Travelling bear

Well, it's the first day back at school since reading week. And by 'eck has it been hectic lately. Between going out all the time and a spontaneous trip to Moscow, it's hardly been a restful time. But now it's back to class with renewed vim and vigour having revised all reading week and looking forward to attending every lesson. I've started as I mean to go on my missing разговор this morning. It's so hard to get up when the sky is so dark, there's light snow and so many hilarious cat videos on Youtube.

So the highlight of the week was our brief sojourn to Moscow. A few of us had planned to go previously, but as the time drew near we realised we'd all been ridiculously disorganised and not bought tickets/packed/sorted our lives out. But lo! We popped to the station to see if there were train tickets left, and there were some for the very same night! In плацкарта mind, but tickets nonetheless. Entirely unsure of what to expect, everyone congregated at my flat with their luggage items (some sensible, some suitcases) to wait for the train at 2am. There was an air of excitement... until we actually got on. Плацкарта is basically around sixty beds in one carriage with no extra space. I say beds, they were more like shelves. Uncomfortable, stinky shelves. I was cursed with the top bunk both ways which is only big enough to capacitate shrews and the like, so my tall self ended up getting stuck in various awkward positions. The drunk Russians taking 'candid' photographs of me did nothing to aid my sleep either. Here is a picture of a typical плацкарта carriage:

Spacious. I'm not sure who the nice chap is...

Although, discomfort aside, it was novel and also not too expensive - £16 each way for an eight hour journey is so cheap compared to England.

Moscow itself was bon - we stayed in a hostel called Godzillas, which I would heartily recommend to anyone. It was laaaavely and clean with the most amazing showers. Also it's only £20 a night and close to the centre, not too shabby! We did a bit of sight-seeing, a bit of shopping and a bit of going out. It was all hilarious fun and much banter was had, even if biffing someone wearing a helmet over the head when they order a particular drink seems to be the norm in bars.

The main attraction in Moscow was definitely Starbucks. My god, my first caramel macchiato in months was SWEET. Even if it cost £4ish. Me and Becci were united in out ecstasy at finding this legendary establishment and the discovery was celebrated with much hugging and merry-making (involving a ukelele, naturally). Also some girlish squealing.

Another point of interest was meeting up with my best friend, Joe, who took us to a huge funfair in some sort of park (I have no clue where I was) near the famed Hotel Cosmos (it was in Nightwatch, dontcha know). Highlights include the 'Shake-Dance' ride that we went on which was far more terrifying than any of us had expected and some mild violence on the bumper cars. Sooore knees.

So other than losing my purse due to unforeseen foolishness (not on my part), embarrassing 'Er..I actually have no money' situations in Kofe Haus and trying to translate the archaic Irish dialect being bandied about by Martha and Fletcher, Moscow was pretty sweet.