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I've been in Moscow for nearly a week now. I live in the city's northwest corner, in a neighborhood called Mitino, with my hosts Rodion and Olga, two generous and lively young Muscovites who run a company setting up weddings. Weddings, I've been told, are a big deal in Russia--much larger in scale and duration than "American weddings." Four semesters of college Russian under my belt and I can converse somewhat freely on weddings and other useful subjects, although it's still certainly necessary to carry a little dictionary around the city in my back pocket. Plus, thieves might mistake it for a real wallet. Altogether, my Russian is good enough to know that my hosts are very funny, and I can always expect a laugh and a cup of tea when I return home after classes.
On this subject: I'm studying with Middlebury College at the Russian State School for the Humanities, abbreviated (in Russian) RGGU and called simply "er ge ge oo." It's certainly small by American standards--it occupies about a block--but it has a pleasantly stern Soviet air, and I feel in its age it's quite loosened up, like a miserly father who spoils his grandkids. My classes, 90 minutes a piece, are Russian grammar, Russian stylistics, Russian phonetics, Russian culture, and a literature course, which will likely be on Gogol. The classes are completely in Russian, of course, and the professors--and this is probably the most devilish part of this whole enterprise--range in their speed and clarity of speech from slow and distinct, explaining words that we probably don't know, to, as far as I can tell, simply treating us (the 7 students in my program) like the real Russian students walking around the place. But, all in all, they're an entertaining bunch, and they have the experience to realize that simply trying to avoid getting your toes stepped on on the metro is homework enough to start with. No class on Fridays, so I ought to have some photos up in the next few days.
Oh, and for the curious--when I got here it was a splendid 30 degrees C and sunny, but summer departed three days ago and on its coattails were 10 degree temps and drizzle. No, no snow yet, don't worry.