Halfway Gone

Our summer school program has reached its halfway point already. I can't believe it!

After classes on Thursday, I joined in a school excursion to Shevchenkisky Hai, which is an open-air architecture museum. I've already been there a few times, but never with a tour guide.

The monument to Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine's most legendary poet and artist, for whom the park was named.
Fun fact: last year one of my biggest research projects was about monuments to Shevchenko-- so I have a lot of pictures like this :))

The newest house in the museum, which belonged to the village's richest man. It is covered from top to bottom with intricate carvings.

One of the carved symbols, a tree with stars in its branches.

Some real livestock to add to the authenticity of the experience ;)

A beautifully preserved wooden church from the Carpathian mountains

I enjoyed the brief tour, which taught me many interesting facts about life in Carpathian villages of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Friday was a red-letter day. The end of the first half of the six-week summer program, it marked the departure of the students who had only signed up for session A (the first three weeks) of the program. As a result, our usual Friday exam was entirely atypical. Instead of meeting in class at 9 am, we met in the center at 9:30 am. Then our class (by this time only 5 people) was divided into teams, and we were put on a sort of scavenger hunt throughout the city. My friend Alex, who was my partner in this escapade, had to complete the following: First, to go to a candy shop on the square and ask for the names and prices of the most expensive, cheapest, and most popular candies. Next, we had to walk along the north side of the square and record the names of the buildings. Then we had to go into the Apteka (Pharmacy) Museum (which, incidentally, also contains a functioning pharmacy), and ask what the pharmacist would recommend for a headache or sore throat. Then we had to visit the post office and ask what stamps they had which depicted famous Ukrainians or cities in Ukraine. Then we had to find a particular monument and record the name of the person. Finally, we had to visit a local hostel and ask them how many beds they had available, whether showers and bathrooms were available, and whether coffee and tea were provided. After that, we all met up at Tsukernia once more, and took our written exam.

That night we had another dinner, very similar to the one we had the week before, to say goodbye to the students who were leaving. Again, it was at Ratusha (town hall) the new restaurant which recently opened in L'viv's Ratusha.

This photo courtesy of the Ukrainian Language and Culture School at the Ukrainian Catholic University-- the three people at the closest end of the table with me, aka the people with whom I've spent every waking hour of the last 3 weeks, are at least 12 kinds of awesome (AT LEAST 12. I'm not sure of the exact number. ;)

After our fancy celebratory dinner, we moseyed over to Pravda, the new beer factory that recently opened on Rynok Square. We drank beer, listened to the band (they were phenomenal!), and enjoyed one another's company. I have here a short video of the experience. I believe it captures better than anything else the complete Zen that is life in L'viv for me this summer. I hope this video makes you as happy as I was sitting there.

As for the rest of the weekend... well..!

Saturday, as you know, was the Fourth of July. It was also the first day since our arrival when the weather actually felt like summer. We did some souvenir shopping, enjoyed some to-die-for mint lemonade at a restaurant on Rynok Square called Centaur, followed by a beer at Biliy Lev (The White Lion). I was infinitely glad I'd brought along two packages of glow bracelets, two mini American flags, and a pair of hilariously cheesy blinking American-flag glasses. We enjoyed these things a little too much (as you will see in forthcoming photographs.)

After a brief stop back at Pravda for another beer, we found our way to an American-themed restaurant called Americans. We were the only Americans there.

The most American photo I may have ever taken of me

The staff of the restaurant was visibly excited to have REAL LIVE AMERICAN CUSTOMERS on the 4th of July. They gave us two free bottles of beer to celebrate. "Did the burger taste like burgers in America?" the waitress asked us nervously. Although some of my friends apparently disagreed because they liked their burgers rare, for me the answer was yes. My favorite part of the restaurant was the photograph on the wall that claimed to be "the view from the empire state building" except that one could clearly see the empire state building in the picture. :)) I really wanted to photograph it, but the glare made it impossible.

Sunday was excruciating, since it was our friend Wojtek's last day in L'viv. We made it a mission to send him off right. The day started with Liturgy at a monastery in town, where he and Alex had made friends with some of the nuns. The rest of the day was spent hopping from one to another of the best places in town, and boy, did we outdo ourselves-- we got pastries, then mint lemonade at centaur, then stew and salad at hasova lampa (the gas lantern), then desserts at Liviy Bereh (the Left Bank, under the opera house), and topped it off (fittingly, since it was our regular haunt) with chocolate at the L'vivske Chocolate Factory, before finally taking him to the bus station.

And then there were three. And we drowned our sorrows in pizza and beer at Celentano, leaving us with nothing but to rest in preparation for the beginning of session B!