#russian lbat

Hey everyone. I know I wrote previously that there would be an update featuring Yellow Jackets + friends travels before we left for Poland. Well, looks like we’re just gonna jump straight into our excursion to Poland.

We stayed in Krakow for 3 days and had the opportunity to visit all sorts of historical locations and sites. Some locations we visited I did not take photos. These include the Wieliczka Salt Mine (too dark but spectacular) and Auschwitz II-Birkenau (taking photos I feel would have distracted me from the solemn reality of the experience.)

The first picture is of us once we arrived at our hostel.

Below is a picture of own Will Branham sporting a Georgia Tech T-shirt with St. Mary’s Basilica in the distance. St. Mary’s Basilica is a 14th (technically 13th) century Polish-gothic architecture church built in Krakow’s main square.

The next three pictures are of our first real adventure in Poland. We explored the old Jewish quarter, Kazimierz, in Krakow. The location our guide is pointing to was featured in Schindler’s List (as evidenced by the framed picture from the film).

Here is a picture of Krakow’s main square. You can see the basilica on the right with the market on the left and a monument to the poet Adam Mickiewicz in the center-left. If you look closely you may be able to see a trumpet played in the window of the tallest tower in the bascillica!

Lastly, here is a photo of Wawel Castle, one of the most famous buildings in Krakow. The castle is enormous and is a hodgepodge of different architectural styles from the medieval, renaissance and baroque period. Like St. Mary’s Basilica, Wawel Castle dates back to the 13th and 14th centuries.

After our tour of Vilnius, we left for the Lithuanian countryside.  It rained a little bit while we were here, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying the sights and scenery of the Lithuanian countryside!

First up was a tour of more ornate churches with brilliant architecture.  Pictured below is the Trakai Basilica of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary which dates back to 1409.

After our brief visit to the Trakai Basilica, we arrived at Trakai Castle, one of the most iconic locations in all of Lithuania (the front cover of a travel book on Lithuania I own has the castle right on the cover!) Trakai Island Castle dates back to the 14th century and sits in the middle of Lake Galve. Pictured next is the outer walls of the island castle with us students entering through the main gate.

The castle was one of the most important strategic centers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a historical state that covered much of Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine up-to and until 1795. After it fell into disrepair he castle was eventually began reconstruction in the 19th century and was completed in 1961.

After touring the castle, we spent the final hour of our adventure in Lithuania eating Piroshki with soup in a traditionally Karaim setting. Karaim refers to Crimean Karaites, members of Karaite Judaism in Central and Eastern Europe.

To sum up the amount I learned during my time on the Russian LBAT would take many more posts and lots of rambling about my love for the culture.

To keep it short and sweet, I want to let everyone know that Moscow is an amazing city. The Russian people are very different from every other culture in the world, and they deserve that recognition. Their perseverance, conservation, and self-preservation has led them to lead lives completely foreign to those in Western Europe or America. Seeing the reality of Moscow initially scared me. When I first arrived I hated it. I wanted so desperately to just fly home and forget all about it. Two days later, after seeing the Красная площадь (Red Square), speaking with the people, learning more about their history, and finally witnessing the beauty of the countryside, I came to love it.

Moscow is a difficult city. The ration of women to men is obvious. Men flee the country in order to avoid serving the mandatory two-year conscription, and with the abundance of beautiful women the couples are very odd. By odd I am referring to the not so attractive older men with beautiful models on their arm. The fact that women marry for money is painfully obvious to anyone visiting, but the Russians say it is getting better.

Moscow has seen a lot of history. Moscow has witnessed the rise and fall of two major government systems, and is an old city in general. A lot of buildings are falling apart, half demolished, or just painfully "Soviet," but there are majestic sites to see in between. Victory Park, Новоде́вичий монасты́рь (a monastery),  the beautiful surviving Orthodox churches, the Moskva River, Gorky Park, МГУ (Moscow's most prominent university), Тверская улица (Tverskaya St, a major pedestrian street through the center of Moscow), and more. The art galleries, food, and market places were amazing also. There really is so much to see and do. If you ever visit, Moscow is also known for its Night-Life, so be sure to pull all-nighters once or twice. 

Be sure to visit St. Petersburg. The fact that the city was once almost completely destroyed and has since been rebuilt only adds to the rich combination of East and West. The most beautiful site in the world can be seen there! It is worth every penny! It is quite a drastic change from Moscow from the way the people act and dress to the activities they do for fun. In the summer time they have "The Night of the Red Sails." Try to go at least once in your lifetime. All of the Russians celebrate with outdoor concerts and fireworks and parties and food while an huge, old ship sails down the Neva River with its Red Sails. It takes it a while to sail the entirety of the river, but you won't want to waste a minute.

I already miss Russia. I learned so much during my time there. I learned more about the history of Russia and its former territories, people (in general but especially the Russians), Russian cuisine, Russian culture, differences in technology as compared with the Eastern and Western worlds, and my Russian language skills improved dramatically. I feel way more confident and stable with my speaking and writing. There is no better way to learn a language than to immerse yourself. 

I miss Russia, and I would love any opportunity to return one day. There was so much I saw, but there is so much more to see. I cannot wait to use everything I have learned in my future experiences, and I am definitely no longer afraid of my Russian language skills. 

До свиданья Россия!!