Harrison's Russian Adventure

I'm one week in and it feels like I've been here much longer for some reason. Jet-lag has finally been defeated, thank God. The order of the following events may not be exactly chronological, but I'll do my best.

So one of the days this week, we went looking around Moscow. Taking the metro to the center of the city, we saw the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral, and a big mall called GUM (rhymes with broom). Unfortunately the Kremlin and St. Basil's were surrounded by police and closed off for some huge "military music festival." I think there may have been some pretty shoddy translating work done on some of the posters, as a few of them said that it was a "military tattoo festival." This weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, Moscow is celebrating its 867th birthday, so that's why the festival. Here's some pictures from the day we were at the Kremlin (maybe Tuesday?):

St. Basil's Cathedral

GUM mall at Red Square

Lenin Library, one of the state libraries in Moscow.

Inside one of the metro stations. They have chandeliers, very fancy.

The subtitle of this post will be explained in a continuation that I will have to write later. I have to leave now to get ready for a classical music concert and fireworks near Red Square tonight. I'll put more up tonight or tomorrow.

So this is the inaugural post of this blog documenting my trip to Moscow. For those you who don't know, my name is Harrison and I'm a math major at UNO. I'm spending this semester in Moscow, Russia as a participant in the program Math in Moscow (MiM).

I arrived yesterday in the late afternoon after three uneventful flights. I love Lufthansa airlines, you get to eat with real silverware and they pass out hot towelettes! It's the little things. The flights themselves were fine, I just couldn't sleep at all. So my first day here was not the most pleasant just because I was extremely tired. After making it through Passport Control and Customs, I was met by Shura and driven to the dorms. She is a nice, friendly musician that plays Baroque cello. She and Lena (her mom I think) drove me to the dorms, where Shura introduced me to Anya, another Russian student that helps MiM students. The two of them gave me a quick tour, gave me my key and ID card for getting in to the dorms, and then I was left to get moved in and situated.

This is Shura in front of my dorm building.

Ideally, I was going to take a quick shower and go pass out for as long as possible, but sleep eluded me that evening. So instead, I gave up trying to nap, met my roommate (Chris from Alabama), and decided to go with two other MiM students for a tour of the neighborhood given by two Russian students (Natasha and Natasha). They showed us the metro station, the nearest supermarket, and a pharmacy. The supermarket is called Magnolia, which is where I bought oatmeal and tea.

After our little tour, I came back for Round 2 of the battle against exhaustion. I lost again. Didn't fall asleep until 4am, then woke up at 10. Definitely better than nothing, but I think it will take me a few more days until I feel like myself again. Today, Shura showed me around the neighborhood also, but going in a different direction (and this time during the day, so it was easier to remember directions). Found where the ATM is, the bank, a pharmacy that supposedly understands English, and a farmer's market! Shura had to leave because she had to teach a music lesson, but I went with Ryan (a fellow MiM student) back to the farmer's market and Magnolia. We bought some decent apples from the market and I got some more food from Magnolia: butter, eggs, bread, sugar, yogurt*, and some frozen dumpling looking things.

*A note about the yogurt. It is more like a drink than yogurt is back in the US.

Here are some pictures of my room: