I love to run. Most people I interact with find this out quickly because I don’t shut up about it. This is why, when we arrived in the small village of Ust-Barguzin on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, and more specifically the Barguzin Bay, I wasted no time donning my running clothes and shooting […]
Our first view of Novoselenginsk, a small, dusty settlement flanked by the Selenga River and the road from Ulan-Ude to Kyakhta, came from a rocky outcrop to which our Buryat driver, Ruslan, expertly navigated our seemingly indestructible bus. We turned east off of the pothole-filled highway onto two dirt strips and bumbled onward, putting our […]
Before arriving in Russia, I’d been really excited to jump right into the coffeehouse culture in Moscow. I often imagined myself repeatedly rising early, finding a cozy, hole-in-the-wall café, and sipping on some strong, black coffee, either while doing homework or simply enjoying the atmosphere. These visions have largely come to fruition over the last […]
“The water sustains me without even trying…” This line comes from a favorite song of mine, “The Water” by Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit. It lays out in seven words what I’ve been struggling to articulate when I contemplate why Saint Petersburg is so incredibly alluring. From the Neva River to the city’s snaking […]
Per a recent assignment, Schuyler and I made an intentional visit to one of Moscow’s much less touristy areas, the Maryina roshcha (Марьина роща) district north of the city center. This provided an impetus to get away from the hustle, bustle, and sense of relative wealth one inevitably feels in the areas around Red Square. […]
A week and a half ago, our group took a weekend trip to Vladimir and Suzdal, two cities rich with history, both hugely important to early Russian culture. We departed Friday evening and rode the train almost three hours to Vladimir. I had really been looking forward to taking in the vast Russian countryside after […]
MSU is decidedly not Carleton. Of course, you have the obvious differences. Московский государственный университет (МГУ, or Moscow State University/MSU for you Westernizers) is home to approximately 47,000 students, undergraduates and postgraduates. Carleton, small but mighty, enrolls around 2000 students. To put these numbers in perspective, the building/dormitory in which we’re living at МГУ, Главное […]