Yesterday's topics were interesting, more or less. In the morning, the presenter was a grad student who was born in the Ukraine; he is a Jew and his family-- like many others-- left the Soviet Union in the 70s. He spoke about everyday life in the Soviet Union. I thought the topic was very good! (And he gave us a break halfway through-- it was two hours long.)
(No breaks from that point on...) There were two two-hour blocks after lunch, the first on Russian politics, from Gorbachev to Putin. A very enthusiastic professor kept going and going and going. By the time she was done and we earned 10 minutes (for good behavior?), my brain and butt were starting to go numb. The last two hours were on Business and Politics in the New Russia (aka economics). The presenter, a lawyer-turned-professor, was okay, but there is a reason why I don't teach economics. Much of what he was talking about and what appeared on his PowerPoint slides was over my head... By 5pm, I was starting to hallucinate...
We had a group dinner at 5:45pm at a nearby restaurant. Everyone is starting to get to know each other a little better-- it's interesting to see the group dynamics at work (like in the classroom).
Today's menu begins with a high school teacher who was on the 2004 trip, then we have a bona fide trip orientation by the seminar director who will be accompanying us to Vladimir, then some videos until 5 or so. Shouldn't be as brain-numbing as yesterday!
Anyway. It has been a great experience so far... We are scheduled to depart for Russia via (first leg) a flight to Atlanta from Bloomington (IL)-- to get to the airport, we have to get on a bus at 3:30am Monday. That will be one long trip. There's a lengthy layover in Atlanta before getting on the really long flight to Moscow; once in Moscow, we get on another bus to make the 2-hour trip to Vladimir...
So, that's it for now. You know the drill... Coffee!!
