Swish…Swish… was the sound made by my big ballroom skirt whilst I was walking down the majestic stairs of a palace holding on to a handsome Spanish dressed as a general. I could not believe it…I was dressed in a 19th century cream and greenish ball gown with a corset so tight that I could barely breathe, silk elbow length gloves and a matching feathered hat. I felt like cinderella with the only advantage that when the clock strikes midnight the party is still going on. This magical moment was one of the many experienced in this AEGEE Winter University entitled ‘Come on Baby Light my Winter’ held in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The Maltese foursome set off for this wintery paradise with luggages over the 20kilo limit and feeling obese with multiple layers of clothes…this is so since none of us has ever experienced a -21 degrees celcius temperature so we made sure we were prepared. Indeed myself and Jeanella gasped unbelievably when for the very first time we felt the Moscow coldness as soon as we set our foot off the plane, and mind you… we did not set our foot outside but inside a tunnel….so we were terrified at the idea of going outside. However, there we were greeted by Irina, one of the many cute female organisers, who literally packed us like sardines in her car -4 oversized lugagges and 4 oversized handluggages plus 5 people….you can imagine….I still feel sorry for Pierre since he was the one with his leg tangled and me on top of it.
Both in Moscow and in St. Petersburg what we experienced was something out of this world…we could not stop smiling for the whole ten days. First of all, I never saw snow in my life and then suddenly i’m immersed in a white world where everything is frozen and snow flakes are falling…all I wanted to do was throw myself in the snow and roll like a tazmanian devil in it. Moreover the other aegee participants were great and had a good time with them…both when we were out sightseeing and also when we were partying in the hostel or in the club.
Moscow has beautiful buildings such as the famous red square with St. Basil’s chathedral but St. Petersburg also has its share of magnificent buildings amongst them being the Hermitage (Winter Palace), and St. Isaac’s. Moreoever we participated in the carnival festivities called ‘Maslenitsa’ where the ‘cuccelo’ (scarecrow) is burnt as a symbol of the end of winter and the beginning of new life that is spring. In these ten days we felt throughly russian both in traditions, eating habits, drinking habits (voooooodkkkkkaaa- which is extremely cheap from there along with cigarettes for the smokers) as well as enjoying life, the coldness and the partying russian style.
This small story of my experience is just the tip of the ice berg since I believe that one has to go him/herself on such events to truly enjoy the AEGEE spirit…indeed words are failing me now, maybe also because it is 1.00am and I had a long day, but I could not wait to tell my experience which makes me smile involuntarily when I remember about it….I just know i’m going back but this time in Summer!
CU Around in Europe
Liz
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