In the past week, we've come to realize that Moscow can't make up its mind when it comes to being a Westernized city or an Eastern city like the rest of Russia. The city has done a great job of making itself unique, since no city I've ever seen or read about has such a mix of well-kept (and not so well-kept) historical buildings in addition to the budding growth of skyscrapers and economic centers that are sprinkled throughout the land. In the US we are used to concentrations of large buildings in our cities' center, but in Moscow, there are more and more towers that pop up randomly in the outskirts of the city. This helps to show that Russia is trying to keep up with the rest of the world, but in its own way.
Our excursions since Wednesday have also shown us that Moscow has class. On Wednesday, we had the pleasure to meet with Russian students who speak English and ask them questions about life in Moscow and Russia. The Russian I talked to gave us her opinion on Putin and Medvedev, which I found interesting since their political relationship is represented in America as, well, Medvedev's Robin to Putin's Batman. She said that when Putin became President in 2000, Russia was very excited for him. Similar to Obama's election, they thought he could do no wrong and everything in Russia would be fixed soon. By 2004, they had realized that he wasn't the god they saw him to be, but he had still done a lot of good for the country. In my own interest, I looked up the gains the Russian economy made throughout Putin's time in office, and it made an average of 7% gains each year from 2000-2008 and Russia's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) went from 22nd in the world to 10th. Regardless of America's relationship with Russia and how our media portrays him, he has helped Russia a lot and the people here are grateful for that. The woman also said that Russians do think Putin will run for President again in 2012 and keep a firm hold on his power for years to come. To get a domestic opinion of this world-famous political situation absolutely fascinated me.
On Thursday, we got to go to the famous Большой театр (Bolshoi Theater) to see the opera The Queen of Spades. Like I said previously, I read the Wikipedia page to prepare myself for it and I went into the theater thinking I'd know enough to survive the all Russian play, but there were televisions in the theater set aside for English subtitles, so I didn't need to focus on picking out Russian words I knew. The voices of the opera singers were amazing, and I was impressed by how loud and long they could pronounce their notes. Afterward, we walked over to Red Square to see the Square at night and it was beautiful yet again. Our director said she wants us to go to Red Square a thousand times while we're here, and I really don't think I could ever get bored of it. One thing we realized about Moscow is that the only way we won't get glaring looks here is if we wear our fancy Bolshoi clothes everywhere we go. While a shirt with English on it will get you attention here, a group of 22 dressed up students taking the metro won't get a second glance.
On Friday, four of us decided to go to Moscow's Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics (or space museum) which was a thirty minute Metro ride to get to. The museum was fascinating and was very comparable to the Air and Space museum in DC. It also lies underneath a huge steel monument to space aviation and it's just a cool place to visit. It was also located next to a Disney-esqe/King's Island theme park which was free to get into, but cost about ten dollars for all the shoddy rides and food. It was still fun to see tons of Russians out and enjoying their weekend.
On Saturday, we took a bus around Moscow and our tour guide told us about the history of buildings such as St. Basil's, the Kremlin, and all the other famous buildings around Red Square. It was neat to finally get the stories behind all these landmarks and I hope I can relay them to anyone who asks. After finishing our first week of walking around everywhere and studying, we finally got a night to ourselves to just hang out and relax, which I will continue to look forward to each week we are here.
Yesterday night, we got to take a boat up the Moskva river twice while getting to eat in the (air-conditioned) dinner cabin. Two things I've realized about Russian food is that I don't know how Russians are adequately hydrated, given the small servings of beverage we are given at each meal, and I really like Bortsch (Russian beet stew). It was really nice to get to see Red Square and all of Moscow's famous buildings from the river at night, and also just to relax with our group. Hopefully all of our group outings are as interesting and fun as these first few have been.
Today is the Fourth of July!!! which is not celebrated here so our recognition of it has extended to wearing red, white, and blue. Later tonight we are going to try and find an American restaurant or bar to try and celebrate American style and not miss out on the best holiday of the year. I'm going to go take a nap now, but I hope everyone has a great Fourth and I'll write one of these in the next week! Enjoy!
Our excursions since Wednesday have also shown us that Moscow has class. On Wednesday, we had the pleasure to meet with Russian students who speak English and ask them questions about life in Moscow and Russia. The Russian I talked to gave us her opinion on Putin and Medvedev, which I found interesting since their political relationship is represented in America as, well, Medvedev's Robin to Putin's Batman. She said that when Putin became President in 2000, Russia was very excited for him. Similar to Obama's election, they thought he could do no wrong and everything in Russia would be fixed soon. By 2004, they had realized that he wasn't the god they saw him to be, but he had still done a lot of good for the country. In my own interest, I looked up the gains the Russian economy made throughout Putin's time in office, and it made an average of 7% gains each year from 2000-2008 and Russia's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) went from 22nd in the world to 10th. Regardless of America's relationship with Russia and how our media portrays him, he has helped Russia a lot and the people here are grateful for that. The woman also said that Russians do think Putin will run for President again in 2012 and keep a firm hold on his power for years to come. To get a domestic opinion of this world-famous political situation absolutely fascinated me.
On Thursday, we got to go to the famous Большой театр (Bolshoi Theater) to see the opera The Queen of Spades. Like I said previously, I read the Wikipedia page to prepare myself for it and I went into the theater thinking I'd know enough to survive the all Russian play, but there were televisions in the theater set aside for English subtitles, so I didn't need to focus on picking out Russian words I knew. The voices of the opera singers were amazing, and I was impressed by how loud and long they could pronounce their notes. Afterward, we walked over to Red Square to see the Square at night and it was beautiful yet again. Our director said she wants us to go to Red Square a thousand times while we're here, and I really don't think I could ever get bored of it. One thing we realized about Moscow is that the only way we won't get glaring looks here is if we wear our fancy Bolshoi clothes everywhere we go. While a shirt with English on it will get you attention here, a group of 22 dressed up students taking the metro won't get a second glance.
On Friday, four of us decided to go to Moscow's Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics (or space museum) which was a thirty minute Metro ride to get to. The museum was fascinating and was very comparable to the Air and Space museum in DC. It also lies underneath a huge steel monument to space aviation and it's just a cool place to visit. It was also located next to a Disney-esqe/King's Island theme park which was free to get into, but cost about ten dollars for all the shoddy rides and food. It was still fun to see tons of Russians out and enjoying their weekend.
On Saturday, we took a bus around Moscow and our tour guide told us about the history of buildings such as St. Basil's, the Kremlin, and all the other famous buildings around Red Square. It was neat to finally get the stories behind all these landmarks and I hope I can relay them to anyone who asks. After finishing our first week of walking around everywhere and studying, we finally got a night to ourselves to just hang out and relax, which I will continue to look forward to each week we are here.
Yesterday night, we got to take a boat up the Moskva river twice while getting to eat in the (air-conditioned) dinner cabin. Two things I've realized about Russian food is that I don't know how Russians are adequately hydrated, given the small servings of beverage we are given at each meal, and I really like Bortsch (Russian beet stew). It was really nice to get to see Red Square and all of Moscow's famous buildings from the river at night, and also just to relax with our group. Hopefully all of our group outings are as interesting and fun as these first few have been.
Today is the Fourth of July!!! which is not celebrated here so our recognition of it has extended to wearing red, white, and blue. Later tonight we are going to try and find an American restaurant or bar to try and celebrate American style and not miss out on the best holiday of the year. I'm going to go take a nap now, but I hope everyone has a great Fourth and I'll write one of these in the next week! Enjoy!
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