Moscow River

Today I went walking by the Moscow River south of Red Square and through Park Gorkovo with two Russians from last year. It was a very warm day, and we needed something to do since so many people are going home for the holiday here. It was also good to get out of the dorm for awhile as many people are getting sick from allergies and no one really has the energy to do anything right now. This was also our last week of class, so I'm looking forward to not being in school for the next few months.

Spring, Finally

Today leaves started growing on trees which I haven't seen ever since I got here, and it makes Moscow look entirely different. I've started taking walks regularly now that I can actually go around without it being too cold to walk for a long time. I explored a little bit of the area north of the university, which I haven't been to as much as the south and west of the city, and had an interesting conversation about Russia's status as a second world country. Looking back there were a lot of things I had to adjust to that I don't notice anymore, but now that I'm starting to think about going home I've realized just how different Russia is from the US.

VDNH

Because of our video project we have spent a lot of time at VDNH. It was the first time we've been there with the fountains on, but the amount of construction happening on the roads made it a little more difficult to get around the place. Now that the weather is starting to warm up, it'll be nice to walk around in parks for longer and not be limited to doing things for only so long. The Russians constantly make comments about how the weather has its own April Fool's jokes since we've had snow followed by 60 degree weather followed by more snow. But it looks like things are starting to straighten out a bit more for our last couple of weeks, as short-lived as it will be.

Cultural Sensitivity

This week we went to both the US embassy and a museum outside of Moscow. These trips made me think a lot about how Russia and the United States are perceived around the world, mainly in terms of misconceptions of both nations. The visit to the embassy was very informative and gave me some insight into what the courtesies of political discussion are in these situations. When discussing Russia's own infrastructure and economy anything and everything was up for discussion, but as soon as Crimea was brought up it was more of an official statement. It seemed as if that was too sensitive, and almost taboo to mention. This was completely different from a discussion that stemmed from a cutout of a Native American that we saw in the museum. The Russians did not understand why it would be considered offensive in North America so we explained to them the current situation of Native Americans in the US and Canada and the history surrounding their relations with our countries. I think that this is indicative of a larger problem of people not willing to talk about important social and political issues for fear that they will only cause more problems and not educate others on what is wrong with the given situation.