This is just a tiny bit about my trip to SP....

First off I would say that EVERYONE should try at some point in their life to go to Saint-Petersberg, if you need a tour guide I would be happy to take you. I love Moscow and I think as a place to live I would move here in a heart beat but for beauty and tourism Petersberg is the place to be. I wish I had more time now to describe everything but i dont so i wont... just a brief overview of our trip. We left Moscow around 11 in a overnight train. It had beds but they weren't that comfortable. it was just great because it was my first overnight passenger car ride and i felt like i was in the movies. plus it was my friend SJ's bday so we popped bottles and partied all night... lol. we arrived at our hostel around 8am (blah!) it was gross, but with character... breakfast was really really really stupid and i was pissed and then the bus for a tour.

Our first stop was a Catherdral (a Russian Orthodox Church) it was the first of three we saw. We were allowed to enter while the mass was going on. aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh! It was so beautiful, the priests singing, the decor, it took my breath away. honestly, thats the of most connected ive felt with God in a couple weekd... the people were so devout and i didnt want to leave. Our next stop was another catherdal at the Fortress of Peter and Paul... i loved the fortress... i wanted it to be my own. Our bus tour continued to the bridge where ships come. The next stop was a fortress and inside the fortress was Saint. Peters Cathedral where the Tsars starting with Peter are buried. This was one of my favorite places but more later. Next was the Winter Palace and the Hermatage, again more on that later I need a day to put in to words the beauty and emotion these places stirred. After that we had free time, took a nap with the girls... then some of got really dressed up and went to an exclusive dinner with Saint Sara Jane for her birthday. (the needs its own post as well) We stayed there for a while, they hade great music, ok food, and great Cosmos and wine... We thought then we were going to go dancing but the club wasn't very good so instead we went for a walk and it was beautiful. Sunday we had breakfast and got on the bus to go to the Summer palace. Which isn't as grand as the Winter palace but was still beautiful with amazing gardens, it was a winter wonderland. After that we had a lot of free time so I went with a few friends to a great cafe and had an amazing lunch, then went shopping. It was so much fun. That night we saw Hamlet done by the forth years of the acting school in Petersberg and then I got two burgers before getting back on the train and waking up in Moscow at 8. That is all I can do for now I will try to write more and put up some pictures in the next couple days.this is what u get when u order A BLACK RUSSIAN.

the date for this post is really november 6, 2009.


So today was the most WONDERFUL day so far!

I got my right and left splits, did a perfect cartwheel for the first time in my life, jumped over a table, and did a bridge from standing!!!!! woop woop!
IT SNOWED!!!! It was beautiful but i was tired of it after i took the first couple of pictures... (which by the way i have to post)
We leave for Saint Petersberg in an hour I'm all packed I'm worried I'm going to freeze but hopefully not.
speak to ya on the flipside cuz im not taking my computer with me

this is what u get when u order A BLACK RUSSIAN.

November!!!!
I can't belive the month has gone by so fast. Halloween was alot of fun I think some friends have pictures so I will try to get them posted corpse bride/ Ludmila (a character from out russian language text book) went very well... i shall get pics on here soon.

Yesterday before the party I saw probably my second favorite piece of theater, Richard III (Shakespeare). I was directed by the same man who direct Hamlet- my favorite. The show was stunnning the visual imput was emotionally enthrawling. They used Shadows as part of the scenery which added so much. Also each of the deaths was unique. The hit man would come on stage and they would be holding wine or a news paper and their victim would be in white and they took such ardinary objects a killed people in the most gruesome ways- it was horrifying yet beautiful. My favorite scene was the ghost scene right before the last battle. the Ghosts actually did an etude with Richard and when it was over He said the "This is the hour..." speech which is usually at the beginning. It had so much more meaning just changing the placement. It was great because some roles in Richard that would typcally be cast aside, were now so developed even with out lines. You could tell that the actors took even the smallest part so seriously, it is so wonderful to see. That is something that I really respect Russians for they care about even the smallest characters. The show was a work of art.

This week is more relaxing we have no class on wednesday for some obscure holiday that was added just recently because they no longer wanted to celbrate the October Revolution but they still wanted the day off. I personally am going shopping. On friday we leave very late at night for Saint-Petersberg I'm really excited it is supposed to be beautiful.
I hope you are all doing well and this is what u get when u order A BLACK RUSSIAN.

“Our childhood is our greatest tool for our creativity.”

Tolya

Green is a tall pine forest, light yellow is a tiny chick at Easter and black is the never-ending sky. Today was my first acting class and one of the activities was to think and be a color and then connect with others who were the same color... without knowing what color others were... For our first acting class it as all about creating a rhythm with our group i.e. it was though clapping in order with task of walking and figuring out who was “it” without any external cues. Our professor Sasha speaks broken English but you can understand what he is saying simply through his body language. He is a great actor on the Moscow stage, even while he sits and talks to us, every muscle is engaged in his words. We have a second teacher who is also an actor but we haven’t met him yet.

In history Tolya introduced us to the personality of Stanislavski. He told us that when he tried to write a book the only thing that appeared in his manuscript was stories from his childhood. His books were never a bout his greatness but his failures and how each failure brought him closer to his goals as an artists.

Tonight we went out to a Russian bar, and because of our huge group and loudness the Russians were giving us dirty looks which is actually not that uncommon. Whenever we go to Russian stores the clerks yell at us in Russian until they realize we have no idea what they are saying, so then their best form of communication is to glare. Not all Russians are like this the other students, our guides, and our teachers and once in a while a sympathetic stranger will help us get through the language barrier. I find that the Language barrier is the one thing that I wish I could change and one thing that I know i will soon be able to handle.

Paka (see ya!)

this is what u get when u order A BLACK RUSSIAN.

I have not updated in so very long... but here goes...

“To understand an artist, you must look at the way she lives and loves.”
-Toliya Smeliansky

I have never met a more passionate man about the theater than my history professor, and artistic director of MXAT Smeliansky. He stressed to us the importance of telling MXAT history as it was. As time has passed in the Russian theater, each revolution has changed the face of MXAT or as we learned MXAT has shaped the face of Russia. In our “lecture” hall there is a exhibit with all the picture of great artists of the MXAT looking down on us. They felt like our own personal guides, despite the cliché. It is a living exhibit it changes with the political landscape, “Behind every picture is a problem.” We also had Russian Cinema, to be honest I was exhausted so I didn’t absorb all of it but Galina (my professor) was beautiful and wonderful.
Our evening to night has been abosorbed in sadness. One of our members lost their college room mate tonight. Her pain transferred to all of us with reality of how far we are from home and the love ones we left behind. I love you all very much and I pray you are in good health. Please send prayers and energy my way for my grieving friend.
It is time for bed I will write more tomorrow but this is what on my heart tonight. This program is a blessing and so are all of you.

this is what u get when u order A BLACK RUSSIAN.