Novgorod

On Saturday I went on an excursion to Novgorod organized by the Center. There were a few people like me that came on their own and then about 8 from a university in NJ here on a trip with two professors (one of which knows Professor Lohr, my Russian history professor at AU and we talked graduate school which was exciting!)

We had about a three hour bus ride over some seriously bumpy road to get there. After we picked up our guide, who spoke in English!, we went to see a monastery, built in the 12th century, I think. (this church was built later, I can't remember when)

Then we went to an open air museum, the Museum of Wooden Architecture. Built on the site of an ancient village to show how people used to live and showcase the old timber buildings from the region. It was surprisingly cool. Turns out everyone enjoyed a rather cozy existence. The houses were pretty big, but the bottom floor was the barn. It gets too cold up here to go out and check on the animals in the winter, so they just brought them inside! I'm sure it smelled fantastic. The oldest building here is this Church of the Nativity, from the 16th century.

After that museum, we went across the street to have a "traditional" Russian meal. I got a special one with fish. I think I've had a cucumber, tomato, and radish salad every day I've been here, and that day was no different. I also had some pretty decent fish and the dessert was kind of like a donut with an apricot sauce filling.

Then we went to the Kremlin (note: not the famous Kremlin in Moscow) and walked inside the city walls. We sat St. Sophia's Cathedral from the 11th century..

We also saw this really cool memorial for the millennium celebration of Novgorod in 1862. Yep, Novgorod was founded in 862. Its name means "new city" which has left historians looking for the original city (if it's the new one, there has to be an old one, right?), but no once can find anything before Novgorod. I think 862 is pretty solid though.
After that we strolled around a bit and then headed back to Saint Petersburg!

First real week

Well my first week of classes is over and I'm getting ready to start another one! My classes are divided into 6 sections - reading, grammar, Russian culture, etc. They are all taught exclusively in Russian, although if we're not really getting it at all, the professor usually throws in a word of English. I like most of the professors a lot, and I understand probably 60-70% p of what is actually going on. I can usually pick up at least what we're talking about even if I can't understnad every word that's being said. There are 7 Italian girls, 1 Hungarian, 1 older Belgian woman and Tom and I in the class. Everyone there except for me has taken two years of Russia, so I'm definitely the weakest link. However, the other people are only staying for a week or two more, so maybe after they leave things can be adapted more to my level? We'll see. Anyway, it feels good to be a student again! Although I'm not as good at studying yet, so I'll have to work on that!
We have class every day except Thursday (well this Thursday we did have class, but no one told me or Tom so we didn't go....) so on Thursday I studied a bit and then went to see some churches in the afternoon. I went to the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood, wchich is one of the most recognizable churches in St. Petersburg, I think.

Weird name for a church, you say? Yes, very. The church was constructed in the 1880s under Alexander III on the spot where his father, Tsar Alexander II, was assassinated by the Revolutionary group the People's Will. Ironically, the People's Will actually probably messed things up for Russia even more. Supposedly Alexander II had a plan for constitutional reform in his pocket (read: supposedly) at the time of his death. But son Alexander III turned out to be much more of a reactionary than his father and resisted pretty much any reform... Come on, revolution...

The church is crazy beautiful, both inside and out, though. There was a display about the reconstruction efforts that started in the 1970s; the church had a rough time during the war and the early Soviet days, but now it's almost completely restored and looking good. I took way too many pictures of the inside, but here are a few:


I also went to the Kazan Cathedral, which housed the Museum of Atheism during the Soviet times. Good one, guys. It was built in the early 1800s to house an icon, Our lAdy of kazan, that appeared in the 16th century and then mysteriously disappeared in 1904 - but wait - only to return in Moscow on the day of Nicholas II's abdication (something about the divine power of the Tsar being returned to the Mother of God). The icon still isn't at the church, but may actually
be an icon located at another cathedral here. Complicated.

On the host front, things have improved somewhat. I'm now allowed to use the kitchen, which is good, but she still gets really frustrated and is slightly rude. She is also a major meddler. I have three small drawers with clothes in them and she switched my underwear and shirt drawer? Why?? I have no clue. But I'm getting better at ignoring her when she's rude and raises her voice. She also pays less attention to me now, which is fine by me.

On another highly important note, I finished Twilight. While it was a fun read and I'll probably continue the saga, it in no way can be compared to Harry Potter. JK Rowling creates a whole entire new world of magic, whereas this lady just adds a few vampires to a regular town, not as cool. Also, if you took out all the "I love Edward, he is so beautiful, his skin is so beautiful, his eyes are so beautiful, his hair is so beautiful...." the book would be 25% shorter. I know you're all not trying to convince me of their equality, but I just really needed to get this out there - so internet world - know this: Twilight does not equal Harry Potter. Ever.

the other side

So Tom and I arrived in Saint Petersburg yesterday afternoon,. We walked to our apartment from the train station (even though it's not at all close to the train stations...) and awkwardly made our way into the apartment of a stranger. Our apartment is pretty nice, only one older lady lives there and probably rents out her as a business venture - meaning I don't think she has any particular interest in us at all... She does fix us breakfast though and I successfully told her that I don't east meat, so I got toast with cheese and no meat! Great success! On the other hand, we asked to use the kitchen and she said no, so Tom and I are a bit panicked about how we're going to survive. We can't at all afoard to eat out twice a day (and wouldn't want to) but we can't cook there either... Does anyone have a list of meals that require no preparation? I'd pay big bucks!

We are going to the university in the morning, where we will supposedly take a placement test and then start classes. Who knows, though? We know where to go, but don't ahve a time or anything. The website says to show up when you have had a good night's sleep and are in a good mood. Seriously, that's what it says.

I'm excited about starting classes. Tom and I are both feeling a little less excited about this whole thing today. I'm sure it's just the ups and downs of living in another country. I'm not saying we haven't wondered if we're still allowed to study Russian history if we won't like Russia though... Saint Petersburg reminds me a lot of Rome (Italy). It's huge, crowded and dirty and then you come upon something so beautiful or old that you can't help be impressed. We'll see. It's just day 2. I'm staying positive for now.

I'm serious about the no-preparation food ideas, though.
Also, I don't have any pictures from Saint Petersburg yet, but here is one from Helsinki (oh, how I miss that clean, fresh Finnish air). It won't let me put any more pictures up...

Helsinki, etc.

So despite my sickly state, I had a pretty good day in Helsinki. Tom and I switched hostels this morning. The first one we were staying at was in the old Olympic Stadium from 1952 and was about a 30 minute walk from the city center, so we wanted to be a little closer to things for our last two nights. The hostel we're at now is in a much better spot and way less institutional-feeling. Then we went to lunch at this vegetarian spot I had tried yesterday, where everyone gets the same massive plate of deliciousness. Tom tried tofu! I spent a lot of the day just reading at cafes because I'm so tired, but I also managed to make a trip into H&M (although I didn't buy much because I kept reminding myself I would have to carry whatever I bought... lugging my bag around has for sure been the worst part of the trip).

Then I walked to this really cool cathedral - built in 1969 and carved out of the rock! It's tucked away in a hill not too far from the main area. There was some sort of service about to begin (you can see churchgoers in my pictures..) but a man was still walking around taking pictures, so I figured it was ok. The church was really beautiful, the organic nature is quite a change from most of the other cathedrals I've seen - the architects were probably big hippies.
Then I climbed up on the hill the church is carved out of. Again, some other guys were doing it, so I figured it was ok. The roof is a cooper dome, which looks really beautiful on the inside.

That's most of my day. In other *big* news, I finally got up the courage to just call the school, rather than waiting on them to email me back. I butchered some Russian and then got the woman who I'd previously corresponded with on the phone. She gave me the address of the house where Tom and I will be staying (yea, we're in the same house, big surprise! let's hope we have two beds...) So that's exciting! I finally feel like I'm actually going to Russia now that I know the address of the place we'll be staying. I told her when our train gets in (she was all like, yes, she is expecting you, but did not know when you will arrive, like it was my fault for not telling her....) so hopefully our host family will be there! I'm looking forward to it! Russia in two days!

June 10th - June 16th

So I think the blog gods are getting back at me for not actually writing on my blog. They've given me quite the unpleasant cold, so I don't feel like doing anything else besides sitting and drinking copious amounts of tea.

So as an attempt to please, I will sum up the past week or so I've been here. When Tom and I first got to Helsinki we were too jet lagged to really do much.... but once we recovered we went to Tallinn, the Capitol of Estonia. We took a two hour boat ride over. The weather was really bad and the boat was rocking a bit much for Tom's liking. Tallin was awesome though. It is a super old city, 14th-15th century. Our hostel was right in the middle of Old Town, which is beautiful and quaint, and everything you could want from an old European city. Tallinn is also significantly cheaper than Helsinki, which was a nice surprise.The first full day I walked around to a bunch of churches. The Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was my favorite. Of course you can't take pictures inside, but it was very classy and everything was in Russian, so I was doubly excited!

We took it pretty easy in Tallinn. I mostly walked around by myself all the day, seeing pretty buildings, stopping in at cafes for cappuccinos, really doing the tourist thing pretty hard. Old Town is surrounded by the original fortress, and I got to climb up one of the towers, which was cool. I also saw the park grounds where the Singing Revolution started in 1988, when about 300,000 people started signing national Estonian songs as part of a mass demonstration against the Soviet Union. Of course, it took a few more years for Estonia to gain its independence, a journey which also included a 600km human chain that stretched from Tallinn to Riga to Villinus (all three Baltic states). You have to give them credit for creativity in the fight for freedom, no?


We are back in Helsinki now. Thankfully the weather is considerably nicer. I went to the Finnish Design Museum today and saw some work by Oiva Toikka. I had no idea who that was before I went, but he does some cool blown glass stuff (and seems to do a little more work himself than the guy we saw in Nashville.

I also spotted this lovely planter, which I took a picture of for Cassie... (you're welcome)
Ok. Now I'm mostly caught up, give or take a church or museum. Two days until Russia - still haven't heard from the school at all, so who knows! I'm going to try to sleep. Although its 11 here it looks like maybe 7:30 outside... really messes with you.

June 07, 2010

So I leave for NY tomorrow and then to Helsinki and then to Russia... a little anti-climatic, but I'll get there eventually. I was going to set up a new blog and call it "Tolstoy was a vegetarian," but that name doesn't exactly roll of the tongue. It is actually true, though - Leo Tolstoy, Master of Russian literature, was a vegetarian (cool Russian fact #1). I can almost see a glisten in his eye, probably from his sheer joy at only eating cabbage and black bread... and vodka.

Vegetarianism aside, you may find many comparisons between this blog and the work of our beloved author:
#1 Most notably, unparalleled literary geniusness
#2Long, winding, excruciatingly detailed sections about Russian history
(see, I'm already using hard words like "genuisness" to describe my blog")

Probably the comparisons end there, but I'll let you know if I find any more. Point is, this is the same blog I wrote for Rome, and I'm just adding to it with new travels. and hopefully more interesting content.

Here's my schedule until I get to Russia:
-Leave NY June 9th.
-Helsinki until June 12th
-Tallinn until June 15th
-who knows, probably back to Helsinki until June 19th
-RUSSIA! (til August 9th)

Russian fact #2 - Before going on a trip, Russians sit on their luggage by the door for good luck.** As seen here in the awesome movie "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears"***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cusEvQBZCu8&feature=related
at minute 2:15.

That's how dedicated I am to this blog.
Please to enjoy. Or at least write me comments.




**I don't know if they actually still do this
*** Moscow only believes in love, fyi.