Russia

"I bet 50 years ago the Russians did not expect an American and a German to be walking around their museum" Stefan, my German friend as we were walking around the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

For those of you unfamiliar with Russia: this building

Anyway, that quote kind of completely sums up my experience. Unexpected. I never thought I would go to Russia. I never even really thought about Russia (are they still Communists there?). I don't know if I know anyone who has been to Russia (other than the people on this trip. Southeast Asia is really more of the "unique" destination of my generation). Yet when I heard about it, I realized it was an experience I wanted to have.

So I went to Russia, armed with nothing more than a map and my visa, I set out all alone into the wilderness to face what would come. But friendless, and skill-less, I survived, even flourished. This is my story.

Breakfast

Okay not exactly. I went on a trip that is organized by the exchange student network, and gathers 120 exchange students studying in Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark) to go on a trip. It was still harrowing. The journey included 5 am wake-up calls, two nights on a ferry, two nights of sleeping on a bus (which included a 45 minute "rest break" for the driver in which you were woken up around 2 am to stand bleary-eyed in a Russian convenience store waiting for a bathroom and buying hot dogs), and at the end of all of this, the most harrowing sight of all:





I wish I could explain everything that happened, but I know that you as the reader would lose interest very quickly, so I will show you some pictures instead because everyone likes pictures, right?

Waking up and being at the Red Square in Moscow was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. I mean, this place is famous. But so is Disney's castle and I don't think that is a very surreal experience. I guess it was just the combination of being disoriented from lack of sleep and the fact that the architecture looks like that IN REAL LIFE that was just weirding me out. Plus, Lenin's body is on display there for free. You can go in and look at it and it is all preserved and looks like a wax model. Maybe it was one. But regardless of the actual contents, I saw what claimed to be Lenin's body in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia. If I had a bucket list, and if I ever thought about Russia before, I would be crossing that one off it!

I also saw it at night

The first night in St. Petersburg, Sylvia, Milena, Camille, Stefan, Martin, and I were walking around the river in a really unattractive industrial part of the city where our hotel was, and this guy started yelling at us about something. But he didn't speak English and we couldn't tell what he meant. We just left quickly. When we get about 100 yards away, we hear what I think are gunshots. It turns out it was a fireworks show at a hotel. So we got a front row view welcoming us to Russia!

Clubbing in Russia was not a whole lot of fun, because I am not a very big clubber, and by the time we were going out it was Sunday and Monday night. However, this is an awesome picture and I did have some good nights out. Besides, after walking for thirty minutes in what I personally believe was a snowstorm, but is actually just normal Moscow weather, being inside anywhere is pretty sweet.


Sadly I must interrupt this post to go eat waffles. I will post more of Russia stuff, as well as catch up with everything else I did in November very soon.
Or maybe not soon.
Guess we'll just have to see