I am starting this blog to let you (presumably my friends and family) know about my trip to Russia this summer. I thought I would start out by giving some basic information about my trip, the places I will be traveling, etc.
The program I am traveling with is called Learning Enterprises. You can read about it on the website if you are interested, but basically it is a non-profit that sends college-aged students around the world to teach English.
I will be traveling with 6 other students and our awesome program director, Brett, who is a recent college graduate. I am leaving New York on the afternoon of June 29the and will arrive in Moscow the next morning. We will all meet up at the airport, spend a day in Moscow, and then embark on our journey to Siberia!
As one of my guidebooks says, “It takes over a week to travel the [Trans-Siberian Railway’s] length, and the route runs through Russia’s dark heart.” We will travel less than half of the railway’s length, but still, the trip should take about 3 days. Our final destination is the Altai Region, located in Southern Siberia between Kazakhstan and Mongolia. One third of the entire area is covered by forest and it is supposed to be beautiful. After we get off the train, we will split up and go to our respective towns. I am “stationed” in a town called Belokurika, which is actually a ski resort and health spa in the mountains.
I will be teaching 3-4 hours a day, 5 days a week and I wont know the ages of the children (and maybe even adults) until I arrive. I will be getting some sort of training on the train (haha, get it?) but that is about it. I am going to be living with a host “family,” though my “family” is a single 30-year-old woman. I am encouraged to spend as much time outside the classroom with my students and host family as possible, so I will be doing lots of hiking, swimming, and hopefully lounging around at the baths.
After teaching for about 6 weeks, we will either fly or take the train back to Moscow. From there my plans are a little more up in the air. We are scheduled to get back either the 13th or 15th of August and I am not flying back to New York until the 21st. Hopefully I will see the sights in Moscow and even take the train to St. Petersburg if I have time (I want to see Dostoevsky’s St. Petersburg home where he wrote The Brothers Karamazov!!).
Here are some links to things relating to my trip:
I just wanted to let you know that I didn't read this post or click on the links you put up because I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID FIELD TRIP.
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