Yerevan Loves Linux: Day 3

Today I went into the office as normal, checked a few emails and uploaded some photos. Then Gor and I went off to see the University with Noune (pronounced Nu ney), another AIESECer. Noune studies Theology, so first we went to see the Department of Religious Studies, which is in an old Soviet building. I was told it was built when Turkey took control of the old university (it used to be near the border, then the border changed).

We then went to see the language center, which was very new and shiny. In Yerevan State the buildings are either quite old (from the days of the USSR) or very modern (built in the last 5 years). The diaspora, Armenians living abroad, send lots of money back to Armenia. This money seems to be spent on big construction projects, like the Cascade or Uni buildings, the result being a patchwork of old and new.

Old (theology classroom)

New (language department)

After going by the ultrasound training center, where the receptionist was happy to show us around, we headed to the chess school. Armenia won the world chess championship this year, and they take their chess very seriously. Children as young as 4 come here to learn to play, and it is always full of old men playing chess.

Oh and on the way we saw this graffiti. It made me smile.

After that we took the Metro, which is very small with only 10 stops. This mainly because it is really hard to build a metro in a city where half of it is 500m higher than the other half. The line is very deep, like most Soviet underground systems, and the station was very large and impressive (although there were no signs at each stop saying which station it was, you have to count).

We arrived at one of the main streets in Yerevan, Baghramyan Avenue. Here you can find the British Embassy, and the Presidential Offices. We went round the back to Rafo's flat, where he lives alone as his family live in Russia, where his Dad works in a nuclear power plant (he worked in Iran before that!)

We had bit of an AIESEC party, with lots of AIESEC dances, and also an Armenian snack that is sort of like a very salty cheese string. Met a lot more AIESECers, but I had to go home early, as I had arranged to eat with Ishxan's family.

When I arrived home I had a chance to sit down and grab a glass of water before dinner time (Armenians don't drink water with their meals). Ishxan's mum had prepared an Armenian dinner, with very well cooked pork, potatoes, tomato and cucumber salad (the tomatoes are really fresh, so taste loverly), mangetout and loads more. Fortunatly I hadn't had lunch that day, and had made sure not to eat too many snack at the party, so I was able to try everything. In Armenia they tend to have lots of food for tea, so I was pretty full by the end of it.

After that I headed to bed, a very tired Jamie.