My last day

I leave for the airport in less than 12 hours. It will be boring these last few hours as I'm one of the last to depart, but I'm glad I was able to see most of the others off. Transition times like this always leave me with a strange feeling.

This has been the single best semester of my undergraduate career. I've learned a crazy amount of math, my Russian has improved, I've been to places I never even dreamed of going to. This has also been the most fun semester I have had, which is something I think has been lacking since I've returned to school after Teen Challenge. Thankfully, finals worked out wonderfully, so the semester was a success on all accounts. The people I've met here in Moscow, both the participants of the program and the people that live here, are truly amazing. I've loved watching how such smart people study and think about math and I have learned a tremendous amount from them, both math and life lessons. Most of the Russian people I've met approach their interests and work with such intensity and dedication. They have been a great example to me of what can be accomplished by not giving up and giving 100% all the time.

These past few days have been spent hanging out as much as possible with people from the program. I'm going to really miss them. We went to see the Nutcracker at the Bolshoi Theater a few days ago. This performance was incredible! Music was great, dancers were very impressive. I've realized I'm quite spoiled now. I've never been anywhere to see a ballet or anything, and after this everything will ultimately be compared to performances at the Bolshoi. Oh well.

On Sunday, Josh and I took Ryan to Beardy's restaurant after church. This is my favorite restaurant in all of Moscow. The best borsch, delicious pastries, blini, just an all around great place. Today, Ryan and I went to meet Arina, a friend from the Bolshoi, for coffee at our favorite coffee place Double B. I have never had such a good cappuccino. Other than that, just packing and getting ready for departure. Speaking of which, I need to finish packing away everything then maybe take a nap before my flight.

Christmas time is coming!

My apologies for the complete slacking on the blog entries. Last couple weeks have been devoid of excitement except for a few blips on the radar. Topology has gotten really intense, many of us are having a hard time processing all this info that's getting thrown at us about the fundamental group, covering spaces, etc. We even covered some category theory today! This was actually pretty cool, since I've heard the word "functor" thrown around a lot but have never known what it meant. And its a pretty fun word to say. Anyway, the final countdown before finals is here. I have 2 finals next week and 2 finals the week after that. Pretty scary that the semester is almost over. It feels I've barely been here in Russia, buts its already the 4th month. On a related note, my last English conversation meeting was this past Monday. Three of the students showed up and we had a lot of fun, exchanging contact info and taking pictures before we all parted ways. I've so glad I got to meet them and work with them.

Alex, me, Ilya, and Helen

FIRST REAL SNOW! Moscow looks quite nice with some snow on the ground. Some places are decorating for Christmas, putting lights up and some decorative trees. Apparently putting lights outside is more for businesses than homes. I think part of the reason is that almost everybody in the city lives in an apartment. Another interesting tidbit I learned is that for some families New Year's is a bigger deal than Christmas, to the extent that some people don't even get a tree. From what I've read, this probably comes from the fact that during Soviet times, Christmas was not really celebrated in the Soviet Union. Also, Christmas is celebrated on January 7th. I figured it would be like Ireland and be on January 6th, Little Christmas or Nollaig Bheag.

Studencheskaya metro station on my way to school this morning.

Train tracks

IUM driveway with a tiny bit of snow

Grad school apps are moving along. I've submitted Toronto, Michigan State, and Ohio State. I really need to hustle with the other ones. Most of them are due December 15th and I do not want to be working on these during finals. That would really suck.

Now on to the more pleasant side of life! I used to work at Papa John's pizza quite a few years ago, so I was very surprised to discover that there is a Papa John's here in Moscow. I had to try the pizza to see how it compared. Strangley enough, it tastes the EXACT same. I could've bought this from the place right by my house in Omaha and it would be no different.

Good ol' PJs

More on the topic of food (I love good food). Yuki and Jacob, two friends from the Math in Moscow program, discovered this amazing little Moldovan restaurant in the Moldovan embassy. So you literally travel to Moldova, handing over your passports and everything, to eat at this place. To get there, you take the metro, walk along this pedestrian only road, go in this shady looking gate, down a flight of stairs, into this little door that has no sign or anything (not that I could see). Then you come in to a great little place, with this cool old guy that takes your coats. Food was great, they had live entertainment, and a little video showing pictures of Moldova. Probably some of the best food I've eaten since coming to Moscow.

Jacob, Yuki, and Alex

Alex and Ryan

Jacob, Yuki, Ryan, Cool Old Guy, Alex, and me

In the coming week, we'll be meeting at the Russian language teacher's house to cook some Russian recipes. Also, tons of studying, sleepless nights, and grad school apps being submitted. Hopefully, the last week I'm here I'll get to see The Nutcracker at the Bolshoi!

More great news, I've just ordered a set of uilleann pipes! Fulfillment of a dream 10 years in the making.

Burning down the house!

As I'm sure some of you have noticed, the past few weeks have been relatively dry blog entries, not much going on. Seems most of the time is sucked up by homework and grad apps. However, fate has smiled upon us and given me something to write about. So the other day, I was in my room working and smell food burning. I think nothing of it, our floor has some great cooks, but also those that are not so great (read: toaster challenged). The smell keeps getting stronger, so I stick my head out the door and lo and behold, this is what I see:

It doesn't look as smokey as I thought it would, but at the end
of the hall, where its kind of hazy, that is smoke from the kitchen.

Something caught fire in the kitchen at the other end of our hall, out in the boonies. It filled the hall with smoke and was apparently posted on Facebook within 5 minutes. Nothin' like a little fire to liven up the night. Other crazy happenings also include a huge noxious cloud hovering over Moscow that is apparently attributed to some gas leak. The US government sent me some message saying that there will be particularly bad pollution for the next few days (not the greatest thing to hear, as an asthmatic). Kind of reminds me of California when we would have smog days.

On Wednesday, a few of us went to see Interstellar at the local movie theater. The first time we tried to see it, Tuesday, the tickets were sold out. I've never had this happen for a movie. Then we went to buy tickets online for the next day, and there were only 5 available. I had no idea that buying tickets in advance was such a big thing. Not sure if this is a Russia thing or not, but they assign you seats when you buy the ticket. It doesn't work in practice however, as when we went in to the theater there were people already sitting there. Anyway, the movie is great and I definitely recommend it. And it has John Lithgow!

Apart from that, classes are moving along as usual. Topology keeps getting more interesting and I like algebra the more we go on. The main thing now is grad apps. With about half of my applications due in exactly one month, the pressure is on to finish these statements of purpose.

Here are photos from Moscow State and random walkings around town.

Josha next to this strange pit we found.

The pipes that carry hot water all around Moscow.

A typical Russian apartment building.

The most awesome Russian food I've ever had comes from this place.

Inside of the restaurant. Its so cozy!

Little park in front of IUM.

Smoking area for professors and students at IUM.

Big library across from IUM.

The name of the library.

Moscow State!

MSU

Alex, Andy, Yuki, and Joey.

That fresh Moscow air.

Checking out a classroom in MSU.

This classroom was dedicated to the heroes of the Soviet Union
that died during WW2.

Shot from MSU 15th floor.

Classroom

People looking at the weird shiny blackboard.

The front of the school (technically the "rear entrance" but
nobody uses the front)

Looks like a fountain, actually for ventilation.

In front of MSU.

Desk pews

Drawn on one of the desks. This is a remote control for
the world.

More drawings

Kolmogorov

Arthur

Arthur and Sasha

MSU has a really complicated elevator system.
Not every elevator goes to the same floors.

Neon green lit fountain in the dining hall

Ryan at the front of MSU

Arthur, Sasha, and Alex

Semester's almost over??!!

As Ryan and I were walking home from Дом Книги, the big bookstore on Arbat, we realized how quickly the semester is passing. The panic is setting in, but for the few I talked to about it in Math in Moscow, our individual panics are different. A friend of mine has the same panic as me, the academic panic. The closer to December we get, the heavier the weight of finals and grad school apps weighs. For others, its a cultural panic, "But I've hardly seen any of Moscow!". Fortunately, or unfortunately, participation in Math in Moscow seems much less like being a tourist in Moscow or being a visiting student than it feels like we live here. You have the everyday things like grocery shopping, the morning commute, paying your rent and renewing your monthly metro pass. I see the same guy standing on the corner handing out flyers for Суши-Вок (Sushi-Wok) every single day. Its amazing how quickly we get used to our surroundings and the everyday life. I've grown to be quite comfortable here, something I never expected.

This past week, I haven't done much besides grad apps and a little studying. One of my fellow Russian-2 classmates and I were sent for "remedial" Russian back to Russian-1, which for whatever reason I found hilarious. The time spent in class was great, though. Wonderful practice. I've finally started writing my "statement of purpose" for various schools as well. I'm very grateful for having picked math over some of the humanities as a major. The sheer amount of effort and time it takes me to write even one paragraph is something to behold. I'd never survive in a class where 15 page papers are the norm. Starting these personal statments has really affirmed how exciting this next year will be. I haven't really given it much thought, but there was a certain thrill as I responded to the various prompts asking me about why I want to do my PhD at school X. Other than that, I've picked up a few gifts for people back home and that's it.

Next week, we'll be visiting Moscow State University! I'm very excited to see this, supposedly it is one of the talled education buildings in the world and has over 40,000 undergrad students. Its almost like a little city.

Breathe deep...

Arbat street, cool building in the fog

A rainy Arbat on my morning commute. As a side note, I almost
got run down by a van right after taking this. That's
 right, a van on a pedestrian street.

Новый Арбат. New Arbat street near the bookstore.

In the middle of the ceiling at the Арбатская metro station.

Ryan, in the midst of his cultural panic, taking photos of everything as we head home.

Victory over midterms, TC, and flea markets!

Midterms are over! Thankfully, I think most of my tests went along without too many foul-ups. Apart from studying, I have not been up to much. Still filling out grad school apps (so time consuming!), trying to do a better job keeping up with learning Russian, and classes.

So two weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to go and visit a Teen Challenge center here in Moscow. I took the metro, then met Marina and Roman (who help run the TC center), who picked me up and drove me to the center. They gave me a little tour and I got to meet and talk with the guys, sharing our respective stories. God's doing big things there. It was an awesome time and I'm very thankful that TC is here to help those that need it. After hanging out at the center, I rode with Marina and Roman to the church they attend for service that afternoon. The whole thing was in Russian, so I missed most of what was said unfortunately. Afterwards, however, they had a little reception, so I got to meet a bunch of Roman and Marina's friends. Some of them wanted to practice their English, but they quickly got tired of that and we switched to Russian. They were very welcoming and kind, I hope I get to go back there before I leave Russia.

Huge trees in Teen Challenge's yard. Yes, that is snow in mid-October.

Roman, Nancy Wespetal, and Marina

Slava feeding the cat some crazy fish looking thing

The Moscow TC crew. An awesome bunch of people.

This past Wednesday, a friend from the dorms and I went to the US Ambassador's house for a concert and reception. Its really crazy that I was invited to this thing, I certainly did not feel like I deserved/belonged there but there we were nonetheless. The music was, without a doubt, amazing. They had this guy, Joseph Malovany, who is the Chief Cantor of the 5th Avenue synagogue in NYC, come and sing with the Moscow Male Jewish Capella. It was a great privilege to spend the evening listening to such a great group of musicians in such a weird setting. Oh yeah, I got to pet the ambassador's dog!

The Ambassador, Maria, and I

The Cantor and the Choir

The Cantor and I

The Ambassador's chandelier...in his house.

Ambassador just checkin' the time.

On Sundays, a friend and I have been going to this restaurant after church, which is probably the most Russian place I have eaten at thus far. It is somehow connected with the Orthodox Church, there's tons of icons inside and many of the patrons do the really intense Orthodox sign of the cross as they enter and as they leave. The food is incredible! Great, hearty, comfort food. I think it tastes even better now that its getting cold out. Hot water for tea out of a samovar, fresh baked tvorog buns, its heavenly...

Today, four of us went to the other side of Moscow to a flea market to do a bit of souvenir shopping. This place is a treasure trove of awesome and weird Russian stuff. Fur hats, scarves, old samovars, millions of matroshki dolls, $2 USD bills, old Soviet coins, wooden knick-knacks, all sorts of cool stuff. There's even a lady walking around selling tea and coffee, so I promptly bought a cup since it was pretty chilly out. I think we made out with a few good buys, but the most valuable thing I think was the practice haggling with the sellers. And of course more practice speaking Russian.

Posters at the flea market

Alex trying to look hard.

Josh, Alex, and Ryan

A whole bunch of crap for sale

If you can't tell, I really like symmetric stuff like this

A coffee drink called a "флетуайт", or "flat white". Very tasty.

Well, that's all for this week. Off to do some algebra and practice some Russian.