In May and June, 2012, four people from MSU, Mankato went to Russia as a delegation to NESU in Magadan: Greg Wilkins, Associate Director, Centennial Student Union and Student Activities; Kim Maas, Graduate Student, Department of Sociology; Elizabeth Lohrenz, Undergraduate Student, Departments of Geography and International Relations; and me. We presented papers at North-eastern State University, Magadan, and at the 2012 Global Studies Conference, Moscow. Our travel was funded by MSU’s Office of Academic Affairs, Division of Student Affairs, and the College of Education, along with the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program and North-eastern State University.
To get the viewpoints of group members, please feel free to check the blog that each one of us is writing:
http://esandell.livejournal.com
http://elohrenz.livejournal.com
http://kimmass.livejournal.com
http://savedade.livejournal.com
We Are Just Tourists Passing Over the Deep Russian Culture
May 30, 2012, 14:22 We are such tourists!!! Carrying our backpacks. Reading our maps. Making photographs. We are just hovering over the deep Russian culture and not really entering into it.
We will ride a hop-on/hop-off bus and see ALL the sights on our drive-by.
We will walk to St. Isaac’s Cathedral and look over the city from above.
We will ride a boat on the Neva River and see the drawbridges raised at night.
We will go into the Church on the Spilled Blood, which has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, but all about the assassination of Czar Alexander (was he the first or the second?).
We will take the metro/subway to Peterhoff summer palace and see the fountains operating in the rain.
We will go to prison in the Fortress of Saints Peter and Paul.
We will ride to Pushkin/Tsar’s Village to see more than a dozen brides and grooms making pictures in the gardens.
We will run through the Hermitage Museum to see about .01% of the artifacts that are here.
We will stroll across the Neva River to the Museum of Oddities (two-headed whatevers and more).
We will wander through the Alexander Nevsky Monastery cemetary to look at the graves and monuments from more than 200 years ago.
We will gaze at more old art at the Museum of Russian Art.
We will enjoy $5.00 supper at McDonald’s restaurant in the Moscow Hotel.
We will take about 1000 photos each day (all four of us combined).
Have we seen Russia? Hmmmm. Some things from its history. Have we experienced Russia? Hmmmm. Not really. Do we know Russia? Not at all