Let's start with Day 1: Arrival into St. Petersburg.
Since the plane from JFK to Moscow took off 2 hours late for reasons we never could figure out, we arrived in Moscow 1.5 hours late. This left us with 1.5 hours before our flight to St. Pete took off. Naturally, this was not nearly enough time for us to get through passport control, customs, baggage claim, and rechecking. We miss our flight badly, as you might imagine, because passport control had 2 lanes open for over 500 people. We stood in line for 2 hours, tired, hungry, and very nearly ready to pass out.
But finally we make it through and claim our bags and make it through customs without a problem. We had to take a bus to the other terminal, and then we set about the task of getting our tickets transferred. Well, the info desk lady takes our passports, does some stuff, and tells us our new flight leaves at 1900. We were supposed to be in St. Pete at 1700, so I call Dr. Rouchkin in Moscow to let him know we will be late, and our pickup will need to come at 2030. Easy peasy, right? Everything in order.
Wrong. So wrong. We head over to the check-in desk, and they inform us that we are not on the list of passengers, and so we will need to go to the ticket desk. We do as they say and head over to that desk, which directs us right back to the info desk we were at before. We tell them that we were just there and have been given the run-around, and the wonderful lady goes over there with us and makes the other woman understand what exactly we need. We finally get a print out on a sheet of paper with the little detachable edges (like really old computer/printer paper) and head over to the check-in desk again.
This time, we at least are on the flight, but they don't want to let us check 2 bags for free, because it was a promotional thing they did before March something. After several minutes of arguing, I finally make him understand that we purchased the tickets in January, and we are not buying new tickets, but transferring those. So we make it through to the terminal finally and head to the gate. As I wait for Anna and Bart to get back from a food run, I have my first Russian conversation with a local.
A lady approaches me and scares me to death by hissing "Dyevushka!" at me. I turn and say "Yes?" She asks me if I am on flight ___. I don't really catch the numbers, but I know they aren't mine, so I say no. She then asks me what flight I am on. I can't really figure out fast enough how to answer her, so I just point to the number on my boarding pass. She accepts this, thanks me, and then returns to her seat, leaving me to marvel over how little I spoke in my first Russian conversation.
The plane ride goes fine, and we arrive in St. Petersburg's Pulkovo 1 airport at 2030, as I had said. But the pickup isn't there. We wait for 2 hours, with many phone calls in between, before he finally finds us. But there is still a problem. He doesn't have room in his car for our bags. So he hires us a taxi instead. I am so happy to get home that I don't even care.
I start caring right around the time I look at the speedometer and realize that we are doing 90mph in the middle of St. Petersburg, cars all whipping around us like crazy, buses pulling over on top of us, honking, dodging, and I am sitting there just knowing that I've made it all this way just to die in a horrible taxi wreck while listening to American pop music being blasted at the limits of the car's speakers.
Against all odds, we make it to the dorms and get in. I discover that I am rooming with two Russian girls, and not Anna, as I had anticipated. We're all starving, so David takes us across the street to the grocery store. A few handfuls of trail mix on the way back and I'm too exhausted to do much else. So we go to bed.
I sleep till 1400 the next day, but get up and get ready for the city tour at 1630. The tour goes off without a hitch, and I get to see so many things that I've always dreamed of seeing. A couple of times I even got a little teary-eyed thinking about it. I stop wondering why in the world I did this to myself. That evening, Anna and Bart and Benedict (Benny, for short) head over to the store and split the cost of spaghetti fixings. We cook it in Bart's room and I go to bed full and happy.
I don't sleep that well, but it is enough, and I get up at 0800 so I can get down to the bus by 0900 when it leaves. We head to Smolny to take the entrance exam and register with the police. I feel like it goes pretty well, and don't even mind the 3 hours we spend waiting at the office. After we get back, Anna and Bart and I eat dinner, and Anna and I decide to go to the internet cafe. Well, after about 124134 miles of walking, we can't find the place, and the place we thought was a different internet cafe turns out to be an online gambling place. Whoops! Well, on the way back, we run into David and decide to utilize his help to possibly purchase a USB modem from one of the major cell companies here.
A little while and several miles later, we have all our stuff for around 30USD. Set it up, making as much sense out of the Russian instruction manual as I can, and I have internet! I contemplate catching up on everything, but the task seems so daunting that I just send a few emails and then go to bed.
Which brings us to today. I get up at 0800 again and head down to the bus and off to Smolny we go. Turns out I am in the 1st group, aka the highest one. I'm rather pleased by this, and a bit encouraged. I am even more so when it turns out to be so much fun! I am honestly having more fun in a Russian class than I have ever had in my life. And I actually feel like I know something, which is equally exciting. Anna, Bart, Benny, and I head over to a cafe after class. We grab a bite, and then hop the subway back home, where I start actually catching up on all the photo uploading and so on. And then, naturally, updating this blog. Presumably they will be coming by soonish to see if I want to go to the Russian version of Wal-Mart with them. I'm not sure if I will or not, but we shall see.
And thus! I am caught up! See you tomorrow, hopefully!
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