Day Tripping

One of the components of this trip is that the students have a field trip nearly every day that they are here in Russia. The field trips range from museums to churches to cemeteries. Our field trips are led by the incredible Lena, our contact at GRINT, who leads us around Moscow at a break neck speed in a dangerously high pair of heels. We often find ourselves jogging doggedly behind her trying to catch up as she tosses back a "Come on, guys, you are slow today."

As today marks our first solid week in Moscow, here are some of the places the students have been.

Red Square/Kremlin:




The mandatory things to see while in Moscow. I've seen Saint Basil's countless times, yet I never ever get sick of seeing the candy colored domes.


The Ballet: A Performance of Romeo & Juliet



One of the extras that's included in tuition is various performances such as ballets, operas and symphonies. The first one the students saw was a performance of Romeo & Juliet at the Kremlin Ballet. The theater is a soviet construct which means it lacks the gilded loveliness of such theaters such as the famous Bolshoi Teatr or the Marinskii.



However, even the most ugly of buildings can sometimes hold unexpected treats-such as the amazing near 360 degree view of Moscow from the top level of the theater. With a bit of rain welcoming us at intermission, the view we got was stunning.




Novodevichy Cemetery:



This was one of the visits that I was most excited for, for purely selfish reason. When my computer crashed two years ago I lost all of my photos of that trip to Russia including the pictures of this cemetery. Novodevichy is pretty much a who's who of Russian history & culture. Nearly every grave contains someone who had a massive impact on Russian society & culture. It contains such famous Russians as the filmmaker Eisenstein, writers Gogol, Chekhov, Bulgakov & Mayakovsky, Russian leaders Yelstin & Khrushchev and composers like Shostakovich. On top of that, Russian cemeteries are so beautiful and peaceful, they're such interesting places to wander around.


The Grave of a Heart Surgeon.


The Grave of an Actor


Gogol's.

Yasnaya Polyana:



Another big treat was our trek yesterday to Yasnaya Polyana--the estate of writer Leo Tolstoy. The field trip was a big one-3 and a half hours each way, but well worth it. The estate was absolutely beautiful, and filled with people celebrating Russia Day. There were various crafts set up for people to try their hand at-from knitting to making dolls out of hay.



The houses and schools on the estate were remarkably well preserved, and filled with items that belonged to Tolstoy and his family including his 23,000 volume personal library.


Tolstoy's unmarked grave on the estate.


The students experiencing Russian culture via tapochki--slippers. They're used at some museums to preserve original flooring.


So that's some of the things we've seen in the past seven days alone. With Lena's speed walking leading the way, we're going to see tons of more things in the next few weeks (and get our heart rates up as a bonus).

A Little Snow in the Spring

Last night I was about 60% certain I was having an appendicitis in the middle of the night so I'm taking it easy today, and going to spend the day reading & ignoring my achy abdomen.



Right now in Moscow it looks as though it's snowing, but the white stuff on the ground is not of the frozen rain variety. What it really is is the pollen of poplar trees. The white stuff is called pukh (pronounced pooh--or the sound you'd make if one of the little fuzzballs got stuck to your lip).



It's pretty when it falls to the ground, but man is it all over the place. When I come in from a day on the town, my hair is coated in a fluffy layer of the stuff. As I get ready for bed, I'll find clumps of it in my purse, in my pockets, down my shirt...everywhere. I don't doubt that when I get home from Russia, I'll find the little fluff balls for many weeks after my return. Out here at Vikhino (the closest metro station to the dorm) the pukh isn't that bad yet, but when we took an excursion downtown yesterday, it was so thick in that area of Moscow there were swirling piles of it that were several inches high. It made for a very silent walk to and from the Chekhov House as everyone kept their mouths clamped shut to avoid ingesting the stuff.

What Exactly Am I Doing In Russia?

That's an excellent question. This is my fourth trip to Russia in eight years. I've been here twice as a study abroad student, once as someone who sort of fell into a really awesome grant that allowed her to travel here*, and now I'm here as the assistant for UVA's new study abroad program in Russia.

The program UVA in Russia: Literary Places is amazing. The students are here studying Russian literature--two weeks in Moscow and two weeks in Saint Petersburg. In the morning they attend classes on various works of Russian literature based in the city they are in (today they worked on Chekhov), and then in the afternoon they visit a site in the city relevant to that work/author (so today they went to the Chekhov House Museum). Some evenings they attend cultural events that you can't come to Russia and do without, such as tonight's ballet performance of Romeo and Juliet. As you might imagine, as a Russian literature geek, just hearing about our new program made my heart go all a'flutter. That I actually get to assist the director on it is still one of those pinch me moments.

So I have some responsibility here, and if you know me and anything about responsibility then you know that if you give me even a little bit of power I morph into some redheaded clown-like version of Napoleon. It's ugly really. In addition to this I'm addicted to planning trips. My family and best friend have learned to just let me take the reigns when they agree to go on vacation with me. It's less stress just to let me usher their sleep-deprived forms into the car at 5am for an all day trip to Key West rather than watch me throw a hissy fit about for three days.

Luckily, I've kept my trip planning/excursion planning monster at bay for the time being. My responsibilities are mainly to make sure the students are safe, their questions are answered, and to pipe in with suggestions for things to do, places to eat, what not to do, etc. It's been a blast so far. The students are really smart, and so far none of them have attempted to give themselves alcohol poisoning, so I'm breezing easy at the moment. I'm amazed at how much I do know about this city--from giving the students directions from one part of the city to another to suggesting favorite restaurants and little known museums or galleries not found in guide books. Not bad for someone that lives across an ocean. So maaaaaybe I accidentally left two students on the metro platform tonight. That's a learning experience for them, right?


It's been really exciting being here and seeing everything through the students' eyes. Their first time seeing Red Square and St. Basil's Cathedral (although not as monumental & awe inspiring as usual thanks to the stage set up by Sting who played Red Square just a few nights ago. Way to ruin the moment, Sting), the first time they walked into a Russian Orthodox Church--all these things that I've done dozens of times now is brand new to them. It was awesome watching their jaws drop as they experienced sensory overload. Watching people you know enjoy and be awed by a place that you love is a totally different way of travel for me. It's convinced me even more that I need to bug my mom to come here with me soon.


So this picture is totally unrelated to this post, but I was trying to take a picture of how disgustingly crowded the metro was yesterday to use for an update on my blog, and I was trying to be sneaky about it with my iphone. However, you can totally tell by the side-eye that chick is giving me that she was totally aware of my tourist-y antics

*Although no one ever checked up on how I spent that money so I really could have spent last summer sitting on the couch eating ice cream and watching Toddlers & Tiaras and no one would have known.