One Week Down

This morning began with a Russian lesson with Lena, as usual. Today, I was much more alert with a cup of coffee, and I think that's going to have to be added to my morning routine at the American Home.

After our lessons, our group again went to Vladimir State University, this time to speak to the first-year university students whose concentration is English. It was earlier in the day, their English was better, they were more outgoing, they were super friendly, and they seemed genuinely interested that we were there to speak with them. For another approximately two hours, we spoke about life as Americans in general and Vanderbilt students in particular. We teased each other about our respective home states (Massachusetts, Texas, Wisconsin, California, Tennessee), and at the end of our time, we were each presented with a little gift to thank us for coming to talk. The students wanted to take pictures with us, so we posed for a bunch of photos, and then they wanted our names and e-mail addresses so we can stay in touch as pen pals. :) It was a lot of fun, and we were sad to leave because we were having such a good time amongst our Russian peers. But some of them have already added us on Facebook, and maybe we'll get a chance to visit Vladimir State again before we leave. It was really such a good feeling, though, to share our culture with fellow students our age so excited to hear about it and so eager to share their culture with us in return.

Following this visit, our group--still very excited and jovial--walked to see the parade of graduating high school students, as today was their last day of classes before the exam period and is the equivalent of their graduation celebration (for all graduating students across the city, apparently; individual schools don't host their own graduations.) On this day, boys wear suits with sashes, and girls wear the traditional Soviet-era dresses. The celebration was huge, even though we were late and had already missed the parade. We were in time to hear the singing of the Russian national anthem!

Following this, we went to the grocery store, where we wound up getting three different types of meat, two things of bread, tomatoes, a head of lettuce, a squeeze bag (not bottle) of mustard, two bottles of our group's new-found favorite beverage (peace juice), three bags of chips, a big bag of grapes, a prepackaged Russian honey cake, four beers, and a bottle of champagne--if we had been contestants on Supermarket Sweep, we would've won! This was to be my official 21st birthday party, since a week ago to the day we were still in Amsterdam getting acquainted. We took all the food and drinks to a town on the outskirts of town, called Боголю́бово ("Bogolyubovo"), where we had a long, relaxing picnic and afterward walked through the pastoral scenery and toured a church and then a Russian Orthodox monastery, complete with monks and nuns. Both the cathedral belonging to the monastery and the experience of simply being present were stunning: As we arrived, the monks and nuns were chanting their hauntingly beautiful evening prayers in Russian.

At one point, everyone inside--visitors like ourselves included--had to stop, turn, and face the altar for five minutes during a chant. Also noteworthy: In order to enter the church, we girls had to put on headscarves as well as tie a big piece of cloth around our legs so that no skin showed. It was really quaint and transported us to another time--a really moving cultural experience.

Illicit photo inside the church.

Also-also noteworthy: Right when you walk into the church, on the left-hand side of one of the main walls that juts out is a large icon/portrait of Tsar Nicholas II (Romanov, the last tsar of Russia). It's a shame that no photography was allowed, though I understand why, since it's an active church. Nevertheless, I was going to try to sneak some pictures like I've done inside other places, but the nuns were more ubiquitous than security guards at a bank, so I quickly abandoned that idea.

Another illicit picture--of an Orthodox nun.

After this outstanding stop in the monastery, our group boarded the bus back to Vladimir, about 10 km away, and went to a café where we all ordered smoothies. To our surprise, smoothies here are basically frothy juice with whipped cream on top--not at all what we were going for, but still tasty. I will now be on a quest to find an American-style smoothie.

Our group had wanted to go out to dinner and/or even to a karaoke bar, but we were too tired for anything more than a simple smoothie. I headed home, greeted Lena, her mom, and her babushka (who is really cute and, I learned, is 92 and still working as a school nurse!). Lena and I went out to another café just across the street, where we got dinner and where I ordered my first alcoholic beverage (an "Astoria") anywhere in the world--and, by extension, was ID-ed for the first time ever, too.

Tomorrow through Sunday, our group is leaving town for the баня ("banya")--or Russian steam bath--that was built by and belongs to the host family of one of the guys in our Vanderbilt group. It's about 30 minutes away from here in the center of Vladimir, and--after learning that the banya is not just a spa or sauna--we are all a bit nervous, though of course excited, too, to go. I may not have Internet until we return Sunday evening, but stay tuned, and check out more of my photos!