Back from Russia!
Russiaaaaaa~
I had a looot of fun. :D Saw some amazing dancing, slept through some other amazing dancing, saw some amazing places, avoided eating some interesting food... It was all very nice.
The plane ride was nice. The first one was ten hours, but they had little personal TVs with recent movies and not so recent episodes of television shows. The best part of that was that there was an episode of 30 Rock that I watched a clip of the night or so before I left, but since the actual episode wasn't online I couldn't watch it. And that was the episode on the plane! There were also lots of different radio stations (two for japanese music) and some music video shows for different types of music (I could only stand like half of the japanese one).
After the around 20 hours of airport related matters, we finally got to St. Petersburg and obviously went straight to the hotel. It was a really nice hotel, but the problem, like a bit of Russia, was that it wasn't non-smoking. It was pretty much the opposite, and the lobby smelled sooo bad. Sometimes I enjoy cigarette smoke, but this was too much.
Got to room. It was tiny. The light switches were really odd too. There were two switches in the room that controlled the electricity (not just the lights), and two other switches, one for room lights and another for bathroom lights. But most of the lights in the room had individual switches to them anyway, and me and my roomate had them turned out. I could never remember which switch was which, or that the bathroom one wasn't actually in the bathroom.
Also, a little bad thing about the room. All of the electric outlets were made in little 3/4" thick circles in the wall. So, since one of the convertors I brought didn't fit into the circle I couldn't use it. Luckily the second one I had was tiny, and it fit.
-----
There were a few other groups who came to the festival. First of all, the largest group, next to us, was Bossov Ballet. They were really good. Long skinny dancers with lots of strength. Didn't talk to them a whole lot, but one of the girls was really nice~ Don't remember where they were from, but I think it was Maine.
Then there were two girls from Moscow. Last time, when one of my friends went and was the only person from our studio, she met them and supposedly made friends. They didn't speak much/any english, though, so I'm surprised she could. It's not like she speaks Russian. They were really good too.
Then there was another pair of girls, this time from Canada. They were okay, not sure if I'd say they were as good as those other people. I never really talked to them. Seemed kind of stuck up, but most dancers do.
Then there were two Italian ladies. They were pretty old, and not very good, but they took class with us, and, surprisingly, performed too.
Finally, there was some other woman who I didn't learn anything about, and a Polish boy. I thought he was kind of cute the first time I saw him, but as time went on he really wasn't very. Pretty tall though. Spoke english fluently, I assume, or at least enough to hold a conversation, but I don't know if he was from America. He was very flexible, but he looked like he had no idea what he was doing dancing. He was tripping trying to figure out what his feet should be doing, constantly ending up on the wrong foot... I don't know if he has a problem or something, but.. He surprised me at the gala reception on saturday when he was talking about dance and sounded like he knew what he was talking about. Until the last days, when the Canadians abducted him, he was pretty much a loner. He even went around Russia himself instead of staying with the group.
-----
Dancing was okay. The floor suuuuucked in the studio we used. First of all, the room was circular, and the bar went in a semicircle on the wall. It was cool, but it kind of confused me. And the floor sucked because the floorboards were all curved and uneven. Then, there wasn't a mirror in the room, so I felt kind of awkward.
There was another studio, and I heard it was a lot better, but it was for the lower class... I almost went, but that day we had the second teacher, and the next (also final) dayI wanted to have him again. Still, I did okay in the classes. The second teacher really seemed to like me.
The scariest thing happened to me, though. Through the first class, the Bossov teacher was watching and translating the Russian teacher's corrections. He was kind of scary, and I ended up right in front of him during center, so I was really afraid! Hahaha. Then, after class he calls me over. I was surprised he knew my name, first of all, but then he asks me if I'll be in the dance for his school in addition to the two for mine! And I said yes.
He taught me the steps quickly (I was still afraid, so I tried really hard to pick everything up really fast!), and by the end of the first rehearsal I knew all of it. Not that it was very long. I probably learned that much in regular rehearsals at home, he just knew what he wanted in advance and I was bothering to pick it up quickly.
-----
At Mariinsky theater we saw La Bayadere. I don't remember why, but I was sooo tired when we saw this, so I was drifting in and out of sleep. What I saw looked good. I got a nice shirt from the theater too.
I saw my friend Erica from summer here! I was so surprised we were at the same show, but it's not that surprising, I guess. A big theater like the Mariinsky. It was nice to see her.
-----
We went several places on field trips. The church of spilled blood, another church I forget the name of, the Hermitage museum, and Catherine's Palace. The churches were amazing. They had incredible mosaics lining every inch of the wall. I liked the palaces better, though. I want to live in the Hermitage. It's amazing. Even Catherine's Palace was nice. Really nice. I took loads of pictures at both of those. Not the churches, though, don't think I had my camera.
Then, after some of the excursions, we could go to nearby bazaars. There was soooo much nice stuff. The eggs were great. I didn't get any, but some of my friends did. Practically every stand had loads of Matryoshka dolls. Traditional ones, and then other types like celebrities, and cartoon characters. I got a nice 10 piece one that blue/white for my mom.
Other stuff I got from bazaar:
Mug for my dad
Snow globe for my little brother
A black/white checkered scarf
A really nice painting (on canvas!)
I didn't really haggle for stuff myself, most of my prices were fine.
Saturday I went with my group (which was just my friend and her parents) to buy the painting I wanted (because I didn't have time to buy it the first time I saw it, and I didn't have money anyway). I had my friend's dad get it down. I had to pay around $100 for it... Anyway, we rode the metro that day. They had really long, fast escalators to get down.
Before we got to the bazaar, we went to a book store to buy CDs. By accident, I found the Russian manga selection. Not much, but I picked up volume 1 or Battle Royale. I didn't realize how violant it is until i started flipping through it. Kind of regret buying it. XD But it's just five dollars, and it's cool.
-----
Pretty sure there's more, but I forget what. I'm tired and want to go watch The Office.
I remember on the first few days of being there, I thought that it was really weird and scary and dirty, and I could never live there. But as I stayed longer it got a lot nicer. I loved how pretty every building was. Some had really nice statues, or just ornate decorations. And they all had weird alleys leading into the center of the building. Like, each building was built like the outline of a square, and then cars could go in the middle.
It was really nice there. Maybe someday I can visit just on vacation and check out more. I ended up getting over 500 pictures. :)
Also. I've decided I need to live in a grand palace. Yes.
I had a looot of fun. :D Saw some amazing dancing, slept through some other amazing dancing, saw some amazing places, avoided eating some interesting food... It was all very nice.
The plane ride was nice. The first one was ten hours, but they had little personal TVs with recent movies and not so recent episodes of television shows. The best part of that was that there was an episode of 30 Rock that I watched a clip of the night or so before I left, but since the actual episode wasn't online I couldn't watch it. And that was the episode on the plane! There were also lots of different radio stations (two for japanese music) and some music video shows for different types of music (I could only stand like half of the japanese one).
After the around 20 hours of airport related matters, we finally got to St. Petersburg and obviously went straight to the hotel. It was a really nice hotel, but the problem, like a bit of Russia, was that it wasn't non-smoking. It was pretty much the opposite, and the lobby smelled sooo bad. Sometimes I enjoy cigarette smoke, but this was too much.
Got to room. It was tiny. The light switches were really odd too. There were two switches in the room that controlled the electricity (not just the lights), and two other switches, one for room lights and another for bathroom lights. But most of the lights in the room had individual switches to them anyway, and me and my roomate had them turned out. I could never remember which switch was which, or that the bathroom one wasn't actually in the bathroom.
Also, a little bad thing about the room. All of the electric outlets were made in little 3/4" thick circles in the wall. So, since one of the convertors I brought didn't fit into the circle I couldn't use it. Luckily the second one I had was tiny, and it fit.
-----
There were a few other groups who came to the festival. First of all, the largest group, next to us, was Bossov Ballet. They were really good. Long skinny dancers with lots of strength. Didn't talk to them a whole lot, but one of the girls was really nice~ Don't remember where they were from, but I think it was Maine.
Then there were two girls from Moscow. Last time, when one of my friends went and was the only person from our studio, she met them and supposedly made friends. They didn't speak much/any english, though, so I'm surprised she could. It's not like she speaks Russian. They were really good too.
Then there was another pair of girls, this time from Canada. They were okay, not sure if I'd say they were as good as those other people. I never really talked to them. Seemed kind of stuck up, but most dancers do.
Then there were two Italian ladies. They were pretty old, and not very good, but they took class with us, and, surprisingly, performed too.
Finally, there was some other woman who I didn't learn anything about, and a Polish boy. I thought he was kind of cute the first time I saw him, but as time went on he really wasn't very. Pretty tall though. Spoke english fluently, I assume, or at least enough to hold a conversation, but I don't know if he was from America. He was very flexible, but he looked like he had no idea what he was doing dancing. He was tripping trying to figure out what his feet should be doing, constantly ending up on the wrong foot... I don't know if he has a problem or something, but.. He surprised me at the gala reception on saturday when he was talking about dance and sounded like he knew what he was talking about. Until the last days, when the Canadians abducted him, he was pretty much a loner. He even went around Russia himself instead of staying with the group.
-----
Dancing was okay. The floor suuuuucked in the studio we used. First of all, the room was circular, and the bar went in a semicircle on the wall. It was cool, but it kind of confused me. And the floor sucked because the floorboards were all curved and uneven. Then, there wasn't a mirror in the room, so I felt kind of awkward.
There was another studio, and I heard it was a lot better, but it was for the lower class... I almost went, but that day we had the second teacher, and the next (also final) dayI wanted to have him again. Still, I did okay in the classes. The second teacher really seemed to like me.
The scariest thing happened to me, though. Through the first class, the Bossov teacher was watching and translating the Russian teacher's corrections. He was kind of scary, and I ended up right in front of him during center, so I was really afraid! Hahaha. Then, after class he calls me over. I was surprised he knew my name, first of all, but then he asks me if I'll be in the dance for his school in addition to the two for mine! And I said yes.
He taught me the steps quickly (I was still afraid, so I tried really hard to pick everything up really fast!), and by the end of the first rehearsal I knew all of it. Not that it was very long. I probably learned that much in regular rehearsals at home, he just knew what he wanted in advance and I was bothering to pick it up quickly.
-----
At Mariinsky theater we saw La Bayadere. I don't remember why, but I was sooo tired when we saw this, so I was drifting in and out of sleep. What I saw looked good. I got a nice shirt from the theater too.
I saw my friend Erica from summer here! I was so surprised we were at the same show, but it's not that surprising, I guess. A big theater like the Mariinsky. It was nice to see her.
-----
We went several places on field trips. The church of spilled blood, another church I forget the name of, the Hermitage museum, and Catherine's Palace. The churches were amazing. They had incredible mosaics lining every inch of the wall. I liked the palaces better, though. I want to live in the Hermitage. It's amazing. Even Catherine's Palace was nice. Really nice. I took loads of pictures at both of those. Not the churches, though, don't think I had my camera.
Then, after some of the excursions, we could go to nearby bazaars. There was soooo much nice stuff. The eggs were great. I didn't get any, but some of my friends did. Practically every stand had loads of Matryoshka dolls. Traditional ones, and then other types like celebrities, and cartoon characters. I got a nice 10 piece one that blue/white for my mom.
Other stuff I got from bazaar:
Mug for my dad
Snow globe for my little brother
A black/white checkered scarf
A really nice painting (on canvas!)
I didn't really haggle for stuff myself, most of my prices were fine.
Saturday I went with my group (which was just my friend and her parents) to buy the painting I wanted (because I didn't have time to buy it the first time I saw it, and I didn't have money anyway). I had my friend's dad get it down. I had to pay around $100 for it... Anyway, we rode the metro that day. They had really long, fast escalators to get down.
Before we got to the bazaar, we went to a book store to buy CDs. By accident, I found the Russian manga selection. Not much, but I picked up volume 1 or Battle Royale. I didn't realize how violant it is until i started flipping through it. Kind of regret buying it. XD But it's just five dollars, and it's cool.
-----
Pretty sure there's more, but I forget what. I'm tired and want to go watch The Office.
I remember on the first few days of being there, I thought that it was really weird and scary and dirty, and I could never live there. But as I stayed longer it got a lot nicer. I loved how pretty every building was. Some had really nice statues, or just ornate decorations. And they all had weird alleys leading into the center of the building. Like, each building was built like the outline of a square, and then cars could go in the middle.
It was really nice there. Maybe someday I can visit just on vacation and check out more. I ended up getting over 500 pictures. :)
Also. I've decided I need to live in a grand palace. Yes.