Today, 30.01.12, was an excellent day for mainly one reason: I purchased (while had someone else do it for me) a ticket for the UEFA Champions League soccer match between FC Zenit St. Petersburg vs. SL Benfica! Someone who is doing the year long program has told me that matches are insane and at one game he was at last semester, the stadium got fire from a flare and the game was postponed for 20 minutes.
In less important standing, I had my first Russian class today. The professor asked us questions in Russian and made us learn by trial and error at first (I forget a lot right now...not good), but toward the end of the class, we got a book and a folder/portfolio thing and we just worked on understanding the Russian alphabet. The professor is pretty awesome! Her name is Inga (sp?). She called me a serious American and kept using the word president and me in the same sentence...I was flattered. Tomorrow, we start our elective courses which are once a week for an hour and a half. However, our Russian courses are Monday-Thursday from 10:00am-1:15pm with a 15 minute break. That's gonna be a lot of Russian!
Also, today, we took the metro downtown as a way for us to get familiar with it. This led to more walking in the cold and body parts going numb. On the return trip, there was four of us waiting for the metro, but right as we were getting to the door, it shut leaving me and my roommate outside while the other two made it on the metro (another person almost got shut in the doors). Luckily, we were only taking the green line for one stop before we were going to cross over to the red line so not too much damage was done. Fun Fact: The escalators in the Metro are incredibly long and steep. It literally takes about 5-7 minutes to go down or up on them. On the way down, Some Russians run down the left side so you have to stand on the right or you will get ran over. Fun Fact #2: The Metros during the Cold War doubled as fallout shelters. In case there is a nuclear explosion, do not worry because I am like a 5-10 minute run/walk from the nearest Metro station.
That is all for today! I just wanted to post that I'm going to an UEFA Champions League game!
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| My Ticket to FC Zenit St. Petersburg vs. SL Benfica! |
In less important standing, I had my first Russian class today. The professor asked us questions in Russian and made us learn by trial and error at first (I forget a lot right now...not good), but toward the end of the class, we got a book and a folder/portfolio thing and we just worked on understanding the Russian alphabet. The professor is pretty awesome! Her name is Inga (sp?). She called me a serious American and kept using the word president and me in the same sentence...I was flattered. Tomorrow, we start our elective courses which are once a week for an hour and a half. However, our Russian courses are Monday-Thursday from 10:00am-1:15pm with a 15 minute break. That's gonna be a lot of Russian!
Also, today, we took the metro downtown as a way for us to get familiar with it. This led to more walking in the cold and body parts going numb. On the return trip, there was four of us waiting for the metro, but right as we were getting to the door, it shut leaving me and my roommate outside while the other two made it on the metro (another person almost got shut in the doors). Luckily, we were only taking the green line for one stop before we were going to cross over to the red line so not too much damage was done. Fun Fact: The escalators in the Metro are incredibly long and steep. It literally takes about 5-7 minutes to go down or up on them. On the way down, Some Russians run down the left side so you have to stand on the right or you will get ran over. Fun Fact #2: The Metros during the Cold War doubled as fallout shelters. In case there is a nuclear explosion, do not worry because I am like a 5-10 minute run/walk from the nearest Metro station.
That is all for today! I just wanted to post that I'm going to an UEFA Champions League game!
Josh,
ReplyDeleteYour stories seem so interesting! I cannot imagine going to a country that I didn't speak their native language. Good luck and stay warm!
I am currently in the Lead 203 class and we are learning about the Lewis model. I was wondering if you have had any experiences so far in Russia that have indicated that you have been submerged in a semi multi-active society. Do people seem to try to form stong relationships with you or are they straight-forward and get down to business? Maybe you haven't had any real life examples yet but can you be on the look out?
Ellen
Unfortunately, I have not had enough contact with any Russians to know whether they are straight-forward or relationship oriented. We are kinda isolated from the University. We are not on campus and our classes are in the same building as the dorm which limits the contact that being on the main campus would provide. However, there will be opportunities in the future through clubs and conversation partners to form relationships with Russian, and I will try and find out so I can answer your question.
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