A Day in Cleveland

Sunday, August 16, 2015

The week before I left for Russia Emily, one of my best friends from college, came to visit me in Cleveland! She tells me she hates Cleveland, but I think she secretly loves it because this is the second time she's come to see me. ;)

At first we went to The Cleveland Flea's Sunday Market. We walked around, but it was much smaller than the Saturday Flea's so it didn't take much time to look around. Since we were pretty much done I was pretty hungry. We decided it wasn't too early for margaritas so I took her to my favorite place, Barrio. We went to the Tremont Barrio and it was my first time at that one. The food and margaritas were still delicious as always!

Afterwards we weren't sure what we wanted to do but eventually we decided on the Cleveland Museum of Art because it is free to visit (minus the parking). The museum was also on my bucket list because I never really walked around the whole museum, and if I did in elementary school I don't remember!

We ended the Cleveland tour at Edgewater Park. I had never been to Edgewater Park, so it was a new experience for me too, but I knew it had a cool view of Cleveland so that's why I wanted to go! We walked around a bit and then got ice cream before we decided to head home.

I'm thankful I got to see her before I left, especially since I won't be able to make it to her wedding in October. :(

Cedar Point

Friday, August 7, 2015

I am going back in time because I didn't blog about a couple things before I left. Back in August my friend, Kelly, her boyfriend, Desi, our friend, Luke, and I all went to Cedar Point because I really wanted to go before I left! We all worked together at Boston Market, so it was good going with a group who all knew each other. Plus, you have to have an even number of people when you go to any amusement park!

Kelly got a really good deal on park tickets that included free drinks! The free drinks were actually a life saver because you get really thirsty walking around! Plus, food and drinks were really expensive. I bought a slice of pizza for $6. That was the only thing we ate because we didn't want to spend any more money one food. Plus, the drinks held you over for a little while.

Cedar Point employs a lot of people from different countries and they all have their countries on their name tags. Every time we would see someone from Russia Luke would tell them I was moving there and then he would ask if I was going to get killed. They looked at him like he was crazy, which he is. He is convinced I'm not going to get out of Russia alive. I like to think I'm more likely to get killed in the US with all those crazy people running around.

Cedar Point was a lot of fun! We got to ride most of the roller coasters! Two different roller coasters broke down while we were in line. When Top Thrill Dragster broke down we just decided to wait because we were tired and there really wasn't anything else to do. A lot of people got out of line which was good for us because we got closer to the front when it started working again. I feel like Top Thrill Dragster breaks down a couple times a day so you just have to be patient. After riding the ride we got off and this couple who was sitting in the front seat had bugs covering their entire faces! There faces were black with bugs! It was disgusting!

Before we rode Millennium Force for the last time I wanted to ride the train to see Boneville because that is one thing I remember from when I was younger and going to Cedar Point. Unfortunately, it was dark so none of my pictures came out. While we were riding there was the biggest spider in my life by where I was sitting making a web. I was so grossed out! I was basically on top of Kelly trying to keep away from it. I ran off the train as soon as it stopped. The end couldn't come soon enough!

We left the park around 11 pm. Since food was expensive we smashed at McDonalds. I ate so much food! I can't wait to go back when I return to the US and ride the new roller coaster they just unveiled!

Chernikovka

Saturday night Renat asked me if I wanted to go on an adventure, and I said, "Yes!" I took the bus (after waiting 30 minutes for one and then taking his suggestion of just getting on a different one) about 20 minutes north of where I live to an area of the city called Chernikovka. It was my first time there so he took me to Victory Park. One thing you will notice is that Russians are very proud of their accomplishments in World War II. They have statues every where. We started off at a monument for mothers and he translated one the poem for me.

One of the biggest Mosques in the area is located at the park, but since it was getting dark and we wanted to see the views we didn't walk around to the mosque. I'll definitely go back to take pictures.

Just like at the Salavat Yulaev Monument the views from Victory Park were beautiful! It was the perfect time to go also because the leaves were changing colors. I will have to go back again though to see the mosque and museum that are in the park.

After walking through the park we walked around Chernikovka. Renat knows a lot about the history and buildings of Ufa. You can tell by the number of floors when the buildings were built and it's very interesting to hear about. I feel like Russia has more history since the 1900s than the United States does, but it's probably because I'm more familiar with the US.

As we were walking a cat started running towards us. I swear it was a monkey running and I had to stop for a second to just get through my brain what it was. The cat stopped also and I decided to kneel down to take a picture. The cat ran right towards me and jumped on me. I was petting it then when I got up it ran back to the wall. I bent down again to get another picture and it ran at me again. Every time I'd kneel down the cat would jump on me to get some love. It was just so funny because the second I'd kneel it would run towards me and then when I got up it would go for the wall. After several attempts I finally got the least blurry picture I could of the cat. It followed us for a little bit then went its own way. It was so cute and I wanted to take it home. Renat joked that it was going to follow me on the bus and they were going to tell me "No cats allowed."

After walking around for a while we went to an anticafe, which are very popular in Russia. We talked some more and drank tea. Pretty sure all I do here is drink tea, but that's probably better than alcohol, right?