Welcome to St. Petersburg

Hey look!  I made it.

Just an update: planes and airports are horrifying things filled with loud noise and very little sleep.  Also airplane food universally sucks.  Much as my flights tried to woo me with cheesecake cups and croissants.  Nope nope nope.  That doesn't cut it.  I need my sleeps and the steward was holding a 5 hour conversation with the couple across the aisle from me at top volume STANDING NEXT TO ME and the whole time KNOWING I WAS TRYING TO SLEEP.  Sheesh.


Anyways, I made it to my connection in Heathrow and had to race across security and the different terminals to reach my flight.  I thought I was gonna miss it - I think the British TSA woman thought so too, but didn't wanna panic me.  But the flight decided screw conventions, we're boarding late.  So I made my flight.


Now I'm in St. Petersburg!!  It's kinda cold here, much like home, but it's raw.  Ick.  I wasn't gonna bring my ski jacket 'cause bulky and I can't wear it if it warms up any, but windchill is suddenly in the negative teens.  I'm glad I broke down and brought it.  Good thing - my gloves are fingerless with fold-back mitten tops and I had to use my teeth to pull the mitten tops back over my fingers just from the short walk from the airport to the airport hotel.  I couldn't feel them!!  They're normal and working well now, so no harm done.


This place is wicked nice.  I'll try to post some pictures later on.  For now, it's almost 10pm here and I need sleep.


Good night.

One day more

I hate waiting.


I swear my family is being driven up a wall here.  I spent the end of last week writing a paper which will (hopefully!!) get published.  But once that was in, I kinda ran outta things to do.  Again.  I've seen and said goodbye to my family, my friends, my wonderful boyfriend, and have absolutely nothing to do to take my mind off the fact that a) I am leaving and b) I still have to wait to leave.


Oh, did I mention I have most everything packed??  I'm missing a few pictures for a photo album I'm taking with me and the last of my laundry to finish up.  So I'm kinda wandering around restlessly.  And listening to a ton of music.  And feeding the cabin fever.


Buuuuuuuuuut tomorrow!!  I fly out at night and have a short layover in England.  By the time I finally make it to Russia, it'll be 5pm (St. Petersburg time) on the 31st.  Chances are I'll be half dead from lack of sleep, my phone will be mostly dead, and my ipod all dead.  BUT I'LL BE IN RUSSIA!!  CIEE has a program dinner at the hotel we students are staying at just after we arrive, and there's three days worth of orientation before I meet my host family and begin classes and such.  Apparently a lot of the homestays are babushkas (grandmothers).  I'm excited.  Hopefully whoever I get will kindly teach me how to cook.  I'd love to come back knowing how to cook good Russian food.  Mmmmm.


So yeah.  One day more.  It'll be an emotional whirlwind for a few days, but hey.  Пусть бушует шторм - холод всегда мне был по душе.

One week and counting

That's right.  Next week, I'm flying out to Russia.


Yay??


My nerves are going into overdrive right now.  Do I have enough winter gear??  What should I pack??  Should I be packing now, or should I wait??  There's still a little over a week left......There was supposedly something going on near Sochi having to do with the incident at Volgograd recently.  Will that affect me in St. Petersburg, so far to the north??  My visa's not back yet, along with my passport - should I be worried??


And to top things off, I have a cold.  So nothing much's getting done anyway.  I've been couch hopping and listening to the multilingual version of Frozen's "Let It Go".





Me and my languages.  After listening to this, I immediately went and found the Russian OST version of everything.  "Let It Go" isn't my favorite of the Russian versions.  I fell in love with the snowman song instead.  The kids are just too adorable.





So yeah.  Downing copious amounts of juice.  Trying to breathe.  And listening to Disney songs in Russian.  It's a good way to spend my week before heading out to Russia.

Let's get started

Hello!


This is a chronicle of my adventures in Russia on study abroad!!........err, well it will be.  It's still the beginning of January and there's a few weeks and a ton of paperwork and packing to go.  But hey, it's coming up fast on me. Four months in St. Petersburg on the intensive language program. Bring it on.


Fun fact: it was -8 when I woke up this morning. In Massachusetts.  According to the weather on my phone, it's 0 currently, while St. Petersburg is a balmy 34. It is warmer in Russia than it is here in the US. Something's seriously wrong with that.