Kane's Russian Odyssey

The first half of the pictures

2005-06-11T21:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have the first part of my picture collection uploaded to a web album. Still waiting on the other half to be sent to me.

http://community.webshots.com/user/zhenshanre

Back in the USA

2005-06-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, after about 18 hours of being on a plane or in an airport, I finally got home around 1 am EST. It was definitely good to see my family! However to my Russianized self, that was 9am - I had been up since 8:30 am after going to bed at 4:30am before we left. Needless to say, I passed out when I finally got home.

When our international flight landed, half the people on the plane started cheering and clapping! Finally almost back home! Just required a lot more waiting in US airports and delays on planes there, lol. And haha, I went to dinner with 2 other people flying back United from JFK with me - but the only restuarant they had was McDonalds, damnit! That was a staple of my Russian diet, after all. But I beat the system, I ordered a Quarter Pounder With Cheese (PSHHHH to the metric system) and a Dr. Pepper (they don't have that in Russia), and I got ice in my drink! Giardia-free ice (I really wanted a glass of ice water from the tap, that would've been a double-whammy).

All I really have to say right now is that going to Russia was the best experience of my life so far. It was so amazing, and so much fun. The people on the trip with me were all just so cool and friendly, it was like a family of 30 or so people. It's sad to know that I'll never be able to repeat that same experience again. The company and just the general situation is what I'm going to miss the most. Luckily, I'll get to see some of those people this summer ( ; and some more next year in school.

Anyway, it is definitely good to be home, however weird it is. Driving back into our neighborhood, I thought it felt so weird being in a suburban area. I had been in two major world cities for the past 3 weeks, was starting to forget what the suburban life looked like.

So yeah, Russia was amazing and I'm still trying to just step back and assess all that we did and all that I learned... and just trying figure out where I'm going next.

Also, I'll post pictures here when I get a chance!

Wow, what an excellent birthday!

2005-06-01T08:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, to be honest, I think this was easily one of the greatest birthdays ever.

The night before all of us got together and the Havighurst Center bought a ton of groceries, and "beverages" (I have a picture to show you all later). So we got together and made some food - sandwiches, caviar (eww), fruit, etc... and all just hung out in this one apartment style room (there were like 30 of us in there). And it was a lot of fun, all the people on this trip are really cool. And I ended up talking to Allyson for most of the time, and well, I got a birthday kiss when it was my birthday. ^-^

Ok, so the birthday definitely started out good. Then I went to bed and we had to be up in the morning for a Crime and Punishment walking tour. While that may sound sort of lame, it is my favorite book of all time. So we got to trace the steps of Raskolnikov through St. Petersburg and talked about some of the history of Dostoevsky. And well, the scenery is pretty much just what Dostoevsky depicts in the novel - they were pretty dirty, grimy parts of the city.

Then we had a break in the day, so I got some Pizza Hut for the third day in a row. John got really sick after eating the caviar the night before, and thought it was about the only thing he'd be able to hold down. So we got sweet Russian food ;0 and then took a nap before it was time to get ready for the tv show.

6:30 rolled around and we got dressed up and headed out to the studio. It was really sweet, I had never been in a tv studio like that before. And they totally surprised me by playing Happy Birthday to me on the air and the tv station gave me a present. It was pretty sweet - at least 2 million people knew it was my birthday! And the tv show itself was alright, but we had a bad translator so it was sort of difficult to communicate. Some questions and answers from both sides were sort of misconstrued I think, but it all turned out alright. I answered a couple questions, and everyone said I did a pretty good job of answering - so, whatever!

Then after the tv show, the bus we were in took us to the Tinkoff place I mentioned early. We couldn't all sit together since it was our whole group, plus some of the Russian students from the tv show who came out with us. But I got to sit with my closest friends on the trip like Allyson, John, Kelly, Ilya, Katy, and Witney. We all had a good time, and I did not consume too much vodka (4 (large?) shots). And haha, totally got a pina colada and definitely got made fun of. But John and I were joking about getting them earlier, so he ended up getting one too - but the only difference was that we got a picture of him sipping his pina colada with the pretty umbrella. And I got to try one of the beers they brewed in the place which was pretty decent (it was a dark, wheat beer).

Then we left Tinkoff and got to hang out some more. It was really just a good time all day long. And oh, we got our dinner covered again by the professors - so that was definitely a good deal.

And yeah, we're (a small group of us - the history and literature tracks) about to head out for some sushi so I've gotta run!

Thanks for hte birhtday wishes from everyone! And Dad, don't worry, I'm not going to bring home any Russian brides! Even though I've had to say, a lot of them may look like that... Haha, but they say in Russia that the women look good until they're 30, then they turn in to babooshaks (little old ladies). And that video is hilarious!

I will see you guys soon! One more day left here, and then we're flying home! It's bittersweet, but I'm ready to come home!

Kane's Russian Odyssey

2005-05-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

Kane's Russian Odyssey

Happy Birthday 21st Birthday to You Kane Kayser!

On May 31,1984 you entered this world... it hasn't been the same yet

Everyone misses you here!

I hacked your username and password to post this on the main page

Remember -- NO RUSSIAN BRIDES unless of course they look like this

Otherwise ... This will be the results Click here

Love

Dad

Back in Petersburg

2005-05-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

So, just wanted to let you guys know we just got back into Petersburg. We got in around 9:30 I guess, and we walked back from the train station to our hotel. I <3 Petersburg because it's so easy to tell where you are and where you need to go.

Yesterday was a pretty fun day - and the last day in Moscow. So last night I went out to this club called the "Hungry Duck". John had been telling me about it for a while, since he went there last year when he was living here (he lived in Novgorod, but went to Moscow and Petersburg). So a bunch of us went out after hte opera at the Bolshoi, and only like 3 of us ended up staying for any decent length of time. Haha, some of the Chechnians ended up showing up and one of the girls we were with got in some trouble - so we had to leave earlier than we intended on. Oh well, it was still fun, we all got to dance and stuff for a few hours.

Then haha, today we got checked out of the last Soviet institution in Russia - the Hotel Russia (which will not be there next year). I don't know if I told you guys, but it's this humongous, run-down hotel from the Kruschev era still owned by the city of Moscow. So since we had so many things go "Soviet" while staying there, we didn't bother to really check out. We just turned in all our keys to our key lady (which is a Soviet institution, in a way, itself) and left without telling a lobby or anything.

So we had 4 hours to waste before our train for Petersburg left. So we took our bus and chilled in this one little are of Moscow. I ended up going to the first McDonalds in Russia - holy shit, it was sweet. It was the greatest McDonald's I've ever seen in my entire life. It was incredibly clean and set up like, maybe, an avant garde office building or cafe or something. They had an internet access thing, and listening stations at some of the booths for certain cds. And they had their own cafe... and like 24 cash registers.

Then it was the train ride back here. Which was pretty nice. On a non-Russia note - Allyson and I sat together one the way back to Petersburg and I've been talking to her a lot lately. I think she's pretty cool, and in the very least, someone I hope to keep as a friend after this whole Russia thing is over. And pshhh, she's from mason, we can hang out over the summer!

But yeah, that's all the news for now. I think I'm about to head out here and see if I can maybe get some dinner. I didn't have a chance to do a cash exchange and the ATM I used to use in Petersburg is closed for the night - and I only have 200 rubles. That's not going to get me very far, except maybe another McDonalds dinner....or maybe I can eat ath the Okey Pokey - the Russian restuarant right by our hotel. We'll see...

And I'll catch you guys later. I got the syllabus for our group officially changed for my birthday, by they way. We're all going out after the our tv appearance to this place called Tinkoff (sushi/microbrewery).

Customs of Russia

2005-05-28T03:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I was thinking about it lately. When I come back home, I'm going to be the worst person ever thanks to the things I've picked up in Russia.

First, in Soviet Russia, there are no lines. There are herds of people standing in front of several cash registers, trying to make their way to them. Only the strong survive. This is especially true in the food world. The other day at McDonalds, I did the Russian thing - cut into the middle part of the herd where the line to teh counter was the shortest, and then pushed through a bunch of people. I got to the cash register before practically everyone around me. And we've learned you send one person in at a time to order - so I was ordering for myself and for Allyson. The more people in the herd makes it harder for you to get through, people get left behind. So I got up the counter, I found I still have a shred of decency left in myself that Russia cannot take away - and let this old English lady order her food (she hadn't moved in the line since I got in it). She was short and had a walking cane, lol, so I told her to come up to the counter with me. Moral of the story is, I don't think I'll ever be able to twait in a traditional line ever again.

Then, another thing about Russia is that they really don't clean up after themselves. When you are done eating, you are expected to leave your food where it lies. You CANNOT bus your own table. I got yelled at the other day in the mall for trying to throw away the food I was done with. So I've learned to just leave anything and everything where it is, because pfft, I'm not supposed to care about taking care of things after I'm done.

I've also learned to never really say thank you. The Russians never do it. Since I've been here, I've said "spice-eebva" (thank you) at least 2093848945897 more times than I've said "pajhalstah" (you're welcome). I think I've just given up on using either of those now. People seem to give you a scowl if you tell them "spice-eebva".

And this has been especially true in Red Square. Traditionally, Russians don't seem to care if they walk in front of someone taking a picture. So I've adopted that same policy. Going through Red Square, I'll see a family getting ready for a group picture... and I walk right through the middle of our picture. One of the guys in our group today actually purposefully put himself in someone else's photo today when we were inside the Kremlin. I'm sure I've ruined countless tourist photographs in Red Square by now, I trek across it at least 4 times a day. I may even be unconsciously swerving towards groups of people who look like tourists, so I can delay their picture taking. After all, Russia is allll about waiting.

And on another note, today while visiting the Moscow Kremlin there was this guy who looked like Lenin (ленин) while we were waiting for some of our group members to show up. So we tried to nonchalantly take our photograph with him. I think he started to catch on after a while, because as our friends john went down the stairs and around to take our picture from the bottom, our buddy lenin slowly turned his head. We were really disappointed. )=

Also, if you go to any ballet in Russia - go to the Mariinsky over the Kremlin in Moscow. The ballet last night was pretty lame. I think one person danced in the entire first act. One person. All the ballet fans that I knew were like "Oh my god, this is the most horrible ballet we've ever seen." Then second act was a little better, but meh.

Tonight we're off to the Bolshoi to see an opera. I don't nkow what the opera is called, or what it's about, but I'll find out eventually.

And oh, then we're meeting with a famous Russian author tomorrow. She's won the equivalent of the Pulitzer in Russia, so she's like wildly famous for an intellectual. And then when we get back to St. Petersburg, we're doing a tour of another film studio... but this time a director is leading us... like a famous Russian director. My professor is really excited about meeting him since he's really in to Russian movies. And I don't know how we get to do some of the thigns we're doing here in Russia, some of the people who set up this trip have some ridiculous connections or something.

Oh yeah, to anyone reading this, would you guYs still be willing to go out on June 4th? I should be getting in around 11:45pm on the 3rd, so I think I'll pass out by then and sleep through the afternoon on the 4th. But maybe we can go out on the 4th? I'm gonna see if some people from the trip would want to go out then too, since a few of them are from Cincinnati.

And ok, I'm out probably until tomorrow evening (it's saturday afternoon here now). We're taking the day train from Moscow back to St. Petersburg tomorrow at 4:30 pm and we should get back in around 9.

Peace!

Power Outages and a Massive Heat Wave in Moscow

2005-05-27T03:07:00.000-07:00

Haha, the past few days have been pretty interesting. I heard that some of the stuff going on here made CNN - the record setting heat and the power outage that affected 4 regions of the country. The heat has been pretty horrible, most of the places here don't have air and it's been getting up to like 31 or 32 celsius. I know we definitely set a record high for one of the days we've been here in Moscow. Add that to the fact that most places don't have air conditioning or any sort of fans or anything, it's been pretty HOT. )= Like sweating at nighttime with the windows open hot. So sleeping at night got even harder, thanks to the loud music from the club that's located 5 floors below us and the 84 degree weather in our rooms AT NIGHT.

But the power outage didn't really affect my group when it happened. We took a bus out of the city at 8 that morning to head towards a famous battle site from the War of 1812 in Russia (we went to the Battlefield of Borrodino). It was actually a pretty cool time, got to see some of the more scenic or rural parts of Russia and got to see a ton of statues dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. We actually had no idea that the power was out in Moscow until we got back and were told we couldn't ride the elevators up to our rooms. So we got upstairs and found everyone else (there were like 16 other people in political science and business at the hotel, my group is normally history and russian/literature). They didn't chance to do anything today because the metros were out, and some people had been stuck in an elevator for a while - so they were just playing Russian charades. This whole power outage thing is pretty interesting though - the head of the Russian Energy Commission or whatever its name is took the blame for the incident (an explosion at the main power plant). They day after the administration charged him with a criminal offense - so a lot of people here think it's an attempt to just get this guy out of office. He's a leftover from the Yeltsin regime, and just last month there was an assassination attempt on the same guy.

But actually later that night was pretty cool too. There are a group of Chechyian (I don't actually know how to spell that) students staying in our hotel who are practicing because they're going to be on this show that's the European equivalent to American Idol. So we all got together and talked to them for a while, and then we got to see the routine they were goign to do for when they're on tv. They were all pretty cool (they were all university students too). And at one point they were going to pull my roommate John up to dance, but he said, in Russian, "No, I don't dance. BUT THIS GUY, HE'S AN AWESOME DANCER" So I got pulled up and danced with them some, haha, definitely made a fool out of myself but it was all in fun.

Then yesterday I think we went on the best tour we have been on yet: we went to the Red October Chocolate Factory. I almost made myself Sick with all the chocolate I had. I probably had like 25 pieces of all sorts of random chocolates they make in their factory within 20 minutes. Then afterwards, they gave us a ton of chocolate as souvenirs - so hopefully I'll be bring some of that home assuming it doesn't melt first (the weather has cooled down after a day's rain, so there's a chance it might not melt). And earlier in the morning we had gone to a art museum that was pretty good, so after the chocolate factory we had a free day and decided to visit Christ the Savior Cathedral - the third biggest cathedral in the world. Holy shit, it was huge. It was intended to be the biggest cathedral in the world at the time it was built to honor those who died in the War of 1812, but resources were rare so it became the 3rd largest. Then in the Stalin years, it was knocked down and planned to be site for the biggest Lenin statue ever built. Those plans got squished too, and it was turned into the largest outdoor swimming pool in the world. Then after the Soviet Union collapsed, they reconstructed the church using the original plans from 1912.

Later that night we ended up going to this 50s style American diner with me, Allyson, Katy, and 3 professors (Steve, Ben, Bill). It was a pretty good time, and I got the first real milk shake I've had in a while here. Haha, and we actually ended up playing euchre afterwards. I was partners with Bill at first, and it was Katy and Allyson (cute girl from mason) and we ended up losing after going 9-9. Pfft, not bad considering I hadn't played euchre in like 4 years. So Bill and Katy decided to head to bed, so Allyson and I looked around for some people to play euchre with. We eventually found them in some of the grad students down the hall, who we DOMINATED at first, but ended up eventually losing to because I got stuck with a farmer's hand 3 times in a row (and we weren't playing farmer's hand). So whatever, then Allyson left because it was getting kind of late and she goes to bed early anyway and then my roommate John came back and we ended up playing again. Haha, John and I got off to the worst start ever... like I don't think either one of us had anything higher than a queen for 4 deals. So whatever, it was still fun. Haha you guys probably don't want to hear about the euchre though, it's not particularly Russian.

Earlier that night though, Judy, the assistant-provost, was leaving and she told me she was really impressed by me and that I showed an incredible amount of maturity and a positive attitude about everything. So that was pretty cool, considering she's really high up in the school adminstration (all the deans and all the offices in the school report to the provost - so as assistant provost, Judy has like 15 school offices reporting directly to her). And then I found out her husband was a formula one race car driver who's raced at Monte Carlo and other big races.

But oh yeah, today we got to take a tour of Mosfilms - a film studio based here in Moscow. It was pretty interesting, but pshhhh we had a tour of a chocolate factory where we just at the whole time the day before... so it wasn't that great. Besides, the lady kept telling us inane things about the sets they built. Like, "These building aren't really old. We actually have artists who come in and paint the sets to make them look like they're old" and "We use some tricks you don't notice in our movies. These sets aren't historically accurate, we normally use plastic instead of metal" - Oh sweet, I had no idea... I thought they bought an area of land in the early 1900s and preserved it until now. But some of the other stuff in the studio was pretty cool.

And yeah, that's pretty much it for now. I don't know when the next time I'll be able to check e-mail or this blog will be. Tonight we're going to a ballet in the Kremlin, and tomorrow is a busy day with a tour of the Kremlin and an opera at the Bolshoi theater. And then we're taking the train back to St. Petersburg - yay, I can live cheaply again. I might not be able to respond again until Sunday night or maybe sometime on Monday.

Anyway, I will talk to you guys later. Take care!

Kane's Russian Odyssey

2005-05-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

Kane's Russian Odyssey

Good Job Young Man. Stay away from those Russian Bonehead Scam Artists.

Have you bought me any vodka yet?

Soviet Union Still Lives On

2005-05-24T04:22:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I had a pretty "Soviet" experience. We went to the Mayakovsky Museum which is right across from the old KGB building the Liubech. Before we went in, we were standing outside talking about the old KGB building and just what it stood for and all that good stuff. So me and this other girl took a picture of the building, and then we spot two policeman walk across the street and up to us. They're like "Sorry you cannot take pictures of this building. Please delete those images now" So I went and deleted mine, and the girl was using a disposable camera so she just snapped another pictuer of the ground and the police were none the wiser hehe.

After that we got into the museum and it was pretty cool. Mayakovsky was an influential writer whose works were used a lot in the Bolshevik Revolution. So this museum was set up pretty cool, in a very artsy manner - there weren't really exhibits, but a lot of artifacts about him arranged in certain ways. The whole apartment type area that hte museum is in was even a work of art really.

After that we went to the Russian Museum for the War of 1812, which actually ended up being pretty cool. The guide we had was the best guide yet; he was just straight and to the point in everything. Most of these Russians just go on and on and on about inane stuff for a long time, and it makes things pretty boring.

After that we got to go back to our hotel and just chill for a while. Then me and my roommate John decided to go try and find some people to find something to do. So we started to walk toward Red Square and this guy drops a wad of money, in a plastic bag, on the ground. And I'm just like "Scam scam scam scam" since I read about this somewhere befoer we came over to Russia. And so John and I just keep walking, and some other tall Russian guy picks it up and asks us "Did you see who dropped the money?" And John told him, since he speaks Russian. So we just keep on walking and the one guy is like "Let's split the money" and we don't say anything and just keep on walking. And eventually the other guy who "dropped" the money comes up to us, and in very broken english, he says "Excuse me, can I have a minute of your time? I just dropped 10,000 dollars. Did you see it?" And so we just turned around and walked the other way because we weren't e ven going to talk to them. It was just soooo easy to tell these guys were trying to scam us from the very start, they were such horrible actors. Lol, so we walk back down the street and just hang out in front of a couple police cars and wait there for a few minutes. Then we see the two guys both walk down the street together, and we just kind of laughed and walked back through Red Square to get to the mall we were going to in the first place.

And my time is running out on the internet, so thsi part will be pretty short.

Today we went to the headquarters for this group called "Memorial" which was awesome. It is this organization set up to draw public attention to the atrocities committed under the Stalin regime and honor the victims of Stalin, and for that matter other Russian leaders, purges. It was just a really great organization and it was cool to see what they were doing.

But alright, I need to go for now. Might head out to a bookstore, or head back to the hotel to take a nap. I've been feeling kind of sick the past couple days, so I've been extra tired.

Take care! See you guys later!

Moscow continued

2005-05-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

So, we've been in Moscow a few days now, and the one thing I have to say about it is that it's so expensive here. Someone got a cup of coffee for 10 dollars the other day. I think most people think of Russia as being pretty cheap to live in, but that's not true in Moscow. I actually heard it's the third most expensive city in the world to live in -- and I definitely believe it.

So in the past couple days we've been busy. Yesterday started with us going to this huge market in hte Moscow area, and I picked up a few souvenirs. Then we got some lunch (at mcdonalds, because I'm cheap) then we went to the Tretiakov Gallery (which is a gallery of 20th century Russian art). We spent a couple hours there and also checked out the graveyard of statues that is behind that gallery. Then after that We headed off to see a Russian circus, which was actually pretty cool. I think it was the first *circus* that I've ever seen, and it was at least pretty entertaining.

Then we came back towards our hotel and a few of us went out to mcdonald's/sbarro's again for dinner, because, hey it's cheap. So we got our food and just hung out there for a while. Then we had to walk home through Red Square. I sort of got separated from the rest of the group because I was talking to someone, and apparently we were walking way faster than anyone else.

So we got back and I went to bed pretty soon after we got back (I think it was around 12:30 or 1), and we got our wakeup call around 7am! Awesomeness! So we took a bus drive out to Sergiav Passod which is this huge temple/cathedral complex about an hour outside of Moscow. We got to walk around and actually walked into part of an Orthodox Church Service - kind of interesting. The place is kind of commercialized, of course, there is a little shop inside that sells holy oil and pictures of icons and all that good stuff. I got plenty of pictures, but I had to buy a permit to take pictures - which also got me a copy of the monks of the cathedral singing. And ooh, a better way to describe what this place is - it's where the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church resides in teh summer time.

Then we had a small lunch as a group somewhere around that area, and then headed off for this small town type area called Abramsatov. It was actually an estate of a Russian writer in the 19th century, and a place where Gogol went a lot and wrote some of his text. It was a pretty cool place, sort of looks like a wood/field area from back home.

After that was over we headed back to our hotel, and got back around 6 - probably the earliest we've been done in the past couple weeks. So we had to meet with our professors to talk about our paper topics and our schedule for the next few days since we'll be doing stuff by our tracks generally. And luckily I think I've got a topic for my paper - a comparison of the image of St. Petersburg as the crime capital of the world since the time of Dostoevsky to the modern image of St. Petersburg as a city that has been greatly cleaned up and pretty much reestablished its culture.

And then we a few of us went out to dinner again, and to where? To Sbarros/Mcdonalds, of course. It is the only cheap restuarant around our hotel. And that leads me to where I'm at now, writing this entry in this blog.

And just a note - Dad, there is no live radio address. It's a tv show we're doing, for a local station that broadcasts to St. Petersburg only - I don't think they do anything with the radio or the internet. And I'll keep trying to check my e-mail or messages every day, but that's probably not possible just because I don't have the time. This internet cafe isn't really open 24 hours a day, well it sort of is, but after like 10 pm (when everything else in the mall closes) I have to go through the metro station and figure out how to tell a guard that I need to go into the mall to go to the internet cafe, which requires way more Russian that I currently know.

And yeah, I think that's my update for now! I'll talk to you guys later!

Zach, let me know how work's going.

Love you guys!

Brief update from Moscow

2005-05-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, we got into Moscow at 8am from an overnight train ride. I stayed in a compartment with 2 other guys on this trip, John (my roommate) and Mark, and then we had a 4th random Russian guy stay with us. It was kind of weird, but John speaks Russia so we talked to him for a bit and he was a pretty nice guy.

But today has been a bit frustrating. First our hotel wouldn't let us check in at the time we were supposed to, and so we had to kill like 4 hours. So we tried to go to this mall, and itw as closed. Then we had to wait out in the rain for our bus to come back, and we just basically sat on that for the next few hours. Then there was a really long wait inside the hotel to do anything. Then we got a nap in and headed out to the mall (we cut across red square to get here, hehe).

But ok, I need to take off! Our group is leaving from the mall, and I want to be sure I can get back to our hotel.

Love you guys, and see you later!

Latest News from the Eastern Front

2005-05-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Sorry I really don't get a chance to check online all that often. It is right next door to our hotel basically, but we're normally busy all day with a lot of events. Like today, we left to go to the Hermitage at like 11am after a 2 hour lecture in the morning. So we got there and walked around looking at a lot of exhibitions, and it took us a good 2 hours to figure out how we could even get up to the third floor. This building was so insanely huge. We got a guided tour of their Treasury Collection there which was pretty impressive - there was one blanket made with somewhere around 32,000 diamonds. Then I also got a chance to see a lot of the paintings by Rembrandt, Picasso, Matisse, etc.... There was also a really cool Egyptian and Classical collection, but I couldn't get any pictures because they don't let you use cameras in the building unless you pay some high fee.

Directly after that, I went with some students and some professors to meet with some people at European University in St. Petersburg where everyone talked about the grad program there (one of the girls in our group is going to be in their grad program there next year). So we got done with that probably around 6, and went to this place down the street to get something to eat. The service was really slow, but the food was pretty good. And I just got back near the hotel after that (it's 9:30 now).

And after this we're going back to the hotel and watching this soccer final that has a Russian team in it, and it's a pretty huge event for Russia because they've never won an international soccer championship.

So yeah, sorry if I don't get e-mails out that often! I just really don't find the time to stop by the internet cafe that often, and it's also extra money I'm spending hehe. And Janice, I'm sorry I didn't e-mail you too at first! We stopped by the cafe after being out for a while, so I didn't have any e-mail addresses with me. I got an e-mail from Aunt Cherry so I could just reply to that, and then I e-mailed everyone else from memory (haha, that's why my dad and mom didn't get them right away, I didn't really know what there's were for sure).

And yesterday was really great too. I almost forgot that I haven't told you guys about that. We went to Peterhof, which was the summer palace of the Romanov's in St. Petersburg. We walked around the gardens for a few hours, and it was just really impressive. It was sort of disappointing that most of the stuff wasn't in bloom, but it was still very beautiful. Also, we had some good fun with the trick fountains (that are like pressure triggered). Then later in the evening, we had a quiz that was pretty ridiculous --- but most of the faculty is on our side that these quizzes are ridiculous, and we all have good reasons why we think this. So I'm not too worried about them, but some people are up in arms.

Then after that I went out to a jazz club (called the Jimi Hendrix Blues Club) with a couple of the professors, the two grad students, and 2 other undergrads (one of them was the really cute girl from Mason). Haha, it was really funny...we walked in and the first song we heard the band play was "You Look Wonderful Tonight" (singing in English) and it was pretty good, the guy singing sounded pretty decently like Eric Clapton and they were pretty good musicians. Then they ended up playing some Blue Suede Shows, and a weird version of SomehwereOver the Rainbow. We all just stayed there talking until it closed at midnight, and then went to another place called the Tolstoy Frier which was pretty nice. And we hung out there until about 2 and headed back to the hotel (as soon as we got inside, it started to rain pretty hard).

But yeah, I got a lot of good pictures from Peterhof now and I'm sure I'll get some more good pictures soon. Tomorrow I forget exactly what we've got going on, but I know there's some kind of lecture in the morning, then some activity I'm not sure about, then we're packing up and checking out and taking a bus tour of Putin's St. Petersburg, and then we're off to see a ballet at the Mariinsky Theater, and then we're off to the train station to take the overnight to Moscow. So chances are, I might not see your emails for a while because I don't know if there will be an internet cafe in Moscow.

And oh, one last thing since my internet timer is about to run down. We found out the other night that we're going to be on a open-mic TV talk show that reaches about 2 million viewers in St. Petersburg, and that's actualy going to be on my birthday (9pm our time, 1pm your time). It'll be all of the students on the trip, and then a group of college students from universities in St. Petersburg and we'll have a big discussion with a bunch of call in questions too.

And yeah, that's pretty much it. I've only got a couple minutes left, so I will see you guys later!

Kane's Russian Odyssey

2005-05-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Yeah, sorry I was unsure of some of the emails at first. But I got it to
whoever I could. And I can't really IM you I've realized because of the
time differences, you're not online when I get to go to the internet cafe.
Normally I have free time in the afternoon, which is like 6am for you guys
(and steph and zach aren't really online then)

And I've had a chance to try a few good Russian food places so far. There
is one right next to our hotel that's pronounced "Hokey Pokey" and I'd
type the cyrillic if I knew how to with these keyboards. And I've had
lunch at a few different cafes now that are pretty good.

We've been to some pretty cool places so far. The architecture here is
pretty neat, but I'm expecting to see some more of the really different
architecture when we go to Moscow (since St. Petersburg is the more
Westernized city of the two, Moscow still has a ton of Byzantine
architecture). Today we went to the Peter and Paul Fortress (the founding
place of St. Petersburg) and go to go in to the cathedral where all of the
czars are buried --- and I'm taking a lot of pictures. Also tonight, we
went to see some Russian folk concert thing that was pretty entertaining
and pretty funny.

And so far all of the people here are really cool. I'm rooming with this
kid named jon who speaks Russian, so he helps out a lot hehe. And pretty
much everyone is just really friendly and out going. We all go out and eat
together most of the time, and the professors normally go with us. And
haha, there's a really cute girl on the trip that went to Mason and she's
one of the history majors. ^-^

But yeah, it's a really good time so far and my time on my account is
about to expire so I'm gonna go ahead and send this email now. I'll try
and get back to you guys soon! Take care!

Love,
Kane

> Hey Kane, I got word from aunt that you had emailed Zach so I was glad to
> hear you arrived safely and finally got some rest. I know you had to have
> been exhausted. So I guess that the sushi was good but hopefully by now
> you've had a chance to sample some genuine Russian cuisine. What's weather
> like there now? Is the architecture really cool? Have you seen any
> interesting sights yet? Tell us more when you get a chance. Also now you
> can add my email add to your add book so that I can access without going
> into Zach's mail. I love you, miss you and most of all hope you are having
> the time of your life! Love, Mom

First Day

2005-05-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!
Just wanted to let you know that we got here in Russia about 2pm St Petersburg time (6am EST). Then I promptly passed out until about 8 because that was the first time I got any real sleep. So I ended up missing a lot of the people who went out to get food, but there were some other stragglers here and there and we went out to eat with.
The irony was that our first night in Russia, we went to a sushi place (the Russian restuarants right by our hotel were pretty packed).
Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know that I arrived safely and I'm doing well! Zach, if you get this, you might have to let mom or dad know because I don't know dad's gmail account, and I'm not sure I got mom's email right.
Anyway, I'm about to head back to our hotel to see what's going on for the night! I'll write back soon!

Love,
Kane

Kane's Russia Trip

2005-05-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

Kane -- How is Russia? Give us the daily scoop!