Final Hours as a Muscovite

Today is our last day in Moscow. Last of the last. It's bittersweet to be sure, but I definitely won't miss the walk to the metro but I will miss living in such a historical and grand city. The packing is done, lessons have been learned, and the final Russian dinner is being made. I'm greatly looking forward to my peanut butter in the airport terminal (thanks, mom!) and being home. In 12 hours, the bus will be here to take us to the airport and then we're all homeward bound!

Hannah and I wrapped up our last day here by people watching in Alexander Garden outside the Kremlin and visiting my favorite place in Moscow, the Red Square, one last time. We drank Coke and talked loudly in English, not caring a single bit. The highlight of today came when a group of young Russian soldiers walked by and Hannah experimented with the surrounding population by yelling "DAT ASS" to the general vicinity. And no one noticed. We thereby concluded that we we're the only Americans in a decent radius.

I've lived here for 10 weeks, learned lots, and become a little bit more Russian than I was before. This was a fantastic experience, but now it's time to head back to American soil! 

See you all on the other side!

(12 hours left in Russia!)

"The All-Russian Exhibition Center"

Things are winding down very quickly and successfully here. Now that we finally have time to sleep (and sleep in), our exhaustion is catching up with us. The result is 20 tired American students running around Moscow for a final couple days, attempting to see the city we have grown to love just one more time. I have managed to see everything I wanted to see here in Moscow, so today Hannah and I took the opportunity to do something a bit lighthearted. Following lunch, we headed down to the metro and rode all the way up to ВДНХ (VehDehEnKhuh or the English VDNH) to the All-Russian Exhibition Center. The center was originally established as a trade post during the Soviet Union, but today it's home to several exhibition pavilions and a myriad of children's amusements. We mainly went to see the cool architecture and fountains that ВДНХ is home to. And we most definitely were not dissapointed! The Soviets may have created the most boring, cookie-cutter apartment buildings known to man, but when it came down to it, they could build some beautiful buildings!

On the way home, we passed by the Memorial Museum to Cosmonauts, and I got this awesome picture of the monument outside. Made of out of steel, it's a rocket taking off from the base of the museum. (Being here makes you aware to just how proud the Russians are of their space program.)

And now, once again, we're back in Vikhino, eating shwarma for dinner and enjoying the cool Moscow summer evening! Anticipation is running high! 

Love and hugs to all!

(1 full day left in Russia!)

Whatever Floats Your Boat (Hopefully)

We are done, done, done! Classes and finals finished today, leaving our teacher impressed with our work and us very happy with being done for the summer! We've been in for the long haul these past 10 weeks with intensive Russian every day, and we've made it out alive and smarter! For your viewing delight, here's a picture of Group #2 (my level) with our instructor, Ludmilla! (She's the beautiful Russian woman in the middle.)

After a short class day, a small graduation (during which we got diplomas and matryoshka keychains!), and lunch, the whole group headed down to the metro and over to Kievskaya. Our mission? A cruise down the Moscow River! What a lovely way to end our hard earned educational mission! So we spent the past few hours slowly making our way down the river seeing the sights from the water, enjoying the cool weather and the down time. And, as usual, there are pictures abound! 

Me screwing around in the Kievskaya metro station

Our boat, the bank, and my head

Kelly, myself, and Hannah in front of "New Moscow"

Khram Khristos Spasatelya from the river

"It feels like we're flying, Jack!"

The Kremlin from the river

The Moscow River

Seven Gothic Sisters: Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building

Hannah and Austin tradin' shades

I greatly enjoy trench-coat weather

The boat tour really was a great way to wind everything down. We finished around 7pm, so Hannah and I took the metro back to Vihkino and bought ice cream on the way back to campus (of course). Since then, we've been dinking around, enjoying having nothing to do, and PACKING! I'm all packed now (save for what I need til Sunday) and ready to hit the road/tarmac. I even totaled up everything I'm bringing back to the States for my customs declaration form. Tomorrow and Saturday are both free days, but we have plans to fill them up. Then Sunday, it's on to the airport and home! I'm excited!

Love and hugs to all!

(2 full days left in Russia!)

P.S. The title of this post is in reference to the cruise-tour boat that sank on the Volga River during our 2nd week here in Moscow. I hope you can swim!

Parking It

Today was an off day for us, the first of many during this final week in Moscow, so Hannah and I decided to venture out into Moscow and see something new. After lunch at 2:30, we went on a quest to find Gorky Park (also called Park Kultury). This was tricky because the Park Kultury metro station is currently closed for renovation (whether or not this has anything to do with damage from the previous metro bombings, I don't know). So we wandered off the metro at Oktobraskaya and picked out the visible landmarks of Gorky Park: roller coasters. (Russian roller coasters, just dont' ride them.) Gorky Park was created in the 1950s and still is absolutely beautiful! The park itself is about a mile long, so it's safe to say we didn't make it all the way through. But what we saw was very pretty and well worth the leisurely stroll on a warm/cool summer day. 

We have a massive conversation class project due tomorrow, so I'm going to hop off the internet now and go do my work. Wish me luck! Finals are almost over!

Love and hugs to all!

(3 full days left in Russia!)
 

Winding Down

We're halfway through our last week here in Russia, and the weather has taken an unexpected turn, but for the better! This week we're studying our asses off for our finals, so, as a result, we're not doing much of anything until Thursday. But today is Austin's 21st birthday! In order to make up for being in a country where the drinking age is 18, we're going to throw a party in the other dorm.

As one would expect, we're excited to come home! But now I'm about to dash off to celebrate, so I'll leave you all with two entertaining pictures of this week's shenanigans.

What Hannah and I wore today...

And the hilarity of budgeting in Russia...

 

Ahhh, thus is the expat/traveling student life! Expect the unexpected and be prepared to drink! Now I'm going to spend the evening in good company!

Love and hugs to all! xoxo

(5 days til the States!)

The Great Patriotic War

Today was essentially a love-on-Russia fest. (Not that that's a necessarily a bad thing!) Austin and I met up at the Kievskaya metro stop this morning to make our way over to Victory Park and the Museum of the Great Patriotic War (WWII), the excursion we missed while in the Caucasus. The sky threatened rain all day, but Moscow held out for us! I managed to get a picture of the Moscow Metro today (in which photography is forbidden by law), so in case you guys were wondering what it looks like, here you go!

Moscow Metro, Kievskaya Station

Victory Park was created in stages since the 1960s by the Russian government, first to commemorate victory of Napoleon and later to commemorate victory in WWII. Today the significance of the park and accompanying museum is predominately of the Russian victory and sacrifice in WWII. The park has multiple monuments to the people and soldiers who fought and lost their lives and live through the war and the German occupation of Russian territory, especially that of the Blockade of Leningrad (St. Petersburg). It's very hard to describe in words what the park and museum express. Russia took some of the largest hits and highest death tolls in World War II, and often that is forgotten by the rest of the world. But Russia certainly hasn't forgotten. If you don't know much about Russian involvement in WWII outside of the very basics, I suggest you do some reading and learn about it. What the Russians did in WWII is often covered up and tampered down by the other allied forces. I personally believe they deserve more credit than they have thus far received, but only the continual review of history will tell. So, in order to compliment my inability to describe the experience of Russia's war past, here's some pictures!

Fountains at Victory Park

St. Georges Cathedral

Victory Monument

Museum of the Great Patriotic War

Open-air Artillery Museum

Monument to Defenders of Russian Soil

Monument to Victory over Fascism

Before we ventured into the museum, we happened upon something quite awesome, if I do say so myself... OMG TANKS!

The museum itself was very cool! There was so much original material from WWII, like Nazi memorabilia taken by Soviet soldiers, original documents from the time, uniforms and artillery, and a documentation of propaganda development. The most amazing thing, hands down, was the Hall of Memories and Sorrow, which commemorates all the people who suffered and died in the Soviet Union during WWII. Photography was forbidden in the museum, but I snuck some shots because I just couldn't resist!

Hall of Glory (Hero of the Soviet Union recipients)

WWII Soviet propaganda posters

Nazi memorabilia left behind in the USSR

Nazi regiment flags and Iron Crosses surrendered in Russia

The museum was very moving and made you think a lot, as most WWII museums usually do. Having seen the Blockade and WWII museum in Petersburg, this visit added to my comprehension of the Russian view of the war. Feeling sufficiently somber, we decided to make one last stop on the way home to honor making fun of everyone's favorite little man target in history: Napoleon. The Russian Triumphal Arch was built in the 1820s to commemorate Russian victory over Napoleon in the War of 1812. I sense some sort of European Napoleon-Arch theme going on here on this continent...

And now as I head into my last week in Moscow, sightseeing and going to class for finals, I'm starting to muse over my time here in Russia. But I'll leave the philosophical stuff til a later ending post, for now it is time for me to do homework and study! Enjoy the pictures!

Love and Hugs to all! xoxo

(6 fulls days left in Russia!)

Of Tsars and the KGB

Today we had an excursion to Tsar Alexi Mikhailovich's Palace in southern Moscow. At this point I should probably be some sort of an expert on Russian palaces. However, this one was different. Alexi's palace is a traditional style wooden palace with tiled roofs from the 17th century. What actually stands in Moscow today is a complete restoration of the place done in the 21st century at the behest of the government. Taking pictures inside the palace costs extra, and since I'm shiesty like that, you guys get some pictures of the absolutely stunning exterior and my description of the interior. The interior of the place reflects changes in time from Alexi's reign to the start of Peter the Great before the capital was moved to St. Petersburg by Peter. The original place design reflected that of the old culture where the home was thought of as the "world." So, the ceilings were often adorned with stars, carpets often bore flower/garden patterns, and flowers paintings covered the walls in the image of the garden of Eden. The colors are very rich, usually with lots of red, a favorite color of the Russians since the word for red stems from the world for beautiful in Russian. All the molding is gold gilded and the doors were extravagantly decorated. The chandeliers were beautiful, and everything in the estate had an air of luxury. So, here's some pictures of the beautiful traditional outside:

 After the tour, Hannah and I decided to hit up the local Moscow marketplace, Izmailovo, for some goodies to return to the States with. We wandered around the market for a few hours and bartered with the vendors in Russian for things that caught our eyes! I'm now done with my shopping here and not looking to spend any more money in Russia. I got a good haul, but I'll just leave you all with these pictures of Izmailovo Market and the best of my haul...

The "Kremlin" at Izmailovo

Izmailovo Market

Soviet Era KGB lapel pin, and yes, it's real

After such an adventurous day, we rewarded ourselves with Cokes and ice cream on the trek back home. It took us a hour on the metro and the 30 minute walk from out metro station to make it back to MosGU. Blah. But now we're back, it's Saturday night, and we officially have a week left in Russia! I'm going to miss this country, but now I'm ready to come home and see everyone that I miss so badly!

Love and hugs to all! xoxo

(7 full days left in Russia!)