It's just over the halfway point in my 8 week study program. It's hard to believe that August 11th is only a month away and then I'm flying back to the United States. One thing's for sure, I'm growing to love Petersburg, which is a first because cities have never favorite.
I've lived within easy reach of Seattle, Washington DC, San Antonio, Columbia, Boston, and many more and I've never felt particularly interested in being there for an extended stay. But Petersburg is different and I'm not quite sure why. I've been developing relationships with Russians in the city and they've been extremely great, and in some ways, Petersburg isn't like my normal idea of a city
The skyline historical center of the city is much smaller than most normal US cities since no building can be taller than Peter and Paul's Fortress. Since the city is more spread out as a result, it feels less cramped (although, this impression goes out the window if you ride on the metro during rush hour). But the longer I'm in Petersburg, the more interested I am in trying to spend at least a year here after Dartmouth.
But enough of that. The real reason you're reading this blog is to learn what I'm doing in Moscow at the moment. We're here in the capital of Russia for a grand total of 4 days, having arrived this morning by the night train (it was the first non-metro, non-tourist attraction train I've ridden since I was 4 and my family was living in Germany). The bed on the train was surprisingly comfy, much more so than my roll-out couch that I'm currently sleeping on.
Upon arriving in Moscow, the first major location we stopped by was Red Square.
The top building is the State Historical Museum whose towers closely resemble the Kremlin's and the bottom building is St. Basil's Cathedral. We also stood next to Lenin's Mausoleum and saw different statues. There's also a statue of Field Marshal Zhukov from World War II that has caused controversy in the past because of the presence of the Nazi Swastika at the feet of Zhukov. Apparently, the controversy is more of a misunderstanding because the symbolism of the statue is to show how Zhukov helped defeat Nazi Germany and bring about its collapse.
Red Square was our major stop of the day but we continued to visit some other places (when I say visit, I mean drive by or maybe stop for a couple minutes to take a break from riding the bus). However, we did spend about 45 minutes in Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow's most famous cemetery (excluding Red Square). While there, I visited the graves of famous Russians like Chekhov, Gogol, and Bulgakov.
The grave that impressed me the most though, and stood alone from all the other graves, was Boris Yeltsin's, whose grave was covered by this representation of the flag of the Russian Federation.
Tomorrow will be just as interesting, if not more, as we'll be visiting the Kremlin itself!
I've lived within easy reach of Seattle, Washington DC, San Antonio, Columbia, Boston, and many more and I've never felt particularly interested in being there for an extended stay. But Petersburg is different and I'm not quite sure why. I've been developing relationships with Russians in the city and they've been extremely great, and in some ways, Petersburg isn't like my normal idea of a city
The skyline historical center of the city is much smaller than most normal US cities since no building can be taller than Peter and Paul's Fortress. Since the city is more spread out as a result, it feels less cramped (although, this impression goes out the window if you ride on the metro during rush hour). But the longer I'm in Petersburg, the more interested I am in trying to spend at least a year here after Dartmouth.
But enough of that. The real reason you're reading this blog is to learn what I'm doing in Moscow at the moment. We're here in the capital of Russia for a grand total of 4 days, having arrived this morning by the night train (it was the first non-metro, non-tourist attraction train I've ridden since I was 4 and my family was living in Germany). The bed on the train was surprisingly comfy, much more so than my roll-out couch that I'm currently sleeping on.
Upon arriving in Moscow, the first major location we stopped by was Red Square.
The top building is the State Historical Museum whose towers closely resemble the Kremlin's and the bottom building is St. Basil's Cathedral. We also stood next to Lenin's Mausoleum and saw different statues. There's also a statue of Field Marshal Zhukov from World War II that has caused controversy in the past because of the presence of the Nazi Swastika at the feet of Zhukov. Apparently, the controversy is more of a misunderstanding because the symbolism of the statue is to show how Zhukov helped defeat Nazi Germany and bring about its collapse.
Red Square was our major stop of the day but we continued to visit some other places (when I say visit, I mean drive by or maybe stop for a couple minutes to take a break from riding the bus). However, we did spend about 45 minutes in Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow's most famous cemetery (excluding Red Square). While there, I visited the graves of famous Russians like Chekhov, Gogol, and Bulgakov.
The grave that impressed me the most though, and stood alone from all the other graves, was Boris Yeltsin's, whose grave was covered by this representation of the flag of the Russian Federation.
Tomorrow will be just as interesting, if not more, as we'll be visiting the Kremlin itself!
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