Moscow is just like Pittsburgh

I am now in Moscow, and it's about 24 hours since I first arrived at the apartment that I'll be staying in for the next couple months.

I did get a homestay, like I requested (which I was unsure of, even as I landed in Moscow yesterday morning). I also have another American who I'll be sharing a room with who is from Arizona. The apartment it fairly nice, and is in a nice neighborhood (between two elementary schools and a day care), and within walking distance of the campus where I'll be studying.

Today my host-mom walked my roommate (Ethan) and I to the campus. I'll take some photos soon of what is one the walk to campus. There is a small market that we walk through which my host-mom says is run by Uzbeki and Tajiki, who she doesn't trust. There is also a McDonald's on the way, which I'll take a photo of (since that's one of the main places I'm routinely asked if Russia has). It's a new McDonald's, and is attached to a supermarket.

Nothing super strange or interesting has happened, yet, so no long stories, but there are a few more small details that are interesting. I had been sure to pack Head & Shoulders shampoo to bring with me, and the first commercial I see on TV here was for Head & Shoulders. Then, taking a shower, the hot and cold water were switched (the blue was hot water, and red was cold—this is not to say that russians associate blue with hot, and red with cold, but instead just that the plumbing was mixed up. The house I lived in in Pittsburgh had the same thing). Also, it's already pretty cold and rainy, and my host family just leaves the windows open, so the apartment is pretty cold. I don't think I'll make use of the shorts that I brought.

Anyway, finally, pictures of food. The first is some borscht (борщ), which was the first thing my host-mom made for me, and then Блыни, which I had for lunch today.

About My Blog

It seems as though when most Americans think of Russia they think of the USSR, the GULAGs, Siberia, and the Cold War. When I tell people that I'm going to be studying in Moscow this semester, the range of responses has been from How exciting! to Why? to Isn't that scary?(with a lot of the isn't that scary responses coming from my mother, but from a fair number of other people, too). It seems as though the public perception of Russia is of a country that is cold and backwards and is filled with people who are cold and uncaring.

And, really, this isn't entirely untrue. My guidebook talks quite a bit about how Murphy's Law seems to pervade small parts of everyday life in Russia (the Museum you're planning on visiting is closed even though the website said it would be open, the hot water in your apartment might randomly shut off, etc.). It also warns against smiling too frequently, as this will mark you as a foreigner. And so, it is because of all of this that I've decided to name my blog "A Dark, Dangerous Trip of Danger and Darkness," with the color scheme consisting of black and white and grey.

And yet, hopefully it's obvious that the title is tongue-in-cheek. I would not be going to Russia if I didn't think it would be a lot of fun, if I thought it would be truly dangerous, or something that I wouldn't enjoy. Right after the guidebook warns against smiling in public, it explains that Russians have, in general, learned to put up a stiff front when out in public as a guard against the endless bureaucratic red-tape, their history of having a secret police, the bitter cold winters, overly expensive groceries, etc. HOWEVER, the guidebook continues, despite that Russians appear cold, "Russians are very warm and giving once you get to know them in their apartments on a more personal level."

This is what I hope to represent in my blog. I have put up a guard of a title that sarcastically mocks the idea that my trip to Russia could be anything but wonderful and fun (I default to sarcasm, being an American 20 year old), but I hope that behind the exterior of black, white, and grey this blog will be a genuine representation of my stay in Moscow.

I know that I will get lost (Moscow is supposed to be HUUUUGE), and I will get homesick, and the food will upset my stomach (this happens pretty much whenever you travel anywhere with different dietary norms), and then some of those unforeseen bad things my guidebook keeps warning me about will happen. And I will blog about that. But I'll also blog about my host family, and how getting lost on the subway led me to this really cool restaurant, and all the excursions I go on. So, it'll be fun. This is me inviting you to follow me as I continually get lost in Russia (over and over again), and as I find things along the way.

This is a map of the Moscow Metro. My college is on the yellow line, on the ride side of the map (around Perovo, if you can read the small type).