Arranging a vacation with the wife and kid to go over would be fun, but until we win the lottery I don't see it happening anytime soon. However, if we do manage to get over, I'm holding you to all of the stuff you just said would be easy to do. How many symphonies and what kind of Classical music selection would be possible? There's a symphony here in town but they generally play once a month for two hours and that's that. I'd love to cram in some Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov and the rest if I could. As for Russian winters, just make riding open carriage/sleds around as the annual standard and things will go back to normal over time I suspect.

Although I still would like to do the cavalry charge .

@ Jo, yeah those!
@ Digs, I think for utilitarian purposes gloves are probably superior, but for having short term dexterity the m**f things would be superior...just take a hand out and you can perform all sorts of dexterous things that might give a glove wearer a slight disadvantage.

Out of curiosity what is the general consensus on the Tsars? And since I honestly don't know has there ever been any movement to invite the remnants of the old monarchy back to the country and at least have them as...well...kind of like the British version. I don't think they hold any major power but they tend to serve as a sort of rallying point for the British. I always felt terrible about what happened to his kids...they weren't involved in any of the stuff the Tsar was and I don't understand why they couldn't have at least shuffled them off someplace where they could live their lives out in peace.

And since I honestly don't know has there ever been any movement to invite the remnants of the old monarchy back to the country and at least have them as...well...kind of like the British version. I don't think they hold any major power but they tend to serve as a sort of rallying point for the British.

I'd agree that Wild Rose is the only one who could answer your question about Russia. But I hope you don't mind if I explain a few things about the British Monarchy. For example, there is a great deal of difference between Queen Elizabeth II, who remains UK's head of state, and, for instance, the still-living heirs to the French monarchy, who still live in France, even though it has remained a republic.

The political system in UK is called the Westminster system, and it has been evolving into the present arrangements since before the times of Edward I, when he continued on with the council of nobles and ordinary townspeople called into being by Simon De Montford, in the second Baron's war, in 1263-4 AD. Though English Kings were absolute rulers technically, the parliament grew in usefulness and power because of the War of the Roses, the very tenuous claim to monarchy of Henry VII, the first Tudor King, the English Civil War of the 1640's, and the ongoing Anti-catholic sentiments of the times which brought James I (& VI) Stuart to power, but which eventually expelled James II, the grandfather of Bonnie Prince Charlie, in favour of William III (Stadtholder of Orange & king of UK) and his wife, Mary II.

By the time George I (Hanover) became king (1714) to replace the Stuarts, it had been established once and for all, that the King or Queen of UK ruled by will of the people, as well as by the rules set down in the Act of Settlement, passed under Queen Anne, the daughter of James II. During George I's reign, UK was ruled by the first Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, at the head of a cabinet. George III, the first Hanoverian sovereign to be born English-speaking, was in no position to go against Parliament's rulings and under William IV, and Queen Victoria, moves were also made to see UK's menfolk got the vote. In the 1920's, under George V, women got the vote as well.

Under the present system, UK has a House of Commons and a House of Lords which act like your House of Representatives and Senate. When an act of parliament passes the Commons and the House of Lords, it goes to the Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II, to ratify it, after which the act becomes law. However, although the Queen opens parliamentary sessions, she is unable to attend parliament at any other time, she is never allowed in the House of Commons nor does she take part in elections, express views on what legislation is to be passed and she is not to be seen as anything other than impartial and non-political. She is there on behalf of the State, the Crown and to serve the people, and not on behalf of any particular political party.

That doesn't mean the Queen is completely powerless. As well as keeping up weekly consultations with each current Prime Minister of UK, and attending to whatever business is passed on to her by the Government, the Queen is the head of the armed forces, represents the Crown, awards honours and titles where appropriate, entertains visiting VIP's at the government's behest, and by the charities and good causes she and her family promote, and the prestige she brings to various occasions, she wields quite a bit of influence as well as authority. This extends to overseas, in particular in the 53 Commonwealth of Nations countries, where the Queen and, last year, Prince Charles, chairs CHOGM meetings every two years. Many Commonwealth countries are republics but the Queen of UK is also Queen of fifteen of these countries, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

In contrast, whilst there are several other working monarchies who reign over their countries in similar fashion, there are other countries, like France, which, even if the heirs of old monarchies do live there, their taking any part at all in government would be unthinkable. Other monarchies are in exile and cannot return unless they are invited for some reason. I hope that helps.

Going onto a different topic:

I have been thinking of going on exchange for 1 semester in my second year of uni(so in 2015). I am thinking of either Canada or the UK. I will be staying there for 6 months. So what are your thoughts? I can give you a list of the sister universities in both countries.

T'would be ever so neat if you could come to the US, IloveFauns! Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio (where I attend veterinary school) has a TON of international students that come to do exchange programs.

As a matter of interest, how does one get to be an international exchange student? Because of either family or work commitments not every student would be in a position to try something like that.

'Twould be ever so near if you could come to Canada, IloveFauns! Universities in Ontario have a goodly number of international students that are involved in exchange programs. ( DiGs ... IlF, you are in demand! Psst, come to Canada; come to Canada! )

That is true, wagga, I just know it is not uncommon. However, I am not sure of what the process is, exactly.

It's called a "m**f" in English

ah, thanks

As Canadians, we too, spell the soup at "borscht". So, you don't have the 't' on the end, wrose? I've made it before, and it's tasty. Lotsa cabbage.

In Russian it's pronounced 'borsh', with a sort of soft and long sh sound (if that makes any sense )
So cool that you have made it I love it very much, though my sister and I don't add a lot of cabbage cause we don't like soups with a lot of cabbage, unless we are cooking Shi (which is like borscht only without the beet roots) and even then, we are as sparing as the recipie will allow. My mom always put a lot of cabbage when she cooks borscht.

How many symphonies and what kind of Classical music selection would be possible?

Honestly, whatever you want can be arranged, there's the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall where plenty of different symphonies play, it's just a matter of when and what and then there's the Musical Conservatory and so on.

Although I still would like to do the cavalry charge

Well, I have a friend who reenacts the year 1812, she goes out to reeactment of the actual battles and so I think even a calvary charge could be arranged

I know it's unlikely, but if you ever do come, rest assured that I will do all in my power to be a great guide and take you to all the places you would like to go

Out of curiosity what is the general consensus on the Tsars? And since I honestly don't know has there ever been any movement to invite the remnants of the old monarchy back to the country and at least have them as...well...kind of like the British version. I don't think they hold any major power but they tend to serve as a sort of rallying point for the British. I always felt terrible about what happened to his kids...they weren't involved in any of the stuff the Tsar was and I don't understand why they couldn't have at least shuffled them off someplace where they could live their lives out in peace.

oof, tough question. I'd say the general consensus would be pity. People feel sorry for them, and actually, the Tsar and his family were canonized by the Russian Orthodx Church. There are people who are what we call monarchists, who prefer if there would be a Tsar ruling again, but honestly, even if someone wanted too, there wouldn't really be anyone to put! The dynasty was just about wiped out by the bolshviks, and the reason they were all killed was to keep them from trying to reclaim the throne. It was very important to the Communists that there would be no attempt to put a new Tsar on the throne, I think they felt that if they left the opportunity, someone would try and grab it, so they just eliminated it completely. Tsar Nicolas II didn't even want to be Emperor and when he was removed all he wanted was to live his life in peace with his family, but that sadly was not meant to be.

oh, and also, recalling a conversation I had with Johobbit and DiGoRyKiRkE I asked my mom and found out that back in the Soviet times you didn't need a permit from the government to have children, but large families were rare because jobs were low paying, housing was bad, lots of basic things were very hard to find and people generally were poor. You also could for the most part travel with government permission, unless you lived in a city that had a military base or something of the sort, than you would need permission. But like that, city kids would often go to live with their grandparents in the village and it wasn't a problem at all. Or my grandparents would always go to Ukraine for their summer vacation and that wasn't much of a problem.

@digory The US is an option, though with so many states it would be such a difficult choice.

@WW You have to apply at least 6 months in advance(so for second semester next year I would have to apply by next jan). So I have a year to decide. You can apply for government assistance to help you with the costs but through my university they have a program so you study overseas for the same amount of money(that is course fees).

here is a link : http://studyabroad.curtin.edu.au/exchan ... rants.html

My brother is planning on going halfway through this year(he has already applied) though he goes to another university I will see how he goes. What sort of government assistance he gets etc. Though he is choosing to go to Germany.

@jo Ha it would be nice to go for 2 years and spend a semester in 4 different places but my funds wouldn't stretch that far and the last year and a half of my course has to be done at my university.

The landscapes of Canada look beautiful. I will decide where to go and if I am even going throughout the year. It seems like an experience I have to take though.

If going to the us/Canada should I pronounce words such as vitamin, aluminium there way? or will people know what I am talking about?. I am sure there are more common words that I have to pronounce differently than vitamin and aluminium.

If going to the us/Canada should I pronounce words such as vitamin, aluminium there way? or will people know what I am talking about?. I am sure there are more common words that I have to pronounce differently than vitamin and aluminium.

Pish posh, poppit! Be yourself!

In vet school, one of my FAVOURITE professors is from Scotland, and he says vitamin and aluminium the way he'd grown up saying them.

If going to the us/Canada should I pronounce words such as vitamin, aluminium there way? or will people know what I am talking about?. I am sure there are more common words that I have to pronounce differently than vitamin and aluminium.

I think they'll know what you're saying no matter how you say it. But if you do say it your way, be prepared to hear lots of "Omigosh, it's so cuuuute the way you say it! " type comments. Although, you'll probably get that anyway just because of your accent. People here seem to be pretty dazzled by anything/anyone from other countries, and accents are at the top of their lists. If they hear an accent, most people can't seem to help pointing it out.

~Riella

That's also very true, Ithi. . . . Americans are convinced that they do not have an accent, and so they instantly fall in love with people that do.

I was going to post pretty much what Ithi wrote, IlF. If you come to Canada, people will fall head-over-heels to listen to your lovely accent, so don't change a thing!

wild rose, my husband's family grew up on Borsch[t] soup, and his mom always loaded it with cabbage and sausage. Beans too, if I recall. What do you put in yours?

And your last two paragraphs ^ are especially interesting, wrose, thanks for those!

Gosh people seem to go crazy over accents. I remember when me, my dad and my sister went to new york. My dad was trying to order a coffee and the guy at the counter thought he was saying orange juice. My sister had to order for him. Though that was only on one occasion.

Ha maybe I will just add the words vitamin, aluminium(for sure since that is pronounced completely different). I remember having an Canadian science teacher in lower highschool who said it and I thought he was talking about a completely different element. So did most of the class and I think he referred to t as Al after that.

For most part I know the Australian pronunciation is more similar to the British than American except for the one exception I know of which is Privacy. I thought the british way sounded very funny when I was a young child.

Yes I have noticed some Americans seemed to be convinced they don't have an accent. On another forum It took a lot of convincing one of them they did have an accent.

I should very much like to hear what Americans sound like through a foreigner's ears . I mean, it is blatantly obvious to us that we sound different from others, but. . . I don't know. . . it's kinda like everybody else sounds like they changed from us. . . like we're the default

I know that's wrong, and I'm not sure that's even the best way for me to describe it. Just can't think of anything else.

Could you explain what we sound like?

I should very much like to hear what Americans sound like through a foreigner's ears . I mean, it is blatantly obvious to us that we sound different from others, but. . . I don't know. . . it's kinda like everybody else sounds like they changed from us. . . like we're the default

I know that's wrong, and I'm not sure that's even the best way for me to describe it. Just can't think of anything else.

Could you explain what we sound like?

I think a good way to get a hint of how others hear us is to listen to actors from other countries trying to do an American accent; especially when they're exaggerating the accent too much. That way they start doing what is basically a caricature of an American accent, and you can get a vague idea of what we sound like to them. I saw one actor from the UK do an American accent that was ridiculously exaggerated; and while the Americans who were with him started laughing about how ridiculous it was, the other Brits around him were like, "What? It sounded right to me..."

Try looking up David Tennant's attempts at an American accent (there's one somewhere on Youtube, where he's reading from a book about an American); or even better, the "Americans" (played by English actors) on the classic Doctor Who episode Tomb of the Cybermen.

~Riella