Landed: Yerevan

Thanks to everyone who read my first post! I will keep trying to entertain you! So, as you all may have guessed by the title- I AM IN YEREVAN!! I arrived last night at about 10 PM after nearly a 20 hour journey. On my first flight to Moscow (which is 13 hours long in case anyone was wondering), my video console WAS BROKEN so I couldn't watch any movies or listen to music... totally frustrating because I did not speak Russia and thus could not communicate with the flight attendant. However, like a blessing in disguise, I found out about two hours into the flight that I was sitting next to a wonderful Russian girl (hello Dasha!) who had just finished a month of holiday in the United States. We found that we had a never-ending list of topics to talk about such as the difference between the US and British school systems (she lived there for ten years) and our younger brothers (hi Mark!). Overall, my flight went really well even though I wasn't able to sleep very much!

When I finally walked into the Arrivals Hall at Zvartnots Airport, I nearly had a heart attack because I couldn't find Anna, our internship coordinator, for about 20 minutes and I was getting lots of weird stares. However, I found her eventually and we came to the BEAUTIFUL home all the interns are staying in right outside of the city center of Yerevan. The house has four floors, too many bedrooms to count, a huge outdoor terrace, and a backyard with a pool that is being filled today! I was immediately welcomed by all the interns who had arrived before me and we spent a few hours getting to know each other before I went to bed. 

This morning I woke up around 10 AM and went outside to the balcony where our lovely housekeeper Gohar had prepared us breakfast. After breakfast, some of the girls and I decided to go to the statue of Mayr Hayasdan which is a war memorial, museum, and amusement park all at once... one of the many weird things I have seen here so far and it has only been a day!  

We then went to lunch near the Armenian Opera House in an area that has many nice cafes. We ate at Grammy Cafe (yes, the theme is the American Grammy Awards... go figure) and then went to the supermarket. We got back home at around 5:00 and had an intern orientation. Almost all the interns are here now (we're missing one person which will make our group 21 interns: 6 boys, 15 girls) and we are each working at different places around Yerevan. I am so so so excited about my internship that starts tomorrow at the UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME!!! I will keep you guys posted on all the responsibilities I am going to have and how everything is going as soon as I start. 

Sorry to keep this post short again but I have to go get ready because we are all going out to the cafe area in 30 minutes to have dinner and smoke hookah. I will write again soon!

Heading off to the Motherland!

Hey everyone! First post! Warning: I am not the most creative of writers and may have grammar mistakes- forgive me! I do hope to make this blog enjoyable to all who are reading and update frequently.

In five hours, I will begin my traveling adventures of 2011! The trip to Yerevan, Armenia, will take 17 hours total and I will be all by myself so I bought two movies for the plane ride (The Time Traveler's Wife & Semi-Pro: I know, such classics!) and I also have two books on hand (Little Bee & The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest). I also have a Spanish grammar book with me so that I can review all the Spanish I have forgotten in the past 6 months since I passed the proficiency test at Georgetown, but we all know I probably won't even open that book... sigh.

I will be stopping in Moscow for only an hour and a half which is nice because really, who likes long layovers, but I do wish I had some time to tour around Moscow. That's for another time and another blog I guess! Then, after a quick three hour plane ride, I will arrive in Yerevan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As you may have guessed, I am very very excited to be spending six whole weeks in the motherland! Most Armenian students get a chance to visit Armenia during junior year in high school (my brother who is a junior actually left for his Armenia trip yesterday!), but I was never able to visit because I went to Poly (for those who don't know- not an Armenian school). So, this will be my first time in Armenia and I have been told that it is truly an incredible experience for returning diaspora members! I have been to a few Latin American countries before (namely Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Argentina) and I never really experienced major culture shock. However, I am worried that I will have tremendous culture shock in Armenia which may seem weird because I am Armenian!

Just to quickly highlight the reason for this without delving too deep into Armenian history and politics, during the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman government at the turn of the century, Armenian people living in Armenia were forced to flee and relocate in other countries. Many Armenians (like my family) went to Lebanon. Others went to Iran, Russia, Iraq, the United States, and South America. Long story short, my great grandparents on both my mother's and father's side moved to Lebanon and so my parents and grandparents speak French and Arabic as well as Armenian, we eat hummus and tabouleh with kebab for Thanksgiving dinner, and I am a duel American-Lebanese citizen. After World War I, Armenia (what was left of it) became part of the Soviet Union. Until 1991, the Soviet Union had a lot of influence in Armenian politics and culture; thus, many Armenians in Armenia today speak Russian as well as Armenian and share in some Russian traditions.

The point of that historical side note is that I have grown up in a very different environment than the Armenians living in Armenia today. In many ways, I have more in common with Lebanese people than Armenians even though I am ethnically Armenian. One may say: but you speak Armenian and not Arabic! This is true, but because of the split after the Genocide, Armenians from around the world speak many different dialects of Armenian. It is embarrassing for me to admit this, but I actually don't understand most people who are from Armenia (this became very clear when I went to the consulate to get my visa). I will keep you all updated on the culture shock aspect of my trip to Armenia throughout the next few weeks as I adjust to the lifestyle, the language, and the sheer fact that I will be living in a country with a GDP per capita of about $5000 (compared to $47,000 in the United States).

Anyways, I have yet to finish packing and I am leaving for the airport in about an hour and a half so I must leave this blog post without discussing the internship program I am participating in and the trips we have planned. However, I promise I will update as soon as I have internet FROM YEREVAN!

Thanks for reading!