Meanwhile in Moscow...: Sunday, August 29th 2010

I am currently sitting at my desk wanting to scream. Between the gratuitously loud metal grinding on metal that is piercing the air outside my window and the fact that the University ATM ate my debit card (true story! I have no idea what to do about that, either, other than calling my parents at an obscenely expensive rate very early in the morning) and the fact that I cannot concentrate on my cemetery assignment worth a damn, I am downright cantankerous.

So, upon discovering that I am, in fact, impoverished until further notice, I walked to the 24-hour produkti (grocery store) and purchased what I like to call “crisis beer” and “crisis chocolate.” I am now awaiting some sort of divine intervention so that I know what my next course of action will be.

Anyway, my life is not full of crises. Yesterday was an amazing (albeit incredibly rainy) day! (Although, true to form, I did not take any pictures. To be fair, I didn’t want my camera to get wet and die my first week in Moscow and I’m pretty confident that I’ll find myself going to Red Square again before I leave)

We met Marina (our coordinator and wonderful city guide) at a Russian restaurant (whose name I can pronounce but cannot type) and had lunch, courtesy of Beloit College. It was especially exciting for me, as it was my first real meal since arriving in Russia. I ordered green tea with jasmine and soup, which was cold and had only two ingredients that I could readily identify (those being dill and green onion). It was fantastic.

Then, we took the metro. Now, I’ve taken the subways in New York and the metro in Paris, but the Moscow metro is a completely different animal. Katie and Ashley had warned me that the escalators were a trip. They were not kidding. I’m not sure exactly how many stories underground we were, but those damn escalators seemed to stretch for miles. It was like being sucked underground in some sort of Willy Wonka-esque fun house mirror scenario. It was pretty fun.

The actual metro stops are gorgeous and ornate. There are sculptures and mosaics and painted tile everywhere, and each stop has its own motifs. This is not so different than other cities, but for some reason these felt so much older and more regal. I can’t really explain without sounding really pretentious, so I’ll stop myself and just take some pictures next time.

When we got off at our stop we followed Marina like ducklings. In fact, we followed her like ducklings all day long, being led down rainy streets and through crowds seeing but not really taking in the sights around us. Truly, I need to go back another (at least one more) time just so that I can really see Red Square and its neighboring buildings.

The rain made it incredibly difficult for us to enjoy or even really take the time to appreciate what we were being shown, so the most time we spent in any one place yesterday was spent in GUM, the mall on Red Square. Free from umbrellas, we all actually got to look up and around, which was fortunate because the architecture alone was amazing. People were everywhere, and at first I was surprised by a bride making her way through the crowd in her wedding dress. Then I saw another, earnestly moving through the throngs of people in an ivory gown. It wasn’t long before I realized there was perhaps one bride for every 30 shoppers. Women in their wedding gowns were being photographed on the walkways between sections of the mall, in front of the giant fountain in the center of it all kissing grooms and generally hamming it up for the camera.

And brides weren’t the only ones being photographed. Models were tucked away in staircases, spinning and posing amidst hundreds of passers-by. It was an incredible thing to witness (and be a part of; it seems impossible that each person in GUM didn’t make a cameo in one or more wedding pictures).

After GUM, a group of us took the metro (without Marina’s guidance) back to the university campus. Luckily for me a few people in our group knew the way back, because I was absolutely clueless. I’ve realized that when traveling I tend to ignore the route in favor of ingesting the surroundings – something I’ll need to change should I want to venture out on my own sometime. From there I simply fell asleep in my bed, around 6:00.

So for today, besides the panic about my bank account situation, I’ve been relaxing and (trying) to finish some assignments. I should really be preparing for my placement test tomorrow; Instead, I’ll probably read and daydream about my plans for my birthday. So far nothing has been decided, but I think I’ve been here for long enough that I could handle a night out…

More later, and here are a few pictures of my room!