жизнь хорошо в России (life is good in Russia)

--- Sorry about the non-working link. I forgot to hyperlink it. It should now be fixed, but you can also just click (here) to see the photos now. Alternatively, you can click on any of the photos in the photo stream above to see all the photos. ---


So far – so good. The past two days we have been exploring the city of Yaroslavl and it is an awesome city. Currently, there is a lot of construction going on due to the upcoming celebration of the 1000-year anniversary of the city's foundation. Many world leaders are coming to the celebration. I know that the President and Prime Minister or Russia, Medvedev (Медведев) and Putin (Путин) respectively, are both coming, though I am not sure if anyone from the United States is coming. I saw a sign for an “international forum” today in Yaroslavl, but I’m not sure how big of a deal it is.

Yaroslavl, like most older Russian cities, is quite beautiful. You can’t find any skyscrapers in Yaroslavl and there seems to be a beautiful church on almost every other corner. I’ve uploaded some pictures – you can see them here: (click here).

Today everyone met up and walked around town searching for items we might have forgotten to purchase before coming to Russia or items that we are just now realizing we need. For instance, I made it to Russia without an umbrella, so I found and purchased one today. It was actually quite easy – all words that I can translate to and from English. Like so:

Я (Me): «У вас есть зонт?»       “Do you have an umbrella?”

Он (Him): «Да. Есть. Какой зонт вы хотите?»         “Yes, I’ve got them. Which umbrella do you want?”

Я: «Черный зонт, пожалуйста. Сколько рублей?»        “The black one please. How much?”

Он: «540 (пятьсот сорок) пожалуйста.»           “540 rubles, please.”

Я: «Хорошо. Спасибо.»            “Good. Thank you.”

Он: «Пожалуйста.»           “You’re welcome.”

That’s just an example of a very easy conversation. Hypothetically, by the end of this semester, I should be able to have virtually any conversation with correct grammar, pronunciation and syntax. After this, I believe it will really be only a matter of expanding my vocabulary further than I will have already done. Hopefully, I will be able to competently read, write and speak Russian and understand and be able to converse about most subjects (with the exception of really philosophical ideas and topics).

Tomorrow we are meeting up around noon to do some more exploring with our RC (resident coordinator) and then I have testing most of the day on Monday – yippee. We have to take grammar, oral and writing tests in order to be placed in a language level. We’ll then be split into two or three separate groups and will have language courses and other special courses that are just for Middlebury students (Modern History and Politics, Literature, etc.)

Like I said, once school gets started, I’ll most likely be very, very busy with homework, so I certainly won’t be blogging every night, but hopefully once a week at the very least.

I hope all is well in the US!