OK, This is Really the Last One

So, this is really my last post. I just wanted to share a few things.

First, I've been drinking the tea I brought to America with me from Russia all the time to try and re-create the wonderful times Lena and I sat in the kitchen and drank tea and laughed til we cried. I miss that.

Second, I have been indoctrinated into Skype. I talked to both Sergei and Masha today for about an hour each on Skype and it was wonderful. The quality was really good, as so was the price (free!). Hearing their voices was like magic. I miss them so much. I'm waiting for Lena to get back from her holiday so we can Skype too.

If anyone else wants to Skype with me my name is francesca-celeste :-)

Third, I miss hearing Russian language. I asked Sergei to speak some Russian to me this morning and almost started to cry. I mean, I really like his voice and the way he specifically speaks Russian, but I legit teared up...wierd.

So, that's it.

Peace

I Think This Is It

So I'm thinking that this is the last post in this blog...sad! I'm pretty much settled in a home, pretty much back on NY time and pretty much missing Russia like CRAZY. NY is not the same any more and I just don't feel like myself the way I did in Russia. Like Sasha wrote in her blog, I feel kind of empty. I feel lonely without my Russian friends and family. I feel hungry without Russian food. I miss the beautiful and interesting city of Novgorod. I feel that none of my pictures did it justice. I printed some pictures today and have started working on my scrapbook. Trying not to get tears on the pictures. It hurts so much to think of my time in Russia as just some fun trip to document in my scrapbook and then to get on with my real life here in America. I don't know where my life in America is going, but I wish it was going back to Russia.

So that's it. Trip is over, recuperating from trip is just about over, back to 'real life'. To read about my 'real life' please check out my new blog dedicated to said life. You can find it at www.iamfrancesca.blogspot.com

До свидания

Not The Last Post But Close

I have a few thoughts to share.

First, all my photos from the trip are uploaded to my album on Picasa. Remember you can view them without registering for an account and they are all nice and commented on and very nice, so look at them. The link again is: http://picasaweb.google.com/FrCeKo/RussiaSummer2009?feat=directlink

Second, you may be curious about how I spent my last day in Russia and jazz like that. I woke up, got ready and headed over the to Lycee because Stas needed us for a few minutes. After that, around 12:30 I met up with my Russian boy and we walked down by the river and took a few pictures. Then we crossed the bridge and met up with the group and Stas at the pizza place and had some champagne/tea/pizza. My good Russian friend Masha also met up with us and it was so wonderful to see her. Then we walked down to the Kremlin to take a few more pictures. Another Russian friend, Alina, met up with us which was nice so that I could say goodbye. Then I went with the boy, his name is Sergei btw, to see his family's apartment. I was interested to do this because I wanted to see what other apartments were like and how they were set up/furnished. I also met his brother for a quick second. Their apartment is nice. It's on the edge of the city so there was a nice view. Then we headed over to my apartment. I had to buy a card on the way for Lena so we stopped at Rus, the big store. Then we went to my apartment and spent the rest of the evening eating pilmeni for the last time and packing. While I packed Sergei helped me translate a note into Russian to put into Lena's card, read me the story of the Little Mermaid in Russian, and also told me the story of Cinderella in Russian. It was SO cute. We also listened to some music and he played with my ipod and kindle. Around 9 Misha came over, then Masha came over too, and Lena got home. We all hung out for a long time, later than I should have stayed up because it was really hard to say goodbye. Sergei stayed the longest because that goodbye was especially hard. We both got fairly attached fairly quickly and had spent a LOT of time together for the 4 or so days prior to my departure. We both knew that I was leaving, but we definitly care about each other, and that's as far as we could get.

Tuesday was all traveling. 2 hour bus ride from Novgorod to St. Petersburg. Had to say goodbye to Lena at the airport. It was horrible. Then we flew to Helsinki (took about 2 hours), changed planes, flew to NYC (took about 8.5 hours). Went through passport control and customs. Had to wait about 4 hours in the airport to fly to Roch. Ended up having to wait about 2 more hours on the plane and didn't get into Roch until about midnight. Then another hour drive home. It was an exhausting day of travel but my time feels all messed up because I am on Russia time, not New York.

It feels very strange to be in America. I missed silly things like my bed and my cell phone. As well as my friends and family. But I really miss Novgorod. I feel like I'm at my house, but I'm not quite at home.

Anyways, I will probably post one or two more times in the blog about my trip but then I will be switching to a new blog about my life in general since my trip to Russia is over :-(

Last Post in Russia

OK, I leave my apartment soon. I miss Russia already. Keep reading blog because I will update a few more times.

Last Day in Russia

I can't believe I have to write this but today is my last day in Russia. I leave bright and early tomorrow morning to catch a bus to St. Petersburg and fly away home. I wish more than anything that I could stay. I've become so attached to this city and the people that live here. It's one thing to say "I want to live in Russia" but what I really mean is "I want to live in Novgorod (with all my friends here)". I really truly love this city. I know that a lot of people my age do not like it here. They think it is too small and have their eyes fixed on St. Petersburg or Moscow. However, I like small towns/cities and this one is the perfect size. And, of course, I met so many amazing people here that I don't know how I am going to get through my days with out seeing them.

I don't really have any specific plans for today, no goodbye party like we had for Colin. I have to go over to the Lycee and pick up bus tickets for tomorrow. I also want to walk around the city a little bit and take pictures. Also, I need to buy vodka to talke home with me. I need to pack. And I need to somehow figure out how to say goodbye.

Oh, and PS...for the next 21 hours (until my bus leaves) I am dating a Russian. And he is wonderful.

Maybe one more post tonight before bed. I can't stand the thought of this being my last post in Russia.

Triple S Saturday

The first S: shopping. Lena and I spent some time on Saturday doing my souvenir shopping. Not too many details here because then you would know what I got you, if you are actually reading my blog at all...heehee. I can tell you what I bought for myself though :-) We finally made it to the tea store after meaning to for about 2 weeks. I bought tea so that I can pretend that I am in Lena's apartment in Nov when I am back in the states. I also bought a cute little wooden ring for about 50 cents that matches the bracelet that I got for my birthday. The only souvenirs I have left to buy are vodka ;-) and I will probably do that tomorrow. I still have a lot of rubles left though!

The second S: strange. A couple sort of strange things happened on Saturday but I will just show you one. When Lena and I were about to cross the river at the bridge near the Kremlin, we happen to notice that the sky looked very strange indeed. It had been raining all day, and this was the result:

The third S: sweet. Ok, I will confess. When I got all the warnings from my parents and from Liza forbidding me to get married when I was in Russia I thought everyone was crazy. I am a sane, and usually rational person. I could NOT see myself finding someone all falling so in love that I would want to marry them after so short an amount of time. Don't worry, I haven't changed my mind. But, I am surprised that I have fallen, not too hard, but still, fallen, for not one, but TWO Russian guys. I also know that a few people were mistakingly thinking that the romance of Russia might lead myself and a certain ex-boyfriend who was also on the trip to maybe get back together. While I knew beyond a doubt that this wouldn't happen, I was also fairly confident that I wouldn't actually be in any sort of relationship like that while I was here. People will remember that I joked around a lot about finding a Russian boyfriend at the beginning of the trip, sometimes just to give Liza a hard time ;-) However, here I am about to leave Russia and sort of dating a Russian guy. It was one thing when I Russian I was crushin on didn't reciprocate, but it's sort of unnerving that this one does...a lot. Hence, sweet. It might be a good thing that I'm leaving because I think if I spent much more time with him I would fall, hard.

In other news, since it's actually Sunday afternoon now. Toma and Max are home!! I missed them so much. Toma looks so tan! And she brought me cute little shell souvenirs from the sea...love it. I think later I will show her some pictures of all the stuff she missed while they were gone. Pictures from my birthday and the parties at Alexander's.

A Party, A Walk, and I HATE Goodbyes

First, I have uploaded many of my pictures from my trip to Picasa. You can see a slideshow of them (randomized) on the top left of this page. You can also view the album on Picasa, without making an account. I recommend this because this pictures will be bigger, in chrono order, and you can view all my quippy little comments :-) Here is the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/FrCeKo/RussiaSummer2009?feat=directlink

Ok, a party. Last night (Thursday) was Colin's last night in Russia so we had another little party at Alexander's. It was, if possible, better than the last one in some ways. We bought chicken and more Georgian bread and I brought the leftover vodka from my birthday. Alexander, Lesya, Valentin, Colin, Lena, Dima, Alina, Sergei and myself where there and we had so much fun. The food was delicious of course and we all just had such a nice time talking and hanging out, and singing along to AC/DC and Debussy :-) Alexander and Lesya are such nice people and they are so hospitable. And, we got to see inside their apartment and it is SO nice. And they have an adorable cat. Anyway, they are just the nicest and most generous people. Also, Dima came with us this time and he helped Alexander with some of the cooking, and so did Alexander's son Valentin, so Alexander could sit with us more and talk and drink ;-) He is generous with the vodka and cognac so I had to pay attention and take little strolls periodically to make sure I wasn't over-indulging :-) Also, I was glad Sergei decided to come even though he didn't know anyone. He said he like to meet new people and I think he had a good time. Lena and I agree that we think everyone had a good time. And Lena talked to Alexander on the phone today to thank him for having such a nice party and he say something along the lines of 'how could it not be nice when the people were so nice'....Adorable!


Ok, a walk. Today was the last day of our internship and we took a nice walk with the children to a church not far away. It was absolutely beautiful with many flowers and trees. We also got to hear the bells ringing which was really lovely. We went inside as well. It was a good size church and beautiful like all the others I have seen. It was a nice change of pace. Also, the children were very affectionate today. They wanted to hold our hands, sit on our laps and be picked up and held. Also, they loved that Sasha and I were taking a few pictures of the church and them, since it was our last day. They loved our cameras and had so much fun posing for the pictures and then demanding to view them. It was very cute and we got some really nice pictures....check the album on picasa to see them!


It's true...I really hate goodbyes. It was very difficult to say goodbye to the children, even though some of them didn't understand that we weren't going to be there anymore. It was sort of harder to say goodbye to the 2 women who supervise the children. Today 2 of our favorites were working and they had really nice things to say and gave us many hugs before we left. It was so sweet. I will really miss everyone there.
Also, today is Colin's last day in Russia. He leaves tonight for St. Petersburg. I am so sad to see him go because he has been such a great, great, great friend to me during this trip. He has a wonderful sense of humor and has really been a gem. I am determined to make it to Memphis to see him sometime while he is studying at Rhodes. It's not goodbye, only so long. He is actually coming over to the apartment soon to say goodbye...so sad!

Totz budz!

One Week Left

I can't believe I only have one week left here in Russia. I'm so devastated to be leaving, I can't even think about it. I haven't even started souvenir shopping or mailed my postcards yet. (Sorry guys! I'll mail them tomorrow I promise!)

Anyway. Yesterday was good. Went to the beach with Colin and sunbathed for a few hours and really got some tan back. Then I worked at the orphanage for a few hours. I can't believe I only have 3 more days with the kids! We've really done some fun stuff with them. Played catched, hopscotch, tag, colored with colored pencils, markers, sidewalk chalk, played on their playground, done crafts, jump roped. It's really been so much fun.

Today was similar. Couple hours and the orphanage and then Colin and I went to see a photo exhibit of local photographers. It was in the same old monastery where we went to do birchbark weaving with Matt's host dad (Vladimir?) in his workshop. That seems to be an artist community type place; it's cool. The exhibit was awesome. There were tons of beautiful pictures and a lot of them were of Novgorod, the Kremlin, St. Sophia, Jaroslav's Court, other monasteries. The pictures were so awesome. One really cool thing was to see pictures of Novgorod in the winter. It's summer here now, so it was nice to see what it looks like with snow covering everything. Still beautiful.

We also ducked into a couple stores on our way back. One of which was a jean's store named Colin's. We couldn't resist. I couldn't even resist taking Colin's picture out front by the sign. Cute. We also went into Diez which is a big media store and looked at some books. Then we came back to my apartment and chilled with Lena. She made these amazing zuccini pancakes that were delicious. I guess the zuccinis at the dacha are really thriving so she was trying to think of different ways to cook them. Anyways, when I get back to the states I will make you guys some zuccini pancakes. They are delicious with smetana by the way, of course.

Oh, and I have a culture tid bit for you. Itchy palms...you know the feeling? Anyway, if your left palm itches it means money is on it's way to you! Whoo! If your right palm itches you will be shaking hands with someone soon. Cool.

Some good news: Toma and Max should be back from the sea on Saturday! Also, my good friend Masha is coming back to Novgorod on Thursday! So I will get to see here again before I leave :-)

Our Camping Adventure

So we just got home from our little camping trip, and it was an adventure to say the least. After eating and packing yesterday we hoped on a trolley to the bus station. From there we bought tickets and got on a bus out of the city to Ilmen, the huge lake that the river that runs through Novgorod starts from. It really is a big lake, you can't see the other side, but it is very shallow. The deepest parts of the lake are only about 4 meters deep. When we got off the bus we had to walk for about half of an hour or 45 minutes. It was really hot and we were carrying heavy backpacks, a bag of food, mats, our tent...it felt like forever. Then we got to the lake and it was worth it. We met up with Kostya, who organized the trip. I saw organized because it wasn't just a camping trip at the lake. He actually set up that a bunch of people would bike to the lake to camp, but also spend the day picking up some of the TONS of garbage that trippers leave there in the summer. So even though we didn't bike, we did pick up some garbage to help out the environment. Then we spent some quality time at the beach, mostly wading and sunbathing. Lena made an awesome sandcastle too ;-) Then we headed back to camp and had some food. We spent most of the afternoon just lying in the sun and hanging out. We spent some time by the fire and I was so tired that I headed to bed a little after 10. I know it was really early but we didn't really know anyone there and I was legitmately tired. I had fallen asleep but around 11:30 maybe, I was awoken by a rousing rendition of "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" from the crowd still sitting by the fire. That wouldn't have been that wierd except I'm in Russia. Anyway, I started laughing which woke Lena up and we were talking, I guess sort of loudly, in English of course, and someone outside was like "English! An American! We want you come and share our fire and speak us Engligh". Since I was awake I obliged. There were about 6 people who wanted to hear my English, only 3 of whom really were confident enough to speak English to me. One of whom, Sergei, I must mention because had absolutely gentlemanly manners and was very nice to talk with (and he had a great smile!) Anyway, it was nice to meet yet more Novgorodians who speak English! I will have so many Russian friends by the end of the trip!

Anyway, I went to bed around 1:30 am but I did not sleep well at all. I was really cold all night and couldn't get comfortable. I did not feel good when I woke up this morning. My body was achy, my throat was VERY sore (still is) and I was freezing even though Lena was frolicking around outside in her bathing suit. I spent more of the morning just resting and dozing. Around 1 I started feeling a little better and forced myself to eat something. Then we broke camp, packed up and heading to the beach, since it was on the way to the bus stop. We waded and little and put the finishing touches on our suntans :-) The beach was really nice. The sand was smooth and clean and the water warm. After a tiny nap we headed to the bus stop and only had to wait for about 15 minutes for the bus. When we got back to Novgorod we hoped onto a trolley and headed home. It was a fun little adventure but Lena and I are pretty tired. We need some showers to get all the sand off. We are thinking about eating some pilmeni for dinner (I missed smetana while we were away...lol) and the broth will feel good on my throat which is still very sore. Then I just feel like vegging on the couch and watching a movie (probably Harry Potter in Russian) or maybe reading while Lena works on her belt. A quiet evening :-) Plans for something fun with Colin for tomorrow and then back to the internship of course. Another very fun weekend!

Birthday Celebration

Ok, I have to be kind of quick about this because Lena and I are leaving in a little while to go camping and we still have to eat and pack and stuff.

My birthday was interesting. Very fun, but very interesting. First, thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes on vkontatke and facebook, and texts, even people who haven't spoken to me since May (you know who you are sir). I miss you all very much and would have loved for you to be with me last night and enjoy the experience I had. Second, thank you to Lena for throwing me a wonderful party and caring so much about me and making sure I had a good and memorable time. Я тебя люблю! Third, thank you to Misha and Dima and Lena for actually getting me gifts! How cute and sweet! (Especially to Lena for telling the guys what to get me because she has a wonderful memory!)

So, the party. Colin showed up first and helped us finish getting ready. We chilled and listened to Magical Mystery Tour of course because I need it when I'm getting ready these days. Then Misha showed up and we decided to start eating. The egg salad was a bit hit. We made a bug batch of it with 20 eggs and there was only a spoonful left at the end of the night! No one really liked my iced tea as much as I did but I made Colin drink some. Everybody made toasts in my honor and it was very sweet! Dima finally came over and he brought me a beautiful plant of pink flowers that smell SO good and also 2 DVDs of movies that I love in Russian. Then we ate the pilmeni and smetana and it was DELICIOUS. Totally my favorite Russian food. We did drink some vodka (it was my 21st!) but I knew it would be ok because my mamochka was there watching me :-) One of the shots we did (Dima and I were the only ones drinking the vod) we had to balance the shot glass on our elbow and then lean in and drink the shot without touching it. It was kind of hard but fun!

After that Lena disappeared into the other room and came back with a cake! I was so surprised! It was so delicious and rich because it had smetana in it! It was also really pretty because there was chocolate shavings on the top. It was so nice! And delicious. They were even candles and they sang "Happy Birthday". It was wonderful. We had tea with our cake and it was delicious. They we all just sort of hung out and talked. My birthday was came true pretty quickly, which was nice.

It was a wonderful party. This is the third year in a row that I've celebrated my birthday away from home, away from my friends and family. It can be a little sad, but my Russian friends and family outdid themselves to make my birthday wonderful. I can't thank them enough!

Little Friday

Yesterday was Wednesday, but it was also a "little Friday" as Toma and Lena say. It was the first day without class so I got to sleep in and basically just hang around all morning. I went to my internship and played with the children. They seemed kind of cranky and in bad moods but we still had fun. When I came home Lena and I went to the huge grocery store Lenta to buy some food for the party tomorrow. We ran into one of Lena's friends (Lena...teehee) and her Peruvian husband Carlos. Carlos speaks some Russian and has found a job here in Novgorod. He also (obviously) speaks Spanish so we chatted in Spanish a bit. Although my Spanish is quite rusty after all the Russian so I was really speaking some wierd mixture of English, Russian and Spanish...Spengssian maybe? While we were at the store Lena got a phone call from Alexander, whom she tutored in English and who was also Don's host while he was here. Alexander invited us over for a little shashlik party because he has a nice veranda in the back yard of his building and he felt like doing some grilling. We decided to go even though it was Wednesday night and we brought Colin and my Russian friend Masha with us. While we were getting ready to head out I got an interesting text message. When we went to Vertigo, the club on the boat, about a month ago, we met a few people from Finland. I gave them my number here because they want to meet up at the beach the next day. I never heard from them until yesterday when I got a message from Ilari. He wanted to go for coffee but I invited him to the party instead. He has been living and working in Novgorod since January and he is a very nice and interesting new friend. Anyway, the party was very fun. We ate some delicious shashlik and this Georgian bread that is kind of flat and very tasty. Alexander is very hospitable and generous and of course we had to drink some vodka with him but not too much. His wife is also a very charming woman and we just had such a nice evening.

Today I slept in again because we didn't get home last night until 2am! I hung out with Lena and Sasha came over for a bit. We ate and drank tea and watched Harry Potter and it was very pleasant. Then we headed over to the internship. The children seemed to be in much better spirits today. Unfortunately it was raining pretty hard and we had to stay inside today. We ended up watching Lilo and Stitch (in Russian of course). Since we were watching the movie it was a little harder to interact with the children although they did want to sit near us on the couch or on our laps. Hopefully it will be nice out tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, it will be my birthday already! I can't believe it will be August 7 ALREADY. My trip is almost over :-( I will definitly post details about the party tomorrow or Saturday and I'm sure Lena will take pictures :-) She is the best Russian mamochka I could ever have gotten or even wished for. I so sad that I only have 11 more days here! But I am pumped to commemorate this momumental birthday with my Dansville and Brockport friends when I get home! Love and miss you all!

Francesca

More Goodbyes

Yesterday was our last day of real class. We took our final test which consisted of both an oral and written component. We got our grades back today when we went into for a goodbye tea party. I got a 99% on the oral and a 100% on the written. Too bad that doesn't mean I can actually speak Russian :-) We didn't have history so I headed home after class. It was raining pretty hard so I ended up spending the afternoon watching Harry Potter in Russian and chilling out on the couch. Then in the evening more Harry Potter and I helped Lena work on her skirt she is making. We also ate some blini and just enjoyed chilling with each other. We have such a great time together; our senses of humor mesh really well. We also had a pretty interesting conversation about what she remembers about Soviet/Perestroika times. Very illuminating.

Today we went into school for a a goodbye tea party. It was really fun. I am really going to miss my teacher Tamara. She was so wonderful and sweet and patient. I learned so much from her. She told me today that she knows I will be able to speak Russian quickly and with a good accent if I keep working at it. After that I headed home for a few hours. Lena was working on her project listening to some awesome tunes so I just chilled on the couch reading. It was nice. Then I headed down to the Kremlin to one of the nicest restaurants in Novgorod which is actually in one of the guard towers. We had a farewell dinner with our instructors Tamara, Sasha and Stas. Liza was there and all the students except my dear Magda who left on Thursday. The food was delicious. I had pilmeni which is already one of my favorite Russian foods and will be served at my little birthday gathering on Friday :-) It was really sad to say goodbye to almost everyone in the group. Even Liza's eyes looked a little wet.

If Toma, Max, Madga and the rest of the students weren't enough to say goodbye to, my very good Russian friend Masha is going on holiday Thursday and won't be back until after I leave, so I must say goodbye to her tomorrow :-( I want her to come visit me in the US though, so I will hopefully see her sometime soon stateside.

Speaking of birthdays, Lena and I are hosting a small party at the apartment. It might have been a bigger party but hardly anyone is left in Novgorod! It is going to be a very non-traditional menu: pilmeni, chocolate, egg salad and iced tea. An interesting mix of Russian and American cuisine. We are also having some berries and champagne...and a little vodka ;-) The vodka is really necessary though (Mom) because we have a karaoke machine and will be singing after we eat :-) It should be fun.

Also speaking of birthdays, I have some great superstitions/customs for you. The first is that you cannot celebrate/congratulate birthdays before they arrive. It's bad luck to even say "Happy Birthday" before it actually happens. Another, when someone leaves for a long journey everyone must sit down together before they depart. Another, if you leave the house and you forgot something, you don't go back for it. If it's crucial, you must look at yourself in the mirror before you leave again after retrieving it. Another, when someone comes to visit, you step out of the house or bring the person inside before shaking hands, you never do it over the threshold. Another, if you drop a knife while cooking or eating you will have a male visitor; a spoon means female. Interesting eh?

Love,
Francesca

Weekends

Another super fast weekend. Ended up just hanging out on Friday night. Had a bit of a sore throat this week so I was laying low. Yesterday Lena and I had a little beach trip with some of our friends. It was fun to be in the sun and see some of the beautiful countyside and a bit of the lake. Today Lena and I went to the beach again, the one close by on the river near the Kremlin. It was on and off rainy and sunny, but we really had a lot of fun. Colin, Alina, and Masha met up with us and we had some really fun frisbee going on. Then it started raining so we played in the rain and then Lena and I ended up going swimming. It was really fun. When we got home we ate pilmeni which are SO delicious and quickly becoming one of my favorite Russian foods. Then I watched a pirated copy of the newest Harry Potter movie in Russian...I understood a bit of it...lol. Now Lena is at it again the the kitchen making some delicious blini...another of my favorites. Tomorrow is our final exam in my Russian language class so it's blini and studying for the rest of the night.

Oh, here's an anecdote from the internship. On Friday one of the little boys, who I've never really even spoken to, was like attached to my waist and wouldn't stop hugging me the entire time was there. He actually tugged on my arm and I leaned down to hear what he wanted to tell me. It ended up being "Я вас люблю" which means "I love you". It was cute...in a wierd way. Lol.

More later.

Francesca

PS...21 in 5 days :-)

You Say Goodbye

Today was the last day in Russia for Magda, who ended up being a wonderful friend to me in Russia. We went out for a little while last night to send her off and I will really miss her. Hopefully I will be able to go visit her in Albany this fall or maybe sometime in the future in Poland, where she wishes to live. So, it really itsn't goodbye, just so long!

Almost the entire rest of the group will be flying back to the states on Wednesday, so the trip is really winding down for them, it's sad. I will be here for another 2 weeks thankfully. Sasha, Steve, Adrian and Colin will be here as well, as we are all working our internships after classes end on Tuesday.

I'm actually kind of sad that our classes and excursions will be over once Liza and the rest of the students leave Novgorod. I've really enjoyed our language class in particular. Tamara, our instructor, is a wonderful and kind person and I really feel like I've learned a lot from her. Stas is also great for history, especially yesterday when we were listening to the popular Russian rock band Lyube. On Tuesday we had the excursion to the convent and holy hill, yesterday we did a boat ride on the river Volkov to the lake and back. That was pretty enjoyable.

Keeping with the theme of goodbye, Max and Toma left this evening to go on holiday for 2 weeks at the sea. They will be back only 2 days before I leave and I already miss them. The apartment is just too quiet without Max singing to himself and playing the accordian. Also, now that Toma is gone who will feed me at 1:30 in the morning when I come home exhausted and hungry from dancing all night? I know that Lena and I will have a good time together though (as long as she isn't spending too much time with Dima!! -just kidding, love you mamachka!) We are considering going to the lake, seeing a photo exhibition, lots of fun stuff could go down this weekend.

I'll keep you posted :-)

Francesca

A Little Bit of Life

Yesterday (Monday) was a pretty normal day. Got up, ate breakfast, went to school, got a 100 on a test in my Russian language class, ate lunch, listened to Stas tell about history, went home for tea and food, went to my internship and colored and played on the playground with the kids, went home, ate some supper, hung out with my AWESOME family who I love tons already, then hung out and listened to music with my friend Misha, did my homework and went to bed :-) It rained like cats and dogs all day and I borrowed a wonderful pair of rain boots from Toma that kept my feet dry all day. They were lifesavers in the GIANT puddles near our building.

Today was a little of the same. Did my normal school routine and then had an excursion with the group after school. We went to a cathedral and convent not too far outside of Novgorod. It was beautiful in the cathedral and outside, and we did a little walking around. We saw a holy hill that Saint Varlam built himself by carrying hat-fulls or dirt. It's said that if you walk around the hill 3 times praying for something it will come true. I had a very selfish prayer unfortunately and I'm not sure it will come true but I'll keep you posted. It had been rainging in the morning and cloudy all day but it was sunny when we left school. Then, even though it was sunny, while we were walking around the holy hill it started sprinkling cool water on our warm faces...it was sort of magical. We also walked to a well that had some tasty spring water. It was refreshing to rinse our faces with this cool water.

Tonight I plan on just chilling here at home. I have a semi-big homework assignment and just want to chill tonight. Tomorrow is Magda's last night here unfortunately. She wants to go out with a bit of a bang and I am going to send her out in still because I will miss her so much. Beforehand I am going to see a band call Cheap Halo at a bar with my host momma; should be a fun night. We are supposedly going on a boat ride tomorrow afternoon too so it'll be a busy day. Hence, rest.

Love,
Francesca

Whirlwind Weekend

This weekend went by unbelievably fast.

Friday night we went to check out the Irish pub called Greensleeves. It was pretty cool, but very expensive. They had chicken wings but we didn't order any...haha. Then we went to Night Ocean which is a dance club right around the corner from where I live. It was much better than Vertigo (the club on the boat) and the music was good. I met some more awesome Russians and also some French guys that bought us some champagne...pretty fun night.

Then on Saturday we got up and started getting ready for the little party we threw at the apartment. I learned to make the little Russian pies that are so delicious and all in all had a great time singing Beatles songs and dancing around the kitchen to Russian folk music and making the little pies. The party itself was very fun. I met Lena's brother and his girlfriend and they are very nice. We sang kareoke which was super fun because some of the songs were in English. I hammed it up a lot, and then Lena started recording it :-0! It's pretty embarrassing to watch but whatever...haha.

Today Lena and I spent the entire morning looking at purses all around the city. I wanted to buy a new one but I couldn't find one that I loved. Then we went to a party/picnic at this guy Sean's house. Sean is originally from America but has been living in Novgorod for about 10 years. He invited the group of students over for 'shashleek'...shishkabob :-) Almost the whole group was there and my family came too. We spent the day eating delicious food and playing like a backyard olympics tournament thing. We had to play badminton, darts, uno, boggle, and horseshoes. Then we had finals and all...it was so fun. I was partnered with Valya, a Russian student and we were surprisingly awesome at badminton and made it to the finals. I was terrible at horseshoes but creamed at darts so we made it to the finals there too. We ended up coming in third overall in the tournament :-) and won some delicious ice cream! Lena's mom Toma, and Jim Bobby ended up being partnered and came in first. They won a bottle of champange! It was so fun. I'm thinking of organizing a tournament like this with my friends when I get back to the states. Maybe croquet, bocce, 'Polish' horseshoes? What do you guys think? At the party Colin and I also danced and sang and generally made fools of ourselves to the great amusement of the Russians who were recording us with their cameras and telling us we could have our own show.

All in all it was a very fun day that I got to spend with my awesome Russian family and some great new friends. Too bad I have to go back to school/internship tomorrow. I even have a test! :-(

Scoffing at Псков

Super quick post today because I'm really hungry and want to eat before I leave for my internship in a few minutes.

The operetta was awesome. I couldn't understand any of the words, but it was really funny (according to the rest of the audience) and the singing and dancing were very lively and entertaining.

Yesterday we spent the ENTIRE day doing Псков (sounds like Pscof). It was about 4 and 1/2 hours one way by bus to get there! First we went to this amazing monastery that was the only one that stayed open during the Soviet era. We were SUPER lucky and got to go into 'the caves God created' and see where a all the monks were/still are laid to rest. We had to use tiny little candles and it was super cold in there. Very creepy but VERY cool. Then we went to the oldest stone fortress in Russia and also saw the Kremlin in Pscov. We went into the cathedral there and were again very lucky to see the archbishop and all the finery laid out for him. The bells were ringing and it was very beautiful and spiritual. Loved it.

Gotta run. Food, internship, shower, then spending the evening with some awesome people. Then up tomorrow to make pies for our party!

Love,
Francesca

Ballet and Back to Novgorod

The ballet Swan Lake was absolutely beautiful. The leading swan ballerina was incredible. It was a lot of fun to get dressed up and go to the theather. We had really nice box seats too. I think even the boys enjoyed the ballet because it is a story and meant to entertain rather than be overly technical dancing.

When we got back to the room we just hung out. Our new friend Max came over. He is visiting Europe with his mom but he goes to school in Penn. We met him the first morning we were there at the bliny place. He was super chill to hang out with and I hope my path crosses his again someday. (Plus he said he would read my blog...so "Hi Max!).

Getting home to Novgorod was awesome. I missed Lena, Tamara and Max (my little brother) SO much. I was also super hungry when I got home because food was expensive in the 'big city' so Tamara was super excited to feed me becauase I didn't refuse anything she put in front of me. She was thrilled...it was adorable.

Started up classes again yesterday morning. I feel like I am getting a better handle on Russian language. Learning a lot of grammar and phrases which is really helpful. We had a test this morning and I'm pretty sure I did ok. Yesterday we had a really interesting lecture in Russian history about Paganism and superstition in Russia. It was really very interesting. I also got to see Masha, one of my very good Russian friends who I hadn't seen in almost a week which was really nice. We were going to go see the new Harry Potter movie in russian last night, but I couldn't actually make it because of my internship and stuff. Oh well, I wouldn't understand most of it anyway.

My internship is going Ok. Sasha and I go to the orphanage for 2 hours after class and basically just play with the kids and color and stuff. It's really fun. They try to teach us a little Russian but I am still struggling a little bit to understand them. Oh well, it is good practice.

Tonight Colin, Magda, Misha and I are going to see a little opera type show at the drama theater here in Novgorod. The company of performers is actually from St. Petersburg though which is cool. I'm off to have some tea and food, then go to the orphanage, then to the theater :-)

Francesca

Palace Overload

This morning we got on a mini bus and went to the amazingly beautiful Peterhof, palace of Peter the Great modeled after the legendary palace at Versailles. The fountains and gardens are just unbelievably gorgeous. It's impossible to describe. The big palace is lovely, and the little palace and the Gulf of Finland is so exquisite. Sorry that I'm not putting pictures up until I get back to the states...you'll have to wait to see it all. Then we went to Pushkin, a summer palace for Tsarina Elizabeth. Also quite beautiful. We got to go inside this one and see some of the rooms that were restored to the original after WWII based on photographs. This place was total gold overload. The ballroom-type hall was lovely though. So gold and sumptuous...right out of the castle in Beauty and the Beast. Colin and I did a little dance to commemorate the dancibilty of being in this room.

We're all just chilling out now, resting up before we go to the ballet to see Swan Lake tonight.

Tomorrow we have a free day in St. Petersburg. Not exactly sure what I'm going to do yet. I want to do some souvenir shopping and definitly see the HUGE bookstore called книги дом. Then we are meeting up around 5 to head back to Novgorod. I really like St. Petersburg...it's beautfil with the palaces and canals and rivers, but I miss Novgorod. It's not so big and congested. I'm looking forward to going back tomorrow because Novgorod already feels like home.

Gotta go start getting ready for the Russian Ballet!

Love,
Francesca

Hermitage = Name Dropping

So we are in St. Petersburg. Pretty awesome place. The hostel/hotel we are staying in is really nice. We did a walking tour yesterday after we got here. Everything is so beautiful. The city is on a bunch on islands on the Neva River and it's very European as far as style goes, in my opinion. All I could think of was that Belle from Beauty and the Beast was going to come walking around the corner at any minute. We saw the Winter Palace from the outside and it is gorgeous! I wish I was a tsarina :-)

Today we started out by going to St. Isaac's Cathedral. Absolutely gorgeous inside, I was literally tearing up because of the shear height of the dome and the intricacy of the mosaics. Then we did the 3 hour hermitage tour to see all the great masterpieces as fast as possible because there is just SO MUCH to look at. It would legitimately take years to see it all. The beauty of the interior of the palace as well as the magnificent artwork. It's just unbelievable. I wish I could've seen the interior of the palace when it was in use as a palace. As far as artwork goes it was all about name dropping, seriously. Da Vinci, Michelanglo, Renoir, de Goya, Monet, Van Gogh...it was incredible.

We're chilling in the room for a little while because we're pretty much exhausted from the day but in a little bit we're going to go get some groceries and such. Then we might go do something tonight or hang out in the room...not sure yet. Tomorrow is Peterhof and also the ballet (Swan Lake of course :-) ) tomorrow night.

Love&Miss Ya'll :-)

Francesca

Items of Interest

First of all, I have another awesome superstition to tell you. Lena's nose was itchy and she told me that in Russia that means you either will have an alcoholic drink soon or be punched in the nose soon. Haha. Tell me that isn't an interesting insight into Russian culture.

Second, I went to a little party last night with my friend Misha (not to be confused with my friend Masha; I have a lot of English speaking Russian friends in Novgorod). Anyway, he is in the militia and one of his fellow members was like promoted and given new stars for the shoulders of his uniform so he had a little get together. The tradition is that the stars have to be put into a glass of vodka and like cleaned before they can be accepted onto the uniform and the guy has to drink the vodka to get the stars. It was such a fun party. I tried to speak Russian, they tried to speak English by translating things online; it was awesome. Also, they kept begging me to sing Fergie but I was SO embarassed and couldn't remember all the words so I sang part of a classical Italian song instead, it was SO funny.

Third, believe it or not we are going to St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) this weekend, Thursday through Sunday. I'm excited to go on a mini-break and see the sights. We also only have 3 days of school this week :-)

Fourth, we started our history lessons today. Pretty cool. Very interesting stuff. Some of it I already knew from some classes at Brockport but some I didn't. Here's an interesting fun fact: Russia (size wise) is 1/6 of the world; 2 USAs put together. Crazy big.

Fifth, because of Misha and the party, and Masha and her friends, I have like mad Russian friends now. Alina, Natasha, Yahna, Marina, Ramazon, Ludmila...they all rock so here's a shout out to them! (Don't be sad Brockport/Dansville friends....I love and miss you all too!)

Finally, I am off to go to Masha's flat to watch Harry Potter. We are preparing for when the new movie comes out on Thursday...although I won't see it until after I get back from St. Petersburg.

Love,
Francesca

PS...leave me comments! What do you want to hear about?

Я люблю Россию

Couple fun things to mention...

1. Other things I love about Russia...instead of salt and pepper shakers they have little tiny bowls that they put on the table with salt and pepper in them. They are adorable. Also, bottled water is often carbonated and some people don't like it but I do, it's good.

2. We went out to a dance club last night...it was so fun! It was on a boat on the Volkov River. The music was really dance-techno and there were lights ands a fog machine and the whole 9 yards. I had one drink when I was there (yes mom, just one), but it was a doozy. I can't remember what it was called but the bartender used a martini glass and it had 3 layers that he kept seperated by pouring it on a spoon and they must have had different densities or something. Anyway, he hands me a straw and with a lighter in his hand starts trying to explain something to me in Russian. Luckily my new friend Masha is Russian (she lives here in Novgorod) and she translated. Basically, he lights the drink on fire and you have to drink it fast before your straw melts. Crazy Russians. I was sort of scared of drinking fire but then I was like "When will I ever be young and foolish enough to do this again in my life?" So I did it. I was ridiculous. It burned my throught and it was sort of syrupy and minty and altogether pretty yucky. And, after lighting it he turned on a siren so everyone was watching, awesome. So I guess I can cross that off my list. Everything else about the club was fun though, we danced for hours, it was so fun.

3. Today we went to Staraya Russa which is where Dostoevsky lived for the last 8 years of his life and wrote his seminal masterpiece, Братья Карамазовы (The Brothers Karamazov). It is really a beautiful town and the weather was so nice today, about 25 celcius. We walked around the town and there is a nice river there, it's very picturesque.


Everything else is going well. I finished my first week of class and everything was fine. I am trying to improve my language skills as quickly as I can. Unfortunately we finished our week of art, but we start Russian history on Monday, so that will be interesting. I'm really having a great time here in Novgorod. I love the city already. It's so beautiful and quaint. The mix of new and old is so unique comparted with the United States where things are new or newer. Novgorod is celebrating it's 1150th anniversary this fall, it's the oldest city in Russia. The Kremlin and Jaroslav's Court are like time machines. Then there are interesting features such as old factories that have been turned into brand new shopping malls...love it.

That's all for now, hope everyone is well stateside.

Miss&Love You,
Francesca

Things I Love About Russia (con't) And MORE :-)

Ok, here are a few things I forgot last time:

1. I went to the grocery store with Lena, my host mom and there was an entire aisle of vodka...no joke...an entire aisle. It was crazy. Plus the aisle of beer, the aisle of wine and the aisle of other liquors. It's crazy.

2. I love Novgorod. The city is amazing! It's not too big but still fairly cosmopolitan. There are losts of place to get tea or coffee or beer. It seems you can walk anywhere but the bus system is also very nice.

3. White nights. It gets dark here is Novgorod at about 11:30pm. Until then it's lighter than twilight. I love it. You can have such a long day full of wonderful things. We do a lot of walking around the city; it's such an old city and there is so much to look at. All the churches and parks are so beautiful.

4. Mayo/ketchup. This sounds funny I know, but the mayonaisse and ketchup are sold in these bag that sort of seem like the bags craisins come in, but there is a little nozzle on the top that you take the cap off and you squeeze the mayo/ketchup out. It's wierd but totally cool.


In other new, my lessons are going pretty well. I am keeping up fairly well in my language class. I feel like I am learning more Russian and some of my Russian friends are helping me with my language, espcially my бабушка, Toma, who is awesome. She makes me speak Russian and I am learning a lot of conversational stuff.

Art class has been really fun. We are learning a technique of painting that includes decoration after the painting that almost makes the work look like patch-work. Then it is laquered over to make it shiny. We start Russian history next week. It is actually kind of hard to spell in English right now as I've been operating in Russian for a week.

As far as food goes...the food here is pretty awesome. I really like all the food I've been served by my family. Eggs, oatmeal, bread, bananas, apples, strawberries, yogurt, tea, vegetables...it's all been delicious. Also, I think I've eaten a ton of pizza since being here. I've been in Russia for 6 days and I've gone out for pizza thrVee times. Twice with my classmates and once with my Russian friend Misha (Миша). I've had some other Russian food but I can't remember the names. It's all been delicious though!

We got to Staraya Russya on Saturday so that will be fun. I've already been all over the Kremlin and Jaroslav's Court. Even the river is so beautiful.

It's getting too hard to type/spell in English. More later :-)

Love&Miss Everyone!

Things I Love About Russia

Hey all! I've been so busy I haven't really had time to be on the computer. Apparently this blog will count for a reflective journal that we are supposed to be keeping while we are here so...this one is for you Liza :-)

Ok. TAK. Things I Love About Russia.

1. Superstitions. My host mom Elena tells me about all these awesome Russian superstitions. My favorite so far is about flowers. Flowers in a vase and as a gift must be in odd numbers. Bouquets of even numbered flowers are for the dead...lol.

2. Tea. Tea is awesome. We drink tea all the time and it's awesome. It's delicious abnd it's a nice social time to sit and talk.

3. Time/date format. Military time makes more sense...duh. If your meeting someone at 8...you may be twelve hours early/late in the US...not so in Russia. Also, for the date Russians do day/month/year...smallest to largest...makes sense!

4. My host family. I absolutely LOVE my host family. Especially my mom Elena. She is SO sweet and smart and her English is very good. She is wonderful about helping my friends and I figure things out.

I think that's all for now. I'm having a great time here and miss everyone dearly. More later!

Love,
Francesca

First Morning

I am in Russia. Right now. Doesn't that blow your mind?!

After driving to the airport, 3 plane rides, and a very bumpy bus ride, I have arrived in Novgorod and am currently at my host family's apartmet. The flights were very long but OK. I didn't sleep at all.

All I've done since arriving is shower and sleep. I have to go eat breakfast though.

More soon!

Leavin' On A Jet Plane

In about 24 hours I will be on a plane flying to JFK so that I can fly to Russia. I can't believe the trip is already here and I am out of time to do all the things I needed/wanted to do before I left. I'm very stressed out right now, but not really because I'm nervous about being in a foreign country where I know almost none of the language and culture. It's just all the other stuff stressing me out. I still have a mondo list of stuff I need to do before I leave. My friends are commandeering me later to hang out one last time before I leave so it feels like everything has to be done now, which I guess it kind of does....

I'm trying to finish up my organizing and packing right now. Last load of clothes is in the wash, camera/kindle/ipod are charging, watch set to Novgorod time, extended absence message left on the voice mail for my cell, shoes are shined.....OK, not really that last one.

I decided against bringing my hair dryer for those of you curious about the outcome of that debate that I've been struggling with for weeks. I'm going au naturale as far as my hair is concerned.

So that's it. Please follow my blog this summer and pretty please leave me some comments to make me smile :-)

Miss&Love you all.....next post from RUSSIA!

Packing...

Finally started packing today. I dug the big suitcase out of the closet and brushed off the cobwebs. Then I went through it to make sure no one left anything in it that last time they used it. It was completely empty...except one inside pocket. You will never guess what was in the pocket so I'll tell you: 5 packages of microwave popcorn...no lie.

I'm still deciding if I should leave them in there and bring them to Russia...just kidding.

Trying to decide what to bring is so hard though!

11 Days

Wow. In 11 days I will be jumping on a plane and flying to Russia. Honestly, I think that's pretty bad ass. I've traveled abroad before. I went to England, France and Italy with my grandfather. But seriously, who goes to Russia? That's exactly what people say when I tell them where I'm studying abroad. Well, I guess the answer to that question is ME. I'm going to Russia, for 7 weeks, in 11 days....cue major freak out. I haven't even started packing. Guess maybe I should do that now.

Anyways, follow my blog all summer while I am in RUSSIA :-)