Get This Party Started!!
Activities
By Samu Dupont

In a city with over 13 million people, Moscow provides a large market for young Muscovites and travelers. Where can one go to find groups of young people and fellow travelers? The answer is simple: clubs and cafes. Since we have arrived in Moscow, the city that never sleeps, we have had many chances to experience this first-hand. The hostel security and the metro system both stop operating at 1 AM, which has kept us out for all-nighters a number of times. This has given us the opportunity and the privilege to explore a number of interesting club scenes.

Lena, Sam, and Sveta rock the dance floor at Red Lobster

As you walk down the street in the center of Moscow, you see at least one club or restaurant on every block. One place that provides a good chance of getting into a club, even late at night, is "Kitay-Gorod," a metro station. Here there is a wide variety of clubs to choose from. Some of the clubs where we have made appearances include: The Voodoo Lounge, The Karma Bar, Rotunda, Chinese Pilot, and Proect OGI. In these clubs we have seen many different styles. At some, such as The Voodoo Lounge and Karma bar, DJ's play mostly pop music and techno, or house, music. At the others more reggae and Latin music is played, mixed with a variety of classic dance songs.

It is nice to have so many music options as not everyone in our group enjoys the same types of music and dancing. A club is always a perfect way to fill an empty night of the weekend. Clubbing is a great experience providing cultural, social, and physical activities. You can always have a great time dancing, and when you get tired, there is usually food and drink to be had, along with conversations with other members of the clubbing culture.

An Ode to Spring
Weather
By Lynn Ressler

The sun's a shinin' and the group's a smilin'

The silence was haunting, the marble was red, and the names… they will be everlasting. Name after name, which fills page after page, in book after book. There must be ten, no-twenty. No-more than a hundred books filled with names that now live only in memories.

In narrow display cases, which stand no more than three feet off the floor, these books rest. Each is given its own light to display the names of those who fought and died to save their country. More than thirty cases line the walls of this great hall.

One glance at the ceiling and you will swear God, himself, is crying. Thousand of tiny chains hang down toward you. Crystals, attached to the ends of some of them, sparkle like water droplets, sparkle like tears. This is the Hall of Sorrows.

A statue looms at end of this hall. Made of white marble, it appears to glow in the darkness. A soldier has fallen and a figure comes to care for him. The white face gazes down solemnly at the soldier, while the hands are outstretched, as if to offer some comfort. As if to say, "You will not die alone."

Remember

During the Great Patriotic War, millions of Russian soldiers offered the eternal sacrifice to protect their homeland. This hall is just one exhibit in a museum built to honor those who died. Walking past the Hall of Sorrows, five life-size dioramas, each taking up an entire room, illustrate battles fought. Proceeding to the second floor, a grand marble staircase rises to a large collection of photographs, letters, and other memorabilia from this war.

On a windy Saturday, we visited this museum at Park Pobedy. The Museum of the Great Patriotic War was built to tell the story of the Nazi attack on Russia during World War II. It also stands as a memorial to those who did not live to tell that story. A first glance betrays the size of the building. A massive square, it supports an upper two wings, which appear to beckon the visitor forth, much as a mother beckons a little child who is running to her. Mother Russia, beckoning visitors and her people alike, to tell them the story of what happened: To give them an education and to teach them about a nation.

On that Saturday, we came and we saw. Between the names and photographs, we learned. And forever, we will remember.

A World Apart
Culture
By Shane Leland

 We have been in Russia for two and a half months now, and have had the opportunity to see many of the cultural sites that Moscow has to offer. Recently, we had the opportunity to see the ballet, Giselle, at the Kremlin Theater.

Giselle was performed as a traditional ballet, very different from the modern performance of Romeo and Juliet we saw at the Bolshoi Theater. All the dancers wore very ornate costumes and the stage had an extremely elaborate set. The set remained the same throughout the first half of the ballet, but was changed after intermission. When we saw Romeo and Juliet at the Bolshoi, the experience was very different: the stage was very plain, placing the focus only on the dancers, whereas at the Kremlin Theater the focus was on both.

Both theaters are also very different in outward and inward appearance. The Bolshoi is very ornate on both the outside and the inside. When you first walk into the auditorium, you are overtaken by how elaborately decorated the theater is. The Bolshoi has a very high ceiling, but the theater seems small. It still holds a large number of people with the aid of three tiers of balconies. By contrast, the Kremlin does not have the same powerful experience when you walk into it. The ceiling is also very high, but the vast open space makes the Kremlin seems much larger. This theater is also very plain; there are few decorations and the woodwork is not nearly as ornate as the Bolshoi.

Both theaters have much to offer visitors, although they are very different from one another. To fully appreciate the theaters in Moscow, I believe everyone should attend at least one performance at each theater. I thoroughly enjoyed my experiences with them and look forward to making the trip to more performances before I leave Russia.

Shane and Lisa enjoy the show at the Kremlin Palace Theater

We have discovered the diversity at MSAU is in fact, never ending. Not only do they offer a wide variety of international and educational experiences, but they also offer, yes it's true, haircuts! Who would have believed it? Wonders may indeed never cease. It just so happened Mary Anne had been looking for a change of… well, hair.

Mary Anne's hair before...

Miss Mary Anne discovered this wonderful extravaganza in an attempt to shorten her hair and benefit charityJ. While Mary Anne was thinking of changing her style, she happened upon a small salon with the help of our Russian students. The stylist was very excited to be cutting her first American's hair! Mary Anne was only slightly nervous to discover this fact; however, she remained resilient in her decision to remove her hair.

Ten inches later Mary Anne emerged. Despite the aftershock of all parties involved, she was still our little gal from Montana, just with shorter hair of course. The ten inches Mary Anne had removed will be donated to the charity known as Locks of Love. They take hair donations to make wigs for kids with cancer. Not only did she get the change she longed for, but she also helped people while doing it! That's our Mary Anne.

...and after

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