From Russia with love (and a bit of sadness)

It's time for me to leave Moscow, but I hate goodbyes. I've made a lot of friends, and it's always difficult to leave them. Anyway, I think that I've improved my Russian, and I'll continue to work on it when I'm back in Sweden.

I'll leave the dormitory now, and in six hours (6:59 p.m. Moscow time) I'll go to Riga by train. I'll be in Riga between 10:05 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. (Eastern European time), when I'll return to Sweden with M/S Silja Festival. By 09:30 a.m. (Central European time), I should be back in Stockholm. The whole trip is only 77 €, plus the metro ticket in Moscow. I think this trip in itself will be a small adventure. :)

There are of course stories that I haven't told yet. I'll try to update my blog later.

Heat and smoke in Moscow

During my entire stay in Moscow, it's been unbelievably hot. Apparently, there was a temperature all-time high in Moscow on Thursday (two days ago), with 38.3 °C. I didn't notice, however, since most days have been similar, and actually quite close to the old record.

I find it difficult to focus in the heat, and we don't have any air conditioning in the institute. This means that I haven't been able to study as efficiently as I had hoped.

The temperature has also caused fires outside of Moscow. I don't see any smoke right now, but I have seen it a lot during the last week. Despite the fact that this part of Moscow hasn't been exposed that much to the smoke, it's sometimes even been difficult to sleep because of the smell. I'm told that in some parts of the city, the particle density is 30 times higher than the usual. The authorities have issued recommendations about keeping the windows closed, which is of course impossible in the heat.