Russia Begins

Day 1. (June 13th)

I just found my seat on the plane and they are playing the Lakme duet! It must be an omen...

Anyway, I am still on the plane and I am getting the feeling that I won't be getting any sleep tonight. It is 10:30 PM and I'm not really tired, but we will land in two hours and I'm supposed to feel like it's 6:30 in the morning... I was kind of annoyed when I realized that there are no batteries in my walkman. Other than that, the flight is pretty uneventful. We just saw the movie Jackie Brown. And the food was really bad for dinner. I am nauseous anyway and my neck hurts. I only want to get there. Maybe if I had my walkman, I wouldn't be so cranky...

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Okay... Now it's 3:40 AM on my body and 8:40 AM here. My flight doesn't leave until 9:55 and I've already been here for two hours. Spent a million years attempting to feel more human, freshening up, bought batteries and some Burger King. This is a really nice airport. Okay-- until later...

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Well, it is officially 11:16 PM here and June 14th is coming to an end (3:00 PM on my body) and I have been up for about 33 hours. Now I am listening to Russian radio on my walkman after a frustrating bout with the mosquito net. (They are everywhere!!)

Anyway, I found the group at Gatwick and they all seem pretty nice. I was so tired on the flight though. Lucky it was only 3 and a half hours.

What's amazing about Russia is that it really doesn't look or smell or anything like home. It all seems to have been carved out of a large and ancient forest. St. Petersburg is not at all what I expected. It looks untouched since 1950 and there is a faded crumbling aura about it-- smokestacks sadly chugging its heartbeat. The streets are wide, washed out and sparsely populated. Hopefully, tomorrow on our city tour we will see prettier parts. (It is still bright light out by the way!)

Anyway, going through customs they told me there was an error n my visa and I had to go to a scary consulate office. It said "7/13" instead of "6/13." He fixed it, but with a struggle.

The dorm room is really spacious. I am sharing it with a girl named Katherine from Austin, TX. Today we basically just met and got an introduction and itinerary from Daniel Drake (who also seems nice). Tomorrow we actually start the program.

I took a shower but forgot to pack towels, so I'm drenched! There was a roach in the bathroom (separate from the toilet room) and I suspect I will have to get used to it. We have a kitchen and our next door suite mates are two Americans not in our program. They are leaving in a few days.

Anyway, I am EXHAUSTED. So, I will go now!