Alright, after fourteen hours and 6,000 miles of travel we finally arrived in the Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. While it was a relatively painless trip, airplane food and service was extremely unsatisfying and is most likely detrimental to my health. I feel I must apologize for any type of incoherent speech that appears in this post, as I am waiting until it is night time here in Russia to sleep in order to get used to the time zone (we are eight hours ahead of Eastern Time Zone).
I would like to give my first impression of the city, even though I haven't seen any of Moscow's center yet. The outer areas of Moscow from the airport to our university are fascinating, yet very worn down. Many large buildings in the city lay uninhabited and abandoned, and there seems to be a pattern of buildings being either thriving car dealerships or small little stores. One type of store that is surprisingly abundant here is the flower shops, or цветы shops, that are on every street corner. Our university lies 2.5 miles from Red Square, and I'm hoping there will be a few of us who are brave enough to try and jog to Red Square and navigate our way back.
I also want to give a few thoughts to how I currently feel about security in Russia, IE how terrorism affects everyday life and how much they actually care about it. In the past year, there have been three major strikes in Moscow that have gained the attention of the worldwide media. The train service that my group will take to St. Petersburg at the end of July was bombed in November of 2009 by Chechen rebels. In March of 2010, suicide bombers struck the Metro underneath Moscow's main government buildings and then, this past January, the Domededovo airport was bombed. The terrorism Russia faces comes from domestic rebels, not international fighters like Al-Qaeda and thus they are left somewhat alone in their struggle here. Attacks happen here much more often than we are accustomed to back home, so these attacks barely make critical changes in every day life. While I hope Russia does not experience an attack while we are here, it would be interesting to see first-hand how the country reacts to tragedy just as we experienced on 9/11.
Even though it is one in the afternoon here, I will post this now and try to give a better update on Moscow once we actually get to go into the city. Classes start Monday so that will also be exciting and terrifying for me. Have a great weekend!
I would like to give my first impression of the city, even though I haven't seen any of Moscow's center yet. The outer areas of Moscow from the airport to our university are fascinating, yet very worn down. Many large buildings in the city lay uninhabited and abandoned, and there seems to be a pattern of buildings being either thriving car dealerships or small little stores. One type of store that is surprisingly abundant here is the flower shops, or цветы shops, that are on every street corner. Our university lies 2.5 miles from Red Square, and I'm hoping there will be a few of us who are brave enough to try and jog to Red Square and navigate our way back.
I also want to give a few thoughts to how I currently feel about security in Russia, IE how terrorism affects everyday life and how much they actually care about it. In the past year, there have been three major strikes in Moscow that have gained the attention of the worldwide media. The train service that my group will take to St. Petersburg at the end of July was bombed in November of 2009 by Chechen rebels. In March of 2010, suicide bombers struck the Metro underneath Moscow's main government buildings and then, this past January, the Domededovo airport was bombed. The terrorism Russia faces comes from domestic rebels, not international fighters like Al-Qaeda and thus they are left somewhat alone in their struggle here. Attacks happen here much more often than we are accustomed to back home, so these attacks barely make critical changes in every day life. While I hope Russia does not experience an attack while we are here, it would be interesting to see first-hand how the country reacts to tragedy just as we experienced on 9/11.
Even though it is one in the afternoon here, I will post this now and try to give a better update on Moscow once we actually get to go into the city. Classes start Monday so that will also be exciting and terrifying for me. Have a great weekend!
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