The prospect of a 6:45 a.m. flight was not appealing to me at first. Especially since the flight Laura and I had booked to London from Zurich left at 8 p.m., and Laura was with the half of the group arriving in the late afternoon. But Julia Smeliansky showed me the bright side back in Cambridge. “You can spend the day in Zurich!” She exclaimed, informing me that it was super easy to get into the city from the airport and that there was a great art museum.
Despite her assurances, I was still worried about just how easy it would be to get my luggage, find an area to store it, get tickets for the train, find my way around…frankly, I found it all a bit daunting. But I’m happy to say that my day in Zurich was one of the easiest, loveliest days I’ve had.
After getting my luggage immediately (phew!), many of my classmates and I followed the signs to the left luggage area. There the security guard didn’t charge me for my backpack since I had two large suitcases (aw), and told me when I asked about how long trains to the city center took that we could get tickets at the info desk around the corner, which had no line. There, a woman told me that a day pass for the equivalent of $16 got me in and out on any train, and I could use any metro, tram, or bus, AND get free entry into museums. Um, sold! We made our way to the train, as people gradually said goodbye and went their separate ways to their different destinations. I wound up boarding a very swank train (we may have been in the first class car, woops) with my classmates Nick (an actor) and Joe, and we set off to explore the city. I was already relieved and more at ease with how easy it all was…especially since I had been up since 1 a.m. Zurich time after about 2-3 hours of napping time combined, and it was now 9:30 a.m.
After examining the handy map I received with my pass, I realized that it outlined a lovely walking tour to all the spots I wanted to cover. We set off to find breakfast first, and wound up eating delicious birchermueseli (I think that’s how it’s spelled) at an outdoor café. It’s a mixture of yogurt, berries, and granola. The three of us could not get over Zurich’s beauty, saying things like, “Are we in paradise? Is this heaven?” We marveled at the clear aqua waters of the river, the charming squares with fountains, the clean cobblestone streets with interesting boutiques, and at how cars actually stopped to let you walk. In fact, the area of the city we were in was fairly empty until around lunchtime, making it a quiet and peaceful tour. After three months in Moscow, we had found an oasis. We were all in love with Zurich.
This love grew as the day went by and we took in the sights. We saw Europe’s largest clock face at St. Peter’s, then gazed in awe at Marc Chagall’s stained glass windows in Fraumunster, another cathedral (free entry!). Winding our way up past quiet store fronts, we found our way to the Kunsthaus Museum. This was the art museum that Julia had told me about, and she did not exaggerate—it is my new favorite art museum. The collection is amazing, ranging from old masters to impressionists, expressionists, and contemporary art. It housed so many of my favorite artists’ works: Kandinsky, Monet, Chagall, and it even had a cool Robert Rauschenberg piece, just to name a few. Entry was free with my pass, and there was also a free English audio guide. AND we could take photos. I was one happy camper. The museum had a light and airy feel, and I found my new favorite painting by Marc Chagall. It was a beautiful and moving piece called “Les lumieres du marriage” in French, which translates to either “The wedding lights” or “The lights of marriage” I think.
After the museum, it was time to find lunch and caffeine. I had asked the woman at the info desk of the Kunsthaus to show me where the Cabaret Voltaire was on my map because I wanted to make a little pilgrimage to the birthplace of Dada. Sure enough it was nearby and easy to find. After lunch we said goodbye to Joe, and Nick and I got iced coffees and wandered along the river and through the streets. We went into the Grossmunster, which we had stopped outside of on our way to the museum. As “Zurich’s greatest landmark,” what was really amazing were the windows. Some were stained glass, but most were made out of thinly sliced multi-colored agate crystals.
After saying goodbye to Nick, I easily boarded a train leaving within a few minutes for the airport. As I sat on the train I reflected on how lucky I was to have this opportunity. It may have only been six hours, but my time in Zurich was absolutely lovely.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Last Day in Moscow
I know that I should finish packing right now. But as my last day in Moscow draws to a close, I am reminded of why I’ve loved my time here.
At noon we had our last Russian Art & Architecture History class with Anna. I’ve really loved being able to finally have an art history course. I think I also neglected to mention that I love how she’ll be talking and suddenly make a comment like, “then they reconstructed this monstrosity.” It’s hilarious.
After a lovely last lunch in the MXAT stalovia (canteen), the other dramaturgs and I headed up to Tolya’s office so we could say goodbye. We really love Tolya, he’s just a wonderful combination of wisdom, humor, care, and good-nature. Kind of like our very own Dumbledore. At our last class we gave him a framed photo of the four of us with him at Patriarch’s Ponds and he was obviously very touched by it (he says it’s going on the wall by the photo of him with Andrew Lloyd Webber). Today we went to return a book and say our goodbyes. After a group hug (yes, really, it was pretty darn presh) he gestured to the framed photo on his desk. “I came in today, and I saw it, and it was a kind of…ah!” he said, grasping his hands over his heart. Then somehow he decided that we all needed to have shots of the Ukrainian berry-infused vodka that he had just been given. So after a couple of toasts, a couple of shots, he sent us off with the bottle. If that’s not a perfect Russian goodbye, I don’t know what is. I’m really going to miss him a lot, it’s actually making me pretty sad.
After our goodbye, I went up to the 7th floor of the building to observe auditions. On Friday I interviewed Sergey (the director of one of the 4th year’s shows, who is also their master teacher) for an article I’m writing. Afterward he was nice enough to invite me to drop by and watch the auditions. The MXAT school auditions are crazy. They must have thousands of people, and need to whittle it down to about 20. I saw 12 people audition, and it was fascinating—seeing how they run auditions here, what the actors were like before or after their audition, what they were like as actors versus just talking to Sergey.
Now I really do have to finish packing. I leave for the airport at 3am, spend the day in Zurich before flying to London for the night and leaving the next day for India. I’m so grateful for the past three months. Learning more about the Russian culture, art, literature, history, theatre, getting closer with my classmates, and relishing every moment. I’m sad to see this chapter in my life end.
At noon we had our last Russian Art & Architecture History class with Anna. I’ve really loved being able to finally have an art history course. I think I also neglected to mention that I love how she’ll be talking and suddenly make a comment like, “then they reconstructed this monstrosity.” It’s hilarious.
After a lovely last lunch in the MXAT stalovia (canteen), the other dramaturgs and I headed up to Tolya’s office so we could say goodbye. We really love Tolya, he’s just a wonderful combination of wisdom, humor, care, and good-nature. Kind of like our very own Dumbledore. At our last class we gave him a framed photo of the four of us with him at Patriarch’s Ponds and he was obviously very touched by it (he says it’s going on the wall by the photo of him with Andrew Lloyd Webber). Today we went to return a book and say our goodbyes. After a group hug (yes, really, it was pretty darn presh) he gestured to the framed photo on his desk. “I came in today, and I saw it, and it was a kind of…ah!” he said, grasping his hands over his heart. Then somehow he decided that we all needed to have shots of the Ukrainian berry-infused vodka that he had just been given. So after a couple of toasts, a couple of shots, he sent us off with the bottle. If that’s not a perfect Russian goodbye, I don’t know what is. I’m really going to miss him a lot, it’s actually making me pretty sad.
After our goodbye, I went up to the 7th floor of the building to observe auditions. On Friday I interviewed Sergey (the director of one of the 4th year’s shows, who is also their master teacher) for an article I’m writing. Afterward he was nice enough to invite me to drop by and watch the auditions. The MXAT school auditions are crazy. They must have thousands of people, and need to whittle it down to about 20. I saw 12 people audition, and it was fascinating—seeing how they run auditions here, what the actors were like before or after their audition, what they were like as actors versus just talking to Sergey.
Now I really do have to finish packing. I leave for the airport at 3am, spend the day in Zurich before flying to London for the night and leaving the next day for India. I’m so grateful for the past three months. Learning more about the Russian culture, art, literature, history, theatre, getting closer with my classmates, and relishing every moment. I’m sad to see this chapter in my life end.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Charmed Life
The other night my friend Jenny, one of the actors, was visiting us on the 5th floor when Joe joined the conversation. I told him when we were leaving in the morning. “Should we go get a cake before then?” he asked. “Actually, I hear she wouldn’t like that, maybe we should bring wine instead, but is it weird to bring wine at 10 am?” I said. “Well, we could always bring champagne and orange juice,” someone suggested. At this point, Jenny cried out, “What do you guys DO all day?!?”
We all laughed and explained that it was a gift for our Russian film history professor, who was having us over for breakfast. But taken out of context, both this and our lives here in general sound pretty decadent. Sleeping in, one or two classes a day at most, museums, sightseeing, reading in parks and cafes, free shows…it’s a tough life, but someone has to live it. As my time in Moscow draws to a close (I leave the morning of the 25th), I’ve begun reflecting on what I will and won’t miss. But to be honest, I think what I will miss the most is the lifestyle. After months of stress in Cambridge, Moscow has been a much-needed respite from constant stress. So here are some lists, since we all know how much I enjoy lists:
THINGS I WON’T MISS
-Moscow drivers: Every time I walk down the street and cross, I glare at and try to ESP the approaching vehicle, “don’t you dare hit me you motherf***er.”
-Cigarette smoke: it’s gotten so bad that I’ve found myself craving a cigarette at times. Can you get addicted to nicotine through second-hand smoke?
-Super thin walls in the dorm
-The very long stair trek up to the 5th floor
-Mullets: on men AND women. Oy vey.
-Having someone speak to me in Russian and only being able to stare at them. And stutter. Or blink.
-Worrying about my internet usage
-Being in a group 60% of the time
-Moscow Fashion: jeans with ripple/dart thingies on the sides of the thighs, monochromatic look, fishnets, fur, overdressing for everything, heels so high the women look like a strong gust of wind my topple them over…as my friend Sarah said, “stay classy, Moscow.”
THINGS I WILL MISS
-Moscow Fashion: because it is endlessly entertaining! Laura and I made up a game where we rank outfits, hairstyles, and heel height on a scale of 1-10 crazy.
-Museums: learning about Russian art and then seeing it. Learning about/reading Russian authors and seeing where they lived.
-Russian food: especially blinis, cireniki, pelemeni, Georgian restaurants, and the chocolate
-How everything can become an adventure: the super market, finding your way, taking the wrong metro exit but seeing a really beautiful ceiling in it, small triumphs in Russian language communication
-The classes: especially our classes with Tolya. We had the most amazing lecture with him this week as a whole class, when he told us about his first foray into researching Bulgakov (he’s a Bulgakov scholar), and meeting Bulgakov’s widow. It was amazing. Then on Friday he took the four dramaturgs out to lunch at a Georgian café near where he lives by Patriarch’s Ponds.
-Springtime in Moscow. It’s so gorgeous!
-Free productions practically every night. Many of them wonderful.
-Immersing myself in another culture…well, almost. That whole language barrier has made it rather tricky. But still.
-No morning classes=sleeping in
-Only work is enjoyable reading and writing
Sorry it’s been so long since I last wrote, by the way. Between my parents’ visit (which was wonderful, they said it was one of the best trips they’ve ever taken) and the beautiful weather, I haven’t spent that much time indoors by my computer. Soon I need to remedy that and finish up some of these articles. In the end, I do think my time has flown by here. I’m really grateful to the friends and family back in the US who have been so wonderful about keeping in touch with me!
We all laughed and explained that it was a gift for our Russian film history professor, who was having us over for breakfast. But taken out of context, both this and our lives here in general sound pretty decadent. Sleeping in, one or two classes a day at most, museums, sightseeing, reading in parks and cafes, free shows…it’s a tough life, but someone has to live it. As my time in Moscow draws to a close (I leave the morning of the 25th), I’ve begun reflecting on what I will and won’t miss. But to be honest, I think what I will miss the most is the lifestyle. After months of stress in Cambridge, Moscow has been a much-needed respite from constant stress. So here are some lists, since we all know how much I enjoy lists:
THINGS I WON’T MISS
-Moscow drivers: Every time I walk down the street and cross, I glare at and try to ESP the approaching vehicle, “don’t you dare hit me you motherf***er.”
-Cigarette smoke: it’s gotten so bad that I’ve found myself craving a cigarette at times. Can you get addicted to nicotine through second-hand smoke?
-Super thin walls in the dorm
-The very long stair trek up to the 5th floor
-Mullets: on men AND women. Oy vey.
-Having someone speak to me in Russian and only being able to stare at them. And stutter. Or blink.
-Worrying about my internet usage
-Being in a group 60% of the time
-Moscow Fashion: jeans with ripple/dart thingies on the sides of the thighs, monochromatic look, fishnets, fur, overdressing for everything, heels so high the women look like a strong gust of wind my topple them over…as my friend Sarah said, “stay classy, Moscow.”
THINGS I WILL MISS
-Moscow Fashion: because it is endlessly entertaining! Laura and I made up a game where we rank outfits, hairstyles, and heel height on a scale of 1-10 crazy.
-Museums: learning about Russian art and then seeing it. Learning about/reading Russian authors and seeing where they lived.
-Russian food: especially blinis, cireniki, pelemeni, Georgian restaurants, and the chocolate
-How everything can become an adventure: the super market, finding your way, taking the wrong metro exit but seeing a really beautiful ceiling in it, small triumphs in Russian language communication
-The classes: especially our classes with Tolya. We had the most amazing lecture with him this week as a whole class, when he told us about his first foray into researching Bulgakov (he’s a Bulgakov scholar), and meeting Bulgakov’s widow. It was amazing. Then on Friday he took the four dramaturgs out to lunch at a Georgian café near where he lives by Patriarch’s Ponds.
-Springtime in Moscow. It’s so gorgeous!
-Free productions practically every night. Many of them wonderful.
-Immersing myself in another culture…well, almost. That whole language barrier has made it rather tricky. But still.
-No morning classes=sleeping in
-Only work is enjoyable reading and writing
Sorry it’s been so long since I last wrote, by the way. Between my parents’ visit (which was wonderful, they said it was one of the best trips they’ve ever taken) and the beautiful weather, I haven’t spent that much time indoors by my computer. Soon I need to remedy that and finish up some of these articles. In the end, I do think my time has flown by here. I’m really grateful to the friends and family back in the US who have been so wonderful about keeping in touch with me!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Dad Goes Rogue
When my parents arrived, I was about to start my 2 p.m. class. My mom decided to take a nap, but my dad agreed to meet me when my class let out at 3:20 p.m. “It’s super close to your hotel,” I told him. “You go out of the hotel, turn right, turn right on the first major street that’s K something Most, then cross the next intersection onto Kamergersky where you’ll see a flower stand. It’s about mid-way up on the right, across from a Starbucks and Tibet restaurant. You’ll see a vertical green sign that says TEATP (theatre in Cyrllic).” Easy, right?
As I left my class I saw a text from my dad: “Lost. Call when out of class.” Uh oh…
I wasn’t too concerned, since at least my dad knows Cyrillic. I called him. Please note his responses were all quite calm and in a good mood.
“Dad, how did you get lost?? Where are you?”
“Is MXAT near the Pushkin Theatre?”
The Pushkin is about a 15-minute walk from MXAT. At my father’s rate, 25.
“No! Is that where you are?!?!”
“No, but I was.”
“Well where are you now?”
“I’m on Tverskaya.”
Tverskaya is the most major street in Moscow. And long.
“Dad, where on Tverskaya? It’s a big street.”
“I’m by a MacDonald’s.”
There are two MacDonald’s on Tverskaya. One across from MXAT. One near the Pushkin Theatre.
“Are you still near the Pushkin??”
“No…”
“So what else is there? Are you near the Telegraph building?”
“Is that the post office?
“Yes!”
“Yeah, that’s where I am.”
“Okay, Dad, use the perekhod, cross to the other—“
“The what?”
Woops, I forgot.
“A perekhod, it’s what you use to cross underneath the major streets since you can’t walk across. Do you see it?”
“Oh yeah, I see it.”
“Okay, I’m leaving the building, I’ll meet you on the other side of the perekhod.”
When I got to the perekhod, there was no sign of my father. I called him.
“Dad, where are you?”
“I started walking on Tverskaya.”
“What?! Why? Which direction??”
“I don’t know…”
“Dad, come BACK to the perekhod!”
“Okay!”
Father and daughter reunite, hug, and Dad takes a sit-down to explain. He is still in great spirits.
“Dad, HOW did you wind up by the PUSHKIN???”
“Well, the hotel gave me a map, and circled where I should go—“
Uh-oh. You know this is no good. The theater circled on the map is not MXAT.
“That’s not MXAT! Why did they send you there??”
I agonize over this for while, but we’ll move on to my Dad’s adventure…
“So I turned left out of the hotel (we remember this is wrong, right?), and then walked up and saw this great sculpture garden, and so I wandered around that for a while, and then I walked up and over by the Pushkin, there’s a great photography exhibit there, have you seen it? And then I got hungry, so I got a great hot dog—“
“Wait, Dad, did you get a stardog?!”
Stardogs, which I call Crapdogs because of how they look in Cyrillic, are stands everywhere here. Someone I know told me they have caused some serious food poisoning and said eating them is “playing with fire.” I relate this to my dad.
“Oh, well, it was really yummy. Then I texted you and realized I was lost, so I asked a policeman for directions—“
“You WHAT?!?!?! Dad, you NEVER ask a policeman for directions!! You never talk to them or even make eye contact!”
“Well he was really nice and helpful! I just said, ‘gde MXAT?’ and he pointed me in the right direction! He was very nice and he had a nice new uniform.”
(Later I deducted that I think my dad actually asked a security guard, not a police officer, or a MoPo as I like to call them.)
“Okay, well promise me you won’t do it again, okay?”
Thus ends my father’s adventure. I was never too concerned since my dad really likes to wander and is pretty city-savvy. But he’s been having difficulty walking long distances, and Moscow is about the most impossible city if you can’t walk to get around. We’ll see how things go when I take them to the Kremlin today…which is where I’m heading now!
As I left my class I saw a text from my dad: “Lost. Call when out of class.” Uh oh…
I wasn’t too concerned, since at least my dad knows Cyrillic. I called him. Please note his responses were all quite calm and in a good mood.
“Dad, how did you get lost?? Where are you?”
“Is MXAT near the Pushkin Theatre?”
The Pushkin is about a 15-minute walk from MXAT. At my father’s rate, 25.
“No! Is that where you are?!?!”
“No, but I was.”
“Well where are you now?”
“I’m on Tverskaya.”
Tverskaya is the most major street in Moscow. And long.
“Dad, where on Tverskaya? It’s a big street.”
“I’m by a MacDonald’s.”
There are two MacDonald’s on Tverskaya. One across from MXAT. One near the Pushkin Theatre.
“Are you still near the Pushkin??”
“No…”
“So what else is there? Are you near the Telegraph building?”
“Is that the post office?
“Yes!”
“Yeah, that’s where I am.”
“Okay, Dad, use the perekhod, cross to the other—“
“The what?”
Woops, I forgot.
“A perekhod, it’s what you use to cross underneath the major streets since you can’t walk across. Do you see it?”
“Oh yeah, I see it.”
“Okay, I’m leaving the building, I’ll meet you on the other side of the perekhod.”
When I got to the perekhod, there was no sign of my father. I called him.
“Dad, where are you?”
“I started walking on Tverskaya.”
“What?! Why? Which direction??”
“I don’t know…”
“Dad, come BACK to the perekhod!”
“Okay!”
Father and daughter reunite, hug, and Dad takes a sit-down to explain. He is still in great spirits.
“Dad, HOW did you wind up by the PUSHKIN???”
“Well, the hotel gave me a map, and circled where I should go—“
Uh-oh. You know this is no good. The theater circled on the map is not MXAT.
“That’s not MXAT! Why did they send you there??”
I agonize over this for while, but we’ll move on to my Dad’s adventure…
“So I turned left out of the hotel (we remember this is wrong, right?), and then walked up and saw this great sculpture garden, and so I wandered around that for a while, and then I walked up and over by the Pushkin, there’s a great photography exhibit there, have you seen it? And then I got hungry, so I got a great hot dog—“
“Wait, Dad, did you get a stardog?!”
Stardogs, which I call Crapdogs because of how they look in Cyrillic, are stands everywhere here. Someone I know told me they have caused some serious food poisoning and said eating them is “playing with fire.” I relate this to my dad.
“Oh, well, it was really yummy. Then I texted you and realized I was lost, so I asked a policeman for directions—“
“You WHAT?!?!?! Dad, you NEVER ask a policeman for directions!! You never talk to them or even make eye contact!”
“Well he was really nice and helpful! I just said, ‘gde MXAT?’ and he pointed me in the right direction! He was very nice and he had a nice new uniform.”
(Later I deducted that I think my dad actually asked a security guard, not a police officer, or a MoPo as I like to call them.)
“Okay, well promise me you won’t do it again, okay?”
Thus ends my father’s adventure. I was never too concerned since my dad really likes to wander and is pretty city-savvy. But he’s been having difficulty walking long distances, and Moscow is about the most impossible city if you can’t walk to get around. We’ll see how things go when I take them to the Kremlin today…which is where I’m heading now!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
A Petersburg Adventure
Sorry to have fallen off the face of the earth, dear friends/family/readers. I’ve actually had a lot of work lately. It’s hard to believe that just a week ago I was in the middle of my 42 hours in St. Petersburg.
At 9 p.m. we left the dorm for the train station. We waited there for a little while before our overnight sleeper train departed around 10:30 p.m. After dropping our backpacks in the teeny-tiny rooms, we proceeded to celebrate my acting classmate Chris’s birthday. Between this, the hot and stuffy nature of our car, and how my mattress continually slid off (thus taking me with it), I think I maybe got 3 hours of sleep total before arriving at the St. Petersburg train station at 6:45 a.m.
We got off the train and I was suddenly filled with love for Mother Russia. Perhaps this was because patriotic music was blasting throughout the station. We made our way to a Coffee House (it’s a chain here phonetically spelled out in Cyrillic) where we had breakfast and waited around in our various zombie/slap-happy states for our bus tour at 9 a.m.
The bus tour was great, largely thanks to our wonderful guide Olga. In addition to near-perfect English, she knew a lot of interesting facts about the history and architecture of the city. For four hours we drove around the city, visiting convents, cathedrals, churches, and other scenic lookouts. The city’s architecture is beautiful, and with all of its canals St. Petersburg gets many comparisons to cities like Venice or Amsterdam.
After dropping our bags at the hostel, we had about an hour for lunch before we met for our guided tour of the Winter Palace, which houses the Hermitage museum. Once again we had a great English-speaking guide who took us around for about two hours. The Hermitage is immense and incredible, containing artists from Da Vinci to Picasso. I found it kind of overwhelming, because in addition to the works themselves the building is a work of art, with gold encrusted rooms and galleries filled with intricate designs. At 5 p.m. when the tour wrapped up I was tempted to go back to the hostel and shower since I was so exhausted. Luckily Laura wanted to stick around and explore more, and I’m glad I did too, because when will I get the chance to be in the Hermitage again? We wound up finding a great area with a collection of 19th century décor.
Despite my exhaustion, I was determined to get some more out of the day. After showering, I set off with Joe, Rachel, Laura, and actor classmate Faith to see the nearby Church on Spilled Blood, which looks similar to St. Basil’s. After taking photos we wandered the nearby market, which was closing. We then met up with our leaders Tanya, Nastia, Polina, and acting classmate Ed for dinner at a Georgian restaurant (I think I’ve successfully managed to have Georgian food at least every two weeks here). I passed out around midnight back at our hostel, which was thankfully near the main area of the city.
After breakfast at 8 a.m. the next day, we boarded a bus for Pushkin town, which is technically part of St. Petersburg but on the outskirts. There we visited Tsarkoe Selo, Catherine the Great’s Summer Palace. With Olga as our guide once more, we followed her through rooms covered in gold, the famous amber room (walls are made of mosaics of amber, it’s really incredible but no photos were allowed in that room), and much more. We also walked the grounds a bit—luckily it was sunny despite being chilly enough for a hat and gloves, even though it was April. We also walked around the grounds of Pavlosk, Catherine’s son Paul’s palace.
The bus dropped us off in front of the Alexandrinsky Theater around 2:15 p.m., where we would meet again to see the Alexandrinsky’s theatre museum and show at 5:45 p.m. Laura and I got off the bus and booked it to the Russian Museum. When we arrived there was a line of people at the gate and a sign saying that the museum was full, and they would let in more people when the coat checkrooms had more room. We were torn: we had limited time and other sights we wanted to see, but the Russian Museum was at the top of my list. Thankfully good things come to those who wait, and after just five minutes they let people into the museum. Although we had to go through this museum at a rather fast pace, we managed to see all but the folk art section in 90 minutes AND visit the gift shop (I got a deck of cards with pictures from the museum for us to play during our epically long travel plans to India and Greece). This was probably the highlight of the trip for me. I’ve really loved our Russian Art History course, and seeing them in reality was exciting. Laura and I kept pointing out the works we’d studied and snapping photos, discovering some new faves in the process. When I showed one to our prof Anna on Monday (Ilya Repin’s Sadko), and asked her what she knew about it, she told me that I have “progressive taste.” I hope this is a good thing. We also wound up seeing a bunch of artists we learned about the next day, which was cool. This was also the place where I saw my new favorite sculpture that I have lovingly nicknamed Zombie Baby, since it looks like a zombie baby and is really ridiculous for a piece of 19th century sculpture.
At 4 p.m. Laura and I were finally starting to get really hungry, but we still wanted to climb to the top of St. Isaac’s. So en route we stopped in a Teremok, got ham and cheese blinis to go and ate them as we walked (this is not exactly the easiest thing to eat and walk with at the same time). We were concerned that it was going to close before we got there, but we made it with a half hour to spare. After climbing the 211 stairs, we found our friend and acting classmate Erikka at the top. Once we had enjoyed the view, the three of us made our way back down and walked along the canals back to the Alexandrinsky theatre. We were quite proud of ourselves for cramming so much into our free time. We had amazing seats at the show that night, Brecht’s Man=Man, and it was one of my favorite productions thus far. I’m going to write an article about how well it exemplified Brechtian staging.
After the show got out 10 p.m., we had an hour to eat before we got our bags and walked to the train station for our train departing at 12:40 a.m. Thankfully the cars were a bit more spacious, not hot, and my bed didn’t fall off this time. I’m sad we didn’t have more time in St. Petersburg, but grateful for the experience. The city is so different from Moscow: fewer cars, less busy streets, cleaner, more beautiful. Although I do think that if Moscow took down half of its blaring signs and lights it could look similar. Also if cars stopped parking on the sidewalks.
In many ways the trip felt like a culmination of everything we’ve been learning. I felt like I was able to appreciate every detail so much more because we had learned about it. I feel so lucky to be able to immerse myself in another culture and its history. As our Russian film history prof Galina said, “You can’t boil in your own soup; you need to learn more about other cultures to enrich yourself.”
At 9 p.m. we left the dorm for the train station. We waited there for a little while before our overnight sleeper train departed around 10:30 p.m. After dropping our backpacks in the teeny-tiny rooms, we proceeded to celebrate my acting classmate Chris’s birthday. Between this, the hot and stuffy nature of our car, and how my mattress continually slid off (thus taking me with it), I think I maybe got 3 hours of sleep total before arriving at the St. Petersburg train station at 6:45 a.m.
We got off the train and I was suddenly filled with love for Mother Russia. Perhaps this was because patriotic music was blasting throughout the station. We made our way to a Coffee House (it’s a chain here phonetically spelled out in Cyrillic) where we had breakfast and waited around in our various zombie/slap-happy states for our bus tour at 9 a.m.
The bus tour was great, largely thanks to our wonderful guide Olga. In addition to near-perfect English, she knew a lot of interesting facts about the history and architecture of the city. For four hours we drove around the city, visiting convents, cathedrals, churches, and other scenic lookouts. The city’s architecture is beautiful, and with all of its canals St. Petersburg gets many comparisons to cities like Venice or Amsterdam.
After dropping our bags at the hostel, we had about an hour for lunch before we met for our guided tour of the Winter Palace, which houses the Hermitage museum. Once again we had a great English-speaking guide who took us around for about two hours. The Hermitage is immense and incredible, containing artists from Da Vinci to Picasso. I found it kind of overwhelming, because in addition to the works themselves the building is a work of art, with gold encrusted rooms and galleries filled with intricate designs. At 5 p.m. when the tour wrapped up I was tempted to go back to the hostel and shower since I was so exhausted. Luckily Laura wanted to stick around and explore more, and I’m glad I did too, because when will I get the chance to be in the Hermitage again? We wound up finding a great area with a collection of 19th century décor.
Despite my exhaustion, I was determined to get some more out of the day. After showering, I set off with Joe, Rachel, Laura, and actor classmate Faith to see the nearby Church on Spilled Blood, which looks similar to St. Basil’s. After taking photos we wandered the nearby market, which was closing. We then met up with our leaders Tanya, Nastia, Polina, and acting classmate Ed for dinner at a Georgian restaurant (I think I’ve successfully managed to have Georgian food at least every two weeks here). I passed out around midnight back at our hostel, which was thankfully near the main area of the city.
After breakfast at 8 a.m. the next day, we boarded a bus for Pushkin town, which is technically part of St. Petersburg but on the outskirts. There we visited Tsarkoe Selo, Catherine the Great’s Summer Palace. With Olga as our guide once more, we followed her through rooms covered in gold, the famous amber room (walls are made of mosaics of amber, it’s really incredible but no photos were allowed in that room), and much more. We also walked the grounds a bit—luckily it was sunny despite being chilly enough for a hat and gloves, even though it was April. We also walked around the grounds of Pavlosk, Catherine’s son Paul’s palace.
The bus dropped us off in front of the Alexandrinsky Theater around 2:15 p.m., where we would meet again to see the Alexandrinsky’s theatre museum and show at 5:45 p.m. Laura and I got off the bus and booked it to the Russian Museum. When we arrived there was a line of people at the gate and a sign saying that the museum was full, and they would let in more people when the coat checkrooms had more room. We were torn: we had limited time and other sights we wanted to see, but the Russian Museum was at the top of my list. Thankfully good things come to those who wait, and after just five minutes they let people into the museum. Although we had to go through this museum at a rather fast pace, we managed to see all but the folk art section in 90 minutes AND visit the gift shop (I got a deck of cards with pictures from the museum for us to play during our epically long travel plans to India and Greece). This was probably the highlight of the trip for me. I’ve really loved our Russian Art History course, and seeing them in reality was exciting. Laura and I kept pointing out the works we’d studied and snapping photos, discovering some new faves in the process. When I showed one to our prof Anna on Monday (Ilya Repin’s Sadko), and asked her what she knew about it, she told me that I have “progressive taste.” I hope this is a good thing. We also wound up seeing a bunch of artists we learned about the next day, which was cool. This was also the place where I saw my new favorite sculpture that I have lovingly nicknamed Zombie Baby, since it looks like a zombie baby and is really ridiculous for a piece of 19th century sculpture.
At 4 p.m. Laura and I were finally starting to get really hungry, but we still wanted to climb to the top of St. Isaac’s. So en route we stopped in a Teremok, got ham and cheese blinis to go and ate them as we walked (this is not exactly the easiest thing to eat and walk with at the same time). We were concerned that it was going to close before we got there, but we made it with a half hour to spare. After climbing the 211 stairs, we found our friend and acting classmate Erikka at the top. Once we had enjoyed the view, the three of us made our way back down and walked along the canals back to the Alexandrinsky theatre. We were quite proud of ourselves for cramming so much into our free time. We had amazing seats at the show that night, Brecht’s Man=Man, and it was one of my favorite productions thus far. I’m going to write an article about how well it exemplified Brechtian staging.
After the show got out 10 p.m., we had an hour to eat before we got our bags and walked to the train station for our train departing at 12:40 a.m. Thankfully the cars were a bit more spacious, not hot, and my bed didn’t fall off this time. I’m sad we didn’t have more time in St. Petersburg, but grateful for the experience. The city is so different from Moscow: fewer cars, less busy streets, cleaner, more beautiful. Although I do think that if Moscow took down half of its blaring signs and lights it could look similar. Also if cars stopped parking on the sidewalks.
In many ways the trip felt like a culmination of everything we’ve been learning. I felt like I was able to appreciate every detail so much more because we had learned about it. I feel so lucky to be able to immerse myself in another culture and its history. As our Russian film history prof Galina said, “You can’t boil in your own soup; you need to learn more about other cultures to enrich yourself.”
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