So, I’ve been in New York City for about a month now. It’s been a big change for a girl who’s been living in the middle of nowhere, but not so much of a change as I expected. My trip to Russia means that NYC doesn’t seem as big as it could, after all it is smaller than Moscow and St. Petersburg. So far the classes seem pretty easy, I had expected graduate school to be more difficult, but I actually have less reading to do now than I did in undergrad. However, it is also rather boring. My most interesting class is Politics of the Middle East, a lot of the readings are a review of what I have already learned, but the teacher keeps class interesting. In International law the teacher gives us four readings each night, but they all say the same thing in different ways, so I only read one. Comparative politics is the worst, I’m actually writing this during class because I see no point in paying attention anymore. If you do the readings the class is a waste of time because she just explains the readings in detail, not to mention that it is all qualitative vs. quantitative and things that I have covered more than once as both a politics and sociology undergraduate student. I wonder why I even show up many times.

I have also met a lot of people living in graduate student housing. There are less than 200 people in the building, so you can meet many of them. I am acquaintances with some, but I wouldn’t call any friends yet. They like to go out, but I like to stay in. My roommate is from Morocco and is very different than I am. She is about 5’4’’, skinny, concerned with her appearance, and a smoker. One of the more interesting things is that she says she needs to smoke more so that she’ll eat less.

I once again work in IT services as someone who teaches others how to use software. I also have to do a lot of organizational work. First I had to get rid of a lot of software and paper work, then I started work on the budget, and now I am cleaning out the closets as well. I am discovering skills at organization that I never before realized I had. Today the boss even took me to the vendor fair where I got a lot of free stuff including a bobble head doll (I left that at work), 2 umbrellas, and a bunch of reusable bags.

Leaving Russia

Day 44:
We went to Yusupov Palace. It belonged to relatives of the Romanov's, including the man who is considered the ringleader of those who killed Rasputin. We also saw the apartments in which Rasputin stayed for a time and where he died.

Day 45:
The Russian Museum--Again. Can you say torture? That is mostly because it was another guided tour and we had to spend a lot of time with the icons, many of which were painted in the Novgorodian school. While we were there 3 team leaders were told that we would have to create a model of our own Museum of Russian Democracy. We were given further instructions on the bus--it had to have 3 rooms and include the past, present, and future of Russian democracy and we picked teams. Then we went to Peterhoff, which I was happy to go to again. It was very pretty and I enjoyed the walks here. Our design was a rather cynical one, which I will detal in another post, another day. It was funny though because we spent about 15 minutes on it and the other teams each spent hours on theirs.

Day 46:
The next day we met in the morning to present our ideas, so that we could not alter them after seeing the real museum. However, when we went to the museum it was closed. The director was there, but we were told that it is always closed on weekends even though out tour company knew nothing about this. We went back and they handed out the prizes--ours took second because I apparently missed the part of the directions where they said it was a state-run museum. The teachers really enjoyed it, but thought that it didn't quite fit the assignment. We were also supposed to go to the Ostap Bender Museum, but it was a personal museum in someone's apartment and he had changed it, so we didn't go.

Day 47 and 48: Last Full Day in Russia and Travel Day
We got to sleep in. Then we went to "Putin's Palace," also known as Strelnia, the one that was redone for the G8 Summit. It was nice, but not nearly as impressive as some of the other palaces we had been to and the security was ridiculous. In the evening we discused our papers one more time. That night we hung out until late because we had to be up at 4 am, the longest nap any of us grabbed was about 2 hours. We got to the airport around 5am because the first group was leaving at 7, but the Magnificent 7 (the teachers gave us that name because we did both trips) had to wait until noon to catch our flight. It was a long wait at the airport. Then we flew to Helsinki and had another 2 hour wait. After that we flew to New York. I got seperated from my travel buddy at check-in, so I waited at the terminal. While I was there I wandered around andended up buying the new Drake sisters book, which I still have yet to read. Eventually, both Sam and Beth found me. Her plane was supposed to leave out of the same terminal as ours half an hour earlier. However, that didn't happen. While we were waiting Sam made friends with a little girl and the girls kept track of the flights. Beth's said that it was at the gate but it also said 9:20 rather than 8:05 and ours said it was on time. We found out that our terminal was really backed up, so Beth's flight was delayed. Ours ended up boaring about half an hour late. When we left the terminal we found a temporary ramp constructed and were lead onto the tarmac to a bus, which ferried us out to our plane. Then we had to wait a while to taxi and the pilot told us that he didn't know what was oing on he had been ready to leave on time. We ended up getting back about an hour late, but it the day had already lated 36 hours so we were a little cranky. I was met at the airport by my parents and grandparents, which was nice. We went and got me a milkshake and them breakfast, by the time I got home it was after 3 am but I woke my brother up and gave him his presents before I went to bed.

Now:
Over a week later and I am once again adjusted to the time change. I have made several trip sto the library and am devouring books written in English that I can read jus for fun. In about two more weeks I move to New York. I am excited, nervous, and sad all at the same time. I don't know tht I'm ready to start the next chapter of my life and move on to graduate school, but here I go...

Day 41:
We visited European University, which might have been more interesting had they not used the first half of it to try and recruit us to study there. Then we talked some about the current state of democracy in Russia, which was much more interesting. We had to choose between that and Catherine's Palace because of incompetant scheduling so no one was happy. That was pretty much it for the day.

Day 42:
First we visited a communal apartment. It was very similar to the apartment that I stayed in in Novgorod, with the exception that the woman only had one room, but all of the rooms, the kitchen and the bathroom looked the same as the ones in Novgorod. In the afternoon we had a scavanger hunt. We were to find the strangest thing possible not on Nevsky. I found this creepy looking golden toad in an Asian shop and I thought that it was the best, but Highlander 5 won. That night I had a talk with Jack about not saying everything he knows in the group meetings because it makes them painfully long and everyone is bored. I feel bad for the poor kid because he's just socially akward.

Day 42:
Today was an interesting day, but for part of it we split up into smaller groups, so I can only tell my part of the tale. First, we went to the Hermitage, also known as the Winter Palace. It is a wonderful museum, full of beautiful art and antinquities collected by the former nobles of Russia and by the State. The architecture is also amazing. We spent several hours there wandering by ourselves or in small groups. I spent most of my time looking at Egyptioan, Greek, and Roman artifact but I also visited the Malachite room, and exhibit on the Middle East, the Russian culture exhibit, and some of the Western European painters. After that, some of us met for an afternoon walk. We went to the Summer Gardens where we once again saw the statue of the Twelve Chairs. Then we returned to the hotel where we talked and set about buying supplies for the boat ride. We had dinner and then walked down to the canal as a group.
While walking to the boat ride we passed St. Issac's Catherderal, which is an imposing church that was once a museum of anti-religion. We got a little confused trying to figure out where our boat was and when we finally found it the dock was flooded. We had to get on by holding onto the column and stepping on a plank, which was interesting, but not that difficult. On the boat we had a little party, we sat around talking and having a little snack while we took in the riverfront architecture of the town. The best part was when Adam decided to have some fun. He waited until the boat was under a bridge then jumped up and grabbed one of the supports. As one might expect, he could not hold on forever, so he was forced to let go. When he did, he misjudged the speed of the boat and landed several feet back from where he started on his rear. It was rather funny and he was quite embarassed, but I think the thing that stung the most was his pride. Then we walked back to the hotel for the night. The students continued to sit around and talk long after our professors went t bed.
One thing that I didn't put in the school blog was that I was hit by a motorcycle on the way back to the hotel. We were walking on the sidewalk and the motorcylce decided to drive on it so that he could park on it. In the process he hit my hand, causing me to drop the wine bottle that I was carrying and it to shatter. It was pretty funny because I was not seriously hurt.

Day 43
It was supposed t be our free day but we had to go on a horrible Crime and Punishment walking tour where we broke ito half of the lacations on the tour. I also watched some RUssian TV and I need to sign off because I have almost no time left.

Day 35:
I can't really remember what we did on ths day and I don't have any notes, so we must have been on tours all day. I'm sure that I can write about it after I llok at the itenerary.

Day 36: Free Day
Valerie and I decided to take full advantage of the free day today rather than to do any of the organzed activities that teh adults had set up. Around 11 we met with the guys and went to the market where I bought the last of my souveniers. Then we had lunch at the mall, came back, did laundry, and napped. In the evening we hung out with some of the others.

Day 37:
We had an interesting meeting with the head of Journalism in Extreme Situations, an NGO which works to show the problems faced by journalists in Russia. The conclusion of this speech seemed to be that there is no true free speech in Russia and that the first Chechen War was the high point of freedom of speech for journalists/ the golden age of Russian Journalism. That afternoon we also met with the head of Glasnost Defense FUnd, whose father was actually a major character in a book I read for class last semester. He, too, seemed pessimistic about the state of free speech in Russia and gave us each a books with "the best of Russian journalism." Both of these men were interesting characters and the second even claimed to have the largest private collection of turtles, numbering over 2000, inanimate of course.

Day 38: Last Day in Moscow
So today we visited Mosfilm. This is a little like visiting Universal studios and getting a real behind the scences tour. We looked at all of the cars that they had used in movies. Then we walked on outdoor sets and looked at an indoor one under construction. After the tours we actually got to meet with the head of the studios, who is also a director although there was a miscommunication, so it was a rather short meeting. After that we had some free time in the afternoon. Beth and I went back to the market where she was good at playing the helpless female, so everyone treated me like a translator and thought that I could speak fluent Russian, which was definitely interesting. Later we packed and then the girls and Harrison hung out.

Day 39: The Train
We took the day train this time so we sat in a large compartment with a lot of other peole. It was not airconditioned, athough at lest some windows could be cracked this time. I read, slept, and talked to others in the group. We arrived in St. Petersburg in the evening and had a meeting before going to bed.

Day 40:
Today we listened to a really long speech on the Seige of Leningrad. Then we went to a couple of monuments, followed by a museum dedicated to a female poet. At least thist time the guide was not obsessed with the writer. Then we were to go to the Marinsky to see Swan Lake again, but several of us who had already seen it on the first trip (the guys and myself) did not want to see it again so the fiveof us and one of our teachers sold our tickets. Then we wandered around town for our "alternate excersion." We ate at a small place, walked some more, and then came here. I plan to go back to the hotel, read, hang out, and sleep. I don't need to sleep early because there was a hitch in the plans, so I don't need to be ready until after noon tomorrow, which is really exciting. I'm enjoying my time here, but I'm ready to be home.

Leaving Novgorod

Well, I had really good entries written up about all of this, but I cannot plug in a jump drive, so I'm going to do a brief update and post the detailed one later.
Day 29:
So, today was my last full day in Novgorod. I wandered around the Kremlin in the morning and spent the afternoon shopping. I wanted to find gifts for my host family. I bought my host mom a little dove and tried to explain to here that in the States i stood for peace and happiness. I bought my host sister a kitty puzzle because she is obsessed with her cat and likes puzzles. I couldn't decide what to buy my host brother, so I got him some candy. I got some beautiful amber earings and a cute box from my host family. I also finished the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, which I had just bought.
Day 30
We took the overnight train to Moscow. Everyone else arrived in one piece as well. We took the others to visit Red Square and had some dinner.

Day 31: First Day, Trip Two
So today we visited with a guy from the international department of United Russia, who said ocratic tradition. Who said that Russia had no democratic tradition. We got a lot of other interesting quotes out of him as well. In the evening we met with an author, her speech was fairly boring and Beth fell asleep. It was kind of funny, but Dr. Sutcliff was very excited because he had written an article about the author. THis was followed by dinner and bed.

Day 32: Gaidar and Students
We met with Gaidar this morning, which was kind of exciting because he was so well known. At the same time there was a lot that he said he could not answer and he was very reluctant to criticize the regime. This tendency was even more pronounced when we met with Moscow State University Students in the afternoon. They said that they were okay with only having one candidate and were shocked that I was able to criticize the war in Iraq as well as being very surprised that we were all willing to publically state who we had or would vote for in teh Presidential elections. But they were a nice lot and some of them made arrangements to hang out with some of our students later.

Day 33:
W toured the Kremlin again today which was still interesting. At least this time no one got left behind at teh bell. But it started raining by the end, so we ran to the mall for lunch. Then we went to the gulag muesem. It lacked any personal stories and really had very few artifacts. Most of the exhibits were art or hokey re-creations that did nothing to give you the feel for the tragedy of the camps. After that we went to the Carnigie foundation and learned that they are under a lot of pressure from the Russian government, but by and large that meeting bored me too.

Day 34:
We visited the House on the Embankment today, which was cool because of its significance in both political and literary history. The museum there was much better done than the State Gulag Museum. Then we went to a writer's colony and visited Pasternack's house. The woman who worked there was absolutely obsessed with him and it was funny in a pathetic way.

Well I'm out of time so I'll catch you up on testerday adn today later.

Cast of Characters: School Edition

Now that classes are over, I should probably write about the others in my class...
1) Conversation Teacher
It really doesn't matter what her name is. She is very strict. She does not speak English very well, she is actually a French teacher. We learn al ot in her class, but most of it is rote memorization, so I don't always feel that I have a good handle on what's going on. She seems to hate Beth, but she also seems like a decent person.

2) Grammar Teacher
I don't remember her name either. She is very nice and speaks English very well. She is getting married at the end of August. We can always distract her by asking about Russian culture, but we still learn a lot. She also has a great sense of humor and wants to be a photographer.

3) Max
He's the only boy in the class and just finished his freshman year. He is also obsessed with learning all of the rules about Russian grammar. Unfortunately he takes this too far and gets the rest of us confused with his convolted logic. I guess that in explanation I should add that he is a Math major.

4) Megan
She has also kind of graduated from Miami, she just has to finish her student teaching in the fall, freshman history. She's nice and a lot of fun. She's very laid back, which makes her different from any of my Miami friends from before. She's also one of the few non-honors/scholars kids on the trip. She is the wild chil/rebel without a cause of the trip.

5) Anna
Also just finished her freshman year. She's a little emo/goth, but a lot of fun. She's willing to try a lot of new things and is really smart. She's kind of funky and reminds me of Megan from high school.

6) Beth
Poor Beth, she finishes everything last, so the conversation teacher is always carping at her. She's a nice girl, although slightly highstrung. She's a closet Harrison scholar. She's also very outgoing, but lacked some motivation in the program because she gave up within the first week, I think that Russian was probably the first thing that was ever hard for her.

Wrapping Up Russian Language

Day 26: Final Review
S we reviewed in grammar, but we learned new stuff today in conversation and it will be on the eam tomorrow. We got the same book that the Russian 2 students are using in conversation, which is kind of exciting. After school we went on an excursion to an archeological dig in Novgorod that goes to the early 1tth Century right now, they want to make it to the 9th century. It turns out that Putin had even visited the site. It was interesting, but needless to say it ran over again and I needed to study for finals. I made it home and studied some, but not as much as I should have. I ended up talking to people on the net a lot instead. I'm getting a little homesick.

Day 27: Finals
So We had our listening final first. I got a 98 and was the second one done. Then we had another lesson where we learned about directions for getting around the city, another chapter in the 2nd year book, but I really didn't want to learn in between finals. After lunch we had the grammar final, I got a 84, but I was the first one done, so the teacher gave me an extra 3 percent, giving me an 87. Overall I had a 98 in conversation and 90 in grammer, which worked out to a combined 93, but here you have to have a 95 to get an A, so I got an A-. We managed to talk the grammar teacher into not having class and letting us have a party tomorrow instead of learning the genetive plural. After class we went to the cafe. After that I came home and napped.

Day 28: Party and Certificates
So, we had our party today, we read a story, learned some Russian games, and taught our teachers a few American games as well. Then we had to hide all of the food before the director came for the certificate ceremony. At the ceremony the teachers gave a little speech about each student and had us guess who it was. I was first, the teachers described me as kind, modest, and fast. We all thought that they were talking about Anna at first. They gave us a certificate, pen, and keychain. After "classes" we went to the big market and then to the cafe. I came back to the flat after that and now am writing this, I don't know what I will do for the rest of the day today and tomorrow.

My Host Family

Well, some people have been asking for a more complete description of my host family, so here is the cast of characters:
1) The Host Mom
Her name is Elena, but I never use it, I never adress her by a name in order to avoid akwardness and because she speaks very little English, so we have to be in the same room to alk so that we can sign to each other. She is very nice and likes to cook. If she were not here I do not know how the family would function, she does all of the cooking, laundry, and cleaning. She even cleans up after her children when they eat. She is a teacher at the local high school (chemistry, I think) and tutors in the flat in the evenings.

2) The Host Brother
His name is Pasha (that's actually the diminuative, but that's what I was told to call him). He is 21 and he studied computers at school and is the one the family turns to when there is a technology problem. He spends almost all of his time in his room with the door closed and the music on. He speaks more English than his mother but still does not speak much, plus he seems to be naturally quiet.

3) The Host Sister
Her name is Katya and she is the one I talk to the most. At some point in high school she studied in New York ro a year, so she is fluent in English. She is 20 and majors in foreign languages at University. She also knows Spanish and had taken German. She's a lot of fun and very friendly. She is usually very patient when she needs to explain things to me and is often the only one I talk to once I get home for the night. She was also kind enough to let me read the books that she has that are written in English, which included Agatha Christie's The Man in the Brown Suit, Brimstone, and The Peacock Throne.

4) The Host Aunt
Her name is Natasha and I have only seen her a few times. She is extremely outgoing. She often acts like one of Katya's friends rather than an older relative. She took me out one night and tried to get me drunk. She speaks English pretty well, but often has trouble finding the right words. She's a lot of fun to hang out with and I should try to visit her before I leave/

5) The Host Cousin
His name is Slava. he is in high school (he's not quite sure wht grade it translates into, but I think he's a sophomore). He will be studying in the States next year, but does not know where yet although we are both departing Russia on the same day. He seems rather quiet, but curious. He is learning English, but his vocabulary will be greatly improved by a year in the States.

Next time I will describe my two teachers, maybe that will be after the final, who knows.

Day 22 The Walk that Never Ended:
Today the internet was finally working again and I found out that I had missed the deadline to apply for NYU on campus housing by 24 hours. I was very angry and this triggered a flurry of e-mail writing. Then, I met up with three other students at the mall--Val, Anna, and Adam and we decided to walk to the WWII front lines, which are just down this one street... Well, after about half an hour at a fast pace through middle of nowhere Russia we were starting to get tired, but decided to keep going, after an hour we were about ready to turn back, but I suggested that we go about another city block where there was a sign and a stopped wedding party, I figured that they had to have stopped to see something. Sure enough that was where the front line was. There was a tank and and some sort of gun, but that was it, we walked an hour to see it, it was about 5 miles each way as it turns out, plus the mile or so we walked in town first. Then we walked abck home and I had dinner and read.

Day 23 Not Nearly so Exciting:
Not a lot to say about Sunday, I slept a lot and read. my host sister had gone out the night before and had Absynth, so she was still drunk. I also studied for the test on Moday.

Day 24 Another Monday, Another Test:
We had the test, I got an 89. After class we went to the mall where I picked up (didn't buy) a book with advice about the differences in behavior in the West, one of the stranger things I read was that it advised people not to eat everything they are served in teh West, but rather to leave some food on the plate to show that they are not too hungry, I found that odd. Then I cam home and read/did homework. I also got an e-mail from NYU saying I might stll be able to get housing if I fax a document by 5pm their time, the only problem was that no one knows if there is even a fax machiene in Novgorod and it was 9pm, too late to try and find one, so I frantically e-mailed my parents in hope that they could send it.

Day 25 Today:
It's almost time for finals. We had a pop dialogue recitation test in Conversation today and I didn't do too bad. I also got a quiz back in that class that I got 100 on, not a surprise when the teacher corrected it and let me change my answers before I turned it in. After class we went to the other mall for a snack and some of the girls played MASH. I came home to get an e-mail from my parents saying that they had faxed the form and one from NYU saying that they had never recieved it. I am not sure what is going on there. I also finished a 750 page book, The Peacock Throne today. Further, I have started to make a study guide for the final on Thursday. Tomorrow we have an extra expedition to an archeological dig.

Back with the Host Family

Day 17: Back with the Host Family.
We got back at 6ish in the morning. Fortunately, we didn't have class, which was a good thing considering how little we slept on the train. I spent most of the day sleeping and reading books. My host sister took me shopping and I bought a new dress. It was fn shopping with her even though we have very different ideas about fashion and modesty.

Day 18: Back to Class and Kremlin Dinner
We started with Conversation in which we got a pop quiz, not a nice surprise. After class I came home to do homework and study for a quiz the next day, since we had a group dinner that night at the Kremlin. I got the homework done, but had little time to study before meeting everyone else, wearing my new dress. They liked it. The dinner was not good, but we had fun just hanging out together and there was dancing at teh restaurant, which everyone, but Valerie took part in. I came home and studied until I went to bed.

Day 19: More Classes and Wooden Architecture Muesem
I went to class where I took a quiz. Then I spent a lot more time in classes. After class we had our last excursion. We went to the open air wooden architecture museum, a trip that we were told would last no more than two hours since we all had tests the next day. There "that women" lectured us for over two hours before gining us half an hour to explore and for the boys to play a game, of course Anna and I joined. It involved runing in a circle while holding on to a rope then jumping and holding on for your life. Harrison fell off and in trying to avoid him I hit my foot which caused me to fall of backwards and sumersault, after which I sat there for a little bit to laugh. Then "that woman" came back, helped us straighten the ropes and told us we were to hop with one foot in the loops and then jump up. Just the guys tried this and it didn't work too well because there are only four of them and 7 ropes, but when Anna and I joined in it seemed to work fairly well and we had some fun. When we finally got back it was almost 3 and a half hours after we left. None of us were too pleased with that because we needed to study.

Day 20: Class, Class, Class
After class I went to a book store with Anna, but didn't find anything that interesting, so we left within fifteen minutes. I walked her to the nearest bus stop and then checked out the last book shop that I knew of. This store had absolutely no books in English, so I was getting ready to leave when I encountered my host aunt and cousin. He was about to head off to Moscow to get his visa to study in America in the fall, it turns out that he's going to the States on 28 July. He still doesn't know where he'll be living. Then I came home and rested, so that I could stay up to watch the football game. Russia lost horribly, 3-0 to Spain.

Day 21: Class, a Boat Ride, and Hanging Out
So more classes today. We have a big test on Monday and the teacher said that it will be harder because of Russia's horrible preformance. Then we had a pop speaking quiz in Conversation. After all of our classes we planned to meet at 5 by Lenin so that we could go on a boat ride to the lake, which the guys and Megan were very excited about. Max and Matt didn't come, but the rest of us went to see where we could buy a ticket. That was an adventure in itself, eventually, we learned that the boat would leave in an hour and that they wanted at least 50 people in order to leave (it cost 250 roubles for an hour ride) and after wandering around a lot looking for a ticket office we learned that you just sit on the boat and they collect your money eventually. We played frisbee for a while and then Megan, Valerie, Beth, and I got on the boat. Suddenly, the engines started, we tried to wave to the others, but in less than 3 minutes the boat had left the dock and they had not noticed our frantic waves. The boat when forward a bit and then stopped. Then we did a big circle and were approaching the dock again, but there was a smaller boat headed that way as well. We ended up being backed up by the other boat and then they were tied together. then we took the smaller boat to the dock and the otheres got on the smaller boat and were allowed on ours. Then we left on our "cruise." It was a very scenic route and we took a lot of pictures. When we came back we decided to get dinner together. We went to the Japanese/pizza resturant in the mall. Afterwards we decided to meet Max in a park, but got distracted on the way by this really interesting Soviet relic of a building, which used to be a theater of soem type. We spent a long time there but eventully made it to the other side of the river where we met Max at his bus stop (he'd been there a while). We were trying to find a cafe, buut everything was closed. We ended up meeting Matt's host family and hanging out with them for a while before we split up for the night. Three of us waited for a bus for over half an hour and then were joined by a fourth. Eventually we decided to just walk, at least to Big St. Petersburg St (that's the English translation), which I live right off of. When we got to my intersection one of teh guys asked if I was sure that I wuld be all right walking the rest of the way by myself and I said yes, i had less than a block to go I could do that even kinda late, so we split up, with the other three continuing on to a bus stop. I came home, sat with the family for a while and then went to sleep.

Return from Moscow

Day 13: Part 2
So the train was very slow. At least we had sleeping compartments, although very little sleeping was actually done. We were stopped at a train station in the middle of the Russian countryside in a little town, when all of the sudden one of the girls in my compartment starts yelling, "It's the KGB, they're walking outside the train." The other three of us get up to try to see what she's talking about but the men were already long gone. We spent the rest of the night having girl talk, gossiping and giggling until well into the early morning hours.

Day 14: Arrival in Moscow and Someone Really Needs to Learn to Count
We arrived in Moscow by six am, but no one had gotten much sleep in the train and we were all hungry, but of course we couldn't go eat right away. First, we went to a park, where the group seperated into two portions and the teacher later got very angry about this. We were hurried through this park and not even allowed to look at all sides of the main monument. Then we got back onto the bus and went on part of a bus tour of the city, followed by another rushed park, followed by a little bit more bus. Finally, at 9, three hours after getting off of the train we were allowed to eat, but we ate at a Hard Rock Cafe, although it was on Old Arbat. Then we went to Red Square, just for a few minutes and then to the Kremlin, where we were very hurried. At one point the guide told us to take a look at this 200 ton bell, there was a portion that had broked off during casting. While five of us were looking the tour guide, teacher, and six other students left without saying anything. Let me restate that, there were 11 students on the trip and 5 got left behind without the teacher noticing. After a minute or two of not seeing the Tour guide we looked around the bell but couldn't find them. We decided to stay put and let them return for us, unfortuately none of us had any identifying documents with us either so I was a little nervous. Over ten minutes later one of the other students is sent back by Dr. G to find us, they had turned a corner, gone into a crowded square, and gotten in line to go in a church-museum. Then the teacher yelled at us for wandering off and we took it but were thinking, really, you just lost half the group and you're yelling at us? It was ridiculous. Anway, it all worked out. Then we finally got to go to the hotel at 1. There we decided to shower and sleep until dinner time. We had dinner in the hotel at 6 and then we hung out in one of the rooms after a quick run to the grogercy store. We played Kings, talked, and just generally hung out for the rest of the evening.

Day 15: Shopping and Football Wins
We spent the morning shopping in a famous market (I'm not even going to attempt to spell it). Dr. G made us all go to this one scarf shop first, where she said that she could get us good deals, sucha lie. First Beth and Valerie wandered off, then they came back to say that they had found softer scarfs for less than a third of the price. I went with them and ended up buying a scarf there. We were supposed to stay in groups, but I ended up with people who were spending the whole time looking at things way out of the price range, so I went off on my own and practiced my Russian a bunch. Before we splitup I was also helping translate for a friend in the same class that I'm in, so that was strange. I bought gifts for everyone but Dad and Grandma there, and I still spent less than $125, since I've been in Russia, although I also want to pick up some old coins for Richard the next time I go. At one of the stalls I got 50 r knocked off a 350r item, so that was nice. In the afternoon we went to a gallery, which I felt that we ran through, at the end we were given 10 minutes to go through 5 rooms. When we left one of the girls was left in teh bathroom, so Anna went to get her while the rest of us tried to get Dr G to wait. Then the lost girl showed up without Anna and Harrison had disappeared, he went to tell the girls that we were waiting. Within a few minutes everyone had made it back, but once again Dr. G should have counted before we took off, although it was only one person this time, not half of the group. After that we went to dinner and then everyone but Sam and I went to the opera, I just couldn't afford it and it was funny beause we both missed the plane together and now they dumped us n the middle of Moscow on our own, at least he's a fun kid to hang out with. We just wandered around, ended up inside two bookstores, an underground mall, and then back on the Kremlin lawn. It was definitely interesting. We met back up with everybody and the girls returned to the hotel while the boys stayed to watch the football (read soccer) game, it was the quarter finals, Russia v Netherlands and Russia was supposed to lose big. Once again we spent some time hanging out, eating chocolate and having girl talk. The boys came back around 1 and were very excited, Russia was winning 1-0. We went down to one of the guys' rooms (none of the girls had a working tv) to watch the end of the game. With five minutes left Netherlands made a goal and tied the score 1-1. It ended up going into double overtime and Russia won 3-1. There were fireworks in Moscow and now Russia is in the semi-finals.

Day 16: Way Too Many Churches and Departure
So we saw two churches, a convent, and a cemetary today. That's way too much religion for me in any one day. The girls were a little mad at Dr G because she neglected to warn us that we were visiting churches this day, because it is expected for girls to cover their heads and some of them did not have scarfs readily available because they were not told. Also it was a holiday commemorating the beginning of WWII for Russia, so there were a lot of people at the churches who did not appreciate the lack of scarves. We were also supposed to see Lenin's body, but Red Square was closed until the afternoon and his body can only be viewed until 1 pm. Seems a little odd to me, but whatever, so all those people only doing the first trip will not get to see it. It seems like I got teh much better deal because we will also be going back to a lot of the same places, hopefully with more time to look around on the second trip. In the end we got back on the train and the compartment arrangements were really strange this time, partially because no one wanted to be in the room with Dr G who goes to sleep by 11. We slept very little in my compartment and mostly discussed religion and politics, it was a long ride with very little sleep.

Day 12:
So, not much to say, I guess that i should add that I got an 89% on my grammar test yesterday. I made it through classes and hung out with some of the others at a skethcy cafe for awhile. Then we went to a shop with a wall of chocolate. I came home and wanted to go to bed by 7:30 pm because I had a migraine, but managed to wait until 9:30 so that I could eat dinner first. However, I had another test the next day, so I decided to get up early to finish studying.
Day 13: Train
So, we go to Moscow today. I'm excited, but I doubt that I'll be able to write before I get back (5am Monday). I still had my migraine this morning, so I didn't get much studying done and only got an 82% on my test, oh well, there's nothing I can do about it now. Well, I guess I'll update more later.

Descriptions

First, I forgot to add that Max got his suitcase back on Sunday.
Now, it's time to describe the apartment and the food, if I can.
Apartment:
Well, the outside is a kind of pinkish color, there's some graffitti on it. I actually can remember my apartment building because across the street someone spray-painted "Goth Undead" and the anarchy symbol. In order to get in you need a code at teh backdoor, then you walk about three feet and need another code to get in the next door. I live on the third of three floors. There are two locks on the door, which opens and there is another door less than an inch from it, which is padded and needs another key. It's kind of old, the wallpaper is some sort of warp-wft pattern, which I am sure that becca could describe much better. The floors are wood, painted reddish-brown. Whenever you come in from outside shoes are immediately taken off and slippers put on. When you enter there is a living room on the left, which has a tv and the computer I am currently using, my host sister's. There is also a chouch here which pulls out into a bed where my host sister and host mom sleep. Off of the living room is my host sister's room, which is where I am living now. If you were to pass the living room and continue down the hall on the right is a claustrophobic closet which contains the toilet. Next to it is the room with the sink and bathtub/shower. Directly across from it on the left is the fridge in the hallway and then the door to my host brother's room, which is always closed and has rock music coming through it. If you follow the hall to the end there is a tiny kitchen, smaller even than the one in Wells. A table is set against the side wall with four little stools on three sides, this is where we eat. Also in the kitchen is a stove, sink, and washing machiene. There is no dyer, clothes are hung throughout the apartment to dry. Additionally, there is a gas water heater in the kitchen, which you need to use in order to get hot water. First, you turn on the gas, then light it, then turn on the water valve there, and only then can you turn on hot water in the shower. Interesting, right?

Food:
First of all, let me assure you that I am eating plenty, contrary to what many people expected. Here they try to feed you until you explode, the teachers said it was something about Russia hospitality. They eat a lot of mayonaise, it's on everything, even pasta. Normally I have corn cereal for breakfast and a cheese and meat sandwhich for lunch along with an apple and some tea, which the school provides. After class, which ends at 3, we often go to the cafe and get a candy bar or pastry and a soda. Then we go home where they offer tea. We eat again around 8 pm, so far there has been pasta, chicken, some other meat, salads covered in mayonaise, lots of cucumbers--I will hate them by teh time this trip is over--, pasta with meat, and some potatoes along with apples. I am sure that I will explode from all of the food. Here I try almost everything, some of which I like and some of which I don't. Oh, I almost forgot about Russian pizza, my host mom made some, the crust was normal enoughbut instead of sauce there was a coating of meat (beef, I think), then some cheese. On top tere were bits of tomato, cucumber, mushrooms, and some other type of meet. The result looked like a strange cross between a nacho of taco supreme and a pizza, but was suprisingly tasty, although I still pulled off the mushrooms. While trying all of these dishes I have learned that I wil eat many more types of food but I still hate rice and mushrooms.

I think I will save describing school and the bus system for another time. I hope that you are all having fun where ever you are.

Finally, an Update

My host sister had an exam on Monday, so I haven't had a chance to update in a while.
Day 7: Back to Class
So, we had the previous day off but went back to class today. We learned plurals. After class we got dragged to the Saint Sophia Cathedral and were supposed to see another monument, but ended up spending an hour and a hlaf there because the annoying tour guide wouldn't shut up and kept repeating herself. By the time it was over we couldn't wait to leave.
Day 8: Class on a Saturday
I think the title says it all, Class-ON-SATURDAY, it was a crime. After class we had to go with the same tour guide AGAIN, this time to see the monument that we didn't have time for on Friday and then across the river to Yarslov's court and the old market place to look at very old churches-again. There was one church that if you ran around three times you were supposed to have a happy marriage, teh group wanted someone to do it, so I ended up being teh fool. Then we all split up and went home.
Day 9: Rest
Finally a day of rest. I spent my time sleeping, reading, and studying.
Day 10: Back to Class
Learning with a vengence, more verbs all of which are a pain. I apparently learn numbers very quickly, I even managed to win the game we played. The conversation teacher appears to hate Beth less today, but still when she gets everything right on the first try merely says okay, and when Megan got Brown right we clapped. It's strange. We have two tests tomorrow, and we only have two classes.
Day 11: Doomsday
So, two classes, two tests. I'm fried and I still have work to do. I got 100 percent on my matching conversation test today, but not everyone did so well. Beth was teh last one finished and didn't do as well, so when we were learning nationalities the teacher pointed at us and had us say "I am American" (in Russian of course), but when she came to Beth, the teacher asked if she did well on the test and proceeded to teach her to tell teh rest of the class that she did poorly, it was akward for everyone else, most of all Beth. Then, by the time we got our second test I was laughing so hard that I was crying. We have a lot of homework tonight, most of which I have finished, but I hope that my host sister will check it sometime tonight.

Day 6: Night Life in a Smallish Russian Town
So, I guess I should say that this town has around 215,000 people, much bigger than I thought. My host aunt called me last night around 10:30 pm and asked if I wanted to go to a cafe with her and a friend from Denmark. I agreed, thinking that by cafe she met someplace with tea, coffee, and snacks. It turns out that I was very miguided. It was basically a bar/club, but we didn't dance. I tried some beer, it was much better here than in the United States, but still not good. While she was drinking she lectured me on how bad drinking cola is for you and I found that funny. We got in around 1:30 am and everyone else was asleep. It was an adventure.
Day 7: National Holiday--Class or Not?
So, on the schedule we were given today it said that today was a national holiday, so we would not have class. However, our teacher showed up yesterday and informed us that we would be touring the Sofia (a church) today. Some of us met up early to have some lunch at the cafe where we would not be overstuffed. I live less than 10 minutes from where we were meeting, but I left early, which was a good thing because I got lost. It ended up taking forty mintes for me to find the place because I made a wrong turn and when I saw the outside of the building from a little distance I thought that it did not look right. I found it and was only about ten minutes late for meeting people but very frustrated. So we had a tour with a guide who drones on and on about stuff we could care less about and then decided to hang out for a bit. We wandered around the Kremlin and checked out a statue. Then some of the boys played frisbee while the rest of us practiced our Russian. Finally, it was time to go and we ended up playing a very bad version of following the leader, so we ran up a very steep hill and then walked on a thin path rather than the street. Finally, we were ready to go home and I tried to tell people where the bus stop was but they wouldn't listen to me, so even though I took the long way around I was turning into the backyard of my building before theymade it to the corner. It was funny. Now it is time to read then study some more before dinner. We have to know three Russian dialouges by heart for tomorrow. I don't understand teh point of memorizing dialouges, I would rather make up my own as I go along, just like what would happen in real life, it just seems pointless this way.

Day 5:
Not a lot exciting to say about today, although when I went to the library with my host sister the librarian thought that I really was her sister. It was funny. I can now understand a few words here and there, but still not much. And I was very tired.
Day 6: Today:
Well, we had our first quiz today and I got 100 percent. It was over vocabulary and I worked very hard to learn the Russian cursive. Then the Director of the Institute came to talk to us and said she would try to get the luggage for the one guy (three people lost their luggage but two got it back before we left St. Petersburg and they want to charge the third guy 250 dollars to get his bags). After class some of the Americans went out together today. We went to the cafe in one of the malls and checked out some of the stores. I ended up buying another Russian-English dictionary because this one is small enough to fit in a pocket and was about two dollars. Then we played frisbee and I came back to my host family's place to do some homework. Tomorrow is a holiday, but we are meeting for a tour of the local church.

So this blog begins with the story of my trip from the US to Russia.
Day 1: Flight to New York and Russia?
So everything went well for a while, I got there plenty early and made a new friend, Christine, who was flying to Kuwait to visit her family. Then the gate was moved, not a big deal. Then it was moved again and there was the possibility of an unknown delay. Then we were told that our 1^15 flight would leave at 3, I needed to be in New York and on the next flight by 5:45. Then teh delay was only to take until 2:15. We got on the plane around two, but sat there for over two hours and didn't leave until 4:15. In fact, we did not see a single Northwest Airlines plane leave during those two hours. I made another new friend on the plane, the woman sitting next to me also had a son that attends the same University I did. The plane landed at 5:30. A nice man from across the aisle let us use his phone to call our teacher who informed us that she had arranged tickets for us on the next plane, 24 hours later. Sam, another student on the same trip and I were stranded in JFK. We decided to make the best of it and tried to find a customer service person so that we could get compensated for a hotel room, but all of the workers had already left, so we had to stay in JFK overnight because we missed our international connection. I ended up staying up all night reading while Sam slept on a cement bench because that was the only thing to sleep on. We also hung out with Christine whose flight was delayed 3 hours but she made it out of there. We made it our mission to visit every terminal in JFK and did just that.
Day 2: Flight to Russia Take 2
Well, I did get a lot of homework read this day. We finally got to see a custmer service agaent and all they gave us was a 5 dollar coupon for food. Eventually, we made it on the plane where I met two more nice young women. I ended up feeling rather motion sick and one of them lent me her motion sickness bracelets for the flight. We ended up landing late in Helsinki too and were afraid that we would miss our connection to St. Petersburg, but it turned out that most of that flight was on our plane so we didn't get stuck. On the half hour flight I ended up getting sick and then we made it to Russia. We claimed our bags and got through customs no problem to be met by a guide. We missed seeing the Hermitage but changed the rest of our money and met the group in a cafe. Then we went for a walk with the group followed by a nice dinner. I was still feeling very sick by the time we got back to the hotel so I took a shower and went to sleep, only to wake up less than an hour later, thinking that it was the next morning and time to leave. I found the professor and she put me back to bed.
Day 3: Leaving St. Petersburg and Meeting the Host Family
I was feeling much better even though we had a three hour bus ride ahead of us. On the bus teh professor attempted to teach us some survival Russian but I didn't retain much. Then we arrived and met our host families. The daughter in my host family is very nice, she is studying English in teh University and studied in America for a while so we can talk. My host mother and brother also seem nice, but do not speak any English, so... Oh, and did I mention that I found out my host sister's birthday was the next day?
Day 4: First Day of Class
The first day of class was daunting and exhausting, we learned about half of the cyrillic alphabet in cursive, some words and some dialogue. Then we toured the Kremlin. We came back to the apartment and within an hour or so people began arriving for her party, which started at six and lasted until after midnight. My host aunt is a lot of fun and very interesting, I'm supposed to go visit her at some point. Her son is planning to study in the States next year. I also met her ex-boyfriend who only spoke Spanish and Russian (only my host sister, aunt, and cousin could speak English), so I practiced my Spanish as well. It was a lot of fun, Russian birthday cake is delicious, but exhausting.