Blog. In America.

So I got on my plane to Germany. All was fine. I was sitting in an aisle with an empty seat next to me, so that was nice. There was this guy in the window seat who appeared to speak fluent Russian, and I’m pretty sure he was Russian, but I’m not sure if he had some sort of weird accent or speech impediment or what but EVERY time he tried to talk to me I couldn’t understand anything he was saying. It was sort of painful and awkward.

Changed planes in Frankfurt. Ended up sitting in an aisle again (thank God) next to some Polish guy and his son who sort of spoke Russian but not really. So every time he tried to say something to me, I had no idea what he was saying. Especially because I think half the time he wasn’t even trying to speak Russian, just straight up Polish (which sounded like a really weird mix between German and Russian). Also part of the time he’d be looking at me but talking to his son so that threw me off, like, a LOT, and found myself unsure of what to do. He also took up much of my personal space. But other than that he was okay. I helped him fill out all of the forms he had to fill out since he didn’t speak any English whatsoever. Which involved a lot of Russian, smiling, and pointing to places on passports. Then the girl next to his son was asking me how to declare cigarettes, as if it was really important, which made me unsure of just how many cigarettes they were bringing in.

They ran out of chicken for dinner, so that was sad. The stewardesses were also not so nice. But that’s okay. I listened to one of their, like, 20 radio stations. Eating/drinking took up a lot of time. About an hour into the 8 hour flight I seriously thought I was going to die. I was like…I’m just not going to make it. But it was fine. And then about halfway through they played a John Cusack movie (new?) called Martian Child. It was sort of weird. But they had a lot of funny lines, and then everyone looked at me funny. For example:
Martian Child: I eat Lucky Charms.
John Cusack:……I’m a big believer in a substantial breakfast.
Maybe you had to be there.

Then like 20 mins before our flight got in I actually thought I was going to die. I had gotten up and walked around and stretched and whatnot, but my legs were SO itchy. It was awful. Also our plane seemed to be doing, like, figure 8s around Long Island instead of just, like, going straight to JFK and landing (we could see this on the screen with the map, they show what the plane’s doing, etc). I was like…what is this ridiculous aircraft doing.

So then I was SO grateful that I was a US citizen because the line to check passport for internationals was atrocious. I have no idea how many international flights had just come in, but it looked like…a million. There were SO many people. I stood in the US line for, like, 7 mins. Also when they took my customs declaration they didn’t even LOOK at it. I could have said that I had Mad Cow diseased meat and they WOULDN’T EVEN HAVE KNOWN.

Then I was stressed because I didn’t know how to get from JFK to LaGuardia. Some guy told me that the shuttle bus stopped running at 8, and I should ask about other shuttles at the ground transportation desk. Then this woman said there were no other shuttles available and sent me back to where the bus was. Then the first guy told me that I’d have to take a taxi. Then I took a taxi to my hotel. Also, the hallways were ramped. It was the strangest thing I’d ever seen. I almost took a picture but was too tired. But it didn’t smell like smoke and EVERYONE SMILED. I like, didn’t know what to do. I’m so used to just scowling and not looking at anyone that I must have looked so strange when I tried to half smile and half just keep going. It meant I had really shifty eyes and…well, a half smile. So then, even though I had been up for 20 hours, I was too wired and overwhelmed to do anything. And I was sort of surprised at how not surprised I was about everything. I didn’t really fazed or shocked or anything, just sort of sad. So I ordered take-out Chinese. Which was not very good. And then went to sleep.

Next morning got up at 5:45. Had an 8:30 flight. Got on the 6:30 shuttle to LaGuardia. Arrived at, like, 6:40. Was completely checked in and sitting at my gate at 7. WHY DO I ALWAYS DO THIS?! I was even selected for secondary security screening, or whatever it is. And still an hour and a half early. I DON’T NEED TO BE THERE THAT EARLY.

Also they had coverage of the New Hampshire primaries going like 24 HOURS A DAY. THAT IS NOT NECESSARY. IT ALREADY HAPPENED. I swear, if I had to hear anything again I probably would have attacked someone. GOD I had forgotten what US politics was like. Then there was this clip of Hilary Clinton saying something to the extent of “I came here, heard what you had to say, and found my voice.” BARF. OH GOD. I seriously thought I was going to hurl my Lufthansa-given hot dog pretzel all over the floor.

I should, in fact, be appreciating all of this as evidence that we actually HAVE a democracy. For a second I thought “they wouldn’t do this in Russia…” but then I realized that Putin already “selected” his successor and there’s really no democratic element to it at all.

So I was irritated by that. I was also on a flight consisting entirely of businessmen. AND THEY WERE SO IRRITATING. All in their little suits (actually I like suits), playing with their blackberries, talking about the economy. This never used to bother me before. They were all…like…TALKING to each other, and to other people. See, I’m so used to people just sitting by themselves and not talking to anyone else because Russians don’t really do that.

Also, television in the US? Completely ridiculous. I really shouldn’t be saying this, since Russian television consists of squeezing yourself through wall cut outs in order to avoid being shoved into a pool, or avoiding bulls while dressed in banana suits on bicycles, but still. At any rate, I’m sort of appalled by it all. But I never really liked any of the really trashy shows. It’s all just sort of…strange. Cold Case Files is still fantastic. As is Everybody Loves Raymond. And right now I’m watching a documentary about a New York gang. It is COMPLETELY disgusting. Anyway, not important.

So I guess I should, like, wrap this blog up. As it’s my last entry. Reflect on my semester. I don’t really know what to say. Russia is so hard to sum up. However, I’m hooked and can’t wait to go back. I’d like to work/do grad school in Moscow after graduation. Or maybe even this summer. At any rate, earlier in November I was debating about how much I wanted to speak Russian, given that it would mean I wouldn’t be speaking English. In order to become REALLY good at Russian, I’d have to speak less English (this makes sense). I want to do that. For awhile I was so frustrated that I just felt I’d be okay with being so-so and do other things. But now I really want to come back. And keep going. And become really good. And live in Russia for awhile.

Well, anyway. That’s where I want to go from here.

Last. Blog. of. Russia.

omg let's not even talk about it.

Good thing I left the hostel so early, as I’m now sitting here at the airport completely checked in almost 3 hours before my plane leaves. Everyone always says you have to leave early and it does NOT TAKE THAT LONG. Maybe if it’s a day when a lot of people fly. I don’t think Tuesday is that day.

So where did I leave off? I think I talked about Yaroslavl. Anyway after that I came back and had dinner at the Starlite Diner. AKA the BEST PLACE EVER. Like, I love Moscow, and would really like to live there, and the Starlite Diner just clinched it for me. Like, it’s JUST LIKE AMERICA. EXCEPT IN RUSSIA. And even BETTER. Like, if I’m ever in Moscow again, and just like…I could really go for some America right now…ALL I have to do is go there. It’s all like 50s diner decorated with the stuff on the wall and the barstools and everything. And they were playing AMERICAN CHRISTMAS CAROLS. AHHHHHH. I WAS SO HAPPY. Bing Crosby was playing. I could not have been happier. And then they had all the regular diner stuff (except their 24 hr breakfast menu left something to be desired, but that’s okay) AND something called….a Bailey’s Milkshake. BEST THING EVER. Would we have something like that in America? I don’t know but it was pretty fantastic. OMG. I was having one of those moments where I was just like “I’m……so……happy….right….now…..”

Came back and hung around. Think I talked about this already, actually, right? Maybe? Maybe not. Well the next day I got up and went to the History of Moscow Museum, which was moderately interesting. Then I went to the Modern History Museum (of Russia) which was INSANE. This was, like, the Tretyakov Gallery of Modern Russian History. They had like 36 rooms (they call them “zals”). The Tretyakov Gallery has like 61. The History of Moscow Museum had three. I was there for over 3 hours and could have been there for WAY longer. So then I had planned to go to the WW2 museum, but at that point I only would have had an hour there and was pretty worn out. So I decided to go to the Tretyakov Gallery instead. Both a good and a bad choice.

So I got there and had another “Russian Museum moment”, where I went into what looked like a main entrance of the building, which was actually just a private, separate exhibition. But I went to buy a ticket, looked at the Russian student price, got exact change, and gave the woman my money and my student ID at the same time. So she opened it and looked at it for a LONG time and I was like, oh man, she’s going to tell me I’m a foreigner and have to pay three times as much, and this is going to be a nightmare because then I’m going to argue with her in my broken Russian and it was so cold out so my mouth doesn’t form words and there are people behind me and ahhhh. And then she looks up and smiles and says “you get in free today! It’s the first Sunday of the month!” and hands me a ticket. Oh man. How amazing was that.

So I looked through the, like, 3 room exhibition they had and then tried to find the entrance to the actual Tretyakov Gallery. Then I was very intimidated because police officers were blocking the entrance. So I sort of paced around in the cold until they left. Then I saw a sign that said it was open until 7:30, not 6:30 like I thought! It was only 4:45 at that point so I had sooo much time. Then I went in to buy a ticket. And stood in line for like 10 mins. And I showed the woman my ID and she looked at it for a long long time. And told me I had to pay 100 rubles. And I told her no, the price on the wall said 50 rubles. And she said no, because I was clearly an exchange student. And I said no, I’m a student at a Russian university and they told me I pay the same price that Russian students pay. And we had this argument and it was awkward because there were all these people waiting in line and I almost walked away and then realized that I really wanted to see the Tretyakov Gallery and so I just paid the 100 rubles. The worst thing is that I should have been in free here too.

So then I stood in the most awful coat check line ever. I was seriously standing there for 30 or 35 mins. It’s not that hard. You take the person’s coat and then give them a number. But everyone was waiting SO long and these woman were just old and sitting around. Seriously. Only half of them were working. One girl tried to give this woman her coat and the woman was like “No, I only give coats back, I don’t take them.” Like, seriously?! There are about 6,000 people here and none of them are trying to RETRIEVE their coat. Then they were talking to each other a lot and not working. These were seriously the most obnoxious 60 year old women I had ever seen. So then the girl in front of me had no little hook thing on her coat and needed a hanger. And they had a box of them right near the counter for that purpose. So the girl asks if she could use a hanger and the woman says “I don’t do that” and then takes my coat. Like, seriously? You can’t grab a hanger from behind you and hang it up? I would have yelled at her had I wanted to use my broken Russian. But I felt it was better for her to stand up for herself as she actually has a grasp on the language. Being a native, and all.

So at that point I was pretty bitter and hating the Tretyakov Gallery before I had even seen any of the art. But then as I went on it was really cool. And since there were SO many people there and it’s pretty big, you can sort of breeze through without anyone looking at you like you’re a heathen for not examining and appreciating every single piece of artwork there. Which is excellent, because my art attention span is pretty low. So I looked at the stuff I liked, and just sort of glanced at the stuff I didn’t. It was really cool to actually see a lot of those paintings that I had seen so often, but never up close. For example, the painting of Ivan the Terrible and his Son, or the portrait of Dostoevsky. I dunno. Just cool stuff like that. I actually really like art galleries because nothing is ever the same in a book. It all looks really cool up close but in a book I’m just sort of like….eh.

So then I went to the gift shop and got a puzzle of one of the paintings. Put it together later that night. Found it very enjoyable. Denis sort of laughed at me but that’s okay. I also got a poster of bears. They weren’t dancing, just climbing, but I thought it was really necessary.

So then I sought out the Moo-Moo café on Tverskaya Boulevard. And this is a HUGE road. And a lot of time they don’t have crosswalks or lights, you just have to find a metro station or an underground crossing. So I was on the wrong side of the street when I found it but COULD NOT FIND an underground crosswalk. Like, it was right there, so close, and yet so far. But eventually I found one. I suppose it made the Moo-Moo quest that much more exciting.

So I had my regular borsht, tea, and a little bread thing. Okay, so here’s something to rant about (related, promise). In Russia they ALWAYS want you to have small bills. Like, anywhere in America, even if you paid with a 50 it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. If you’re paying for anything under, like, 700 rubles with a 1000 ruble bill here, it’s like a catastrophe (that’s like paying for something that’s almost $30 with a $40 bill…NOT a big deal). So my little meal was 120 rubles (almost $5). All I had was a 500 ruble bill (like a $20 bill). This is fine. I figured anything over 100 rubles is fine with a 500 ruble bill. In America ANYTHING would be fine with a 20. Even though I always apologize if it’s something less than, like $5, but then all the service people always smile and tell me it’s fine and are so nice because it’s America and they understand capitalism and friendliness. Anyway, I digress. So I go to pay and the girl has, like, a mini fit. With lots of deep sighing and “don’t you have anything smaller?” And I tell her I don’t. And she just sits there. And I don’t do anything. And she’s like, “well, I can’t change that.” (as in, make change for it, give me change…how do you say that in English?). And I tell her that I don’t have anything else so she’s going to have to do something (you CAN’T tell me that in the entire Moo-Moo café they don’t have $15 in change. I just don’t believe it.) So she sat there and looked at me and did lots of sighing and finally took my 500 bill and gave me change. I KNEW SHE COULD. I KNEW IT WAS POSSIBLE. Then the little caramel she gave me with my receipt was smushed and I resented her for it.

So I ended up going to bed really late (but finished my puzzle!). Decided that I wanted my last day in Moscow to be sort of calm. So I almost went to a bunch of museums but decided that I didn’t have the energy, so I just wandered the city, which was quite nice. Especially Arbat. Did some souvenir shopping, found some that I really really liked. There are ridiculous people. Especially sketchy men at souvenir stands. There was this one guy from Georgia (the country, not the state). And this other Russian guy. Don’t want to go into it but I was just like…..eeeeelllghhhchchhh. Also I wanted to buy this particular martrushka doll from this guy. He told me it was 900 rubles. I said this was ridiculous and that the guy one stand over would sell me one just like it for 400 (which was actually not true, he had said 500). Then the seller told me that that may be true, but the painting on this doll was better (actually, that was true. But not 500 rubles better). So I just stood there as he kept lowering the price. And didn’t say anything. And when he got to 450, and sort of paused longer than usual, I said okay. Haggling on Arbat is ridiculous. There was also this woman that I was buying a hat from…and she was like “it’s 1200 rubles. But we could probably go lower.” So then I asked if we could go lower and she says “sure, what do you want to pay?” Like, seriously?

Then I was in this store talking to these women who were asking me about studying in Russia. This one was really annoying, actually, I kept telling her that I was just looking and she kept showing me EVERYTHING. And then saying that she could give it to me for x rubles. And I kept telling her I was just looking. And she wouldn’t shut up. And I was like WOMAN LEAVE ME ALONE. I didn’t actually say that, but I wanted to. So later they were asking me about studying abroad and everything and sort of…not really talking down to me, but talking to me like I was way younger. And then they’re like “…so have you tried vodka?” and I’m like “Yea….” And they start laughing and looking surprised and doing the “Ух, ты!” that Russians so often do. And then asked me how old I was and looked very surprised when I said 20. Do I really look that young? I don’t think so. Someone in mom’s office also once told me I looked like I was, like, 15. I don’t believe them.

FOUND A BLINI PLACE ACROSS THE STREET FROM MY HOSTEL. When did that happen? Why did that not happen earlier? Then wanted to know how many meals I had left in Russia, and how many of them could take place there. I was sad that they didn’t have the “Teaspoon” restaurant in Moscow, like they do in St. Petersburg, but Teremok is even BETTER. Well, they have better blini, I think. “Teaspoon” has better tea. And maybe jam. But they don’t have banana-chocolate or wild berry blini. Oh man.

So then later I had dinner with Nolan and Betsy from language school. I had SO MUCH FUN. I hadn’t really ever talked to Betsy, but she was so cool. I had so much fun. Her friend was visiting too. Nolan made borsht, we had all kinds of Russian things (vinigrette (is that how you would transliterate it?), stewed cabbage, salad with mayonnaise (but VERY little, so I could sort of scrape it off and eat it), borsht.) Honey chili vodka which was VERY strange. Watched some excellent youtube videos which I can’t wait to show everyone at home. OMG. I had a great time. Even though I’m an idiot and got on the wrong metro line to get there, ending up at “Sokol” station instead of “Sokolniki” station. And was then like 45 mins late. But it all ended up okay.

Mitt Romney is on TV right now in this little airport café bar. I need to catch up on all of that once I’m back.

I am so sad I’m leaving. Got up this morning, took a shower, had some blini. Denis carried my gigantic suitcase down the stairs for me, which I am so grateful for, and was amazed he could actually do (he’s sort of skinny). Gave me a hug and told me to come back. I said I would when I need to find an apartment in Moscow (which Betsy told me is not possible to do unless I’m actually HERE. Finding one from America is not so…well, possible). Anyway, I am so sad. Like, SO sad. I hope I have this moment of clarity when I’m home, where I’m like “I NEED to go back” or “I’ll be okay here”. I’d like to get a job in Moscow after graduation. Or maybe grad school. Or maybe in Irkutsk. I guess we’ll see.

So now I only have 1 hour left until my flight. I’m really tired because I didn’t sleep enough. That’s probably better, though, because then I’ll sleep on the plane.

Customs was only a little more intense than it was coming over. As in, now we had to put our baggage through a little screener thing instead of just walking through. In other words, we went through security. Which is what you usually do. So customs didn’t really exist at all.

I’m off to find a wifi card so I can post this and download all kinds of Russian music from this site Nolan gave me. My next entry will probably be posted when I’m in America. THAT is weird. And it’ll probably be all about culture shock.

Also I remember when I came being like “this airport is sort of…..elllchhkik….” and now I’m like “this place is SO nice, what a GREAT airport!” I feel like JFK is going to feel like…the Winter Palace, or something. Sorry, that’s an awful analogy.

P.S. Allie-A chupa chup is a sucker. But I bought a GIGANTIC one. I can still eat it, but now it's just like pieces of candy instead of a giant sucker, which was much cooler.

Random, unimportant thoughts.

I AM A HORRIBLE CHUPA CHUP CARETAKER. My chupa chup has cracked, as I decided it would be a good idea to drag it to Yaroslavl and bag in a пакет. This was a bad idea. It's now, in, like three pieces and is not full. AHHH MY GIGANTIC CHUPA CHUP IS LEFT IN PIECES. Much like my heart.

Also this happened a couple days ago, but is still important. Also I'm still working on the chupa chup, regardless of its incompleteness.

There was some really funny story I needed to relay but I've forgotten it already. Also I don't feel like going into the details of my day (as I always seem to do) so I'll do that later.

Didn't buy a phone card, since I'm going home in like two days. Figured I could call everyone once I'm there and don't need to do it from Russia.

I'm drinking tea and doing a jigsaw puzzle (of a painting found in the Tretyakov Gallery) instead of sleeping. Denis and (presumably) his girlfriend left to go do something Christmasy. I was thinking of going to church for Christmas eve but didn't have the energy. Or the head scarf. He gave me his cell number to call if needed. So now I feel like I should stay up in case anyone has some sort of crisis. Also this girlfriend thing is a major blow to our potential love affair.

JOKING.

Back in Moscow.

There are people speaking German here. It's weird to hear. Anyway.

So last night I walked around to a bunch of different hotels and guess what? THEY WERE ALL FULL. How does that happen? So this woman was SO nice and found this dorm/hostel/thing place for me in the outskirts of Yaroslavl. So I got there at, like, 7, but this meant I couldn't do any more wandering because I was so far away. The room I was in was okay, except for the smell of cat pee. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from until I saw the disgusting, mangy looking cat sitting on the downstairs couch. Whatever, cat pee is ten times better than smoke. Also I opened the window so it was fine.

Went to the supermarket to buy a bottle of water and three juiceboxes. I need to start paying attention to which boxes I'm buying. See, at the time of purchase, I'm really only interested in the box. But when it comes time to drink, I'm interested in the straw as well. But I wasn't paying attention, so I didn't buy juiceboxes with straws. Only an idiot does this more than three times.

Came back, took a shower, enjoyed my straw-less juiceboxes. Watched Erin Brokovich (is that how you spell it?) Went to sleep. Woke up the next morning and got ready to go into town. So, the woman at the...um...sleeping place told me to get on the number 8 trolleybus. Okay, fine. So I'm standing at the stop and it's not stopping. Then I realize I'm at a marshrutka stop, not a bus stop. But then I notice I can take the 78 marshrutka, which is probably faster anyway. I get on. Like 10,000 other people get on. This is ridiculous. I can't move, I'm sweating SOOOO much, and there are thousands of people getting on every second. So when I finally saw a cafe I recognized I got off, figuring that meant I was close enough to where I needed to be. Wrong. I was, in fact, on the right street, but it seems as if Freedom Street in Yaroslavl is the longest street ever. I needed building number 10. I was at, like, building number 87. So I walked for a long time. And finally found it. Anyway I went to the Kremlin, which was...interesting. Went to the local history museum, where everyone was so nice and there was only ONE guard babushka who actually didn't follow me around all the time. Saw a bunch of churches and monuments. Walked along the Volga. Very nice indeed.

There's more I need to remember but...I guess that'll come later.

Dear Lonely Planet, you are not awesome.

So I woke up Denis by calling him and asking him to open the door. Which he did. And was, again, SO nice. And said he tried to call me on my cell phone, except now I have a new number, etc. He might actually be the nicest person alive, you don't even know.

So he showed me my bed and I laid down and then was unable to sleep. Finally fell asleep at some point. Woke up after, like, 3 hours of sleep. Left Denis a note in what I hope was comprehensible Russian, paid for my 3 hours of sleep and went to the train station. I ended up leaving much later than I had planned, so was terrified I was going to miss my train. Especially since I had to change metro lines and somehow ended up on the green line instead of the red line. And OF COURSE I was sweating in the metro, because, that's the number one you DO in the metro. Second most commonly occurring metro activity is transportation. This should give you an idea of how much I sweat in the metro.

Made it on time. Got on my train. Slept. Woke up and arrived in Yaroslavl. Looked at this nice new edition map of Yaroslavl from Lonely Planet and set off to find my hotel (also, this whole "Natalie's Russian cell phone doesn't feel like calling anywhere in Russia except for Moscow and St. Petersburg" is getting REALLY annoying.) So I figured I'd do the same thing I did, like, the last four times I went to some city, which involves just going to the hotel and getting a room. Works every time. Except for SOME reason this map is weird and I ended up wandering around Yaroslavl for 2 hours. It's -17 degrees Celsius. And even though I asked for directions, it was still very very far until I found where I needed to be. And unfortunately, I walked around the part of Yaroslavl that DOESN'T have anything of cultural significance (with the exception of the Che Guevara Coffee Shop, which I would very much like to visit if I have time). So I FINALLY find the street where I need to be. And the place where Hotel Volga is supposed to be. And what's there? A SHOPPING MALL. And I ask some woman and she said that yes, at one point in the past, Hotel Volga was there. And now it is not. And no one seemed to know where it was. So I wandered for awhile trying to find it, before deciding I would find another hotel. Which I HOPE still exists and is in the right place on this photocopied Lonely Planet Yaroslavl map.

So I'm walking along the Ulitsa in a world of pain because it's -17 degrees out. So I step inside what looks like another shopping mall and what do I find? A trendy wifi cafe. So I'm sitting here with my small cup of coffee and ferrero rocher candy and am still cold. Also the very upsetting part about all of this is that at this point all the museums are closed, which means I'll wander around and find all the churches and monuments I can. I think that's a good plan. Then I'll probably call home. And Deda. Which is necessary because I'm in Yaroslavl. I hope I can find a phone card.

Back to Moscow tomorrow. I'm sad because it means I won't get to spend that much time in Yaroslavl, but...I'll be in Moscow, and that'll be awesome.

Okay. Everything is INSANE.

So we arrived in St. Petersburg and everything was great. A lot of the people in this hostel are insane and it's sort of hard to explain. The Australians are fun but sometimes crazy. Okay first of all there is ALWAYS SOMEONE SLEEPING. At all times of the day. Especially the guy from Brazil, who actually sleeps all the time. And when is not sleeping, is playing with his cell phone in bed. Seriously, on New Year's Day he got up at 11 PM. Like, I thought I had slept late (1:30, even though almost everyone else was still sleeping), but WHAT?! 11 PM?! Who does that? And it's not like he went to bed THAT late. I went to bed at like, 4, and he went to bed not long after me. And there's this guy from Finland who violently snores. Like, it is AWFUL. I can't just not sleep, he actually wakes me up at night. And it's not rhythmic, either, it's...just...loud, and irregular, and ridiculous. I wanted to take a video but he came back from clubbing or something after I had already woken up, and then left today. And then there are just random people sleeping all the time. It's completely bizarre. And means our stuff is in totally disorganized piles because whenever we go into our room its dark and we can't see anything. Oh well. We think this is hilarious, but also recognize how no one could find this funny at all.

So the next day I decided that my clothes were too dirty to even wear anywhere. So I washed them, which took 3 hours. Which also meant that I couldn't go anywhere that required me to take off my coat, because I was wearing capri length yoga pants, nylons, and a t-shirt. So I wandered around for awhile, went to the supermarket to get some food for the week, etc. Called Deda's friends and walked around St. Petersburg for, like, 3 hours. Then I came back and the Australians wanted me to come with them to some sketchy restaurant with them, which we thankfully couldn't find. We ended up eating at this little place on the square next to the metro which actually had okay pizza. I would have liked it very much if it had toppings that I liked. In fact, I might return. Anyway it was fun.

Then the next day I wanted to go somewhere but was still washing clothes and needed to find a gift to bring to New Year's dinner with Deda's friends, and I was supposed to meet them at 3. So I ended up doing nothing that day. But then went to New Year's dinner which was SO NICE. There were Deda's 2 friends, another woman from the same city where Baba was born (and her daughter), their daughter and son in law, and 2 grandchildren. THEY WERE SO NICE. So we had dinner and talked and went around telling happy memories and then they sang this new years song in a circle (I have a video) and gave presents. And they gave me a present! It was so cute and so nice and I was feeling all warm and fuzzy inside when I left.

Then I came back and general chaos had already ensued. The Australians were already trashed at like 9:30 and had drawn "Happy New Year!" all over their friends naked butt. And then took pictures. So there was general international interaction going on, and was all nice and fun (us, the Ukrainians (who are SO nice btw...but sort of strange...more on this later), the Australians, 2 Russian girls, and the Brazilians, who were not asleep). Then at like 11:30 we left for Nevsky Prospect. This was ridiculous. There was just general fun and whatnot going on on the metro, everyone was laughing, wishing everyone else happy new year, screaming, cheering, etc. Both on the metro and on the escalator on the way up. So then we got to Nevsky Prospect, where it was PACKED, watched Putin's say something on this big screen television, and at midnight all these bells rang, everyone cheered and drank champagne and hugged and wished each other happy new year and there was a concert and a parade and etc etc etc. COMPLETELY AMAZING. WORDS CANNOT EXPLAIN THIS. We hopped on a float for like two seconds (this was the Ukrainians' idea). I ended up losing Sonya and Alya somehow, so I wandered around for awhile, found the Australians, and ran away after like 5 mins. Couldn't find Sonya and Alya, but found the Ukrainians. We walked to Palace Square, and then back to the hostel. The general craziness and loving of everyone going on in the streets of St. Petersburg cannot be explained.

So this is where the night gets ridiculous (actually, this is the part where I get ridiculous). So I came back and went to put something on my bed and grabbed my camera case. Except it was without a camera. So I was sort of worried and looked EVERYWHERE but couldn't find it. And I knew I had taken some pictures in the kitchen, so I looked there, and it was nowhere to be found. I KNEW that I hadn't taken it with me to Nevsky Prospect because I didn't want it to be stolen. I asked the two girls working here if they had seen anything, they said no, and that they had been the only people in the hostel (aside from the people actually living in the hostel). Also a side note and completely unrelated, the brazilian had at this point gotten up from his bed to go to the bathroom. Actually before that I think he might have been on Nevsky Prospect with us, but the speed with which he returned to the bed was amazing. So then I thought maybe someone inside of the hostel stole it (not exactly impossible). So I sit down in the middle of the room and don't know what to do and start crying. This is unusual because I DON'T EVER CRY. ESPECIALLY IN FRONT OF OTHER PEOPLE. ESPECIALLY IN FRONT OF PEOPLE I DON'T KNOW. So (as they told me) I guess I was just wandering around the hostel weeping. Then Sonya and Alya came back and gave me M&Ms and a Chupa Chup. Then the Australians came back. Turns out one of them thought it was their friend's camera, so they grabbed it and put it in their room. Where I didn't look (obviously, I'm not going to go looking through someone else's stuff). Crisis over. Natalie is ridiculous. Then I went to bed. The Finns returned at 8 AM. Violent snoring commenced at 8:03.

The next day everything was closed, so it was sort of hard to do anything. But we walked around Nevsky Prospect and whatnot, Palace Square, etc. I think we went to the restaurant Chainaya Loshka (Teaspoon) which has the best blini ever known to man. Oh man they were so good. So we returned and....I don't really remember what we did after that. I don't think we did anything important.

Next day went to the Hermitage. Was INCREDIBLE. I can't even tell you. Like, it was hard to bring myself to look at the actual art because the rooms themselves were so cool. I also got lost a lot. I wandered around the 2nd floor for about 2 hours before I decided I needed a break and went down to the cafe and looked around the museum shop for awhile. Here is my question: are there people that actually exist, who would pay $1000 for a lacquered box? I mean, COME ON. I'm hesitant to pay $5. $1000? Seriously. Anyway moral of the story is the Hermitage is an amazing place.

Then we had blini again. And these three sketchy Russians from Kalingrad arrived at the hostel. When someone asked them what they were going to do that night, one of them answered "booze and girls". Oh, good. That's nice. At one point they convinced us to sit at the kitchen table with them, which we planned on being only 5 mins, but then we couldn't escape for a very long time. Tried to watch the dubbed version of Love Actually, but couldn't hear anything.

And this is where things get ridiculous (again). So I go to grab something and what do I find? This green, cardboard/construction paper cut out heart with pen scrawled hearts, stars, and number signs (why the number signs?) on it. And a note in Ukrainian. WHAT?! WE'RE IN COLLEGE! THIS IS SO 1st GRADE! But hilarious. So it was OBVIOUS that it was from Sasha. There were only three Ukrainians, and it probably wasn't from Olga. Or her boyfriend. So then we were like...this is completely insane and went through a lot of effort to call Michael. Well, I signed online, and had Greg call him, and then he got online, and I took a picture and sent it to him, and he decoded it for me. It said something like "happiness/success in the new year and always" and then some sort of diminutive nickname...which might be diminutive for rat. Not really sure. So then I was trying to leave it where I found it so he would think I hadn't found it yet, but at some point I left it on Sonya's bed so she put it in her purse, but then he suddenly stopped being all fun and talking to us and was just like hiding in a corner. So then I realized that he noticed I had taken it and hadn't responded. So then Alya and I went to the grocery store and bought the most ridiculous mix of things (also I forgot to mention this earlier-I found a chupa chup the size of, like, a softball and a half, and bought it and now everyone makes fun of me and says I'm not going to finish it). Anyway. We bought scissors (to cut Abby's hair), an avocado, a pomegranate, starburst, and four chupa chups. So then I wrote a note that says "thanks for the card, here's my email address" etc etc etc. And left him a chupa chup. So evidently this went over really well because then he was all friendly again and tried to set up ICQ on my computer. Then disappeared for like 45 minutes and I wanted to go to bed. So I did when he came back. Also then Oleg started asking me when I was going to come to Kiev.

Then they were gathering things like ALL NIGHT LONG. Also I didn't hear much, but Alya said it was "a symphony of packetii" which is hilarious and made me laugh a lot. They also don't know how to whisper, so when it's really late (or REALLY early) they just talk to each other normally and sort of wake everyone up. Not sweet. So Sasha got up at 8 AM...because they were leaving at 9 AM...but he already had everything ready, so he just sort of sat in the windowsill (his favorite place). This was weird. I went back to sleep. Then at like 9 AM they got ready to leave, but didn't know where they were going. I would make fun of them for this, but this may have happened to me like twice. Except I sort of knew where I was going, just not the final final destination. Anyway. Eventually they left.

Went to the Peter and Paul Cathedral, Church on Spilled Blood, and Church of Our Lady of Kazan. I really liked them all. The Kazansky Church smelled very strongly of Orthodox Church, which made me incredibly happy. They were singing too, which was great as well. Went back and said bye to Alya and Sonya, since they left for Helsinki. Gathered some stuff. Etc.

Then I wanted to go to the Russian Museum, as I had a few hours left. But when I got there there was this GINORMOUS line. So I thought I'd be really smart and find another entrance. So I walked around the building, through the Mikhailovsky gardens (which right now is more like Mikhailovsky frozen dirt) and found another entrance. The sign said "State Russian Museum". I was SO EXCITED. I thought I had totally beat the system (the "system" being really long lines). Went to buy a ticket. The woman yelled at me for trying to pay only the cost of a Russian student instead of an international student, but gave me the Russian student ticket anyway (which, btw, they're supposed to do. If it's a state museum. Since I'm a student at a Russian University, I don't have to pay the foreigner cost, just the Russian student cost. I was actually ready to explain this but she didn't even take a breather in between yelling at me for only giving enough money for the Russian student ticket and then actually giving me the ticket).
So I see a bunch of costumes. Okay, interesting, I want to see Russian art. Wander for awhile. After about 10 minutes I realize that I bought a ticket to the State Russian Museum of ethnic peoples, or something. Some huge exhibition about all the people living in Russia and slavic countries. Which was interesting, just not what I was looking for. So then I was sad, because I only had an hour and a half until the Russian museum closed, which wasn't enough time to leave, stand in line, buy a ticket, and see things. So I wandered around and saw different tools and costumes of slavic peoples. Left and had blini. Came back, took a shower. Left for the airport. Arrived 2 hours before my plane was going to take off. It was even 40 mins before I was allowed through the checkpoint. I had to just sort of wander in search of cafes that didn't exist (but there were signs for them!).

So later I'm sitting and we have about 40 mins till boarding. Okay. 9:40 comes and goes. Then 10:10 (when our plane is supposed to take off) comes and goes. No ones telling us anything. Three other planes board and leave. No one knows whats going on and no one will tell us anything. I call my taxi company to tell them I'm going to be late. 11:30 comes and goes (when we were supposed to have landed in Moscow). My taxi company calls me back asking me to call them when I get on the plane, since the airport won't tell them anything (seriously?). Oh, also, I forgot to mention, they collected the most unpleasant girls in the Russian Federation, and employed them at the St. Petersburg airport. Seriously. UGH. Anyway, then they completely abandoned seat assignments because they overbooked or something (do they really print more than one boarding pass with a particular seat assignment? Isn't it just sort of like, you checked in too late, all the places are taken now? Anyway). FINALLY got on the plane. Had a dry chicken/tasteless cheese croissant sandwich, which for SOME reason, was totally fabulous. Slept. Arrived in Moscow at 1:45. Waited forever for baggage claim. Saw my taxi man. He took me to the Comrade Hostel.

And here I sit, in the stairwell of the Comrade Hostel, because it is locked, and the doorbell doesn't seem to be waking anyone up. I'm going to try again soon, but I figured that since I can access the free wifi, I might as well do that before completely giving up. Oh, yea, I'm also using that to get the phone number to the hostel as another way to wake up Denis (I feel SO bad. We woke him up the last time too. And I couldn't call him because I didn't write down the hostel number and the wifi at the airport required a card, which I couldn't buy, since we were stuck in this one room for three hours. I wanted to die). So it's 4:30 AM now, I got here at 3. My train leaves at 9:30. Which means I'll sleep for like.....3 hours. And leave some stuff here. I can sleep on the train though, and a lot tomorrow night. I think it's all going to be okay.

There is so much more I need to say. I feel like last week was way more peculiar than this entry expressed.

So I would say today was pretty productive. I woke up, had breakfast (the continental breakfast here leaves something to be desired, but it’s okay…it did its job. I left the hostel not hungry and not needing to eat for a couple of hours), went to Sannaya Square. Called Deda’s friends. We’re probably going to meet after I come back from Novgorod, around the 30^th. I’m excited, this should be very nice.

Wandered trying to find the Railway Museum. Found it. It was closed. So I wandered some more, looking for more things on the checklist of things to see. Had a nice business lunch. And as I was wandering trying to find a particular church/cathedral, I ran right into St. Isaac’s Square. I knew this had to be an important place, as there was a large, aesthetically pleasing building with a Russian flag on it, a statue, and a gigantic cathedral. Turns out this was, in fact, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, but it was on a different map because this was technically a different section in my guide (they break up the cities into sections, so you can sightsee in one section, and then go to another, etc). I had planned on leaving the Palace Embankment section until I got back, but it seems as if I just ran right into it. So I went to St. Isaac’s Cathedral, which was ABSOLUTELY amazing. SO gorgeous. I can’t decide whether or not I like it more than the Cathedral of the Assumption. St. Isaac’s looks a lot newer. But oh man. I could have just stood there for hours.

Then happened to run into the Bronze Horseman. Pretty exciting. Also I think there were two people there who were supposed to be dressed up as Peter the Great and Catherine II. I’m not really sure what their purpose was…but I guess it was amusing to look at them (this was exactly what I wrote my essay on for Speech Practice…the prompt was “who needs an ordinary person?” (which, by the way, is a completely ridiculous and stupid question, but whatever) and I said that I did, because I like to people-watch, and if they didn’t exist, how would I occupy myself on the streets? I’m not sure she loved that essay). I also saw the Palace Square and looked at the Hermitage, but I’m coming back one day after Novgorod. I want to get there when it opens and then not leave until it closes. And then maybe I’ll go back again. We’ll see.

Found the Marinskii Theatre, and maybe want to see something there. They have a New Year’s Eve show, and Romeo and Juliet on January 2^nd. I guess I’ll see how much tickets cost. Mama Mia is also playing somewhere that is not the Marinskii Theatre, so I guess we’ll just have to see…

The moral of the story is that I did a lot of walking around today and my feet hurt a lot. Also I went to a Subway with wifi. What kind of Subway has wifi? And I ordered a sub but the girl put a ridiculous amount of sauce on it that I didn’t want at all. And it was white-ish, making me believe that a significant part of it was mayonnaise. But I scraped as much off as possible and then ate it. Which I was actually proud of myself for, given my aversion to condiments of all kinds. Not feeling so great right now though, so maybe that wasn’t a good decision.

Friday, December 28^th

Oh, okay, so I forgot to mention this yesterday. But you can’t buy tickets for the Electrichka (sort of like a train?) early. You have to buy them the day of. Which does NOT work out well for planning purposes, because what are you supposed to do if there aren’t any left? So I got to the train station this morning to buy my electrichka ticket 25 mins before my train left. Everything was fine. No need to worry.

Then I started freaking out though, because I guess there was one “Novgorod” stop before the ACTUAL Novgorod, so then I wasn’t sure where to get off. I was pretty sure that Novgorod was the end of the line, so I wouldn’t need to worry about these things, but I’m positive the overhead voice said “Novgorod” 45 mins before we got there. I couldn’t understand anything else though because it was really fuzzy. So then I was afraid that I would just be riding the electrichka for hours before someone found out and then I’d be kicked off the side of the tracks in the middle of Russia with a heavy blue adidas bag. But the first Novgorod stop was in the middle of nowhere and no one else was getting off, so I didn’t either.

This went on for about 45 mins until we actually arrived in Novgorod and I realized I had been right all along and there was no reason to freak out about it. So my phone wasn’t working last night when I tried to call hostels/hotels (my phone is being really annoying, actually, and only works about half the time), so I just wandered to the hotel recommended by Lonely Planet. And they had free rooms. So everything was okay.

So I put my stuff down and hunted down a café (which was much more difficult than it should have been. But I found a bunch of really fancy cafes, and CLEARLY I couldn’t go there in jeans, so I ended up wandering the streets for quite some time). Also there was a blizzardish thing today. Made walking difficult. But that’s okay.

Novgorod itself is pretty small. Even the kremlin is small. It’s really crazy to think about how old it is though, and how much history has taken place here. So I enjoyed just walking around the kremlin, being in a small church built in the 1500s, seeing old icons in museums, etc. I felt like I saw a lot today, which is good. The only bad thing is everything closes at like 5 or 6, even the churches, so after that I didn’t have any sightseeing to do.

Which actually was okay with me. I wandered around the town a little longer, stopped in a produktii (food) store to buy dinner (which consisted of a bulachka, an ice cream bar, and some apple juice, which was so much better than it sounds and was exactly what I wanted), headed back to my room, put all of my food products away in this snazzy little mini fridge the Hotel Akron provided me, and took a shower. Organized a bit. Watched Chocolat while having dinner. It’s now almost 10 and I’m ready to go to bed. Actually I was ready to go to bed at like 7, but that’s okay.

Tomorrow I’ll see more of Novgorod. Probably not everything, but I’m okay with that. My goal was to see all the necessities (which I’ll be able to do) and then as many churches as possible (which I won’t be able to do). But Novgorod has 30 churches. Making seeing all of them an unrealistic goal. Also I’ve already seen SO many churches and cathedrals here that I think I’ll forgive myself if I don’t see all of them. I love them, and they are SO pretty, but I can’t keep them straight anyway (except for the main ones, the little ones just all blur together). I hope the hotel has somewhere where I can store my luggage for four hours before my electrichka train back to St. Petersburg.

Speaking of which, I don’t know where my next hostel is located. And don’t know where there’s an internet café here. I think there’s a wifi café next to the train station, and I’ll probably need to have dinner anyway (at like 9 PM), so that’ll be a good choice. I can find the address and then actually find it. Sonya and Alya might already be there? Not sure. They’ll be there soon though, I do know that.

I hope my phone works when Deda’s friends try to call me back. It’s been REALLY annoying lately. I think I’ll just call them back at some point tomorrow just in case.

Also carrying all these bags around is like DEATH on my shoulder. Carrying around my black purse all semester probably wasn’t good for it either, but that AND a blue adidas bag? Man. I mean, I switch shoulders and everything, but my right shoulder is already messed up, and now I can feel it just…well, completely not where it should be. For example, I’m lying on my back right now and I can feel my shoulderblade jutting into the mattress. This is uncomfortable. I hope I can straighten this out when I get back, because if not, oh man. THAT will be a major problem.

Also, I didn’t thing this would be true before, but I think when I come back there’s going to be some major reverse culture shock. I’m not looking forward to it. I DON’T WANT TO LEAVE RUSSIA.

Saturday, December 29^th

So slept in till 9:30 today. Went and had breakfast at the café in the hotel (the same café, coincidentally, where Sonya and Alya had eaten the day before and I didn’t even know!) which was not very good. Well, the espresso was good. But anyway, went to see the art museum. Have I talked about museum experiences before? At every museum there are about 60,000 old women whose job it is to follow you around and make sure you don’t, like, destroy the art or something. So there’s always a woman sitting in every room closely watching you. And if there’s only a few women, they stand in the corner and follow you around as you look at things. It’s very unsettling. Also there were these women at the icon museum who were VERY concerned because I was evidently looking at things out of order. I mean, I might see something from a different church before finishing the icons from the first! What would we do? My entire opinion and icon experience will all out of whack (seriously, one woman for like 15 mins explained to me how the icons are grouped by church and time). I did not look at things “out of order” again.

Then I tried to go to the Chamber of Facets, which was closed. Tried to find an internet café to figure out the address of the next hostel (I need to start getting on that knowing-where-I’m-going thing before I actually arrive at my destination), but it seems the only working internet café is in the kremlin, which is closed on weekends (like, actual weekends, not the ones they choose). Walked around Yaroslav’s court. All the museum women there were really nice and friendly, except for one woman who yelled at me while I was looking for…some sort of museum, don’t remember. Also there was freezing rain in Novgorod today. Yesterday was a blizzard, and now freezing rain. This weather is AWFUL.

So I walked around some more. Then wanted to go to this Chocolate Café, but it looked too fancy for me. Why are there so many fancy cafes in Novgorod? I am POSITIVE the fancy café:people ratio is completely imbalanced. Anyway so then I was sad. And went back to this café and ordered borsht without sour cream, and got something that wasn’t borsht with sour cream. I picked out the sour cream but then tried to ask the girl if I could actually have borsht…and she claimed that it was, in fact, borsht. Her reasoning was “I ate it this morning”. I don’t care if you ate it this morning, that doesn’t make it borsht! It wasn’t bad though, so I really can’t complain.

OH. MY GOD. I forgot to mention this. So there was this photo exhibit around Yaroslav’s Court, about old Novgorod. So I went to see it. And there were these two women there, who, like all the other church museum people, were very nice. And then I saw this staged scene that I couldn’t really figure out…and one of the two women rushes up to me and explains how for only 30 rubles, I can have my picture taken with these scenes as many times as I want! And she can take them for me, since I’m alone, maybe, if I set up the shot with my camera, it’s digital so she probably doesn’t know how to use it (she said that, not me). Then she rushed to show me all these pictures of other people who had dressed up in strange costumes and taken pictures with wax figures, umbrellas, and chairs. So she was clearly very excited about this, so I figured I could spare the 30 rubles for 15 mins of entertainment for her. So she and the other woman fought over what I should wear (“no, she should wear the red hat, it matches the scarf!” “no, the black one would look better!” “No, she’ll wear the white scarf with that one!” “Well, fine, we can take lots of pictures though, let’s start with these one and then try the black hat”) and so on. Every time I had to set the zoom with my camera, but the woman didn’t always stand where I had stood, so a lot of times I’m really far away, or really close up. Also, even though I used image stabilization, they were always blurry. So after like 15 or 20 minutes and like 20 pictures, I have 3, non-blurry, completely ridiculous photographs. They also gave me a certificate with a kruglii stamp. Words cannot express the ridiculousness of this experience.

So then I went to the train station and bought my ticket for the electrichka. Sat in the train station, heard them say something about the train from Novgorod to St. Petersburg and watched as a lot of people got up. Decided that I would follow them and sat on a train. Hoped it was the right one, as I didn’t want to go back and check or ask anyone, and couldn’t understand the fuzzy voice overhead (and this isn’t from a lack of language skills, NO ONE could have understood what this guy was saying). 4 hours later I arrived in St. Petersburg. Mission accomplished.

Except I still didn’t know where I was going. But they had an internet place in the train station so I got on and found the address and whatnot. Except my time cut out right in the middle of facebook, so I’m hoping it logged me out automatically. That would be a disaster if not. This hostel is actually really really nice. In terms of decoration, anyway. Really comfortable. They supply towels. Nice kitchen. Free eggs, yogurt, and cheese (you really don’t know how big of a deal this all is. Free eggs! I could eat eggs all day long!). Although the 2 girls running it look a bit…ditzy. And some other girl staying here said they don’t really know how to do anything, so if there’s a problem they have to call someone else. They’ve done a nice job of hanging balloons and festive streamers, though. And they have wifi. Pretty great place so far. I would say it’s better than the one in Moscow, except the people here so far aren’t as fun and I have a major crush on the Moscow hostel owner (I’ve probably stated that already), who is not here in St. Petersburg.

I feel bad because I think I talked Sonya and Alya to death once I got here. I’m just so excited to see people who are a) not crazy Cubans asking me if I like them or b) Russian employees of the service industry or c) Russian women working in museum churches dying to take my photograph dressed up in ridiculous clothes.

I’m always thinking of things I want to note here but then forget. I need to write this stuff down.