Our project week started in the pale light of pre-dawn, our sleepy eyes blinking as we rolled our suitcases to the bus stop. Our flight was at 7:00 am, so we woke at 4:30 am to catch the bust at 5:00, just to be safe. The journey was uneventful and fun, we spent a few hours in Rome, then on to Moscow. It was amazing to look out the plane window at Russia - after a winter of no snow, there was snow everywhere, and it was so flat! coming from Vermont to Italy I'd forgotten that there were places that were truly flat...but it was flat as far as I could see, and the city was a small blotch on the white snow.
Despite our worries, we got through Passport control without difficulty and were met by Danil, Heloisa’s friend, and Tatosha, our Russian third year, at the entrance. They took us to our hostel, a beautiful place behind one of the only two catholic cathedrals in Moscow.
A Day of Exploration
Our first trip was, of course, to the Red Square. It was a beautiful day, and St Basil’s Cathedral was spectacular in the cold sunlight. We went inside and marveled at the decorations – many of us had never seen an orthodox cathedral before, and the icons were truly spectacular.
Then we went to the shopping center nearby to have lunch, where we met Danil again, and he took some of us to see Arbat, the most famous street in Moscow. We couldn't figure out why at first, it wasn't that different from all the other streets, until I realized that it was like Times Square in NYC - it's an icon of the city, a place to pin your heart, even though it's not actually much more spectacular than the rest of the city.
That evening, we all went to Danil’s school to meet his friends. Despite the language barrier, we had a wonderful time talking, and then Danil got out his guitar and they all sang their favorite Russian songs for us. We enjoyed it immensely.
A Day of Success
Today we went to our first official activity of the Project: a bilingual Italian-Russian school, where we gave a presentation about UWC and they gave a presentation about Russia, and then we had tea and chatted in Italian. The students were very nice and we had a lot of fun talking to them about the differences between our schools and countries.
We went straight from that to the orphanage. We were worried that the orphans, being only slightly younger than us (15-17-years-old) wouldn’t respond well to our games and activities, but we were completely mistaken. They loved it: they played our childish games with almost more energy than us. When we had finished, they invited us to tea, with sweets that they had made themselves, and we tried to communicate through the few Russian speakers in our group and the even fewer English speakers in theirs.
Elated at our success, we went out to an underground bar in the center of Moscow. It was a beautiful bar, with a jazz band playing and a wonderfully cozy atmosphere. I felt so at home there, if I lived in Moscow, I would go there every night.
A Day of Trials
This was the hardest day of the week for most of us.
We were scheduled to prepare and deliver meals to homeless in the evening, but we ended up spending all the time talking to the women who organized the relief work, and didn’t prepare any of the food at all. We went to help deliver it as well, but there were too many of us and not enough to do, so most of us ended up standing around looking at the homeless people come to get the tea and sandwiches we offered. We felt like spectators to their pain, and unable to help in any real way. But it also brought out how important work like this was, and sparked a will to help similarly in our home countries.A Day of Beauty
We went to the Tritikovska Museum of Art in the morning. It was a wonderful museum, the artwork is spectacular, wall after wall covered in marvelous paintings, each one worthy of hours of study by itself, but unfortunately we had only 2 hours to see the whole museum, so we rushed around trying to absorb everything before we had to leave.
We went to have lunch with Olga, the head of the Russian national committee. It was wonderful – by far the best food we had the whole week and a very interesting conversation with Olga and Tatosha’s mother about the national committee and Tatosha’s mother’s ecotourism business.
That evening we went to the orphanage again, and had another fun time playing games. We had learned from the last session, and we had more active games this time, with the orphans running around and laughing, then they suggested a game and we all played until the end of the session.
A Day of Contrast
We woke up early to get to another school at 9:00. This school was very different from the other school we went to: it was the elite school where all the richest students in Moscow went. We went to talk to two classes, an English class of 16-year-old students and an Italian class of students ranging from 8 to 13-years-old. We were shocked at the life these kids led, their minds occupied with fashion and material goods. We had forgotten that at UWC we were the exception, not the rule, and it was a rude awakening to the real world.
In the afternoon, we saw the other end of the economic spectrum: we went to a homeless shelter to do art activities. It was a wonderful experience, much better than our other encounter with homeless people. We finger-painted, one of us with one homeless person, making paintings about spring, and communicating without words through the colors on the paper.
They loved it, and afterwards asked us again and again to come back. A summation of the day: we preferred the downtrodden to the elite.
A Day of Culture
In the morning we went to see the Kremlin, though the weather was less than desirable: rain and slush made it very hard to walk the streets. After wandering around the Red Square, trying to find the way in, we asked two guards on horseback and got directions to the real entrance. The cathedrals we saw were spectacular, every speck of them covered in frescoes and icons, so similar and so different to the churches of Italy.
We spent the afternoon in the orphanage for the last time. We had a huge party, sang songs for each other, and Vivian taught us all how to make Chinese lanterns. We were so sad to say goodbye, but we told them about UWC and invited them to apply, so hopefully UWC and the orphanage will have a great long-lasting relationship.
That night we went to the Red Square again, to see it by night. It was awe-inspiring, despite the rain, and we stayed there for a while, just gazing at our surroundings. Sarah, my prima, was taking pictures like mad, it became a running joke of the project week.
A Day of Conversations
We spent all morning in school 136, having tea and talking about our impressions of Russia and their impressions of Italy. The Italian teacher took us out to lunch in a beautiful ethnic restaurant and then to the cheap shopping haven of Moscow, where we got souvenirs and presents for all our friends. I got a blue fur hat, which is sooooo warm and cozy and wonderful. Umberto got his desired Russian army cap, and then we switched, just to make life interesting. :)
A Day of Delays
In the morning, Olga and two other people from the national committee came to talk, and we discussed the role of the national committee, how they operated, and what we expected from them in general. Then we were off…well, sort of. The flight was delayed due to bad weather, and by the time we got to Rome our connecting flight had already left. So Alitalia paid for our stay in a wonderful 4 star hotel and we got back to Duino the next morning, safe and sound.
What a trip! Thanks to everyone who helped to make it possible, there were some days when we weren't sure we would be able to go, but we pulled through, and it was very much worth it. Thanks!
