Sebastian's Travels

An incoherent account of my daily adventures.

I decided to start a blog on the selfish notion that individuals are interested in my daily happenings and so that I can chronicle all of my memorable moments online. Please look around the site and stay tuned for upcoming entries!

-Sebastian

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 GOING TO KIEV

 So we are leaving in one day to go to Kiev, Ukraine. I am very excited about getting a chance to see the city. We have been having a great time so far. We have visited Marakesh Cafe a few times recently and had a good time. Also we have found a local music club that hosts live bands and is a lot of fun. The last time we were there we met a 1st and 3rd class sailor who bought us a few drinks and the third classman introduced us to his fiance. If i remember correctly his name was Alexander and he was a pretty nice guy. BTW if you are looking on here for pics, i have had trouble uploading them so i have only been putting them on fb. well that is all for now. i will write more after kiev.

~sebastian

20SEP2011

FINDING A MUSIC SCHOOL

so today john and i tried finding a place for me to learn piano...it wasnt so easy. We left the crazy expensive mexican food restaurant and walked for about a quarter of a mile before realizing we were lost. after asking for directions we stumbled into a studio, but upon accidentaly opening a womens locker room we discovered that it was a studio for fencing and swordsmanship. after finally finding the studio, the woman there asked me how many years i had been playing, but i thought she asked how old i was so i told her: 20. they took me to a room were people were playing classical music at an extremely high level and i knew i was in trouble. after finally finding the adminstration office, i was told to go back tomorrow. i walked around looking for another place but had no luck. i guess i will keep looking! until next time

-sebastian

15SEP2011

 First Few Days~

Well we are finally in odessa and have attended two days of class. The city is nice and i think the best part so far is the weather: it is pretty sunny near the sea but in the city there is lots of shade so you never get to hot. the people are relatively friendly and want to help you learn russian. That being said, i thought there would be more people who want to practice their english by speaking to us...thats not the case. At our school there are mostly older students who look like they may be here on business and want to learn the language for convenience. In class, there is one instructor and the three west pointers who came to study so it is pretty much nonstop russian for five hours a day. the constant speaking in class is already building my confidence but it comes with a few frustrating points as well because our teacher knows ZERO english. the same goes for my host mother...she keeps speaking to me as if i grew up in ukraine and i always ask her to repeat herself which i think frustrates her. yesterday morning she asked me when i was going to learn russian, which she thought was really funny...i didnt. i have yet to go out to a nightclub here but John, Whitney, and I all sat at a pub for a few hours the other night and relaxed for a bit which was nice. on the way back to our apartments, Whitney and I met a local Ukrainian by the name of Andre who worked outside the Boston Hotel and we spoke with him for about 45 minutes in Russian before an American who had been a civilian contractor in Afghanistan came over and started talking to us. After he told us about his time in Odessa on vacation, we parted ways. After getting home and getting to bed around 3, i awoke to another enormous breakfast and then went to class. The teacher spent most of the day making fun of me for staying up too late but after class was over we discovered a really good Italian restaurant near the school. Well that is all for now.

10SEP11

-Sebastian

Finally Leaving!

We leave West Point today at 12 and our flight into Amsterdam will be taking off around 5. I am just glad that we are finally getting out of here. hopefully i will be able to put some pictures up soon, but i am having some trouble finding my camera charger sooo...i guess we will see how that works out.

-sebastian

05SEP2011

New Site