My Graduation Day

It was the day of my graduation.

It started out as anyone else's graduation would start.

Wake up.

Get ready.

Get to hall.

Take pictures.

Listen to boring speeches.

Take certificate.

Take more pictures.

Hang around waiting for time to past.

Only after that did the fun start.

I took my parents for a ballet!
Russia is quite famous for its ballets, and I thought that since they are already there, they should got for one, at least.

I managed to get them tickets for the Bolshoi (although not the original Bolshoi because it was undergoing some renovation).
We went for Giselle (I think that is how it is spelt).

My parents really enjoyed the show, I think.
They liked the beautiful hall and the beautiful costumes and dance and everything.
Some pictures taken on that day:

that was our graduation hall (at the back)

I just love this picture of us, for some reason!

Officially no more a student

At the Bolshoi entrance

Going up to the hall

(not allowed to take picture in the hall itself)
After the show, took parents home in a cab - the night view of Moscow was superb!!

Today, I learnt that there are names for different generations of people.

The silent generation - refers to the generation coming of age around 1951, born during the Great Depression or World War II. It defined the generation at the time as born from 1923 to 1943, found its characteristics as grave and fatalistic, conventional, possessing confused morals, expecting disappointment but desiring faith, and for women, desiring both a career and a family.

The baby boom generation - portrays a generation born during the middle part of the 20th century

Generation X - commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is a term used to refer to a generational cohort of children born after the baby boom ended and usually prior to the 1980s.

Generation Y - also known as The Millennial Generation, is a term used to describe the demographic cohort following Generation X. Its members are often referred to as "Millennials" or 'Echo Boomers') . There are no precise dates for when Gen Y begins and ends. Most commentators use dates from the early 1980s to early 1990s.

OK, fine, I know, all these is not interesting. But there was another thing that I received in the mail which was quite interesting- why do we call generation Y 'Generation Y'?

Ballet

Most people who have read about Moscow have heard of the Bolshoi Theater. I only heard about it in my first year when mentioned by my Russian language teacher. 6 years have passed, and all I know about the Bolshoi is that it is big (that's what the name means, bolshoi=big), presumably beautiful and it has been under construction for a few years now. While it is under construction, they have built a temporary Bolshoi Theater, a smaller one, just beside the original one so that one can still say that they went to the Bolshoi while in Moscow.

My friends and I have never been to the Bolshoi Theater. Although we have been to 2 ballets in Kremletski Dvorets (yes, there are many theaters in Moscow) - Swan Lake and Nutcracker, we thought that a visit to the Bolshoi is a must. From the beginning of this academic year, we have talked about going for a ballet in Bolshoi. We have tried to find out about the shows they have and the ticket prices on a few occasions. Each time we find that the seats are too expensive or the tickets have been sold out. Eventually, the plan was forgotten especially when everyone became busy with planning their parents' trip to Russia (for our graduation).

When my parents confirmed that they are going to come for my graduation, I thought that one of the things that I should bring them to is a ballet. Since the Bolshoi is too expensive, I thought that the Kremletski Dvorets will do. Since the dates of the ballets are out only 60 days beforehand, I started checking for shows since last week on www.parter.ru. My plan was to get the tickets as soon as I can.

A few days ago, I saw that the only available ballet was Giselle, on the 24th of June in Bolshoi. The cheapest ticket is 1342rubles. I was a bit disappointed, but then thought, 'well, at least there is a ballet to watch'. After talking to my friends, we decided that we would go get the tickets after class today. Between us, we needed 21 tickets.

The Bolshoi Theater is located just beside Ohotny Ryad metro station. The moment we (Swee Hung, Fen Fang, Von Yen, Yee Gin and I) exited the metro station, someone approached us and asked 'would you like tickets to the Bolshoi for today?'. It took a few moments for us to realize that the person was selling tickets on the 'black market'. We said our no, thank yous and went to the official ticket counter.

We saw that two counters were open. We approached one and asked about the tickets for the 24th of June. The lady said 'come back in June, it's too early now'. My friends and I were flabbergasted. In June? The tickets would all be sold out by then. Then we saw a guy (American? British?) approaching the other counter and asking about the tickets to watch ballet tonight. I don't know what the lady told him, but he didn't seem very happy and claimed that he checked from a website and in that website they said that the tickets are affordable. Then, we heard one of the 'black market' guys telling him that they have tickets for the day and the guy left to bargain with the 'black market' guy.

We then decided to ask about the ballet in the other counter. When asked, the lady told us that there are only few tickets left, and the cheapest is 3000rubles. And then, she took out her handphone and started talking. We were confused and for some time, couldn't think of what to do next. We finally decided to ask about the tickets in some other ticket selling booth. As we were leaving, another 'black market guy' approached us and we told him we needed 21 tickets for the 24th of June. He told us to wait and after some time, came back and told us that he has 17 tickets for now, each costing 1500rubles.

After lots of discussion and a walk to Kremletski Dvorets and back (to make sure that there are no shows available there), we finally decided to get 8 tickets - Von Yen, Swee Hung and Fen Fang decided that they don't want to go for the ballet. We managed to get the tickets for 1400rubles, but the seating is not as good as we would like it to be. I might just ask my parents to get binoculars so that they can see the stage clearly. I just hope that we were not cheated, that the ticket price has not been hiked up that much. I hope the stage is not that far away. And I hope that the ballet is a good one.

seating chart :
















*our seats are circled