Hello, and welcome to the journal of my adventures during my semester studying in Yaroslavl', Russia.
As some of you already know, I did some travelling before I went to Russia for my semester abroad. My mom and I hatched a plan in which I would go to Finland and Estonia with her and my stepdad, Joe, and then I would go to Latvia by myself for a day, before flying into Moscow to start with the Middlebury College School in Russia. We left the Thursday before my program started, and flew Icelandair into Helsinki, Finland. After getting very little sleep on the plane, when we arrived at our hotel, we were very tired. We had dinner at a nice cafe, and promptly went to sleep. We were staying at what turned out to be a sailor's hotel, down near the (very beautiful) main harbor in Helsinki. A few steps out of the hotel door was a fantastic view of Uspensky Cathedral, which is a beautiful cathedral that was originally Russian Orthodox, but is now Finnish Orthodox, I believe. Over the course of a few days I got to see most of the city, including some of the islands nearby, by means of a boat tour. We also went to the town of Porvoo (I think I'm spelling that right), which was an hour's bus ride outside of Helsinki. It is a picturesque little town on a river, but we all were tired, and didn't stay there too long.
The next day we took a boat to Tallinn, Estonia, which I consider to be the highlight of the trip. The boat only took 90 minutes, and we soon arrived in Estonia. We were staying in Old Town Tallinn, which is an impeccably preserved medieval part of the city. It was absolutely beautiful, with huge old churches and cute winding streets, though it felt a little eerie. There were people dressed up in traditional costumes, trying to get customers at their medieval themed restaurants, which served mead from big goblets, and huge throngs of tourists. All of which made it feel a bit like a theme park. We walked around the city, and I fulfilled a promise by buying a pair of knit mittens from an Estonian woman in front of the so-called “Sweater Wall.” We slept that night in a very nice hotel on the north edge of Old Town. The next morning, after looking around the city we headed back to Helsinki, in time to go see the Oslo Philharmonic perform at Finlandia Hall, which was great. At the end of both halves the symphony played encores, which I don't think I had encountered before. Anyways, it was a really cool thing to do, and I'm glad my mom was resourceful enough to find out about it and to book tickets. The next morning I headed off to the airport, to catch my flight to Riga, Latvia.
Riga, it turns out, is a scary place. I got into the airport, got some Latvian cash, checked my big bag, and got on the bus. On the bus, I think I angered the old ticket collector lady, because I didn't have any change, and couldn't understand what she was saying (as I don't speak Latvian, and she didn't speak English). She finally took my 10 lats bill to pay for a 0.30 lats ticket, and gave me the change in coins, which equals nearly $20. I took the bus into the city center, though I had to guess where to get off. There were huge throngs of people everywhere, which was really overwhelming. I was able to navigate to my hotel, and checked into what turned out to be a rather depressing room. I guess that's what happens when you only pay $36 for a room. I went out to have dinner and then wandered around town a little bit, and saw some of the really beautiful architecture in the city. It was probably an absolutely gorgeous city 100 or 200 years ago, but these days it is showing the wear from 50 years under Soviet rule. I decided to head back to the hotel when I had had enough of the masses of people and cars. I woke up the next morning at 4:00, and grabbed a cab to the airport at 4:30. I had to wait a little while until the AirBaltic counter opened up so I could get my ticket, but everything worked out fine, and I sat around for a bit waiting for my plane to Moscow. The flight turned out to be operated by Aeroflot, the Russian state airline, so I got to read a Russian in-flight magazine, which was amusing.
Overall, my trip through Finland, Estonia, and Latvia was fun, though I wish I was less cranky. I think it was the combination of jet lag, lack of sleep, being with the same people around the clock for a week, and being really really nervous about going to Russia for four months that made me somewhat cranky and irritable. Sorry about that, Mom and Joe. Anyways, Helsinki was great, and everyone spoke English, which made everything easier. Tallinn was beautiful. I strongly recommend both to anyone who wants to go somewhere less frequented by American tourist types. Riga I wouldn't recommend, or at least not if you're going to be by yourself. I also didn't see very much of it, which probably taints my perception of it.
As some of you already know, I did some travelling before I went to Russia for my semester abroad. My mom and I hatched a plan in which I would go to Finland and Estonia with her and my stepdad, Joe, and then I would go to Latvia by myself for a day, before flying into Moscow to start with the Middlebury College School in Russia. We left the Thursday before my program started, and flew Icelandair into Helsinki, Finland. After getting very little sleep on the plane, when we arrived at our hotel, we were very tired. We had dinner at a nice cafe, and promptly went to sleep. We were staying at what turned out to be a sailor's hotel, down near the (very beautiful) main harbor in Helsinki. A few steps out of the hotel door was a fantastic view of Uspensky Cathedral, which is a beautiful cathedral that was originally Russian Orthodox, but is now Finnish Orthodox, I believe. Over the course of a few days I got to see most of the city, including some of the islands nearby, by means of a boat tour. We also went to the town of Porvoo (I think I'm spelling that right), which was an hour's bus ride outside of Helsinki. It is a picturesque little town on a river, but we all were tired, and didn't stay there too long.
The next day we took a boat to Tallinn, Estonia, which I consider to be the highlight of the trip. The boat only took 90 minutes, and we soon arrived in Estonia. We were staying in Old Town Tallinn, which is an impeccably preserved medieval part of the city. It was absolutely beautiful, with huge old churches and cute winding streets, though it felt a little eerie. There were people dressed up in traditional costumes, trying to get customers at their medieval themed restaurants, which served mead from big goblets, and huge throngs of tourists. All of which made it feel a bit like a theme park. We walked around the city, and I fulfilled a promise by buying a pair of knit mittens from an Estonian woman in front of the so-called “Sweater Wall.” We slept that night in a very nice hotel on the north edge of Old Town. The next morning, after looking around the city we headed back to Helsinki, in time to go see the Oslo Philharmonic perform at Finlandia Hall, which was great. At the end of both halves the symphony played encores, which I don't think I had encountered before. Anyways, it was a really cool thing to do, and I'm glad my mom was resourceful enough to find out about it and to book tickets. The next morning I headed off to the airport, to catch my flight to Riga, Latvia.
Riga, it turns out, is a scary place. I got into the airport, got some Latvian cash, checked my big bag, and got on the bus. On the bus, I think I angered the old ticket collector lady, because I didn't have any change, and couldn't understand what she was saying (as I don't speak Latvian, and she didn't speak English). She finally took my 10 lats bill to pay for a 0.30 lats ticket, and gave me the change in coins, which equals nearly $20. I took the bus into the city center, though I had to guess where to get off. There were huge throngs of people everywhere, which was really overwhelming. I was able to navigate to my hotel, and checked into what turned out to be a rather depressing room. I guess that's what happens when you only pay $36 for a room. I went out to have dinner and then wandered around town a little bit, and saw some of the really beautiful architecture in the city. It was probably an absolutely gorgeous city 100 or 200 years ago, but these days it is showing the wear from 50 years under Soviet rule. I decided to head back to the hotel when I had had enough of the masses of people and cars. I woke up the next morning at 4:00, and grabbed a cab to the airport at 4:30. I had to wait a little while until the AirBaltic counter opened up so I could get my ticket, but everything worked out fine, and I sat around for a bit waiting for my plane to Moscow. The flight turned out to be operated by Aeroflot, the Russian state airline, so I got to read a Russian in-flight magazine, which was amusing.
Overall, my trip through Finland, Estonia, and Latvia was fun, though I wish I was less cranky. I think it was the combination of jet lag, lack of sleep, being with the same people around the clock for a week, and being really really nervous about going to Russia for four months that made me somewhat cranky and irritable. Sorry about that, Mom and Joe. Anyways, Helsinki was great, and everyone spoke English, which made everything easier. Tallinn was beautiful. I strongly recommend both to anyone who wants to go somewhere less frequented by American tourist types. Riga I wouldn't recommend, or at least not if you're going to be by yourself. I also didn't see very much of it, which probably taints my perception of it.
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