Despite the 6am early start I have discovered, much to my friends delight that I am a morning person! Although this is not the case for many other students who were travelling to Moscow with us, surprising as it may seem, students don’t like mornings, especially not early mornings!
We started our day collecting our SEM branded clothing from Tom, to which we discovered that the medium size is more like a large, so with t-shirts that looked more like dresses we set off on the coach to Manchester airport. A journey which was surprisingly quick!
There fortunately wasn’t much waiting around to do at the airport, quickly getting through check in, luggage, security (fortunately I didn’t set off any security alarms) and eventually the gate from which we would board our plane from Manchester to Moscow! Which unfortunately was delayed due to a previous plane having technical difficulties, but with the cheery Easy Jet staff and pilots we were soon on our way to Moscow.
The instant that we stepped out of the plane a wave of warm, humid air hit us, which caused a few cheers from some of the students (mainly the girls) as we were excited to be somewhere warm (even at 9.30pm!!!).
This heat continued throughout the night and into the next day! It is safe to say that as soon as lights were switched out, and those heads hit the pillows, every student was sound asleep.... well we are students and we do treasure our sleep!
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| Students need their sleep! |
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| Us after check in and luggage |
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| #TeamSEM |
Day 2: Accreditations,
Tours and Thunder storms!
Today, we had another be ready for 9am start, which meant a
lot of early morning dashes for the two showers that we are sharing between 32
of us! So with ,multiple alarms going off from 6.30am onwards we once again saw
how little sleep effect students! Especially when they are hungry!
In order to solve the hunger issue, we ventured out into Moscow to find a supermarket in order to find some sort of breakfast of food!
Upon returning to the hostel we were taken to the Metro where we were then taken onto the luzhniki stadium. The Metro, very similar to the London underground with lots of bustling Russian workers. The Metro ever as eventful as always with the train driver putting his (or hers) foot down and flying through the Metro system. This although always caused someone to fall over, did allow for a bit of fun, seeing who wouldn’t fall over when then train started/stopped without holding onto anything! Always a bit of fun!
In order to solve the hunger issue, we ventured out into Moscow to find a supermarket in order to find some sort of breakfast of food!
Upon returning to the hostel we were taken to the Metro where we were then taken onto the luzhniki stadium. The Metro, very similar to the London underground with lots of bustling Russian workers. The Metro ever as eventful as always with the train driver putting his (or hers) foot down and flying through the Metro system. This although always caused someone to fall over, did allow for a bit of fun, seeing who wouldn’t fall over when then train started/stopped without holding onto anything! Always a bit of fun!
The stadium had another security check once we were through
this, we were led to the ‘Players Village’ where we would get our
accreditations.
After we received our accreditation we were given a tour of the grounds, which are very big and in 32oC seemed like a tour that lasted a very long time! We were shown the woman’s arena first, where we had a group photo, and then were taken to see the South African team having a practice in one of the practice areas. After a brief tour of the inside of the Men’s area (as the inside stadium was on ‘lock down’) we ventured back onto the Metro to go and grab a long anticipated lunch!
After we received our accreditation we were given a tour of the grounds, which are very big and in 32oC seemed like a tour that lasted a very long time! We were shown the woman’s arena first, where we had a group photo, and then were taken to see the South African team having a practice in one of the practice areas. After a brief tour of the inside of the Men’s area (as the inside stadium was on ‘lock down’) we ventured back onto the Metro to go and grab a long anticipated lunch!
After returning to the hostel, three of us
decided to venture out into the city and take a look at red square, less than a
minute down the street we saw a bolt of lightning strike... the thunder storm
was coming! We quickly hurried to shelter, which happened to be the Moscow
state Library, a very tall and powerful looking building; here we witnessed an
almighty thunder and lightning storm... with A LOT of rain! Unfortunately the rain
put a dampener on our plans so we returned to the hostel.
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Our accreditation, excuse the tired looking photo (we
weren't warned that they were being taken today!!)
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One of the many group photos.
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The glorious rain! Even in Russia, us British cannot escape
its wrath!
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Day 3: Photos, Photos
and more Photos.
We got a lie in today! A well needed rest for the majority
of students, even if the Russian Police car sirens woke us up a few times
during the early hours of this morning!
After our lie in, we got the opportunity to venture over to Red
Square, where the media people from the Rugby World Sevens were taking the
rugby captain’s official photos to put on the website. This meant that we got
to help stop tourists and other passers-by from wondering into and around the
photos, which was harder than it sounds! After all their photos were taken we
got to have a group photo with the trophies!
After lunch, along with a group of students we ventured out
to the Moscow Kremlin, which we thought would be rather expensive to get into,
but with our Coventry Phoenix Cards we managed to get in with the small fee of
100 roubles or in English terms… £2!! Which is extremely cheap!
The Kremlin was amazing, the colours that each of the
different Cathedrals were painted with and the detailed paintings of multiple
saints were so well preserved that they didn’t seem very old at all!
Fortunately in two of the Cathedrals they had tourist information sheets in
English, which meant that we were able to learn small nuggets of information
about the tombs or shines in the Cathedrals.
After we went in the Kremlin, we took a wonder into Red
Square, where we were doing the general touristy things… taking photos! We saw
the Lenin Mausoleum, Saint Basils Cathedral… it feels like that Cathedrals
should belong in Disneyland, it’s just so colourful! While we were in Red
Square we heard thunder, which echoes around the square which just sounded
awesome! Along with the lightning bolts that we saw! Was such an epic
experience!
Day 4: Walking, being
a Tourist and Training.
No lie in today, up for 8am, which isn’t too bad (until you
realise its 5am in England). Travelled on the Metro to Luzhniki Stadium without
our lovely volunteer liaisons, and surprising didn’t get lost on the way!
Really starting to feel like I’m getting to know my way around Moscow, and
feeling more confident about travelling on the Metro (even if we can’t
understand the signs!).
While at Luzhniki stadium we had a briefing in the
conference room, which meant that we were treated to air conditioning! Which
was so lush. In the briefing we were
told what roles we will be undertaking in the next three days, my role is
‘changing rooms’, from which I understand I will be ensuring that the teams are
in and out of the changing rooms in their allotted times. This means that will meet
all the teams! This could be a lot of fun!
After our meeting while we were waiting for our
accreditation to be changed and updated, along with a few others, we went for a
stroll around the Luzhniki grounds (which are absolutely huge!!) and stumbled
across some of the teams practising. Luckily one of these teams was the
England’s men’s team! They looked on form and certainly looked as though they
are ready and raring to compete this weekend! They were also more than happy to
talk to us especially when they kicked the rugby ball over the fence (sure they
were trying to hit us!)
This afternoon we
took a trip into Red Square, this time to go and take a look at St Basil’s
Cathedrals, which looked even more stunning from the inside! The Paintings in
there were absolutely amazing, so intricate and detailed! Even the painted
flowers on the ceiling were not duplicated and so each individual flower was truly
unique. Like the Moscow Kremlin, St Basil’s Cathedral is definitely a place to
go and see in Moscow, and with a student card it is not an opportunity to be
missed!
Day 5 – Warm ups,
Stretches and Team Hugs.
Today was the day that we’ve all been waiting for, the start
of the Rugby Sevens World Cup! Another early start, but with an early night’s
sleep the night before, the majority of the students were ready to go and
excited, even though we are still fairly apprehensive about travelling around
on the metro without our lovely liaison officers!
Once arriving at Luzhniki stadium we got to watch the
practice opening ceremony, which was really energetic and crazy! While we were
watching we got a group photo in our volunteer tops, even though we did
slightly interrupt the procession of rugby balls representing each nation
competing at the games. This made taking the photos very funny as we only had
seconds between each giant rugby ball to take photos.
Today I had the role of looking after the warm up area for
the men’s rugby teams; this meant stopping the players from walking onto the
athletics track in their studs, because the track is going to be
used soon for the Athletics World Championships. Which although seems a simple
task, the players often didn’t listen and kept on warming up on the track!
Although the Fijian team respected what was asked of them and often played
little jokes on me, pretending to step on it.
Today I saw how a team is truly one and everyone plays an
equal role. Whilst walking back to the changing rooms the New Zealand team they
had their hands on each other shoulders, which seemed really symbolic. Also the
Fijian team all held each other’s hands and held their hands up towards the sky
whilst doing their team huddle, which also represented their union. The noise
that the spectators in the stadium made was incredible! Especially the Russians
when their team were about to score a try (even though they didn’t). The Fijian
supporters sang for their team when they came out to warm up and play, their
voices could be heard all over the stadium and were absolutely amazing at
singing songs from Fiji.
Although today was absolutely tiring, it was very fun and I
thoroughly enjoyed it!
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| The Fijian Team warming up. |
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| Team USA |
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| Team New Zealand |
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| Team Wales |
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| Team France |
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| Team Scotland |
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| Team South Africa |
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| Team Kenya |
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| Team Samoa |
Day 6
Second day of play at the Rugby Sevens World Cup, up bright
and early, and ready for a full day! Fortunately this morning the Metro wasn’t
too busy, and so we had a lovely seat on the train! Although early, the stadium
was already busy with people running around doing their jobs and a few
spectators getting an early look at the stadium!
Same role as yesterday, looking after the athletics track
and watching the training pitches run smoothly! Pretty much making sure that
the teams went to the right pitches. Team Fiji were as always in a fantastic mood, still
playing their little jokes with pretending to step on the track, constantly
keeping me entertained!
Many teams ended up coming back to the warm up area to cool
down, including the Scottish team who decided to cool down and do their
stretches around where I was sitting, where the captain led their stretches.
The day, although long was lots of fun!
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| Team Georgia warming up! |
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Team Tonga
warming up, which looked more like they were playing a game of hot potato!
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Day 7 – Play
Suspended!
Third and final day of play today! Bowl, Plate and Cup
finals were played today! England woman’s in the Woman’s Plate final and
England Men’s in the Men’s Cup Final (the Cup being ranked higher than Bowl or
Plate). Unfortunately we didn’t win either the Cup or Plate Finals but both
teams played exceptionally well, especially under the circumstances!
Congratulations Team New Zealand (both woman’s and men’s)
I have to say, fair dos to the teams that lost their matches
today, many of who thanked their supporters and although clearly saddened by
the defeat remained calm and respectful but yet showed face in front of their
supporters.
The day looked as though it was going to be another boiling
hot day, around 4pm claps of thunder could be heard around the stadium, and
then coupled with lightening a lightning/thunder/rain storm started! The
weather was so bad and torrential that play had to be suspended, and it ended
up being suspended for nearly 45 minutes! The rain at which time was pouring in
all directions, causing the people in the stands to move higher and higher!
Once the lightning had stopped, and the rain
had eased off slightly play was allowed to resume , making the field
Almost dangerous to play on, but allowed teams
to show what they were made of! The pitch was so sodden that the ball couldn’t
bounce on it and the term ‘butter fingers’ could be used for many of the
players as they struggled to catch the ball!
Although play was suspended, with good and
effective organisational skills from the IRB, the lost time was caught up very
quickly with the last game only running 25 minutes behind schedule!
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Team Tunisia warming up for the first game of the last day!
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| Oh the rain, theres so much rain! |
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| Wet and wild tackles! |
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| More wet fun! |
Day 8 – Homeward Bound we go!
Day started off with a bit
of a lie in! A well needed lie in! For breakfast… or well lunch, a group of us
went to the Hard Rock Café Moscow! I had a beef cheeseburger, which was
extremely yummy (although I seriously struggled to finish it)! After lunch we
went on a shopping trip, where I brought some fridge magnets for my family!
These weren’t too expensive, but they were very colourful!
After checking out at the
hostel, the long (14 hour trip back to Coventry started!), which went rather
smoothly no one got lost or left behind!
I had an amazing week in
Moscow, which I thoroughly enjoyed, so a massive thank you to our lecturers who
organised and took us on this trip and to the IRB for letting us come and
volunteer!
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| My Lunch! |
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