Metal Cows and Cotton Eye Joe, Day 1 continued

Was picked up by Sargis at 11 o'clock, and we headed into town. We had to cross over a gorge to reach the center and I was reminded of clifton back in bristol (I will try to take a picture tomorrow)

The similarities didn't last long, as we went further into Yerevan I saw more soviet-style buildings, as well as armenian ones with roman columns. We got out at the main road, where I bought a bottle of water (apparently something only tourists do). Then we headed off to the university to see the AIESEC office.

The university building is very new (Eurasian University is one of the new small universities that has started recently) with little cactus plants all along the corridors. We went into the office, which was very nice.

After spending some time in the office talking about AIESEC things we decided it was cool enough for us to go out to town. Today was a city-wide music festival, with lots of concerts going on.
First we went to the Moscow Cinema and saw a rock group performing, we also came across this:


Which seemed to be made out of rubbish welded together.
After this we went to check out the big city square, which was surrounded by big Armenian buildings, mainly museums and hotels, We also saw some large brass drinking fountains, apparently Armenia is famous for its pure water (thanks to all the mountains).

We then met up with a big group of AIESECers, from all sorts of different groups. Sadly the only group not represented was TM*, the one I will be working with.

On our way to the final stop of the day we walked past the opera house. In Armenia they take their opera very seriously, and the opera house is considered the center of the city. It's surrounded by cafes and had a bouncy castle as well as a few other things for kids to play on outside the main entrance.

We then arrived at Lovers Park, a newly renovated park near the center. Here they were performing a mixture of country music and blues. The AIESECers tried to teach me Cotton-eye Joe, an AIESEC dance* I've always had a bit of trouble with. Unfortunately the band started playing slow songs, so it didn't really work.

Me and Sargis then went back to Ishxan's place, where I went straight to bed. What a day!

*Talent Management, Looks after the AIESEC members, making sure they receive the training and support they need and organizes all the meetings

*AIESEC Dances, at conferences AIESECers do big choreographed dances, no one knows why