It has been about two weeks since our return from St. Petersburg and I haven't done an adequate enough job writing about how Moscow has been since our return. With only 16 days left until we are back home in America, our time here is coming to a close extremely quickly with so much to do in so little time. Here we go.
When we returned to Moscow, the city had undergone a change in temperature from the warm 80's we were used to enjoying to a rather chilling 50's range. There has been much more rain here and only a few days of decent sunshine. Today is a rainy day so unfortunately all I feel obliged to do is sit here and study Russian grammar cases until I'm tired enough to sleep. I won't complain about the temperatures, though, since I am aware that most of America and Ohio is melting and would kill for a day of 50's, or even 80's, weather.
On Wednesday the 3rd, we went on a group tour to Коло́менское, which was the royal estate to Ivan the Terrible and other Russian rulers up until the capital was moved to St. Petersburg. While basically all of the wooden palace was long gone, the grounds were very quaint and pretty and there was a magnificent view from the Church grounds of the Moskva river and the surrounding Moscow lands. We were also treated to a dinner/show with these three women singing Russian songs while presenting us with pancakes and tea. It was very amusing and seemed like something that could have been from a movie. Afterwards, my friend Katie and I took a run to Red Square to work off the pancakes and see the Moscow sunset, which we haven't really experienced yet from the center of Moscow.
On Friday night, a few of us went back to Park Pobedy to explore the area at night. That is the area where the Great Patriotic War Memorial Museum is. We had heard it is amazing at night and it truly is. The main obelisk is lit up and it seems to be the place to be on a weekend night. We also found other weird war memorials in the back woods of the memorial and I honestly wouldn't have minded staying the night exploring there.
On Sunday the 6th, two group members and myself had to present a cultural project to our group over a Moscow landmark of our choosing. This is a main component of our three credit cultural grade while we are here and I was extremely nervous about having to talk for more than 20 seconds in Russian. We chose to do our project over the Peter the Great statue on the Moskva river that no Muscovites seem to like. Although a statue doesn't seem like a very interesting topic to talk for ten minutes about, this statue actually has a really deep background with historical significance and controversy to Moscow and Russia itself, so it was easy to research. I ended up getting a great grade and I am relieved to have gotten that off my back for the last three weeks here.
Monday was my friend Kyle's birthday, so we decided to have a fun day as the classy Americans we are. After class, four of us went back to Park Pobedy and decided to play in the fountains and have a bit of water fun (Moscow has no beach so I kinda wanted to compete with all the fun going on back in America). We then decided to take our director's advice and go to the Ritz-Carlton Moscow hotel in order to get an amazing view of Red Square and Moscow from one of the city's highest points. Dressing up for the occasion rather nicely, we sat in the O2 Lounge on the top of the building and paid about thirty dollars for expensive drinks and a great view. There was billowing smoke coming from somewhere in the south part of Moscow, and while my initial first fear was terrorism, it turns out that a meat factory had caught on fire and was ruining Moscow's skyline.
With only 9 class days and 16 overall days to go, I really don't want to leave here. However, I am excited for several of the luxuries that will come with being home in America (such as knowing for sure that I will successfully eat something healthy each day). I cannot believe it is almost over and I hope I will make good use of the rest of my time here to entertain you all and add more memories to an already fantastic summer. Thanks for reading! Have a great week.
When we returned to Moscow, the city had undergone a change in temperature from the warm 80's we were used to enjoying to a rather chilling 50's range. There has been much more rain here and only a few days of decent sunshine. Today is a rainy day so unfortunately all I feel obliged to do is sit here and study Russian grammar cases until I'm tired enough to sleep. I won't complain about the temperatures, though, since I am aware that most of America and Ohio is melting and would kill for a day of 50's, or even 80's, weather.
On Wednesday the 3rd, we went on a group tour to Коло́менское, which was the royal estate to Ivan the Terrible and other Russian rulers up until the capital was moved to St. Petersburg. While basically all of the wooden palace was long gone, the grounds were very quaint and pretty and there was a magnificent view from the Church grounds of the Moskva river and the surrounding Moscow lands. We were also treated to a dinner/show with these three women singing Russian songs while presenting us with pancakes and tea. It was very amusing and seemed like something that could have been from a movie. Afterwards, my friend Katie and I took a run to Red Square to work off the pancakes and see the Moscow sunset, which we haven't really experienced yet from the center of Moscow.
On Friday night, a few of us went back to Park Pobedy to explore the area at night. That is the area where the Great Patriotic War Memorial Museum is. We had heard it is amazing at night and it truly is. The main obelisk is lit up and it seems to be the place to be on a weekend night. We also found other weird war memorials in the back woods of the memorial and I honestly wouldn't have minded staying the night exploring there.
On Sunday the 6th, two group members and myself had to present a cultural project to our group over a Moscow landmark of our choosing. This is a main component of our three credit cultural grade while we are here and I was extremely nervous about having to talk for more than 20 seconds in Russian. We chose to do our project over the Peter the Great statue on the Moskva river that no Muscovites seem to like. Although a statue doesn't seem like a very interesting topic to talk for ten minutes about, this statue actually has a really deep background with historical significance and controversy to Moscow and Russia itself, so it was easy to research. I ended up getting a great grade and I am relieved to have gotten that off my back for the last three weeks here.
Monday was my friend Kyle's birthday, so we decided to have a fun day as the classy Americans we are. After class, four of us went back to Park Pobedy and decided to play in the fountains and have a bit of water fun (Moscow has no beach so I kinda wanted to compete with all the fun going on back in America). We then decided to take our director's advice and go to the Ritz-Carlton Moscow hotel in order to get an amazing view of Red Square and Moscow from one of the city's highest points. Dressing up for the occasion rather nicely, we sat in the O2 Lounge on the top of the building and paid about thirty dollars for expensive drinks and a great view. There was billowing smoke coming from somewhere in the south part of Moscow, and while my initial first fear was terrorism, it turns out that a meat factory had caught on fire and was ruining Moscow's skyline.
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