It's never too late to start blogging
I have been in Moscow for now 2 weeks, and ever since I got here, I've been thinking...gee, I should start a journal or something. But, I guess you can say that I was simply too lazy or too busy trying to take in everything and get used to my new home. Now however, I have plenty of free time and everyone from home is still sleeping considering the 8 hour time difference. Anyway, the best place to start is at the beginning, so before I start to get ahead of myself, let's look back at February 4th 2011.
First here is some simple information. I traveled with the KEI program through my University - SUNY Albany. I'm a second semester sophomore, and have been studying Russian for 6 years, going on 7. I started back in 8th grade, so technically I'm a senior in my major Russian language, but still a sophomore when it comes to my second major - Criminal Justice. I am not fluent in Russian, and that is why I came, to make a difference for myself. It has been six years of grammar, with barely any usage of the language itself.
It was three days before I was supposed to take off for Russia, I had my traveler's credit card (don't trust traveler's checks anymore, most countries won't even accept them), my suitcase mostly packed, plane tickets and bus tickets, and had just received my visa. My grandmother these next few days became very ill, and took a turn for the worst. I had seen her on the 3rd with my boyfriend when she had first started to get sick. On Sunday, February 6th, I woke up at 5:30am and ten minutes later, the nursing home called. My grandmother passed away in her sleep. I felt horribly guilty for leaving my family to deal with our loss on their own. My mother told me not to be a fool, that my grandma would want me to go. And so I did. My father and brother drove me to the bus station in Bethlehem, PA while my mother was at home calling the priest and waiting for it to be later to call up our relatives.
I flew out of JFK at 4:20pm and arrived at SVO in Moscow at 10:10am on February 7th. I made friends with Spencer, who was also traveling to Moscow for the same program. He and I buddied up and waited for the rest of our group to arrive once we got there. As soon as we got out of customs, we were being harassed by taxi drivers every 2 seconds, I got so sick of saying Мы ждём друзья, нет спасибо! (We are waiting for friends, no thanks!) We sat down at a little cafe, Will joined us, then later, we met the rest of our group at the information kiosk. That included Tarabeth, Trevor, and Dan. Chris and Rachel arrived the next day at Domodedovo. Our bus driver was an hour and a half late, but it didn't make much of a difference. Once we arrived at МГУ, we had to wait for our host Marina, which took about 30 minutes. Then we, with all of our luggage went to Dom Studenta, which is where we signed up for housing. We waited for a good 3 hours before we were able to go to our rooms. We were all tired, hungry, needing a shower and just good old fashioned sleep. Nothing, my dear readers comes easy in Russia, nothing at all.
Marina took care of the boys first, because they had to live in a different building. Maybe a half hour later, Marina came back for Tara and I. While we were waiting we met Greg and Angelina. Greg is from Siberia, but lived in America since he was 16 and served in the US army, so his English is excellent. Angelina is from LA, but is very fluent in Russian. They had arrived 2 weeks earlier to get used to Moscow and the time difference. Marina took us to our room where we had to do yet even more paperwork with a woman, in which she looked at everything in the room and made a checklist, and we had to sign a paper saying that anything missing when I leave, I need to pay for. Honestly, I wouldn't want to take anything.
The dorm rooms are as soviet as they can get. They are set up like a suite in which there are two bedrooms, a room with a toilet, and a room with the sink and shower. There was mold and dirt everywhere...yuck. The floors are all wooden, but it doesn't look like they have ever been polished or swept or really any form of clean. My mattress has a body imprint in it, like it is caved in toward the center. They gave us clean sheets, but I brought my own. I just put mine on top of the ones already on the mattress, because I really didn't want to see what the mattress looked by itself. They also supplied us with warm wool blankets and a really crappy pillow, as well as a very tiny towel for the shower. So you really don't need to bring any of that if you plan to study here, but it's up to you. I didn't want to take a chance.
Before Marina left us, she gave everyone a little cell phone by Samsung, they are really crappy, but it's better than nothing. Only problem was that we didn't have anyone's cellphone number except for Marina, so Tara and I were starving and took our chances at finding a place to get something to eat. The main dinning hall was closed, but we managed to find a smaller one. It was so busy, I was tired, and holy crap did I feel overwhelmed. I couldn't figure out what the menu said because people were pushing and shoving in the line, I tried asking them what the food was, but it was so loud, that I couldn't understand a thing they said. So I just pointed, and got a plate full of mystery meat and noodles. Then when I got up to the cash register, all I had were 1000 and 500 ruble bills, and I got the evil eye from the guy when I handed him that much money, when the meal only cost 90 rubles. Sorry, dude, not much I can do about that.
After a horrible dinner, (it turned out to be fish with a hell of a lot of bones in it), we went back to our room, and I wanted to take a shower. Well, that was a fun experience. The shower head was on the floor surrounded by pink mold, and there was nothing to hook it too. So, I grabbed my towel and flip flops and braved it. To my surprise, there was hot water! YAY! I had to throw soap on myself while holding the shower head with my other hand. Ugh, I got water all over the floor and made a huge mess. Oh well...Later on, Tara figured out a handy way to latch the head on to the hot and cold knobs. Problem sort of fixed. After that I went to bed, and finally lost it. I grieved for my grandmother's death, and leaving my family alone at home to deal with all of the arrangements. I eventually cried myself to sleep, but woke up about every 2 hours.
That dear readers, was my first night in Moscow.
First here is some simple information. I traveled with the KEI program through my University - SUNY Albany. I'm a second semester sophomore, and have been studying Russian for 6 years, going on 7. I started back in 8th grade, so technically I'm a senior in my major Russian language, but still a sophomore when it comes to my second major - Criminal Justice. I am not fluent in Russian, and that is why I came, to make a difference for myself. It has been six years of grammar, with barely any usage of the language itself.
It was three days before I was supposed to take off for Russia, I had my traveler's credit card (don't trust traveler's checks anymore, most countries won't even accept them), my suitcase mostly packed, plane tickets and bus tickets, and had just received my visa. My grandmother these next few days became very ill, and took a turn for the worst. I had seen her on the 3rd with my boyfriend when she had first started to get sick. On Sunday, February 6th, I woke up at 5:30am and ten minutes later, the nursing home called. My grandmother passed away in her sleep. I felt horribly guilty for leaving my family to deal with our loss on their own. My mother told me not to be a fool, that my grandma would want me to go. And so I did. My father and brother drove me to the bus station in Bethlehem, PA while my mother was at home calling the priest and waiting for it to be later to call up our relatives.
I flew out of JFK at 4:20pm and arrived at SVO in Moscow at 10:10am on February 7th. I made friends with Spencer, who was also traveling to Moscow for the same program. He and I buddied up and waited for the rest of our group to arrive once we got there. As soon as we got out of customs, we were being harassed by taxi drivers every 2 seconds, I got so sick of saying Мы ждём друзья, нет спасибо! (We are waiting for friends, no thanks!) We sat down at a little cafe, Will joined us, then later, we met the rest of our group at the information kiosk. That included Tarabeth, Trevor, and Dan. Chris and Rachel arrived the next day at Domodedovo. Our bus driver was an hour and a half late, but it didn't make much of a difference. Once we arrived at МГУ, we had to wait for our host Marina, which took about 30 minutes. Then we, with all of our luggage went to Dom Studenta, which is where we signed up for housing. We waited for a good 3 hours before we were able to go to our rooms. We were all tired, hungry, needing a shower and just good old fashioned sleep. Nothing, my dear readers comes easy in Russia, nothing at all.
Marina took care of the boys first, because they had to live in a different building. Maybe a half hour later, Marina came back for Tara and I. While we were waiting we met Greg and Angelina. Greg is from Siberia, but lived in America since he was 16 and served in the US army, so his English is excellent. Angelina is from LA, but is very fluent in Russian. They had arrived 2 weeks earlier to get used to Moscow and the time difference. Marina took us to our room where we had to do yet even more paperwork with a woman, in which she looked at everything in the room and made a checklist, and we had to sign a paper saying that anything missing when I leave, I need to pay for. Honestly, I wouldn't want to take anything.
The dorm rooms are as soviet as they can get. They are set up like a suite in which there are two bedrooms, a room with a toilet, and a room with the sink and shower. There was mold and dirt everywhere...yuck. The floors are all wooden, but it doesn't look like they have ever been polished or swept or really any form of clean. My mattress has a body imprint in it, like it is caved in toward the center. They gave us clean sheets, but I brought my own. I just put mine on top of the ones already on the mattress, because I really didn't want to see what the mattress looked by itself. They also supplied us with warm wool blankets and a really crappy pillow, as well as a very tiny towel for the shower. So you really don't need to bring any of that if you plan to study here, but it's up to you. I didn't want to take a chance.
Before Marina left us, she gave everyone a little cell phone by Samsung, they are really crappy, but it's better than nothing. Only problem was that we didn't have anyone's cellphone number except for Marina, so Tara and I were starving and took our chances at finding a place to get something to eat. The main dinning hall was closed, but we managed to find a smaller one. It was so busy, I was tired, and holy crap did I feel overwhelmed. I couldn't figure out what the menu said because people were pushing and shoving in the line, I tried asking them what the food was, but it was so loud, that I couldn't understand a thing they said. So I just pointed, and got a plate full of mystery meat and noodles. Then when I got up to the cash register, all I had were 1000 and 500 ruble bills, and I got the evil eye from the guy when I handed him that much money, when the meal only cost 90 rubles. Sorry, dude, not much I can do about that.
After a horrible dinner, (it turned out to be fish with a hell of a lot of bones in it), we went back to our room, and I wanted to take a shower. Well, that was a fun experience. The shower head was on the floor surrounded by pink mold, and there was nothing to hook it too. So, I grabbed my towel and flip flops and braved it. To my surprise, there was hot water! YAY! I had to throw soap on myself while holding the shower head with my other hand. Ugh, I got water all over the floor and made a huge mess. Oh well...Later on, Tara figured out a handy way to latch the head on to the hot and cold knobs. Problem sort of fixed. After that I went to bed, and finally lost it. I grieved for my grandmother's death, and leaving my family alone at home to deal with all of the arrangements. I eventually cried myself to sleep, but woke up about every 2 hours.
That dear readers, was my first night in Moscow.
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