Weekend trip to Russia!

July 22, 2018

I am finally getting a chance to upload pictures to my computer and post pictures from my weekend trips during the last 4 weeks of my study abroad. A couple years ago, my dad mentioned his coworker wanted everyone to come to the FIFA World Cup in Russia and stay with his family. While most of his coworkers backed out, my parents still met me in Russia for the weekend. I flew from the Paris airport to St. Petersburg with lots of excited Morocco and Iran fans. When we landed in Russia, they started chanting and it was the beginning of a crazy weekend.

My flight arrived around 11:30 at night and it was still light out. By the time we got to our hotel, it had gotten a little darker but not pitch black. I went to a bar near the hotel with my parents and around 2am we noticed it started getting brighter. We went outside and walked around some of the bridges, watching the sun rise until almost 3:45am. It was unbelievable to watch the sunset and then sunrise just hours apart.

The sun rising over the river around 2 in the morning

The next day we went to the FIFA World Cup fan fest and then the Morocco vs. Iran soccer game. There were massive big screens, lots of beer, food and enthusiastic fans at the fan fest. We hung out there before taking the train to the stadium for the soccer game. The train ride was completely packed with fans screaming and chanting. We walked around the stadium before the game and then watched an exciting soccer game. While I have never been a huge soccer fan, watching in person with loud fans is incredible. Most of the games action was on our side, including the winning goal by Iran with only a few minutes left in regular time.