News

Hi guys,
I didn´t write here for a while. Not because I´m lazy, no, but cause i was very busy with work and university. But I have some news to share.
I can´t tell you anything new about USA, cause there isn´t anything new =) I hope that soon I'll start to look for a job.
But you know i can't seat at home for a long time, that's why instead of preparing for the long USA journey now I'm planing my trip to Germany. Yeap, in the beginning of the february I'll visit my father there and travel a little bit. I'm very excited about it. BTW i have some friends in Germany so maybe i'll meet them, who knows.
And do you remember that I'm learning spanish? Because of this language i really became very interested in South America. But it is too expensive for me now to go there. In case that i can't visit it, South America will visit me =) Tomorrow girl from Colombia Majo will come to Moscow for intership and during all this time (6 weeks) she will live with my family. Isn't it a real journey?)
So a lot of plans and so little time for realising them) Wish me luck

Future

Hola! Que tal?

Ok, i didn't write here for a while, sorry. But it happened only because i had nothing to write here =) But now, when something finally is clear for me, i can share it with you. Well i started learning spanish (as you understood from the beginning of message). But not this thing is so important now. The most important decision that i made is my trip for the next summer to the .... USA. Yes, i'm going to spend all my future summer there working and having fun. I don't really know where exactly i'll go, but i have a lot of time to decide it. Till spring i have to find job and choose where to go) I hope that it won't be so hard and my nest summer will be exciting.
For this year i'll devote this blog to my future trip and everything what is connected with it)
Adios!

CouchSurfing

Hey everyone
I thought about writing this post for a quite long time. If u read my blog u could notice that at the beginning i talked about website called couchsurfing.com. So now after my trip i want to share my experience of it. I must say that it is very good experience =) I had three hosts: two in Reykjavik and one in Helsinki. All of them were men but all of them were very very nice to me (they even gave me a key of their flats). Maybe i was lucky but i always had what to talk about with my hosts that's why i had quite a nice time at their places. You know before my trip i was quite afraid of staying somewhere with the help of this website but now i'm sure that it is one of the safest way to stay somewhere abroad and one of the most interesting) For example my first host taught me how to pronounce Eyjafjallajokull =)
If u have opportunity to use this service use it without any doubt.

Photos

I'm too lasy to download all photos here =) U can see then at FB if u want)

Results

As i have day off today i decided to write hre about results of this trip and it influence on me.
Here are things that i wanted to do there and what i really did:

• improve english - i did it and decided to to learn it more and more
• remember basics of french - done partly
• learn some basics of islandic - partly done =)
• learn as mush as i can about Iceland - done for sure
• visit as much as i can in Reykjavik - i wish i was there more time
• meet new friends from Europe - done, and i'm hapy for implementation of this paragragh
• become more independent - yeap
• have fun - absolutely done

I can say that it was very delivering trip. And i made a lot of important decisions because of it. I quited my job, decided to take some french classes and work on my english. I decided to follow my fate and cme back to Iceland . Maybe for you all of this seems to be not so important but for me it is one of the most important decisions in my life. Well i hope that i'll cope with it and will follow my fate)

Helsinki

Ok, I'm at ho,me for two days already but only today i repaired my internet. Now i want to write about the end of my great trip: two days in Helsinki, ferry and St. Peterburg. 

Well, after two happy days in Reykjavik, when we were saying goodbye to each other, and very sad departing from this city i came to Helsinki. Some years before i visited this city but i didn't remember a lot about it, that's why i decided to spend there two days. You know i wasn't disappointed about my decision. It is quite small but very interesting city. Two centuries ago all Finland was a part of Russia, that's why Helsinki remanded me of St. Peterburg. 
At the first day my host (very nice but shy man) showed me very beautiful island where we were walking for a several hours. At the second day i visited Suomelina island (one of the the oldest marine fortresses). It was very windy and quite cold this day day but i liked this place. At 7 p.m. I had my ferry to St. Peterburg, that's why i came to the port at 5 and was staying in a queue for more then hour. I must say that ferry was much more better than i expected. Everything was ok there =)

The next day at morning i came to the north capital of Russia. I must say that i don't like this city, and i didn't want to go there but i had to. So i had to spend there around 14 hours. It seems that this city wasn't glad to see me too, because the all day long it was rain. 

I don't know what else i can tell you about it, because now i try to get used to thought that i'm not at Iceland any more.

P.S. In the next post I'll write about results of this trip and it's influence =)

White house

I´m at Reykjavik almost for two days and it were good days. Yesterday it was the last evening with my group because today majority of them left Iceland. Even Dylan had to leave today but he came back from airport cause he was "overbooked" =) And this two days i spent a lot of time in the White house. (White house is the center of volonteur life here) Few minutes ago i moved all my stuff here again cause it´ll be a party tonight. Well now here from my group are only me, Dylan and Noa. I´m repeating my words but I really  don´t want to leave this place.
I think tht it is the last message from iceland, so see u in other countries.

BTW  it is still summer in Iceland =)

Last day

In 40 minutes I'll leave this beautiful place. I'm really sad about it. I'm not saying good bay to majority of our group cause we're planing to go out tonight but anyway our camp is over. I know that I'll never forget this two weeks that i spent with amazing people here in Hveragerdi. Well i have nothing to say now.
In two days I'll be in Helsinki and than in St. Petersburg and on 4th of September in Moscow, so see you

last week

I didn't write here for quite a long time. It's because i really have got time. As I wrote previously everything is great here, but this is your last week and it almost ends so i'm a little bit sad. Yesterday the first person our campleader left camp, for me it's a great miss because now i have got nobody to speak russian =) But there were a lot of good things. On wednesday we had a half day off and we spend this day great. Firstly we went to the ice-cream factory were tried amazing ice-cream, than we went to the hot river which is in 7 km from our house so we got very tired but it was so funny because majority of us fell into the river when we were crossing it, and some of us became very maddy And at evening we celebrated Laura's birthday =) Yesterday we had a great local party (again) but it was so crazy, and today i finally visited Reykjavik. Well after this night and day in capital i get absolutely tired and Dylan (I use his laptop) is quite bored without his comp that's why i have to end.
BTW I found places to stay in Reykjavik and Helsinki

Vestmannayjar

Today was our saturday and we decided to go for the all day to the Vestmannayjar. It is an island on the south of Iceland. Nothing interesting? It is famous because half of it was destroyed by volcano eruption in 1973. We were very unlucky with weather: for the first time it was rain, quite cold and fog. To go there we had to take bus and ferry, and we have to say thank you to the manager of  our clinic who made our trip much more cheaper, because he called to his friend (who is manager of the bus company) and asked him to make discount for us (i told you that people in iceland are very nice!). When we get to this island we decided to climb the volcano, but because of fog we missed the rout and just climbed it with the help of fence on slope (i have no idea why there was a fence). It was really hard, and we were tired like we worked all day. But the funniest thing was when we met people on the top who looked at us like we were crazy. After talking to them we understood that we climbed the steep slope =) We spent around hour on the top. It was really amazing, we discovered that ground there was hot, and some holes in stones were like sauna) Oh, bacsuse of this damn fog we saw nothing but fog all around us instead of amazing view on the island. But anyway we really enjoyed our trip and were happy that we climbed the volcano)

Hveragerdi

Ok guys, i told you a lot about my camp, but i forgot to mention city where we lived. And i have to say that it was my big mistake. This city is situated in 40 km from capital, only 3000 people live here. Not only, for Iceland 3000 is a very big number) Well, this city is called capital of hot springs and it is true: here everywhere you can see steam that comes from the ground. But it's not all, also there is a waterfall in city. I always had a dream to swim under the waterfall and i finally implemented it hear: it was crazy, because temperature hear is not higher that +20, but we were lucky cause this waterfall is a continue of the hot river that i told you about, so water there was warm))
Also there is an ice cream factory that makes an amazing ice cream. Omg i'll miss this icecream so bad! We had an excursion to this factory, it was boring but it wasn't a waste of time. Guess why? Right, because we had a free ice cream as a souvenir))
All icelanders love different festivals, that's why we saw a flower festival here. There wasn't nothing special about it except free ice cream, but i have to warn you. For the festval this factory prepares unusual sorts of ice cream, that' s why you can taste on this festival ice cream with oreo, honey or - if you're unlucky like i'm - with fish!
I fell that i forgot about something important. Oh, yeah. There are a lot of green houses in this city and locals call their city "Icelandic Amsterdam", just guess why =)
And i can't forget about people who live here. Maybe all people in Iceland are so kind, friendly and hospitable, i don't know, but i can say for sure if you come to Hveragerdi in a couple of hours you'll find hear a lot of new friends!

weekend

Oh, weather here is really strange. It's warm but wind is awful. And you know I  didn't go the Reykjavik on the weekend. We just stayed here in Hveregerdi for the all weekend and everything because some icelandic boys that we met at the street. The only think that I can say about them that they are really crazy. Well everything begins on the friday night when three of us went with them out, then they invited us to stay here for saturday too. We stayed and I must say that it was crazy night. Well have fun there and never drink with icelanders =)

Friday

Today is our last workday at this week and that's why tomorrow we are going to he Reykjavik. This city is famous for it's nightlife, well, I'll tell you about it =) And there will be cultural festival there, so it's gonna be crazy time. You know, the first week here will end soon but i don't want this. I like this place, this country and people who are around me. Everything is really great here. See you

I'm at the best place of the world

Oh, guys, everything is so wonderful here. I really haven't got enough time for writing that's why the message will be short. Weather here is much more wormer than i was expected, today, for example, i was swimming outside in the river under the waterfalls and i must say that it was one of the best my experience here. There are 13 people and all of them are great. U know i expected that i'll miss russian here, but one of my camp liders knows it and asked me to talk him russian. It's pretty fun =) Well, I must say that everything is really great here and i know that one day I'll come back. I suppose that Iceland one of the best places in the world. Cheers

Reykjavik

I can´t beliave that it´s happening to me. I´m at Reykjavik. For the last three days I was at St.Retersburg and have to escaoe from one guy, spent 10 hours at airport Vantaa and wolked throw Reykjavik without any map =) What can i say, everything here is great and i like it. Now i stay at flat of one great guy and there are three girls from Poland. But it is a lot of time here, I have to go)

When i wrote everything under this i really was there and i was to excited to tell you about this great city. Now i decided to write something about it, and as i already have post named "Reykjavik", i'll just continue it.
Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland as you know. But this city consists of several towns and all of them together are called capital area. But don't be scared, even together they are smaller than half of Moscow. It takes around hour and a half to walk through it =)

Icelanders love to decorate their streets and houses, that's why you can find at any free space some monument, and almost all big buildings are decorated with something)
Almost all famous places are in the very center of Reykjavik near the ocean. I think you could hear about them - it is City Hall (useless place indeed, but beautiful), Halldrimskirkja Church (Reykjavik's main landmark), Hofdi House (shame on me but i didn't visit it), The Voyager monument (the most famous monument) and The Pearlan (good place for taking panoramic photos). I don't want to talk about all of this because you can read it here.
Oh, very interesting place to go is Art Museum. It is very very strange place where you understand that you just can't understand icelandic art. But it definitely worth visiting (especially because it is for free).

Food, well food in Iceland is quite expensive, but very healthy and good. If you need cheap food you can go to Bonus supermarket, but i didn't enjoy it. What you have to taste in iceland is it's hotdogs. You can not believe me but hotdogs here are the best hotdogs in the world. Just go to the any fatsfood store and ask hotdog with everything. You won't regret about it. What else.... Oh, i want to share with you information about one great mexican cafe! It's called Santa Maria, and it is on the Laugavegur Street. It is hard to find, but do it, food there is amazing. Also the owner of this place collects money from different countries)
Nightlife is great there, it's useless to talk about it because you have to try it.
About transport. It is quite expensive and hard to understand. There are a lot of timetables and stations are too hard to pronounce right. That's why i definitely recommend to use hitch hiking in iceland: it is for free, it is totally safe and you have a chance to meet interesting people.
Just go to Reykjavik!

I can't balieve that today I'm leaving Moscow. I'm really not ready and I feel myself uncomfortable, but I think it is nerve. Well, now i want to write some plans for this camp =)

• improve english
• remember basics of french (there will be girl from France)
• learn some basics of Islandic
• learn as much as i can about Iceland
• visit as much as i can in Reykkjavik
• meet new friends from Europe
• become more independent
• have fun

I like this list and i hope i'll do everything what i've included here)

Сhanges in the route.

BTW on my way back from Helsinki to St. Petersburg i won't use bus, I'll take the ferry. I think it will be much more interesting and funny: who knows what kind of people I can meet there =)

I have only three days before departure and I'm looking for any kind of information like mad =) And the only one thing that I'm afraid of is iclandic language: I have no idea how to pronounce even streets' names. That's example: Hafnarfjörður, Fjörður -  how do u like it?

Russia in the smoke

This summer is very anomalous here. From the beginning of July temperature doesn't fall below the mark at 38 degrees (usually we have only 25 at summer) and from the middle of July because of fever a lot of forests and peats in central Russia began to burn. Because of all of it ecological situation in Russia is critical: 48 people had died in the fires and more than 2,000 had lost their homes throughout central Russia, visibility in Moscow dropped to 20 meters (0.01 miles), smoke poses a health risk because it contains small particles (soot) and hazardous gases that canIn my hearing one old woman died in train because it was to hot and conditioners aren't strong enough for this weather.


Everyone in Russia is waiting for a rain because the last time we had it only in the middle of July. And Russian agriculture suffers from heat and lack of moisture, that's why we wait the big rising of prises in autumn.

And I'm going to leave this hell in 4 days. Iceland wait me.

Got visa

On Friday finally i received visa. I was so nervous when i get this sealed envelope in the embassy but everuthing was OK. Now I havew to buy tickets and plan where to stay in Finland and Iceland.

Yesterday applied for visa. Now I have to wait till 29 of July

Invitation

Finally i got my invitation. It means that this week I'm going to apply for visa. Have no time for writing more =)

Little digression

Ok, while i still didn't get an invitation, I'll write a little about wonderful day that i had yesterday. Well, yesterday i met with two guys from South Africa (they are going to climb Elbrus) and girl from Belgium (she just arrived to Moscow from Irkutsk). It was very amazing day especially for me. Yeah, i really enjoined it: i showed them some parts of Moscow and had a great english practise (and that is what i really don't have enough). We talked a lot, they told me a little about their country (that's why i decided to visit it someday) and about their future climbing. Tomorrow they'll leave Moscow, but will return on 27th, and i hope that we'll meet again).

P.S. And I'm writing english because I have some englishsreaking readers)

Маршрут

В общем-то я довольно долго собиралась написать этот пост. Казалось бы, в чем проблема: всего-то долететь из Москвы в Рейкьявик. Но не тут-то было. Прямых рейсов нет, а рейсы с пересадками мало того, что жутко медлительные, так еще и безумно дорогие - меньше 24 000 я не нашла. Мною было принято решение добираться самолетов из ближайшей к России страны-члена Шенгенского соглашения - Финляндии. Эта маленькая поправочка стоила мне больших изменений маршрута, к тому же увеличивала срок отпуска. Но ничего.

В общем, 13 ночью я выдвигаюсь на поезде в любимый москвичами Питер. там я тусуюсь весь день, а ночью (с 9 до 11) я должна сесть на курсирующий между северной столицей и аэропортом Хельсинки автобус. Если все пройдет удачно то утром (днем) я уже буду в аэропорту. От туда в 15:20 у меня прямой рейс до Рейкьявика (который обошелся мне всего-то в 340 евро). В Рейкьявик я должна прибыть в 15:35, там мне пока что еще нужно забронировать отель (хостел) на одну ночь, 16 утром я (по идее) уже встречусь со своей группой и мы весело доедем до лагеря.

Обратный путь будет более интересным. 30 числа закончится мой лагерь, а самолет у меня 1 сентября, так что два дня я буду в столице Исландии. Там я планирую остановиться у кого-нибудь с сайта CouchSurfing.org. 1 сенятября я уже буду в Хельсинки, и тут меня терзают сомнения: то ли остаться с помощью того же сайта на пару дней там, то ли сразу по уже знакомому маршруту домой - я думаю, что решу это в августе.
Чем я буду заниматься в этих европейских столицах в свободное время - я еще не решила, думаю, позже спланирую полную программу, когда определюсь с временем и местом пребывания)
P.S. Сегодня я должна наконец-то получить приглашение, а это значит, что на следующей неделе я буду подавать документы на визу

Виза

В общем-то, самое сложное во всем моем путешествии - это самостоятельное получение шенгенской визы. В принципе, проблем у меня тут быть не должно, ибо у меня уже было три шенгена, но ни одной из них я не получала сама. Тем более, что в этой раз у меня будет не туристическая виза, а другая (какая точно, я пока не поняла)
Вот список необходимых документов:

• Визовая анкета и форма с дополнительной информацией, заполненные полностью на английском языке и подписанные заявителем. (осталось ее напечатать) 
• Две недавно сделанные цветные фотографии (размер 3,5 см Х 4,5 см) на светлом фоне. Изображение на фотографии должно быть похоже на заявителя.(есть)
• Заграничный паспорт, действительный как минимум 3 месяца после истечения срока запрашиваемой визы. (Другие проездные документы должны быть действительны как минимум 6 месяцев после истечения срока запрашиваемой визы).(сделала)
• Копии страниц заграничного паспорта с визами, штампами, отметками.  (он новый)
• Другой действующий и/или аннулированные загранпаспорта. (есть)
• Копии отмеченных страниц другого действующего и/или аннулированных загранпаспортов. (сделаю на неделе)
• Копии отмеченных страниц внутреннего паспорта. (сделаю на неделе)
• Подтверждение занятости от работодателя заявителя (Справка с работы) с указанием реквизитов компании, печатью и подписью ответственного лица.  (внимание! я не работаю официально, по этому вместо этого у меня: 1. справка из универа; 2. Справка с маминой работы; 3. спонсорское письмо от мамы)
• Приглашение из Дании (Исландии), которое должно содержать следующую информацию:  (должно прийти на неделе)

• 	Информация о приглашающей компании или организации;
  	Информация о том, кого приглашают (полное имя, номер паспорта);
  	Цель поездки;
  	Информация о характере взаимоотношений;
  	Даты поездки (срок, количество дней);
  	Подробная программа поездки (если срок пребывания превышает 14 дней);
  	Информация о финансовой стороне поездки (кто оплачивает расходы).

• Если приглашающая сторона не несет расходы, связанные с поездкой, необходимо предоставить следующие документы:  (получу карту - сразу забронирую)

• 	Подтверждение бронирования отеля;
  	Выписка с банковского счета, подтверждающая наличие у заявителя имеется как минимум 50 евро в день на каждого человека;
  	Билет в оба направления с закрытыми датами (Внимание: желательно не покупать билет перед тем, как Ваше заявление обработано и Вам выдана виза; билет должен быть показан во время получения паспорта с визой).

• Визовый сбор.(оплачу на месте)

Как видите, вроде бы все и не сложно, но и не очень просто с другой стороны. А еще надо в посольство позвонить...

P.S. О своей программе и лагере напишу в следующий раз
 

Начало пути

Привет,

На самом деле я долго собиралась завести этот блог и наконец-то решилась. По правде, я никуда не собиралась этим летом, а хотела приложить максимум усилий к подготовке к следующему. Но родители, довольные успешным моим окончанием первого курса, решили, что неплохо было бы мне где-нибудь отдохнуть. Это их решение стало решающим. Я давно заприметила волонтерские зарубежные проекты, а теперь уже решилась на один из них. 

В общем, в прошлый четверг, а это было 24 июня, я поехала в офис московской организации, занимающейся волонтерством, и зарегистрировалась там. В тот же вечер мне пришло подтверждение из того лагеря, в который я ну очень хотела. С этого начался мой путь к отдыху мечты, до которого у меня осталось меньше полутора месяцев. 

Вот так.

Отмечу, что лагерь этот не где-нибудь в южных странах, а на родине знаменитого Эйяфьятлайокудля, а путь до лагеря оплачиваю я, а не родители)