A Word of Advice

I think whenever I don't have time to fully update my readers with some stories of what's going on over here, in the very least I think this is a good place to put up advice for those looking to study abroad, especially in Russia. Here's what I'll start with, what I can think of off the top of my head, but I'll definitely add more when I can come up with it.

1. Don't be afraid to meet new people. Join groups, even if they're online just to start with. My friend Chase started meeting people and playing lacrosse over here, and just by starting with contacting people over facebook groups. I met a good friend of mine over reddit (he's a moderator for /r/moscow) Look for groups around the University you're studying at. Something's bound to pop up. And when you meet these new people, don't be afraid to start conversations with them, and keep your relationships up with them. Otherwise, you'll be looking back on your time abroad scratching your head and wondering why you didn't make any Russian friends.

2. Bring ziplocks with you. Bring lots of ziplock bags. You never know what you're going to need them for, but I promise you will need them.

3. Buy your souvenirs at the beginning of your time abroad, otherwise you will scramble around for gifts at the last minute and that's not fun. You want to spend your last few days abroad enjoying yourself and not stressing about whether or not you got your aunt a matrioshka doll.

4. Listen to music. Go to the movies. Listening to the radio, tv, mass media in general, helps improve your vocab, lets you take notice of little grammar nuances, and, what I find most important, helps you shake off your accent. Also, as far as comprehension goes, when I go watch a play or an opera I can get completely lost, even when I have the program right in front of me. However, when I go to the movies I understand about 90-95% of what's being said and what's going on. So even though your program (probably Dickinson for most of my readers) might give you "cultural experiences," go outside of that and go to the movies. Besides, as of right now, Dickinson reimburses movie tickets.

Like I said, more to come later. Perhaps especially while I’m on winter break.

Наши выборы

It's currently about 8:00 in the morning, and I'm sitting in a famous American Diner, while waiting for the sunrise and election results. A ton of expats are here, but they're mostly sitting in the other half of the diner, people from both parties cracking open beers. I find it really touching that when we're overseas, we can throw away something that would divide us on our mainland. Red or blue, black or white, whatever our differences are, we are all still strong Americans, and we can come together and be proud representatives of our great United States. While this is also something to note, I'd like to bring attention to what this election means for the rest of the world. Just about every paper I picked up yesterday had a focus on our elections. We pretty much only talked about it in class. I don't think Americans, until they go abroad, know the full value of our elections, and what kind of presence we make in the world. That also makes me proud, knowing my country really makes a difference at home as well as other places. I'm not saying that I agree with certain policies, and by all means I'm not a radical. I just think it's great knowing that we have so much potential for international relations and helping others. As an update, it is now 8:30 in the morning. Obama is projected as the winner of the elections. Most people over here, Americans and Russians, are pleased about the results, some even popping open champagne. A newscaster walked in a few minutes ago, and it looks like she'll report something on this story after grabbing breakfast in the booth ahead of me. Also, my laptop is about at 10% battery power, so I need to make this short and sweet. Overall, this was a healthy experience - seeing a presidential election in a land that was not my own. It reinforces what my country means to me, other Americans like me, and the rest of the world. Regardless of your own political beliefs, God Bless America.

После Петербурга: A Jump Start to the Blog

Hello folks! I'm sorry for my several-month long absence. Considering I let this fall to the wayside around my first trip to Saint Petersburg, I feel like talking about my trip there this weekend would be a decent way to pick this up. I'll think of a creative way to make up for the time gap sometime soon. Also, I should note, I'm going to add less pictures because it takes forever, and I just don't have the time to upload them all (that being one of the reasons why I kept putting off updating the blog). But, here we go.

            This was my second time coming to Saint Petersburg.  In Russia, it’s more fact than just a saying, that people here are either Moscow people or Saint Petersburg people.  I definitely fall into the latter category, so needless to say, I had been looking forward to our trip to SPb almost since my plane landed in Moscow back in August.

            The trains are definitely a huge part of the trip, so I feel like I shouldn’t exclude talking about them.  We[students in the Dickinson Moscow program] ride in a coupé (closed compartment with four passengers) on the way to Peter, and we ride in the old-fashioned Soviet train (open-compartments, louder, with its own unique smell – and I’m not saying that it’s a good or bad thing) on our way to Moscow.  You don’t ever feel quite well rested after sleeping on the train; however, you can definitely get some sleep.  I can say from experience, the first trains are the hardest to sleep on, but it gets easier the more you do it.  It’s a nice system going between Moscow and Saint Petersburg.  The trains leave around midnight, and you arrive in the city around 6:30 or so the next morning.  Some tips for the train:

·      Bring water with you – They will not have it on the train.  Also, depending on your host mother, you don’t have to bring snacks.  Some like to give you a feast for the train, some don’t.

·      Pack lightly – If you can keep everything packed into one backpack, that’s ideal.  Don’t pack a bunch of homework thinking you’ll do it; it only takes up space and makes your bag that much heavier/bulkier.

·      Wake up at least half an hour before you arrive – You’ll need time to wake up, clean up, and pack up.  You need to get out as soon as the train stops.  So also do a double-check of all your things well in advance!

            When we arrived in Peter, we checked into a hotel that was obviously made from an old Soviet dormitory/apartments, which was pretty cool.  It was in a good location because it was directly behind the Kazan Cathedral (Казанский Собор).  That helped with remembering how to get back, because it was all the way down the main street in Saint Petersburg: Nevsky Prospekt (Невский Проспект).

            After taking a brief nap, we woke up and went to breakfast at the café in the hotel.  That place made great food at an even better price.  A bowl of kasha was 30 rubles, or about $1, and the coffee was 50 rubles, or about $1.50.  It’s impossible to eat that cheap in Moscow, or even in the States, so we undoubtedly ate there every morning, and every morning it was delicious.

            We had excursions every day we were there.  Our tour guide, Vika, was very nice.  She was a great tour guide for us because she was very energetic, and would focus on what interested us.  She also spoke mostly in Russian, and it was helpful because she spoke at a normal pace, but it was very clear and she explained anything we didn’t understand.

            On Friday, we took a general bus tour around the city.  We stopped into St. Isaac’s Cathedral, the Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood, the biggest synagogue there, as well as the most popular mosque.  We only went into the mosque and the synagogue because we asked if we could stop in and check them out.  Yet again, I stress how great our tour guide was, because she was very flexible about her tour, which made it a lot of fun.  We also checked out the Peter and Paul Fortress and the cabin Peter the Great lived in while the city was being built.  That was really interesting because to see because it was hard to imagine Peter the Great living in this tiny, three-room, wooden house, after seeing so many grand palaces from the Romanov Dynasty, and thinking about how he was the one who turned it all into an Empire.

            On Saturday, we drove a little bit outside of the city and saw Catherine the Great’s palace, a couple of parks, and the Alexandrovsky Palace (the palace where Czar Nicholas II and his family were imprisoned before they were killed).  It was a great experience because seeing the Catherine Palace has always been number one on my to-do list in Russia.  It was very beautiful, but also really grandiose and over the top, and you can get easily bored looking at all the rooms done in different styles.  Then it’s interesting to go over to Alexandrovsky Palace which was also big and beautiful, but definitely more practical and simplistic in style.  It was also really interesting to think about how the Catherine Palace was almost completely destroyed, and how remarkably it was redone; I definitely have some appreciation for how much work and dedication was put into restoring the palace, especially because it took several years to do, and those who worked on the restoration weren’t paid very well.

             Saturday night, we went to see "My Fair Lady" done in Russian. I'm quite proud of myself because I only dozed off twice. The production was three and a half hours long, so needless to say, I dipped out early because I didn't want to spend my whole Saturday night at a musical.  Around midnight, I went by myself to Fish Fabrique (will elaborate on this later), because I had been begging the guys to go with me all week, and I'd been wanting to go there since this summer.  This summer I didn't get the opportunity to, mostly because we ran out of time and no one else in my group wanted to/would go with me.  So this time, I knew if I didn't go by myself, it wasn't happening at all.  And oh my gosh, am I glad I did it.  I met some new people and spoke a lot of Russian, and best of all I had a great time.  It was like, Reggae Hip-Hop night, so the music was really awesome.  Over the stage, they had a sign in Russian that said something equivalent to "celebrating something just because we can". I really liked the vibe of the place. Besides having fun, I'm glad I went because this gave me a sense of independence I haven't had yet.  I went out in a big city by myself.  This means a lot because in general, this is not the safest thing to do if you're a woman.  I definitely would not have done this back in Moscow, but I feel like Saint Petersburg is slightly a bit safer, so I went.  And nothing bad happened to me.  I went there on my own, and I walked all the way back home, and nothing happened.  So I feel rather proud of myself, because I went out on my own and had a great experience by putting myself in the position that I had to speak Russian and had no outside help. That was definitely a highlight of my weekend trip.

            The next day, we pretty much had a “Hermitage in a nutshell” tour.  At first I was reluctant to go back to the Hermitage because my first experience there was horrendous (it was earlier this summer, so the place was crowded with so many tourists you couldn’t see anything you wanted to, it was our first day in SPb and we had been stressed out about finding a hostel at the last minute, we had already been on our feet all day, so we were wowed by the Hermitage, but at the same time it had been a little too much for us by that point), but I changed my mind at the last minute, and I’m really glad I did.  The good thing about going to the Hermitage a second time is that you can go and see only the things you like and not feel bad about skipping a lot of exhibits.  It was also really cool being able to explain some of the exhibits to my friends.  Also, it was good going through a second time because my first tour guide completely left out the armor exhibit.  Being big into uniforms and military history, that quickly became my favorite exhibit.  I could have spent hours in that one room alone.

            I spent the rest of the day with Chase and Petya, walking around the artillery museum and all up and down Nevsky Prospekt, checking out all the places I wanted to see that I didn’t get to last summer.  We found a great Ukrainian restaurant called Odessa Mama.  The vareniki they cooked were really good, and were at a great price for those on a student budget.  We understood all the jokes they had on the placemats, so that was very rewarding, since we’ve been working so hard at understanding this language.  We liked the place so much, we stayed for two pots of tea, which were also very good (That’s one thing I’m beginning to notice – since coming to Russia, I’ve started to become a tea snob).

            I also showed Chase and Petya a tiny art district called Pushkinskaya 10. They have a cool club there called Fish Fabrique, and a ton of nonconformist art galleries.  Between Fish Fabrique and the main exhibit buildings, there’s this tunnel with a ton of graffiti on it done by passers-by who wished to share song lyrics, write messages to people they love, and other small pearls of wisdom.  We must have stayed half an hour or more reading the stuff in that tunnel, and picking up some new vocab as well.  It was a lot of fun.

            Then all too soon, it was time to head back to Moscow.  Although Moscow is bigger, I find it easier to go out and do things in Saint Petersburg.  I already have a lot of great memories just from my first two visits there, and I can’t wait to see what adventures come about the next time.  Dickinson only takes us to Saint Petersburg once during the program (because there is so much of Russia to see!), but I’m definitely going to go back on my own for round three.

 Walking around Nevsky Prospekt, we ran into people peacefully protesting agianst the expansion of apartments around the Saint Petersburg area.

 "Death is worth living for, love is worth waiting for" - Viktor Tsoi. Not the best translation. What he means first part is that you should live, and it's worth living life because death is inevitable, but love is worth the wait, because you know that the right love will also come along.  One of the small pearls we found in the tunnel at Pushkinskaya 10.

Хипстервиль

Dear Lord, was yesterday fun!  And the day before that, too.  On Friday we met with Sasha and her friends over at Katya's house, and spent the whole night just having a blast.  I met so many awesome people.  And after a while, my accent disappeared.  It was beautiful.

Then yesterday, we met up with Sasha again, and with her boyfriend Kostya, and my new friends Iulia and Polina.  I met Polina Thursday night and Iulia yesterday.  All of Sasha's friends are all really great.  Sasha took us to a flea market just around the corner of my metro station.  Oh my gosh.  There were so many hipsters I didn't know what to do with myself.  But at the same time, the whole thing was really cool.  And, believe it or not, hipsters have malls.  The flea market was right outside a hipster mall.  They have a lot of cool shops, bars and restaurants, so I can't wait to go exploring over there later.  It's going to be a lot of fun.  I've never seen so much odd stuff, and all in one place like that, in my life! It's all so bizarre.  And the music - it wasn't really music but everybody was dancing.  The place was so hipster, there was a flash mob at one point!  I also got my hands on some really cool Soviet stuff - an old record and a magazine called Crocodile.  It was some good stuff at a really good price, and there's no way in hell you can find anything like it just laying around in the States. 

Then later last night I met Danielle and Mackenzie in Red Square, after getting turned around by the million ways to exit Okhontnyi Ryad.  There were some things I wanted to go see and do, but by the time we met up it was getting late and they'd already walked around for a while, so it didn't really happen.  But at least I got some cool night pictures of Red Square.

Stay tuned - you never know where I'll be roaming next!

 Me and Polina

 Gosh, do hipsters love taking pictures of things.

 The bigger the camera, the bigger the hipster.

 Hipster greeting cards!

 A bra pillow and some trolls, nothing odd about that at all. . .

 A hammock in a store? And I thought the beanbags were a little strange. :/ lol

 Yulia, Sasha, Mackenzie, Danielle, and I.

 Now all of us short people with Kostya.  He's even taller in real life.

 "Draw me like one of your French girls, Jack."

Waiting for the metro on the way home.

Post-Suzdal, Pre-Pasternak

Firstly, I apologize for not posting sooner.  I was going to yesterday but I'm pretty sure I crashed my internet trying to post all the pictures I have. So how bout I write a book today in order to make everything up to you guys?

Friday, 08 June We went on a really cold and wet ferry ride along the Moscow River and ate Soviet ice cream. As almost entire experience here has been, the weather might not have been ideal, but it was still super awesome and fun. Then, I saw my friend Rano! Oh, man, have I missed her! We walked around Gorky park for a bit, and then after we got off the metro she took me to Kroshka Kartoshka, which is pretty much a Subway for baked potatoes.  The lady in there was super talkative and wouldn't leave us alone, but the potatoes were rockin.  I can't wait to go back.  And I also went on my first Marshutka ride, which Professor DeBlasio had told us about in class, so it was pretty cool to see all of it first hand. We went back to Rano's apartment, which was in a neighborhood that belonged just to people who worked or studied in the government.  We had tea and talked forever, and her parents came home.  She has the sweetest parents on earth! I love her mom, and her dad is super funny.  He also drove me all they way back to my apartment (which was really far away, especially in Moscow traffic).  Then when I got home, I made a vkontakte account.  It's the Russian facebook, and it's better than facebook.  You can listen to whatever music you want, and watch whatever movie or TV show you want.  It can be found on here, even in English.  In fact, the list of music I'm listening to - it's all music that vkontakte has put on a suggestion list for me.  Jeez, facebook needs to get on vkontakte's level.


I also took some pics of the Komsomolskaya station:

 Market right outside the Starbucks where I study in the mornings.

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, 09 June The most notable thing that happened that day was that I went to a mall. Oh, how I love the mall!  On my way over, I stopped and asked someone for directions all by myself.  I feel really proud about that.  It's not easy asking Muscovites for directions, not only because you have to ask them in Russian, but also because they're Muscovites.  I spent forever in H&M, and came out with a few much needed, new shirts.  Then Danielle looked for a bag, then decided to get one back at H&M, and then she and Mackenzie were done with the mall. Those wusses.  I stayed and hung out. And besides, I needed a new bag, too.  My backpack is just way too bulky for Moscow.  I got hungry, so I went/found the food court.  Dunkin Donuts over here is super weird.  I thought I ordered a jelly-filled doughnut with strawberry frosting.  I bit in, and discovered it was a cream instead.  Upon further inspection, the cream was alcoholic.  It was disgusting.  Lesson learned there: Dunkin is only good in the US.  Other countries may run on Dunkin, but Americans only run on the American Duncan.  ew.  Then I found a Roxy/Quicksilver store! It was fantastic! After growing up for a little bit in Hawaii, I was so happy.  I stepped into the store, and it felt like I was home for a little bit.  And I also found a pretty awesome messenger bag.  Then I went to a toy store.  It was awesome.  They sold everything from baby clothes and strollers to giant Vinny-Pukhs to school supplies.  So what did I buy? A ton of flash cards (like an origami paper set.  They're cheaper.) and Russian Batman colored pencils. Duh.  I loved that mall.

Sunday, 10 June  Off to Suzdal.  I didn't have any caffeine that morning, and I woke up super early to pack.  Marina went to the grocery store at like, five in the morning and bought me bread, sausage, and cheese for buterbrod, and also some tea for the train.  I felt bad that she went and got it for me so early in the morning, but later on I was so happy I had that.  We all got really hungry. Then we got to Vladimir.  I slept almost the whole way. Then we took the bus to Suzdal, and kept falling asleep on the bus.  We checked into our room, and apparently, it was "Super-Soviet" as coined by all of us, Irina included.  We went and walked around, and checked out a couple of churches and a market. We bought pirozhki, and it was super yummy.  We went back to the hotel to rest before dinner, so we all got changed because we were all wet and felt crappy, and the sun was just starting to come out.  So when we left for dinner, it was absolutely beautiful outside.  I wanted to swim in the river.  It was the best weather we've had in Russia so far.  We walked around the whole town, checked out an antique store, and a museum that had a lot of old peasant houses.  It was pretty neat.  We were also little kids and played on the swing.  Right before we got to the museum, Mackenzie found a goat over by the side of the river.  She ran over to it, and it the ground was so slick, she fell flat out.  It was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life.  And after all that, the goat wouldn't eat anything that Mackenzie gave it.  She was so muddy, Irina said she looked like a bum - also funny.  I'm still laughing about the whole thing now.  I wish I had caught that on video. It was great.  After a while, we stopped by a grocery store and got some more food for Danielle, because there wasn't really a lot of stuff she could eat at the place we had dinner.  Irina ended up getting us lots of yummy things, like Soviet ice cream, Russian cheesecake, and chocolate.  We headed back to our hotel and Irina taught us how to play Durak, the infamous Russian card game.  After that and a round of BS, it was time for bed.  After such a long day, we passed out pretty quick.

 Haha there was this huge, nasty bug right by Kenzie's head, and it took her a while to notice.

 Like I said, that thing was big and nasty

 Danielle, not pleased by the fact that after said bug was killed it landed in her seat.

 Our Super Soviet hotel room.

Over at the monastery where our hotel was

The inside of a church that didn't survive the Soviets

 My attempt at saving the matrioshka

 Honey Beer in a chicken bottle

 Ded Moroz! (Santa!!)

 A banya off in the distance

Mackenzie and her goat!!

 That poor thing was so confused!

At the museum

 "I wonder if I stare into this oven long enough, maybe I can start it with my mind, like Drew Barrymore in 'Firestarter'"

 I really liked the troika for some reason.

 "Oh, what to wear today?"

Icons in the corner

 A lady showed us how peasants used to weave clothes.

 Mating goose attack!

Monday, 11 June  We woke up and had a wonderful Russian breakfast in our "Super-Soviet" hotel in Suzdal: Kasha made with rice and butter, buterbrod, blini, and coffee. It was wonderful. I can't get over how awesome kasha is. I love the stuff.  I don't know how my friend Sasha could hate it so much.  Hell, I wish I had a Russian nanny that made me kasha all the time when I was growing up.  Then we walked around a couple monasteries and it was just beautiful outside.  At one of the monasteries they had a prison museum, because it had been also used a prison from before Tolstoy's time up into the Soviet period.  Then after we got on the bus and headed over to Vladimir.  Vladimir is not nearly as pretty, but it had a really awesome Cathedral.  It was by far my most favorite. Then we walked over to the famous golden gate.  The museum at the top was awesome; it had a lot of military history artifacts, so of course I loved it.  I was the only one who saw it because Mackenzie and Danielle did not feel adventurous and want to climb to the top of the tower with me.  Then on the way back to the train station we stopped in a Soviet snack bar for blini.  We met an American there.  He didn't know any Russian at all, and has been teaching English in Moscow.  I was dumbfounded by the fact he didn't put any real effort into learning Russian.  The whole way back I made flashcards because I'm just that cool.  And when we got back, it was really late.  I was just getting back home as the sun was setting.  I was so tired, so I was really happy that Irina was giving us the day off the next day and I could sleep in.

Tuesday, 12 June It was Russia Day, and Irina gave us the day off.  We were going to find something to do with our Russian friends, but Sasha and Rano were spending the day with their parents, and Vadim was studying for his exams.  I met with Mackenzie and Danielle, and we went to Arbat. Well, we went to Arbat after we finally found Danielle. She got pretty lost on the metro. We at at some hippie-all organic-blah blah restaurant (it was alright. Danielle and Mackenzie really liked it- Danielle especially because she's vegetarian so she has quite the limited menu over here- but for me, it was just okay), and it started raining really hard, so we thought we'd go to a movie.  There's a movie theater right on the corner of Arbat. We went, and were going to watch Prometheus (Прометей, really) but they sold out of tickets and there wasn't much going on after that. So we walked around Arbat more (it momentarily dried) and called Vadim to see if there was another movie theater we could go to.  An eternity later, he figured we could go to the October theater on Novyi (New) Arbat.  But when we started heading over there, I got a text message from my host sister saying my host mom was making borsch soon and they were waiting on me.  So I had to miss the movie.  Because Danielle and Mackenzie didn't know how to get to the October theater I walked them there, then it took me forever  to find a metro station, as I thought there would be one close by.  I thought wrong.  I had to walk all the way back to the start of Arbat.  So I was home within an hour.  The borsch was absolutely delicious.  Marina put potatoes in it just for me, and she used beef instead of pork, which made my life.  I get to have some more for dinner tonight, thank God.  Then I skyped with Professor DeBlasio, which was really nice.  It was good to talk to someone from home (especially because either my dad hasn't figured out skype or he keeps putting it off, and my best friend Sophie is horrible with picking up the phone, which makes a skype date virtually impossible, and those are really the only people I have missed from home).  And I've talked to a couple people so far, but it was also especially good to talk to her because she was able to relate to what I was going through, and had some good advice for class and hanging out in Moscow.  I didn't realize how much I miss her too, and I really appreciated the call.  I felt really relieved today, and I guess it's because I talked to someone from home.  So, once again Alyssa, thank you.

Yesterday (Wednesday, 13 June) We went to a convent in Moscow (Novodevichy).  It had one of the prettiest churches I've seen yet.  We walked in, and it had the strongest smell on incense.  The art on the ceiling was done in a newer style.  I loved it. I've been looking for a couple icons to take back with me (one of Jesus Christ for my grandfather, then also Saint Catherine, since my Russian name is Экатеринa, or Catherine.  Irina wouldn't hear the end of it until I bought a Saint Catherine icon.  I'm glad I did it), and so I bought them there.  Then we went to the graveyard next to the convent, and saw lots of graves.  Like, Gogol's, Chekhov's, Stalin's family, etc.  It was more like a park than a cemetery.  It was interesting, to say the least.  We were also going to go over to a pond nearby but it started to rain and it was just really nasty, so we just went home.  I'm really starting to get sick of the rain over here.  Like, really.  Also, discovered McDonalds coffee is about the cheapest I'm going to be able to find in Moscow.

Hopefully, my readers, this quenched your Roaming Russian thirst, as I have been a horrible blogger for an entire week. My apologies. I have more pictures for you, which I will gradually upload, but at least I have most of Suzdal ready to go.  I'll be back later!



Currently listening to:

• Quest Pistols - "Rock'n'roll и Кружева"
• Jose Gonzales - "Heartbeats"
• Джиган - "История нашей любви"
• Roman Lob - "Alone"
• Florence + The Machine - "Girl with One Eye"
• Incubus - "Wish You Were Here"
• Regina Spektor - "Samson"
• Quest Pistols - "Жаркие танцы"
• Lana Del Rey - "Video Games"
• Slash - "Baby Can't Drive (feat. Alice Cooper and Nicole Scherzinger)"
• Joe Brooks - "Superman"
• We Are Scientists - "I Don't Bite"
• Regina Spektor - "No Surprises (Radiohead cover)"
• Gotye - "Heart's A Mess"
• Arctic Monkeys - "505"
• On The Go - "Better Act Now"
• Synthetic Epiphany & CoMa - "Perpetuate"
• Natalie Imbruglia - "Torn"
• Amy Winehouse - "Back to Black"
• Litesound - "The Life"
• Павел Чехов - "Потерянные"
• Dappy - "Rockstar (feat. Brian May)
• Yoav - "Where Is My Mind? (The Pixies cover)"
• Gotye - "Save Me"
• Eric Saade - "Hotter Than Fire (feat. Dev)"
• 30 Seconds to Mars - "Night of the Hunter (unplugged)"
• Panic! At the Disco - "C'mon (feat. fun.)"
• The Verve - "Bittersweet Symphony"
• Карибасы - "Все связано"
• Mexicolas - "Times Infinity"