It's now the first full weekend of my stay in Russia over the summer of 2012. It's been a great first week and now that I'm getting settled in though, everything is going fairly well. I'll start of this post with a brief summary of the week.
-24/06/12- We arrived in the airport in Moscow around 10-11am, and took a bus to Yaroslavl. The ride took 6ish hours. I met my host family outside Demidov University where classes take place, and we went to their flat. I gave a few gifts and we looked through some photos of theirs.
-25/06/12- The first day of school; it was primarily orientation by the program director at the University, and then one class, which was entirely in Russian(maybe 15 words of English spoken by the teacher the entire class.) Afterwards we walked around the downtown city on a sort of scavenger hung with a few university students.
-26/06/12- The first full day of classes. It was slightly less intimindating, and I was able to pick out a few words and phrases here and there. We had several teachers. After lunch we visited the Yaroslavl Kremlin. There were some beautiful churches inside and around it, and it overlooks the Volga river on one side. After the Kremlin we went to a park downtown and then saw the 1002th Anniversary of Yaroslavl monument/park
- 27/06/12- We went to a valenki factory in Yaroslavl. To get there we walked along the Volga and saw a run-down church. The machinery at the factory looked like it could've been from Soviet times, and it probably was. It made so much noise and shook so much I'm suprised it didn't fall apart. We also got sim cards for our phones so we could finally use them.
-28/06/12- The first day taking the bus to and from the university by myself. After class we went to a theater and got costumes for a short play that we're supposed to put on in Russian as a end-of-program project. Not really looking forward to that. I also had Russian ice cream for the first time today; it was amazing. We tried to organize a game of football, but it didn't really work out. Had an actual conversation with my host mother, in Russian. We talked about my family and Wisconsin, and I gave her a map of the state. She gave me some office supplies, a book, and a Yaroslavl magnet.
-29/06/12- We had a quiz in school today. It was open-notes which was nice, but I think it would've been ok even if it wasn't. We also had art class today, which was interesting. The teacher is very insistent on us doing everything exactly one way, but she's nice about it. It's kind of funny. My host mom and I went for a walk with the dog and she showed me some places she went when she was a kid. My brother also arrived back from Moscow. He was working as an extra in a television serial for a few days.
-30/06/12- The first day of no school! I got to wake up a little later, which was nice. We had an excursion to a nunnery outside of Yaroslavl. The inside was very beautiful. There were gardens and a pond and several churches. After the nunnery we went down to the Volga and had a picnic, and then all the Russian and American guys played a game of football on a dirt road/clearing in a forested area. Americans won 6-5. My host brother is very athletic and agile, and has fairly good footskills; we balanced each other out nicely in the game. It was very enjoyable. When we got back to Yaroslavl a group of us went to the marketplace and took a look around.
Overall, the program has been a very enjoyable experience so far. I would highly reccomend it to anyone interested in learning another language and who likes to travel. It's getting late and I can't really think of anything else to write beyond this summary, so until next weekend or so, пока!
-24/06/12- We arrived in the airport in Moscow around 10-11am, and took a bus to Yaroslavl. The ride took 6ish hours. I met my host family outside Demidov University where classes take place, and we went to their flat. I gave a few gifts and we looked through some photos of theirs.
-25/06/12- The first day of school; it was primarily orientation by the program director at the University, and then one class, which was entirely in Russian(maybe 15 words of English spoken by the teacher the entire class.) Afterwards we walked around the downtown city on a sort of scavenger hung with a few university students.
-26/06/12- The first full day of classes. It was slightly less intimindating, and I was able to pick out a few words and phrases here and there. We had several teachers. After lunch we visited the Yaroslavl Kremlin. There were some beautiful churches inside and around it, and it overlooks the Volga river on one side. After the Kremlin we went to a park downtown and then saw the 1002th Anniversary of Yaroslavl monument/park
- 27/06/12- We went to a valenki factory in Yaroslavl. To get there we walked along the Volga and saw a run-down church. The machinery at the factory looked like it could've been from Soviet times, and it probably was. It made so much noise and shook so much I'm suprised it didn't fall apart. We also got sim cards for our phones so we could finally use them.
-28/06/12- The first day taking the bus to and from the university by myself. After class we went to a theater and got costumes for a short play that we're supposed to put on in Russian as a end-of-program project. Not really looking forward to that. I also had Russian ice cream for the first time today; it was amazing. We tried to organize a game of football, but it didn't really work out. Had an actual conversation with my host mother, in Russian. We talked about my family and Wisconsin, and I gave her a map of the state. She gave me some office supplies, a book, and a Yaroslavl magnet.
-29/06/12- We had a quiz in school today. It was open-notes which was nice, but I think it would've been ok even if it wasn't. We also had art class today, which was interesting. The teacher is very insistent on us doing everything exactly one way, but she's nice about it. It's kind of funny. My host mom and I went for a walk with the dog and she showed me some places she went when she was a kid. My brother also arrived back from Moscow. He was working as an extra in a television serial for a few days.
-30/06/12- The first day of no school! I got to wake up a little later, which was nice. We had an excursion to a nunnery outside of Yaroslavl. The inside was very beautiful. There were gardens and a pond and several churches. After the nunnery we went down to the Volga and had a picnic, and then all the Russian and American guys played a game of football on a dirt road/clearing in a forested area. Americans won 6-5. My host brother is very athletic and agile, and has fairly good footskills; we balanced each other out nicely in the game. It was very enjoyable. When we got back to Yaroslavl a group of us went to the marketplace and took a look around.
Overall, the program has been a very enjoyable experience so far. I would highly reccomend it to anyone interested in learning another language and who likes to travel. It's getting late and I can't really think of anything else to write beyond this summary, so until next weekend or so, пока!
