Hello again! I know it has only been about two days since I last posted but I am here and putting off homework for as long as I can tonight. Besides I must make up for the lost time for how long I took to post my last entry. First as promised, I will talk about Лебидиное озеро (Swan Lake). By the way, this is also going to be a bit of a Russian lesson as I plan on writing all of the words that are meant to be in Russian in Russian.
So, the first time I ever go to the ballet happens to be in Russia, seeing the famous Russian Ballet, and seeing one of the most famous ballets ever created, and it was created by a Russian composer. So yeah, I would say that it was pretty epic. I, along with three friends, got nice and dressed up and met up on Невский Проспект (Nevskiy Prospekt, the main street in SPb) and went to an Italian restaurant for dinner, where, the highlight was not dinner but dessert. I had мёдовик (honey cake) and it may very well have been the best dessert ever. It was delicious and I think it is more of a Russian dessert than Italian since honey is very popular here, despite the fact that it is expensive. And then we went to the Mikhailovsky Theatre (Михаиловский театр), which was beautiful, to find our seats. It was smaller than I thought, though there were four balconies where people were seated. Anyway, here are some pictures of the theatre that I took either before the ballet or during intermissions.
As for the actual ballet, I almost can't describe it. It was completely beautiful and I love to watch dance, and ballet is about as classically dance as it gets, if that makes any sense. Despite the fact that there are no words in ballet, it is fairly easy to follow the story, and of course, it had a happy ending, just like a fairy tale. Our whole program is going to the Марийнский театр (Mariinsky Theatre) which is the more famous theatre in SPb to see the ballet "Jewels" in November, but as it is not originally Russian, but in fact American, and it is just dancing, no story, I am not expecting to like it as much, but since I liked Swan Lake so much, not liking it as much will still be a great deal. Since tickets on Wednesdays are discounted with our student IDs, only 700 рублей, or about $22.50, I might try to go see another one, like Romeo and Juliet, or arguably the most famous ballet, the Nutcracker, which I know a lot of the students want to go see and they have in November sometime. Anyway, the whole experience was phenomenal.
Now onto a few other things. A few posts ago, I posted about some cultural differences between Russia and the US. Since then I have been able to think of a couple other differences that I know I forgot last time.
So, the first time I ever go to the ballet happens to be in Russia, seeing the famous Russian Ballet, and seeing one of the most famous ballets ever created, and it was created by a Russian composer. So yeah, I would say that it was pretty epic. I, along with three friends, got nice and dressed up and met up on Невский Проспект (Nevskiy Prospekt, the main street in SPb) and went to an Italian restaurant for dinner, where, the highlight was not dinner but dessert. I had мёдовик (honey cake) and it may very well have been the best dessert ever. It was delicious and I think it is more of a Russian dessert than Italian since honey is very popular here, despite the fact that it is expensive. And then we went to the Mikhailovsky Theatre (Михаиловский театр), which was beautiful, to find our seats. It was smaller than I thought, though there were four balconies where people were seated. Anyway, here are some pictures of the theatre that I took either before the ballet or during intermissions.
Mikhailovsky Theatre
Cortney, Kyle, Kelly, and myself at the ballet
The dancers taking their final bows
Onto to Pavlovsk Palace (Павловский дворец) and Park. Not that we haven't seen our fair share of palaces in Russia, since St. Pete is loaded with them as the Tsars lived here for about 200? years, this was still something special. Pavlovsk is technically a suburb of St. Petersburg but is close enough. We went there as our weekly excursion yesterday, which fortunately was a really nice day. The palace was really nice and all but what the best part was was the park. Located directly adjacent to the palace is a 600 acre park, filled with all sorts of little pavilions, statues, and streams among other things. Since it was a nice day we lucked out and were able to walk around rain-free for about two hours. What's more, fall is in full bloom here and there are fallen leaves everywhere and it was just a great place to see and I would love the opportunity to go back there again. Here are some pictures from there:
The Palace itself
One of the little pavilions in the park
The biggest pavilion in the park, I believe
And last but absolutely not least, today I got to do something I've been missing terribly, even if only for an hour: ICE SKATING! It has been very near 6 weeks now since I last skated, which is far too long. The rink is only a 5-10 minute walk from ИМОП (where I have my classes). Since I had my own skates, it only cost me 250 рублей, about $8. It was a public session so I was worried I wasn't going to be able to do anything but just skate around, but it turns out they didn't have a problem with me jumping. Now I know not everyone will understand this but I landed several axels, double sals, double loops, and surprisingly, every single double flip I tried. It made me happy beyond belief that I could do that after 6 weeks off, as well as having a major skating high after. :D Anyway, I would say today and this weekend and entire week, have just been amazing, albeit busy. But hey, I would always rather be busy than bored. I may only be here once, I am going to try to savor every minute of it and see as much of it as I can.
1. Everyone smokes. Since smoking suppresses appetite, I think that is why Russians are so tiny.
2. Driving. Ever hear about the Russian driver stereotype? Well the way it goes is that Russians are horrible drivers. It turns out, that is not so much stereotype as it is a fact. I can't tell you the number of pretty bad looking accidents I have seen since I have been here and since it hasn't snowed yet, I am pretty sure the weather is not to blame. Last night I took a picture of a badly torn up car, here it is just to prove this to all of you:
Additionally, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared this week that he will be running for President once more. From what I can tell, the Russian population is not too pleased about this idea. Although he has done a lot of good for the Russian Federation, most Russians believe that he is simply power hungry and that he has also done plenty of disservice to to Russia as well.
Next Friday, our whole program is taking the night train to Moscow. We will be there until the following Monday (3 days) and then will have that entire week off. I will be staying in Moscow for 2 extra days since I know there will be so much to see and I will not get to see hardly anything in just 3 or even five days. My travel buddy will be Kelly (see picture above). From there, we will be going back to Novgorod for three days because we both would have liked to have seen more there as well. From there we will head back to SPb. It will be a grand old time and I am excited to see new parts of Russia!
Anyway, I think that I have put my homework off long enough now. This week I have my Russian language midterm exam. Also, for my Russian lit in English translation, we have to read some nice thick books like Anna Karenina and Crime and Punishment. And now, I am off to read a Hero of Our Time, by Mikhail Lermontov. Also, I apologize for this being such a long entry. Until next time, пока!
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