In Astrakhan'

It's been a while, especially without access to the internet, so let me tell you what has happened in the interim.

St. Petersburg was beautiful, but far too European and Americanized for my taste. I say this like I have a right to judge the "Russianness" of the city. To me, Moscow felt Russian, even though urban and so like every other major city. It has European stores and influences, but the heart of the city is Russian--chaotic, colorful, and dirty. Peter I planned St. Petersburg to be a major European city, a stark contrast to Moscow (which he hated).

On every street, and on 80% of signs in Petersburg is English. Cashiers speak to you in English, or at least offer "the English menu." When I tried to speak Russian, they would answer in English, and tell me to just speak English. I'm here to learn to speak, not just a damn tourist looking to be relieved of all of my cash. Speaking of being ripped off: I bought a watercolor at a souvenir fair. It's a small cityscape, and I probably paid 25% more than it is worth, but at least I didn't just roll over and pay the asking price--I got it for a 100 rubles less than the seller asked. Getting ripped off was part of the fun.

One huge advantage of large cities like Petersburg is that public transportation is everywhere, and so it isn't difficult to find one's way around. In Russia, public transport is common in all cities, but here in Astrakhan' we are pretty much limited to buses and marshrutki (whose route maps are near impossible to find, and have no regular stops). It's impossible to get lost on a Metro or trambai (a trolley), as they are limited by the tracks.

Oh, so I am in Astrakhan' now. Let me tell you about our journey here. So we were told to met in the lobby by 3:30 AM, when our bus was supposed to leave for the airport. My new roommate, Hannah, and I decided not to go club hopping (as many did) and instead repacked our luggage, paying particular attention to weight, and turned in early in an attempt to get some sleep. We managed to get a 4-hour nap, and then by mutual consensus gave up the effort at 2 AM. We had the luxury of plenty of time to get ready, and at 3 AM went searching the hotel for a bottle of water (the bar was still open--we paid an outrageous price--70 rubles, 3x what I paid today in Astrakhan', but we got our water).

At 3:20 we were sitting in the lobby waiting on everyone else. We had seen in the hallway at least 1/3 of the group drunk and quite happy. 3 or 4 of them smoked in the lobby while we waited for the bus. Yeah, smoking is everywhere in St. Petersburg. I think I inhaled the equivalent of half a pack on my walking exploration. Also, there are very few limits on smoking indoors. Our hotel provided ashtrays for our rooms.

Of course, the bus didn't leave the hotel until almost 4, but we could see the sun beginning to rise. It's a beautiful time of day (there were probably less than 3 hours of darkness that night--the White Nights festival begins June 22 or so). I was awake for my exit from the city, which I think was better anyway. As we travelled farther from the center, the city felt more and more Russian. Even with no traffic, the trip took nearly 45 minutes.

At the airport, only one door was open...of course, we and all of our luggage were deposited at a different door. We entered through a security checkpoint, and then had an hour to kill before we could even check in for our flight. Luckily for me, when we did check in, we checked our bags as a group, and so did not need to worry about the weight limit. So, remembering that we would likely be travelling in smaller jets, I fatefully decided to check my carry-on (mostly because I didn't want the hassle of figuring out how to gate-check the thing).

Most exciting of all (and likely portentous), we were flying Aeroflot...the Soviet national airline.

I guess that Aeroflot pilots are all ex-military, and so their fighter jet training supercedes the fact that they are flying a commercial jet. Both flights took off at what felt like a near-vertical slope (not possible, I know, but it sure felt like it), and landed similarly. I watched one take off after our flight to Moscow, and couldn't believe the steepness of the climb. I have never seen (or felt) anything like it in the States, and I think that I have flown a fair bit, and on a good sample of airlines. On our approach to Volgograd, I thought we were flying through a thunderstorm, but it was just the decent. I found myself ritualistically conjugating the verb бояться (to fear) in order to distract myself from the slightly terrifying turbulence. And I enjoy turbulence. The Astrakhan' airport is closed for repairs, so we had to fly to Volgograd and then take a bus.

In Moscow, we had less than an hour layover. Poor Yevgeny, trying to lead a recalcitrant group of American students (half of whom are hungover or still drunk) mostly dragging their feet through the airport. I say "through," although we actually had to go outside and walk to a separate building. Then, we had only our e-tickets, which got us through security, but then we discovered we had no boarding passes. Or at least Christine discovered this as Yegeny and Tim were trying to wrangle the lagging members of the group, and we got the rest to queue up at the ONE ticket counter open (there are 22 students going to Astrakhan'). I think that I was 3rd to get my boarding pass, and I noticed that our plane had begun boarding 15 MINUTES earlier. Once Tim got through (our Group Leader from Princeton University--he's not taking classes, but is mostly our supervisor and helper, if needed), he ran to the gate, where some had already assembled, and told them our situation. They held the plane for us, but it was a near thing. The plane took off only 5-10 minutes late.

I tell you this to explain our situation when we arrived. There was NO LUGGAGE. Not one piece made the plane in the group of 24 people. Fortunately, Yevgeny was able to take care of it all without us filling out forms (because we had checked the luggage as a group). We were assured that it would arrive Sunday evening, as Tim passed out Cokes and non-sparkling water like candy to pacify us. We boarded the bus, and went to a cafe in Volgograd, where Yevgeny/CAORC paid for our food. It was very good, but the girl clearing the tables kept staring at us through the door (there was a room for large groups with a glass door). I felt like a monkey at the zoo.

The bus ride was 8 hours long. We stopped twice, both times as bathroom breaks. I will not regale you with yet another of my Russian toilet experiences (though I now have new ones), but suffice it to say that the last was the side of a building facing away from the road. The highway was paved, but not level in the least. I slept for the first 4 hours, and dreamed that I was on a ship on the high seas. I am so glad there is no one in our group with motion sickness.

Fittingly, we are in steppe country--wide and flat. For most of the journey there were few if any trees or scrub, and what little there was did not relieve the impression of an ocean of grass, being short and sparce. There were a few settlements along the highway. Words do not adequately describe the feeling of isolation. But itwas utterly beautiful, if you are in to that sort of thing.

I'm going to try to add photos here soon.

Tomorrow I will tell you more. Dinner is soon, and we are going to the theater tonight!