Just across the street from the Peter and Paul fortress lies a beautiful mosque. The building of this mosque in the city center is symbolic and monumental. The brick laying ceremony was attended by many important political, religious, and social figures to ensure that the mosque continues to stand proudly for inclusion and religious diversity throughout Russia.
Our class consists of both undergraduate and graduate students, and I’ll be the first to admit I was nervous about the potential age difference between my classmates and me. I’m 30, married, and I work full time, so I’m only a part-time student in GW’s Master of Tourism Administration program. The majority of students in my program tend to have started grad school immediately after undergrad, so I’m generally one of the older students in my classes. That isn’t a big deal in daily life, but I worried that any undergraduate students traveling with us in Russia would look at me like I was their grandmother. It’s been such a happy, unexpected surprise that one of my best friends on this trip has turned out to be my 19-year-old classmate, Giuliana. We may be an unlikely friendship, being both the oldest and the youngest women in our class, but of all the great things I will take away from this international experience, this new little sister of mine is one of the best.
Taking the early morning 4 hour high speed train to St Petersburg with the Brazil supporters. Big match tonight Brazil vs Costa Rica. Some students slept while others worked.
The stadium was crowded by Brazil ?? fans, they were so crazy and cheer for their team. Our seats are pretty good to watch the game, even see the play’s face.
This is not the first World Cup game of me, but I still feel that was the first game. Not only because of the seats, but also the fantastic atmosphere of fans.
Yesterday we went to the International Broadcasting Center of World Cup Russia and it really amazed me. We went to see the production room, master control room, quality control rooms of MD-1 and so on. We learned the broadcasting operation system and how the multilateral cameras work. I used to process bilateral cameras videos and it was real hard works. It was difficult to make the videos and decorate them in more intriguing ways. Maybe some days later after accumulating more experience in sports media territory, things can be easier.
As we take the train from Moscow to St. Petersburg, the one word that comes to mind is “glowing”. From the beautiful architecture, to the friendly faces, to the passionate fans, Moscow is always glowing. In a literal sense, the sun “sets” early in the morning, and “rises” just a couple hours later.. but it never gets completely dark. Down town streets have halos of glowing lights that complete the glow of the city. In my opinion, the true glow of Moscow comes from the people in it. Everywhere we turn there are people cheering on their team, treating strangers like family. The thousands of fifa volunteers high-fiving as many as possible make everyone feel welcome. Football has increased Moscow’s already glowing culture of kindness and hospitality to a whole new level.
Moscow is a fantastic place, I watched two World Cup Games on Luzhniki Stadium, learnt a lot of different stuffs from different guest speakers, most important, I met with one of my best friend, Feng, who is also my high school roommate. He is currently working in CCTV5 as a German translator, we haven’t met each other since 2015, since he’s living in Germany right now. We talked about his life in German and Bundesliga. We has some good time by grabbing some beer and watching the Argentina vs. Croatia. Good time does not last forever, right now, I’m on the train to st.petersburg. Hope we can experience more interesting stuff there.
Everything you see and hear from the matches, fan events, team training centers and all the behind-the-scenes footage is brought together in the International Broadcasting Center here in Moscow. One of the photos shows the Central Equipment Room where the servers are located. Hundreds of people spending thousands of hours keep this place operating 24/7 and sending the content across the globe and even into space. For those who practically live here, there are lounges, an eatery, dry cleaning, convenience store, post office, and much more.
