Today was a good day!
I got my Russian midterm back and I got a 5- on it (basically an A-). Considering how much I was worried about this test, and how many new words and grammatical constructions (including 72 new verbs, 50ish nouns plus a bunch of new phrases) I am quite happy.
So now, after my 2 easy history classes tomorrow I will be all set to go on my next European adventure!
We leave for Moscow at 11:59pm via overnight train. It should be quite an interesting experience to spend 8 hours sleeping, or attempting to at least, on a Russian train. Then at 8am Saturday morning we shall be in Moscow and ready to experience one of the most interesting and important cities in the world. Our itinerary includes a tour of the Moscow Kremlin, the Russian National Circus and Red Square.
After that adventure concludes, on Monday morning I am off to the airport and a 4 hour flight to Paris. I will be spending 2 nights in Strasbourg followed by 3 nights in Paris which should be wonderful and a nice change of pace from Russia. The best part of all is of course the fact that I shall be spending my days in France with my mother! It will be a ton of fun for both of us I know and it will be nice to be able to spend some time with just us two.
As I will be traveling without my laptop, will have uncertain internet access and be having so much fun traveling, I am unsure when I will be able to next update my blog. However, I will of course be taking lots of pictures and keeping note of interesting observations, daily events and will have plenty to cover once I get back to St. Petersburg.
I am also having quite an interesting time fitting an entire week’s worth of clothes for very different weather conditions (30 in Moscow, 75 in Paris) into my duffle bag and backpack. But in true European fashion I shall wear the same clothes over and over and rely on layers! My slow acquisition of Russian and general European clothes and mannerisms should also help me in France
At this point I also wish I had learned, remembered much more of my high school French. But at this point I think that I will be attempting to say things in French and out will come Russian. As it is Russian and French have many similarities in verb conjugation and phrases. So my biggest fear is at this point is that instead of bonjour, I will say здравствуйте and that instead of Je voudrais (I would like ____ .) I will say Я хочу (exact same phrase and usage)! However, I may succeed in thoroughly confusing some French people about me being an American, and that could always be fun!
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all the positive feedback I have been getting for my blog. I hope that other people find my adventures and experiences interesting and that I can teach people some things and also stay connected with my friends and loved ones back home. And now that I have figured out how to put pictures in the body of my blog postings, they will be better then ever.
Signing off for now and wishing you all a good week as well, I am and shall remain….
Matthew
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