The Kremlin Armory and THAT Church

A nice, cold day on the way to the Kremlin

So, before I catch up with updating you on the many things that I've failed to write about to this point, I'll talk about today while it's still fresh. The main item for the day was another excursion, this time to the Kremlin armory - the place where they have all of the old czar stuff and the weapons. I was pretty darn excited going in, mostly because I expected it to be mostly weapons because, ya know, it's called an armory. But alas, such was not the case.

Nathan (guy from Missouri) and I set off late, so we got to Biblioteka Imeni Lenina station about 15 minutes later than we were supposed to (Scheduled time - 11:15. Arrival time - 11:30. Ish.) I was worried that we'd have to try and find the group on our own and would be too late or something - the tour didn't start until 12. Yeah. We went in and checked our coats, noticing on the way signs saying that photographs are not allowed. That wasn't about to stop Nathan, as he decided that he would turn off his camera's flash and take pictures stealthily. Eventually his camera inexplicably ran out of memory, and thus he began to use mine. So, even though it's not allowed, I have some pictures for you from the Armory.

We met our tour guide, who spoke English pretty well. It was her first time giving a tour in English, so she was a little nervous (I could tell since she started laughing just about every three seconds). And thus, we were off!

First we were told about the various thrones of the czars (Ivan the Terrible's first throne is plated in ivory, and Peter the Great's throne when he was 10 years old had a hole in the back so he could be given advice). Next came the royal carriages, many of which were pulled by servants (there were even mini carriages that the emperors/empresses-to-be would be pulled around in). Next came a hall with all kinds of saddles and horse equipment, including a life-size horse (not sure if it was stuffed or just a statue). After that we worked our way back to the first hall, which contained the various attire of the czars/emperors/empresses (with gold, some of the outfits would weigh around 22 kilograms [almost 50 pounds]).

Hey, I don't want to hear anything about quality.

Next came a bunch of gold stuff, including an extremely shiny, silver and gold crib which was a gift to one of the czars for their 6-month-old child. There were all kinds of beautiful, gigantic golden bibles and gold icons, but after a while it all started looking the same.

I like to sight-see. I appreciate art (kind of). I like history. But I'm going to be honest - I was really, really bored for most of the tour. That is, until we got to the 2 halls devoted to weaponry and armor. It was awesome. There were all kinds of rifles, pistols, suits of armor, czar military helmets, maces, swords, and more. Also, at this point, Nathan stopped caring and started straight-up taking pictures, hench the better quality of these.

Various weaponry - the guns are amazing up close.

Not very good quality, but this is a display with various suits of armor.

A life-size replica, fully equipped for battle.

After that the tour got fairly boring again, as the tour guide took us to a large hall containing all kinds of plates, pitchers and cups, all of which were impressive, but not as exciting as the area we had just come from.

After walking around the hall, our tour was over. We got Lena to take us to a building that I was told might have a honey exhibition going on - no such luck. The honey exhibition would be held in about 3 weeks, which meant that we had to find something else to do. After some discussion, we decided that we would walk into the distance towards the Church of Christ the Savior, partly because "we just need to cross the street, turn left, and go straight." YEAH RIGHT. Try turn left, walk straight for like 4 minutes, cross a field of snow because there is no crosswalk across the highway, cross two streets, walk under a bridge, and then walk straight again for about 5 minutes.

But eventually we got there, and man, it was worth the walk.

That's me in front of the church, if you couldn't tell.

A closer view of the church.

Outside of the church is a large statue of Czar Alexsander II, which I had to take a picture with.

He's got a pretty awesome mustache.

Behind that are two incredibly-detailed lion statues.

It really looks like it could get up and start walking around.
It's THAT realistic.

So detailed, in fact, that Nathan discovered that the designers actually included certain reproductive organs (though, thankfully not THAT one). Instead of a picture of that, here's a picture of VEINS on the statue. Yeah, they actually formed a circulatory system for these statues.

From far away, the Church of Christ the Savior is certainly pretty, but you don't get to see it's outer architectural beauty until you get up close.

Statues adorn all sides of the church, with small ones over the doors...





...and more elaborate ones on the sides.





Pictures aren't allowed in the church, so I don't have any of the inside for you (I'm sure I could have snuck some, but it didn't feel right), and it's too bad, because the inside of the church is breathtaking. Every church I've been to in Russia to that point (three of them) were elaborately decorated, but this was something else. Just about every single item in the hall (which was huge) was made of gold. The ceiling reached probably around 35-40 feet in most places, but there were a couple of circular sections where it went higher (I guess they were the parts with the domes) and which were painted. The biggest one was a painting that reminded me somewhat of the Sistine Chapel's famous painting, while another had a group of people with Jesus in the middle, with rays of light coming from around him. It was a pretty awe-inspiring sight.

We looked around for a while, going downstairs for a bit (where it seemed a baptism was going on) before we eventually left.

It was a good day, though I'd say the unplanned pilgrimage to the Church of Christ the Savior was much better than exploring the Czars old knick-knacks - sorry Ivan and Peter, God has you beat this time.

First ever night "out"

Alright, so I'll say it - I'm not a very social person. I don't go out to party. I don't go to bars. I don't (didn't? Oh crap! Spoilers!) drink.

However, a couple of the other students here knew a Russian guy from last semester and wanted to go out as a group. I was very iffy, but after incessant prodding I gave in and went to a bar/restaurant/thing with them. The drinking age in Russia (like most of Europe, I think) is 18, so the door was open if I wanted to venture down that dark, dark path. Having said that, I still wasn't planning on drinking anything.

First, the Russian guy (Ilya) took us to a place in Китай-город (literally China Town, but it doesn't really mean that - has to do with older Russian) called Propaganda. It was kinda dark, but it looked pretty much like any old restaurant with a bar in it - well, that is, except for the techno music blasting on the speakers. Seriously, people were just sitting down eating and they had a DJ up there playing the same song over and over and over. Anyway, I was pretty bored and uncomfortable, mainly because we couldn't get a table and were just kind of standing right in the doorway.

Eventually we decided to leave and go down the street to another bar, called Proekt OGI. Once there Ilya and mostly everyone else ordered a round of drinks, butt I decided to refrain...for a while anyway. I'm not gonna say that I succumbed to peer pressure, but I eventually decided after much prodding to order a drink, and being that I am in Russia, what do you think I decided to get for my first ever alcoholic beverage? That's right, a shot of vodka. Apparently I shouldn't have done this (order a shot of straight vodka), so Ilya ordered himself a glass and some lemons for immediately afterward. He told me to breath out, drink the shot, and then eat the lemon. So I did. And got dang did it burn. For a good 10-13 seconds my throat was on fire, my face was twisted, and my eyes were watering. But it wasn't so bad. I don't remember what it tasted like, but it wasn't so bad.

My First Drink

After that, Ilya suggested that I get myself a beer - a good one. As I looked at the menu, Ilya gave me some tips on the different beers. For example, regarding the extremely cheap (55-85 rubles) Russian beer, Ilya had this to say: "They're sh**."

So I eventually settled on a 500ml (yeah, I was going to get the 250ml, but Ilya and Catherine were all like "BUT IT'S ONLY 40 RUBLES MORE FOR TWICE AS MUCH!!!!") Franziskaner. Unlike the previous beers I'd sipped, it wasn't that bitter. That's not to say that it was good, but it wasn't that bitter. Apparently I drank it pretty quickly, since I kept getting remarks like "jeez, Paul, you're drinking that really quickly." By the time I finished it, I was feeling very slightly dizzy (buzzed I guess), and I decided that I was done for the night. A couple other people decided to stay out with Ilya, but I certainly didn't want to push it my first night drinking.

My Second Drink

We headed back to the dorm, during which time I was much more talkative than normal and a little disoriented, but other than that, pretty normal. Here's to stepping outside your comfort zone. YEAH!

I was going to destroy this picture, since it was taken at a terrible moment (you know how you can pause a movie and get an actor's face to look incredibly stupid? Yeah, it's like that), but it's funny, I guess.

I don't know how she got my face like that...I didn't friggin drink it yet!

Also: Since that day (last...Saturday?) I have had two more drinks and have come to the conclusion that beer tastes like crap.

Красная площадь

So, on to the more exciting stuff from last week - the excursions.

Now, as a student in the GRINT program, I am able to take part in various excursions put on by the program, be it a show of some kind or just a walk to an interesting part of Moscow. Our first excursion was of the latter variety - we were to take the metro for the first time and walk to the one place that just about everyone has heard of: Красная площадь. (That's the Red Square for those playing at home)

So, we got together to meet up with our student coordinator, Lena, at which point we set off for the metro. I arrived later than the other people who were there, so I hadn't yet seen the metro, nor how to get there. It's really easy to get to the metro "the long way." Basically, you leave MosGU, turn left, walk straight for about 12 minutes, turn right, cross the street, and walk straight again for about 8 minutes and voila you're at the metro.

I bought a 60-use metro pass and we were on our way. The metro is confusing the first time through, but it is actually very simple to use once you get the hang of it. Basically, you just look at the signs pointing to each side of the metro - one will be heading towards the center and one will be heading away - and you look for your next stop/transfer. Anyway, we make our way to Охотный ряд (ohotniy ryat) and walk outside.

First impression - IT'S REALLY FREAKING COLD! Seems like every time you leave the metro, it feels about 10 degrees colder than when you went in. Anyway, we looked around a bit near the metro station (we weren't yet in the actual Red Square).

We saw a couple of big Christmas trees (ёлки/yolkee)

We saw a cool statue near the actual entrance to the Red Square:

Of course, we could see one of the corners of the Kremlin:

Hell, we even saw SpongeBob and Donkey on the way to the Red Square:

Those little kiosks sell fake soviet hats and other Russian trinkets
for the tourist to buy (I would imagine at quite inflated prices)

Finally, we reached the actual entrance to the Red Square, and let's just say, it gives you a pretty good idea of the kind of stuff you're going to see once you get in:

Yeah, this is just the entrance.

So we goo through the gates, and we see the Red Square in all of its glory. Trust me, this place lives up to its billing. We could see St. Basils (you know, THAT building. The one EVERYONE thinks of when they think of Russia?) in the distance, but first we got a good look at the closer buildings, like...

...a church...

...an ice cream place/skating rink...

...and oh yeah, the Kremlin.

We continued walking and we just kept getting closer and closer to that granddaddy of touristy buildings - St. Basil's Cathedral. I don't think I need to say much more.



Yeah, that was a cool day.

Academics at GRINT

Man, I've got a lot to catch you up on from last week. Every day is pretty packed with action, so I'll do my best to get all of that covered soon.

But first and foremost is the academics at GRINT - the program for foreigners at MosGU.

Before I was assigned to a class, I had to take an "exam" of sorts, which entailed some fairly simple questions from a couple of older Russian women. I did fairly well, considering I hadn't spoken nearly any Russian in about a month. They told me that I should come to the GRINT office the next day at 10 and I would find out what class I'd be in.

Classes will eventually (next week, supposedly) consist of 3 hour language classes on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday with a lecture on something like Russian history/civilization or something of the sort on Wednesday. For now though, we have language class every day from 10-1.

My class (until yesterday) was made up of myself, Sharon Gould, and Sam ______. Our teacher is a nice, funny woman named Зоя Алесксандровна (Zoya Alexandrovna). She's extremely engaging and fun to talk to (which is what the class mostly is - talking) to the point that a 3 hour class honestly feels like it lasts as long as a 50 minute class back home.

As I mentioned, the majority of the class is Зоя asking us questions (about what we did the day before, about what we like, or just about things from our workbook) and I love it. Speaking and especially understanding spoken Russian remains my biggest problem, and this class will undoubtedly be of immense help, though I understood quickly as I reflected shortly after the first couple of days that if it wasn't for taking Russian 301 with Olga Winfrey (a Ukrainian professor who teaches language at Stetson), in which we were unable to speak in English except to clarify or if she asked us questions in English, that I would be in dire straits right now when it comes to comprehension. My hope is that next semester I'll be able to actually speak with and understand Olga well enough that I don't have to sit in class quietly, terrified of making a mistake with my grammar or with my vocabulary or stumbling over words.

So, спадибо большое, Ольга!

In talking to Dan, our sort-of-the-equivalent-of-an-RA, and in seeing how much experience other students have with Russian here, I've come to a greater appreciation for Stetson's Russian program - not simply for the fact that it even has a Russian program, but also because it is a very good one. There is another student here who has taken formal classes before, and while he has a vocabulary at least roughly comparable to my own, his grammar and especially his pronunciation need immense work. He could use Dr. Denner yelling at him.

But anyway, yeah, class is pretty cool thus far.

The Arrival - Continued

So, first of all, I finally found an adapter for my computer. Like so many things in life, looked all over the place, stopping at every electronics store I could find, and yet the store where I finally found it (ИОН) was right outside the freaking metro in our area. It was around 20 dollars (599 rubley), but it was worth it. It also comes with pretty much ever plug and socket to every outlet known to man, so that's pretty neat.

Anyway, back to the first day.

The driver (who I have now learned is named Dmitri) took me towards the exit of the airport and outside.

Initial reaction? Not that bad actually. I expected a cold so extreme that my face would instantly turn to ice and possibly explode afterward.

We walked along a snowy path until we reached a parking lot. Dmitri turned to me and said something, something that ended with здесь (here). He turned around to walk on, I started following, he turned around, repeated himself, backed away with his hand outstretched to indicate that I need to stay right here. So I did. Figured he was just going around the corner to get his car, so I stood there taking things in. Apparently he was going around 7 or 8 corners, but the delay wasn't too bad. The delay on the flight made me late anyway - what's another 15 minutes?

Ten or fifteen minutes later he drives up and helps me put my bags in the trunk. I get into the back seat and we're on our way.

Dmitri.

Dmitri, I quickly learned, is not a talker. I doubt he speaks English, so during the roughly 50 minute drive to MosGU (my current university), he didn't speak a single word to me. But that's ok. I was preoccupied with snapping photographs of everything I could see that looked different from Florida (which was a lot), including Dmitri, though I made sure the flash was off when I took his picture.

Just one of the many huge buildings I saw
on the way to MosGU

Once we got out of the more industrial area, where I could see a significant (and significantly disturbing) amount of factories, with huge clouds of smoke and pollution pouring out of their tops.

Eventually we got back into a residential area, turning down a narrow pathway into what looked like a slum. At this point I was getting a little bit worried that maybe I might have misread the card Dmitri was holding - was he taking me to the right place? But I needn't fear. Soon we drove towards a wooded area, up to a gate that said Московский Гуманитарный Университет (Moscow University for the Humanities). He took me to a yellow building, where I met Dan, who would be roughly the equivalent of an RA in our dorm. He took me to the GRINT office (the program that caters to international students) where I got my entrance pass (you need to show it to guards to get into the campus and also to enter/leave your dorm) and took my placement test. Classes would start the next day, so in the meantime I got settled in my room.

The view from my room. Very welcoming, right?

Day 1 - The Arrival

Ok, so I'm actually writing this a couple days after my flight, but there's a good reason for that. As it turns out, the European "adapter" that I thought would keep my laptop running isn't really meant for use with things like that, so it burned out after about 20 minutes. Right now I'm borrowing Sharon (Gould)'s adapter until my battery gets recharged.

Anyway, the flight. It was pretty darn bad.

I hadn't flown on an airplane in about ten years or so, and so I wasn't really sure what to expect. I had a window seat, which would have made things easier as far as sleeping is concerned on the flight, but this guy Юрий (Yuri) apparently was unable to get seats for him and his (what appeared to be) 6-year-old daughter to sit together. Being the nice guy that I am, I swapped seats. Good for the soul, bad for the legs.

I spent most of 9+ hours in a cramped seat, next to a fairly large Russian dude, unable to figure out how to recline the damn chair. It was bad. But eventually, as with all great things, it came to an end. But just because we landed, that doesn't mean that we were getting off, oh no. As it turned out, a couple of guys on the plane decided to not listen to the 4 or 5 warnings about not standing up until the plane got to the gate. This delayed our real arrival by about 20 minutes.

Once we did get into the airport, things went pretty smoothly. I didn't really understand a damn thing the girl behind this little toll booth-looking thing at passport control said, but I eventually got that I was supposed to fill out a migration card when I showed my passport. Did that.

I expected customs to be pretty bad. Yeah, right. Literally all I had to do was put my two bags on this little conveyer belt, they x ray them or whatever, and I'm done. Easy peezy.

I moved on to the next room where there were like 8 people just standing there behind a rail. I assumed they were just someone's family or something, until I noticed that almost every one of them was holding a piece of paper with a name on it. Most of them were in marker or crayon. I didn't see my name at first, so I kept walking and found another group behind that group holding more signs. In the middle of them was this guy in a black jacket and blue jeans with a Ron Jeremy mustache and a piece of paper that said:

"Radenhausen
Paul Thomas".

I walked up to him and nodded. He told me something that I didn't understand at first, but soon did as he began zipping up his jacket and putting on his gloves. I was about to experience the cold of Mother Russia for the first time.

On the eve of the big day

Ok, it's only couple of hours into the day, so right now it still kind of feels like departure is two days away, but man...tomorrow, January 10th, I'll be boarding a plane to New York, and then another that will take me to Moscow. And that's why this is being written - to give you, duh readuh, an idea of what I'm going through, what I'm experiencing, what it's like to spend a semester studying abroad in Mother Russia.

Since I'm writing this not only for myself and my friends, but also for those who so choose to read this through Admissions, I suppose some of my future posts might be a little more structured (yeah right - me writing anything that isn't like an essay) and a little more serious (eh, maybe) than they otherwise might be. You're gonna see into my world. Whether that's good or bad, I guess that's for time to tell.

For those who aren't мои друзья (my friends) or people who I thought might want to read this, I guess I should give a little bit of background information.

My name is Paul Radenhausen. I was born in Pennsylvania, but I've lived the majority of my life in Florida - most of the time in Apopka and the last five or so years in Sorrento (yeah, you've never heard of it - it's near Mount Dora, which you've probably also never heard of). I'm a junior and I'm a Russian Studies major. If you haven't put два and два together (that'd be two and two), that's why I'm going to study in Moscow for this upcoming semester.

I'll probably give a little more background information tomorrow and go a little more in-depth about what's going on, but for now, I need to get some sleep.