I’m in Moscow!
I will go back to the beginning. I had my last show on Sept. 19 – it went very well. I then went home and spent the night saying goodbye to family and packing, weighing and reweighing my bags, and finally going to sleep for a measly three hours before waking up again and driving to the airport. Then to Connecticut where Charlie and his mom picked me up, and we drove to the O’Neill Center, which by the way, is beautiful. We were given rooms. Mine was located in a big Victorian style white house. Very nice. That night we met our fellows, Shauna who accompanied us to Moscow, and saw a production from the NTI kids.
There were classes and other suck activities, but mostly the day and half we spent at orientation was devoted to getting to know one another. By the time we made it onto the plane at JFK, we had already begun to function as a unit. There are thirty of us, and I’m sure through the course of this blog, you will begin to learn more about our group.
The nine our plane ride wasn’t pleasant. I was less uncomfortable in the physical sense than I’ve been on domestic flights, but it seems to me Russian men don’t care much about deodorant. They have a musk. I was sitting next to a spectacularly smelly man, and the airline forgot to feed me. Rude. So after departing from New York at 4:20 pm on Sept. 22, we landed in Moscow at 10:10 am on Sept. 23.
In Russia there are differences in the way women are treated. The men were in charge of lugging all the baggage, which I liked. Apparently, the Russian mentality is as follows: Women are expected to be mothers in their lives, and most have their first baby before they are 24, so women and girls approaching this time in their lives have to be careful to preserve their ability to have children; so things like lifting heavy objects and sitting on the ground are not okay. But really, Russians don’t like the ground and they don’t like the floor. In all studio classes you wear shoes. But the moment is intense enough that you kind of have to anyways. But you don’t sit on the floor in acting either. And you don’t go barefoot. Ever. In doors, it is expected that you take off your shoes and change into slippers. It’s actually a very classy culture that way. And as far as the way women are treated, I confess that it is sort of nice.
As far as life in Moscow, it’s sort of baptism by fire. Mariana is the woman who basically in charge of us here, and she is available to answer all our questions, and we have the angles, who are Russian producing students who help to herd us when we are in groups, but after showing us where the grocery store is, helping us to get phone cards, and taking us to exchange money, our guides kinda peaced out and left us to our own devices. It’s Sunday and I’m starting to finally feel a bit more comfortable.
Dorm life. The dorms are great, much nicer than American dorms. We have really nice kitchens, and it’s really easiest to do most of your cooking at home. Lucky me, I have a single…though of course I’m always lonely and spending my time in other people’s rooms. We live in close proximity with the Russians as well. Many of them are very interested in meeting us and practicing their English with us. I’m sort of bad at communicating with them still. And the doors are extremely safe. We have a babushka who guards the door, and she has to buzz you both in and out. At 1am she goes to bed, and if you aren’t home, you’re in trouble cause you’re spending the night outside. So it’s important to be nice to the babushkas. And never call them babushka to their face.
As for Moscow, I love it so far. It’s much like any other city, but Russian. Obviously. The architecture, the history…it blows the mind. The cigarette smoke is a little overwhelming. Most of Russia smokes, and you can do it everywhere…restaurants, buildings…even the dorms allow smoking in the stairwells. I’ve just had to make a choice to deal with it and not let it bother me too much.
Russians are beautiful. They take their appearance very seriously, and dress very nicely. Compared to Moscow, New Yorkers on the street like slobs. I’ve been making a point to dress up, wear makeup, and put myself together as much as possible before leaving; and surprisingly, I like it. Mariana told me while boot shopping, “Beautiful girls should wear fancy things. You are not a girl, you are a woman, and you should get only more beautiful as you grow.” I guess life really is too short not to feel beautiful every day, and putting some effort into your appearance does make one feel better. Mariana is like most Russians; very stern looking, cold seeming, but actually very full of love. It’s such a fascinating culture that way.
We start our real class schedule tomorrow, which I absolutely cannot wait for. We have only had two history classes, one film history class, and one acting class, so we haven’t really begun to work yet. I just cannot even express how beautiful the theater culture here is…it’s like nothing I have experience…the love and the reverence with which the Russians approach their art stuns me. We have already learned, when something happens to the Moscow Art Theater, something happens to Russia. Here, art changes the course of history; it changes the world, as opposed to the outside world changing the theater. There are a million billion more things to share, but this blog is long enough I think, so I’ll end here for now.
I was afraid to come to Russia, even during the application process, but thank God I’m here. This is exactly where I am supposed to be right now.
Love to everyone who is reading this,
Hannah
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