Adjustment: Impressions of the first week
Laura-
I have survived one week in Russia, though someone guessed that if one of us might not make it--it would probably be me. I have learned to use the metro pretty well and even can get Russian out well enough to order things without causing massive confusion. Russia definitely has character, the Boogie Woogie World Cup let a few of us experience some of that. I can’t wait for the worst of winter to pass so we won’t be so hesitant to go out at night, but I am still really excited to see new things and take copious amounts of pictures. The food and people have been amazing, two things I was worried about. The last thing I really worried about was the cold, which is bad. Not as bad as I thought, but definitely getting tired of having to assemble eight layers just to go outside for even a short amount of time. Even just a short amount of time without gloves makes my hands feel like they are going to die and never work again. Overall, I am so excited to have a semester with so much time to take in the arts here in Moscow, meet amazing people, and truly have the experience of a lifetime living in a totally new place.
Christina -
When I first came to Moscow, my initial shock was how developed the country was, contrary to some people's misperceptions. When people think about Russia, the first image that often crosses their minds is the image of the Soviet Union when people had to line up for distribution under communism. However, as capitalism spread throughout the country, industry grew fast -- especially in Moscow -- and everything became Westernized. Last week, I had to go to the hospital because of my knee injury. Elena and I went to the European Clinic for an X-ray examination and I was extremely surprised by their hospitality (which one cannot always take for granted in Russia) and all the equipment they had in the hospital. It was nothing different from other hospitals in Western countries. In addition, I was really shocked to see how developed industry was. There are many nice restaurants, designer clothing stores, and expensive cars in the city, which I did not expect at all.
Ginger -
I have been to Russia once before, so I was not culture shocked. However, there were a few things I needed to get used to. Our dorm rooms are small to say the least, and at first I thought ti would be impossible for me and my roommate to live in such a small space. This fear soon disappeared, and after a few days the small room became quite comfortable. That was my first negative impression. My first positive impression was our teachers. We have about six, and they were all immediately open and friendly. Our classes are rather interesting and very different from what I have been taking at Emory, such as stage movement and acting. The whole classroom experience so far has been great and left me with a wonderful first impression of MXAT and my Moscow life.
Robert - My Most Shocking Moment
This morning, I bought a bottle of water to eat with lunch. It was cold when I bought it, but normal. After about three minutes of walking around outside, ice crystals started to form inside the water bottle, and after five minutes I could barely drink it because it
was so frozen. It was very shocking to me that it could get that cold!
David-
Arriving in Moscow, exhausted from eighteen hours of travel, I found myself in a world I had known for so long only through literature, art, film, and history. From the formidable apartments in the suburbs to the historic center, every sight translated academic knowledge and opinion to reality. Vocabulary lists suddenly became the food on my table, and abstract notions of culture changed into visible behavior. That first evening, emerging from an underground walkway, I saw through falling snow, the walls of the Kremlin. Walking through Red Square, seeing St. Basil's and Lenin's tomb, I realized that I was, at last, in Moscow. No longer a far-away place, but an energetic and powerful city in which millions of people live there lives. Here, where some of the most daring and important human efforts have been made, my own struggles to speak and understand often become overshadowed by complete awe as I catch tastes of this city's spirit. This adjustment is more than linguistic, and it involves great joy and sometimes terror. Carefully planned sentences too often tumble out as incoherent ravings, but I increasingly find that I can understand those around me and sometimes even get my point across. Studying at MXAT is a beautiful experience. So much talent from around the world is gathered in this one place, and our teachers are both kind and experienced, willing to literally beat a correct note out of us or twist our arms into the right position, all with a smile and a little laugh. My main task at this point was clearly revealed to me by Elena after a particularly difficult class. After clenching her fist, she looked me in the eye and slowly let it relax into an open palm. As my fears and anxieties dissipate, I find that I appreciate more around me, and even in myself.
Walker -
For me, this entire trip has been something of a shock. It's not unilke the shock of going outside when the weather is really, really cold (I'm still getting used to that, by the way. We still don't have this thing called "snow" in Mississippi yet.) It's pretty tough having to navigate frozen, icy sidewalks. That's especially rough when it's a thirty minute walk to class with traction!. The most shocking thing about this trip for me is actually not the weather; it's the people of Russia. I had this expectation in my mind of Russians being cruel and harsh toward foreigners (and humans in general), but that hasn't really been the case for me thusfar. The people of this country have been especially kind and patient with me in everything from giving me directions to the nearest drugstore to helping me buy a cell phone, even though my Russian is still marginal at best. I know there do exist harsh Russians (I've actually been here before. There are indeed a lot of them. Just trust me.), but I haven't managed to find them yet. When I do happen across such people, I don't know that I'll be truly prepared for the encounter. We'll just have to see...
Elena-
Well, we survived the first week, and I think, we did more than survive it. I am probably in the most turmoil, looking for the reading lamps, frying pans, light bulbs and trolley passes in the city that consolidated only the most expensive and elite shops in its center. And a complex city it is--I feel like a figure in Chagall's paintings about Vitebsk-I am the silhouette flying outside the buildings where once I had a home, but the world changed. This is developing into the outstanding program though. Our theater going is about to develop speed. The choices within the next two weeks:
Macbeth in Satiricon
Gogol's Land-owners ( a dramatization)
Woe from Wit by Griboyedov which we are studying in my class
Chekhov's Lady with a Lapdog (another drammatization)
Inspector General by Gogol
The Infant by Fonvizin
and Chekhov's Platonov.
We have also understood how to cook, clean, and keep our rooms manageable.I think at this point all is well. I think that everyone's Russian is improving hourly.
Laura-
I have survived one week in Russia, though someone guessed that if one of us might not make it--it would probably be me. I have learned to use the metro pretty well and even can get Russian out well enough to order things without causing massive confusion. Russia definitely has character, the Boogie Woogie World Cup let a few of us experience some of that. I can’t wait for the worst of winter to pass so we won’t be so hesitant to go out at night, but I am still really excited to see new things and take copious amounts of pictures. The food and people have been amazing, two things I was worried about. The last thing I really worried about was the cold, which is bad. Not as bad as I thought, but definitely getting tired of having to assemble eight layers just to go outside for even a short amount of time. Even just a short amount of time without gloves makes my hands feel like they are going to die and never work again. Overall, I am so excited to have a semester with so much time to take in the arts here in Moscow, meet amazing people, and truly have the experience of a lifetime living in a totally new place.
Christina -
When I first came to Moscow, my initial shock was how developed the country was, contrary to some people's misperceptions. When people think about Russia, the first image that often crosses their minds is the image of the Soviet Union when people had to line up for distribution under communism. However, as capitalism spread throughout the country, industry grew fast -- especially in Moscow -- and everything became Westernized. Last week, I had to go to the hospital because of my knee injury. Elena and I went to the European Clinic for an X-ray examination and I was extremely surprised by their hospitality (which one cannot always take for granted in Russia) and all the equipment they had in the hospital. It was nothing different from other hospitals in Western countries. In addition, I was really shocked to see how developed industry was. There are many nice restaurants, designer clothing stores, and expensive cars in the city, which I did not expect at all.
Ginger -
I have been to Russia once before, so I was not culture shocked. However, there were a few things I needed to get used to. Our dorm rooms are small to say the least, and at first I thought ti would be impossible for me and my roommate to live in such a small space. This fear soon disappeared, and after a few days the small room became quite comfortable. That was my first negative impression. My first positive impression was our teachers. We have about six, and they were all immediately open and friendly. Our classes are rather interesting and very different from what I have been taking at Emory, such as stage movement and acting. The whole classroom experience so far has been great and left me with a wonderful first impression of MXAT and my Moscow life.
Robert - My Most Shocking Moment
This morning, I bought a bottle of water to eat with lunch. It was cold when I bought it, but normal. After about three minutes of walking around outside, ice crystals started to form inside the water bottle, and after five minutes I could barely drink it because it
was so frozen. It was very shocking to me that it could get that cold!David-
Arriving in Moscow, exhausted from eighteen hours of travel, I found myself in a world I had known for so long only through literature, art, film, and history. From the formidable apartments in the suburbs to the historic center, every sight translated academic knowledge and opinion to reality. Vocabulary lists suddenly became the food on my table, and abstract notions of culture changed into visible behavior. That first evening, emerging from an underground walkway, I saw through falling snow, the walls of the Kremlin. Walking through Red Square, seeing St. Basil's and Lenin's tomb, I realized that I was, at last, in Moscow. No longer a far-away place, but an energetic and powerful city in which millions of people live there lives. Here, where some of the most daring and important human efforts have been made, my own struggles to speak and understand often become overshadowed by complete awe as I catch tastes of this city's spirit. This adjustment is more than linguistic, and it involves great joy and sometimes terror. Carefully planned sentences too often tumble out as incoherent ravings, but I increasingly find that I can understand those around me and sometimes even get my point across. Studying at MXAT is a beautiful experience. So much talent from around the world is gathered in this one place, and our teachers are both kind and experienced, willing to literally beat a correct note out of us or twist our arms into the right position, all with a smile and a little laugh. My main task at this point was clearly revealed to me by Elena after a particularly difficult class. After clenching her fist, she looked me in the eye and slowly let it relax into an open palm. As my fears and anxieties dissipate, I find that I appreciate more around me, and even in myself.
Walker -
For me, this entire trip has been something of a shock. It's not unilke the shock of going outside when the weather is really, really cold (I'm still getting used to that, by the way. We still don't have this thing called "snow" in Mississippi yet.) It's pretty tough having to navigate frozen, icy sidewalks. That's especially rough when it's a thirty minute walk to class with traction!. The most shocking thing about this trip for me is actually not the weather; it's the people of Russia. I had this expectation in my mind of Russians being cruel and harsh toward foreigners (and humans in general), but that hasn't really been the case for me thusfar. The people of this country have been especially kind and patient with me in everything from giving me directions to the nearest drugstore to helping me buy a cell phone, even though my Russian is still marginal at best. I know there do exist harsh Russians (I've actually been here before. There are indeed a lot of them. Just trust me.), but I haven't managed to find them yet. When I do happen across such people, I don't know that I'll be truly prepared for the encounter. We'll just have to see...
Elena-
Well, we survived the first week, and I think, we did more than survive it. I am probably in the most turmoil, looking for the reading lamps, frying pans, light bulbs and trolley passes in the city that consolidated only the most expensive and elite shops in its center. And a complex city it is--I feel like a figure in Chagall's paintings about Vitebsk-I am the silhouette flying outside the buildings where once I had a home, but the world changed. This is developing into the outstanding program though. Our theater going is about to develop speed. The choices within the next two weeks:
Macbeth in Satiricon
Gogol's Land-owners ( a dramatization)
Woe from Wit by Griboyedov which we are studying in my class
Chekhov's Lady with a Lapdog (another drammatization)
Inspector General by Gogol
The Infant by Fonvizin
and Chekhov's Platonov.
We have also understood how to cook, clean, and keep our rooms manageable.I think at this point all is well. I think that everyone's Russian is improving hourly.
