So I'm back from Novgorod...

So I’m back from Novgorod with another update for everyone! Last week I had classes like normal. On Thursday night, we went to a bar downtown to see our resident coordinator play the guitar and sing, which was a lot of fun. The bar was crowded with lots of Russians and filled with smoke and had an awesome atmosphere! It was right off of Nevsky Prospekt, which is like the Broadway of Petersburg. Anyway, that day was the first day I successfully walked around in heels for about 12 hours. It wasn’t too painful, although my feet were still a little angry at me the day after. So then very early on Saturday morning, we went to Novgorod, which is about three hours away from Petersburg on the bus. And we had a double-decker bus, which was totally awesome. However, roads in Russia are not paved very well, so we ended up swaying back and forth a lot. It’s a good thing I don’t have motion sickness… Anyway, Novgorod means “New City” in English, but the city isn’t new at all. The first time it is mentioned in historical records is in the 800s. Talk about old. We saw a lot of old churches and learned a lot about the history of Russia. Novgorod was one of the leading cities in old Rus and finally lost its standing when St. Petersburg was founded. It is known for its Kremlin and St. Sophia Cathedral. The wood carving there is also amazing!!! The old houses have really super intricate carving on the outside that makes them absolutely beautiful. I saw a lot of really pretty icons inside the churches, including Our Savior of Novgorod, which is a really famous icon. Google it. It’s pretty awesome. After our tours were done on Saturday, my friend Meg and I ended up at a café, drinking a beer and chatting in English (Jeff, if you’re reading this, don’t get angry!!!) So as we were chatting along, this guy slid over towards us and asked us if we were American, and we said yes, and he sat there and talked to us for about an hour, asking all sorts of crazy questions about America. He really wanted to know if we had ever seen Bruce Willis or Jennifer Lopez. It was a funny experience and we got to practice our Russian. Then we did some more sight-seeing on Sunday. We went to a really famous monastery and had lunch inside the Kremlin at this traditional Russian restaurant. The food was really good, but it was super rich. Welcome to Russian cuisine. Anyway, I was in a crazy food-coma, so I walked around the touristy souvenir stands and then made my way over to the bus so I could fall asleep. So now I’m back in St. Petersburg. My friend Meg and I went to see Swan Lake on Monday night, and it was AMAZING!! Russian ballet is the way to go. The crowd was mainly full of Americans and Germans, but it was still amazing. The best part was, the tickets were not expensive at all compared to D.C. prices. I will try to put some pictures up for y'all to see soon, but I think my internet er!oing to run up, so I will write more later!