While I should probably be doing some packing right now (going to Moscow - finally! - tonight!), I feel that it is important for me to catch up on my blogging a little bit since so much has happened since I last checked in!
We set off for Sochi two Sundays ago on the longest train ride of my life - 46 full hours of togetherness with my lovely Petersburg group members. It was an experience unlike anything I've ever come across in my life - no showers, only the food you brought with you, and 2 toilets per wagon with no guarantees of tp. Despite all that, we had a lot of fun just talking, playing cards, eating russian ramen noodles (called lawpshah) and fighting off drunk circus performers (yeah, that really happened). But by the time we got to Sochi on Tuesday night, we were fully ready to explore the city.
And did we ever. The excursions ended up seriously tending towards a focus on outdoorsy/hiking activities - two days were all hiking on mountains, the tea plantation was also on a mountain, and the site of the 2014 olympics also took us to the top of a mountain. But we had beautiful weather every day (not one day of rain), so I'm glad that we took advantage of the environment while we were there.
Beautiful does not even begin to describe the natural scenery in Sochi - our hotel was right on the Black Sea, there are mountains and palm trees everywhere, and the sun was always shining. I think my favorite part of the trip was the day we went hiking and went swimming under the waterfalls in the mountains. It was FREEZING - as soon as I jumped in, I started getting short of breath and my heart sped up, but it was totally worth it! The view from the top of the mountain where the Olympics would be held was also unbelievable - we had ride the ski lift for about an hour to get to the snow-tipped mountain top, but when we did, it was surprisingly still warm and a bunch of the guys (and even a few of the women) took their shirts off for pictures!
We also got a taste of Georgian food while we were there - lots of cheesy bread (hah-gee-pore-ee), shaw-shleek (like kebab meat), and Georgian wine :). It's so delicious that even Medvedev was eating at one of the restaurants on our beach (I didn't go to see him, but a couple of my friends did). We even went to a honey farm where they let us try honey wine, which was probably the most delicious beverage I have ever sampled - it was like a liquid sour starburst. I would have bought some, but the director of the Moscow group told us that it goes bad really quickly.
Speaking of the Moscow group, it was interesting to get to know all of the kiddies from the other cities on the trip. We noticed that each group had its own appropriate characteristics. The Vladimir group seemed to be pretty close - they were all super nice and liked having a good time, but were probably a little tamer than some of students from other groups. The Moscow kids, on the other hand, were a wild bunch, partying every night in the hotel or on the streets, but always looking for a fun time. Our Petersburg group seemed to be kind of in between - people liked to go out at night, but, generally, everyone's pretty into just chilling and talking about literature or culture or something along those kinds of intellectual lines... We were also definitely the most on top of the "only-Russian-on-excursions" policy - mainly due to Nathan, our resident director's short leash.
Though we had an amazing time in Sochi, it was nice to get home and see my host family again - my host mother asked me seriously while I was eating lunch after I'd gotten home, if I missed soup when I was in Sochi. I thought it was funny that THAT was what she considered the most difficult thing to do without on the trip.
And now I'm heading off for another mini-adventure in Moscow tonight. We'll be taking the night train, so when we wake up tomorrow morning we can go ahead and start exploring the city. Grace and I have already accepted the fact that we probably will not be getting a lot of sleep this weekend. Sunday is день победы in Russia, which is like our 4th of July, so it's probably going to be pretty nuts - supposedly there's a big parade in Red Square, which we may or may not be allowed to attend.
And after that, we have just one week left of classes and then Finals! And THEN Eastern Europe trip 2010. AND THEN a whole new Summer semester in St. Pete. Therefore, stay tuned.
