Volga, Volga, Mother Volga

Certainly the tastiest hedgehog I ever ate!

So, we just got back from our big trip down the Volga River on Sunday. We saw and did alot of really cool stuff. First we took a train to the city Nizhny Novgorod. We took an overnight train because it was about a 14 hour trip. I was actually pretty impressed by the Russian train system. We were on time and the train was pretty clean and modern. We did a bit of touring around the city and then that evening we got on our boat for our cruise down the Volga. The ship was really nice and we got some pretty tasty gourmet meals (see hedgehog above). Mosque in Kazan

The first day we sailed to Kazan. Kazan is the capital of Tatarstan, and alot of Muslims live there. It is home to many beautiful mosques and churches. Unfortunately, because we were delayed in the morning by fog, we didn't get to see Kazan until nighttime. By then it was so dark out that it was hard to see everything. It was still pretty cool though.
Monument to the Cyrillic letter "ё" in Ulyanovsk.

Our next stop was Ulyanovsk. Ulyanovsk was the city where Lenin was born, and therefore basically everything in the city is centered around Lenin. It's even named after him! (Ulyanov was Lenin's last name until he changed it to Lenin) We saw his school and several of his houses in the city. We also got to see the monument to the letter "ё". Oh, Russia is so weird sometimes. Then we were back to the river.
Me sitting at Stalin's desk.

The next day we saw Samara, home of the Stalin bunker. Samara was the city where the government planned to evacuate to during WWII in case the Nazis got too close to Moscow. Therefore, they built a secret bunker for the government officials there. It was pretty cool. We got to sit at Stalin's desk there and visit the war room!
Clearly Stalin thought alot of himself...

Next was the city of Saratov. We really didn't do much there. We saw a few monuments and things, but nothing too exciting. "Death to the fascists!" Russians really don't like fascists...

The cruise ended in Volgagrad (formerly known as Stalingrad). This city was probably my favorite. Because the whole city was basically leveled during the Siege of Stalingrad in WWII, everything in the city was really nice and modern. Me at the memorial in Volgagrad. The Mother Russia statue is the one way in the backgroound.

There was also this really awesome memorial to the siege. It's really big, practically the size of the National Mall, and it's on a hill and on the top of the hill is this enormous statue that is supposed to represent "Mother Russia". It's apparently the tallest figure statue in the world, meaning it is taller than the Statue of Liberty.
The Mother Russia statue from behind.

After Volgagrad we hopped on a train back to Moscow, this time it was for 18 hours. Most of the other students and I decided to stay in Moscow for the weekend. We stayed at the Godzilla Hostel there. It was by far the nicest hostel I have ever been in. It was really clean, had a great location, and lots of perks like free wi-fi. While in Moscow we saw lots of sights. We visited Red Square and saw St. Basil's Cathedral. St. Basil's

It was nice, but I would have to say that I like the Church of Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg better. We also went to the Kremlin and visited the Armory. They have tons of cool old stuff there like suits of armor, thrones, and really neat metalwork. We also got to see Lenin, which was a very odd experience. For some of you who may not know, Lenin has been on display in a mausoleum in Red Square since his death in 1924. He is only open to visitors a few days a week for a couple of hours. So, we had to wait outside in the cold at 9 in the morning to make sure we were able to see him. Lenin is very carefully guarded. You're not allowed to take anything into the mausoleum, and once inside you cannot make any noise, put your hands in your pockets, stop walking, or walk too fast. He looked alot different than I expected. He was not quite as old looking as I had thought he would be. Some people say that it's not really Lenin's body that's in there. That could be the case because he does look kind of waxy and fake, but on the other hand, how does anyone know what a body preserved for 86 years would look like? Either way it was a pretty cool experience. I came back to St. Petersburg on Sunday morning. A couple other students and I rode the Sapsan train. The Sapsan is a high-speed train which goes up to 200 km/hr and cuts down the travel time between Moscow and St. Petersburg from 8-10 hours to just under 4. It was by far the nicest train I have ever seen. The economy class section which we were in was as nice or nicer than most business class sections I've seen in other trains. I was really impressed, and it only cost about $45, which was pretty cool as well.
Red Square: St. Basil's, Lenin, and the Kremlin.

Now I'm back in St. Petersburg just going to school and hanging out. Today we are going to a hockey game to see СКА from St. Petersburg play ЦСКА from Moscow. It should be a pretty fun time. I'm very interested to see what a Russian hockey game is like. Well, I'll update you guys more when I have some more to talk about. That's all for now!

Life in the USSR...errrr...I Mean Russia

Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to fit this souvenir in my bag :(

So, sorry it's been awhile since my last post. I just have so much to do here all the time that I never really have a chance to sit down and write. I don't feel like there has been a lot of really exciting stuff going on since I last posted.

Two weeks ago our group went on an excursion to the Nut Fortress. It is a fortress that is on an island close to St. Petersburg that was originally built by the Swedes but is now part of Russia. The fortress was supposedly named the Nut Fortress because it looks like a nut. I'm not really sure that that's true though. It was basically your standard medeival fortress, which was pretty cool. I'm not sure you can get much more medeival fortressy than this

Most of it has been destroyed though. Also, the fortress was integral in keeping open the Road of Life during the seige of Leningrad, which was a major factor in St. Petersburg's ability to survive the seige.If you didn't know, I was there fighting in WWII

Last weekend I went to Pavlovsk with my host mom and host sister. Pavlovsk is another palace of Pavel I. The palace was really cool, and again the grounds were nice. I really feel like all these palaces are pretty much the same though. They're ridiculously gaudy with their own private parks. I guess they are pretty cool though.Me at Pavlovsk with Pavel I

On Wednesday this week we didn't have school or an excursion, so me and some other people from our group went to the banya. The Russian banya is essentially the same as a Finnish sauna. You have a really hot room that you sit in, and then you jump into some really cold water. Repeat. Whenever I tell Russians that the banya is the same as the sauna they always try to argue with me and tell me that it is different. But I really could not see any difference at all. They are exactly the same and the Russians just don't want to admit it. It was a really good time though. There was a separate room with couches and a tv where you could sit and relax in between sessions in the banya. So, it was pretty cool, and a nice way to spend the free day.

Since there's not a whole lot else to update you all on, I thought I would take a moment to comment on where I live in Russia. Before I came to Russia, I didn't really grasp how in some ways Russia is still very much stuck in the past i.e. the Soviet Union. For example, my apartment building pretty much looks like it is straight from 1960's USSR, or the south side of Chicago you can take your pick.Silly ACTR, I wanted to go to Russia, not the USSR

My school is another example. It is located in an alleyway behind a large (as in like 10 ft tall) iron door that looks like it leads to a maximum security prison. These kinds of things would be very odd in America, but here they seem like totally normal remnants of the Soviet Union. I think my favorite remnant of the USSR, however, is the heating system. All buildings that were built before like 5 years ago in St. Petersburg are on the same heating system. The buildings are heated by hot water that runs through the pipes in the radiators. Because the system is very old, they turn the whole thing on at once, so the entire city gets heat at the same time. So, essentially, the government controls all the heat in the city. And for some reason, the government is of the opinion that until we have 5 days in a row where the high is below 45 degrees, heat inside buildings is completely unnecessary. Who cares if it's 35 degrees overnight, people don't need heat in their homes. So, basically the past week everyone in St. Petersburg has been freezing. In school everyone wears their coats inside and I've several times considered putting my gloves on at home. So, hopefully the heat comes on soon before we all freeze to death. And until then, I guess I have the ingeniousness of the Soviet Union to thank for being cold.

See, the leaves are on the ground, which means it's fall, which means it's cold!

Well, that's all for now. This Thursday our whole group is leaving for a cruise down the Volga River. So, I probably won't update again for awhile, but I'm sure I'll have lots of adventures to tell about then.