I have never been abroad before, so as I flew over the Atlantic on FinnAir, there were many things on my mind.  Chief among them was my language ability.  Having not taken an intense Russian language course in over a year, I was worried that upon arrival I wouldn’t understand a word anyone said, that accents would be too thick and I wouldn’t be able to communicate with anyone.  Nothing could have given me more confidence than hearing people speak Finnish.  I know nothing about Finland, no words in Finnish, and had never flown FinnAir.  But, being unable to comprehend even the slightest inkling of sentence structure or vocabulary made me realize that I know at least a little Russian, and so my journey to Moscow began.

“Moscow is supposed to be a dirty city isn’t it?” – Every American I talked to who had never been to Moscow.

In a sense, yes, Moscow is a dirty city.  But so is every city in America with tons of cars spitting grit as they zoom around to their destinations.  Beyond the lingering banks of cleared snow and the soot sprayed on most cars, the city is as clean as any in America, and the metro is cleaner.  Having been here two weeks and having wandered about the city, I’m struck by Moscow’s beauty.  I was expecting some dystopian socialist city filled with square, bland, and essentials-only buildings, but instead discovered a city filled with beautiful architecture, gorgeous metro stations, and palaces like the one below.

Above is just one tower from the sprawling Tsaristino palace and museum in the southern part of Moscow.  Its a little hard to get to from our dorm, but well worth the metro trip.  It was built over 21 years, started by Catherine the Great, but no tsar ever lived there.  Catherine’s son, Paul I, took one look at it and thought St Petersburg was better (at least that’s what the talkative docent in the museum told us).  The museum inside has been open for only ten years, but what a museum it is.  Historic jewels like the Tsaristino museum fill the streets of Moscow and make any trip here worthwhile.

For all its grandeur and beauty, Moscow is not for the faint of heart.  It is not laid out in a grid like New York City, and while a lot of places have signs in English and staff who speak English, it is a decidedly Russian place.  In New York, you can here five different languages in five minutes by just walking down the streets.  Here, you only hear Russian.  Some cafes and restaurants have menus in English and Russian, but most only have Russian.  And, ironically, this is probably Moscow’s greatest similarity with American cities.  It is unabashedly Russian, much like American cities are unabashedly American.  I’m quite glad this is my first experience abroad.  Moscow is like no where else, and frankly, should be on everyone’s bucket list.