Hello again, Russia

"I can see Russia from my (dorm)"

-Sarah Palin

Hey everyone! 

So midterms are pretty much over, I only have one more tomorrow (friday) and then I'm done until after break! All of next week is fall break and as I said in the last post, the program takes us on a trip to Russia. Saturday we are leaving early in the morning and we will be getting into Moscow around 10am on Sunday. We spend about 3 days in Moscow. Cool things we get to see: Red Square, The Kremlin, The Circus, a bunch of really cool churches, Stariy Arbat (Moscow's 5th Avenue), the Russian Orchestra, and the Tretyakov gallery (a Russian Art History museum). Plus, we at staying at a hostel called Godzilla's hostel. On Wedesday, we make the 6 hour train ride to St. Petersburg. Cool things in St. Pete's: Nikolaevsky palace, Peter and Paul Fortress, the Hermitage (the second biggest museum in the world, it's so full of art that you can spend month in it), plus a bunch of palaces, museums, and markets! Oh yeah, we are also going to see the Russian Ballet perform. At the risk of decreasing my manlyness, itwould be a lie to say that I wasn't at least a bit excited for that. So yeah, it should be a great trip!

midterms, russia, and bedbugs

Hey everyone. Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been really really busy. Lots of homework lately. Plus midterms. Also, bedbugs. Seriously. I thought that bedbugs were a myth. Nope. Real and in my bed. So I think it would be a fair assessment that I've been busy.

Lots of cool things recently. One of the study abroads has a boyfriend that lives in Austria and he's here for a week so I did a photoshoot for them also, we are all getting ready to go to Russia!

We leave for Russia in a little less than 2 weeks. 3 days in St. Petersburg and 3 in Moscow! But first, I still have to push through 2 weeks of midterms and a lot of homework. 

I hope everyone is doing well and that you are finding that your lives are being blessed!

Pictures of Tallinn and Riga

Sorry for it taking so long to get these up. Here are some pictures from Tallinn and Riga:

A really cool park that was right at the beginning of our tour of Tallinn
A beautiful Church
This is the Estonian Parliment building. It's pink!
Another church
The view of Tallinn from the Governor's Palace
And this is the governor's palace
Tallinn's Old Town Square
Just off the square
This is Kadriorg Palace. It was built as a summer home of Peter the Great of Russia
Here is the front of the palace
I thought this statue looked cool
While we were in Tallinn, the Arts and Light festival was being held. In Old Town Square, people dressed up and then wore Christmas lights and then danced a waltz
This is the church that we went to in Riga
The Occupation Museum. The thing covered in glass which you can't see because the light is too strong is the map on which Hitler and Stalin drew a line separating Europe then signed it.
A really cool Orthodox Church. Look at the clouds, that is why I didn't take many photos in Riga
Another shot of the church
Riga's statue celebrating their freedon
The view from a rest stop right after we crossed the border back into Lithuania