I like the view from here

I'm finally in Moscow! It was not as easy getting here as I had hoped. There was a huge snowstorm that caused a lot of flights to JFK airport to be cancelled so I ended up getting rerouted. I left the Louisville airport at 5 pm on Monday then flew to Minnesota then immediately borded the plane to Amsterdam then immediately borded the plane to Moscow. I arrived at Moscow about 4 am US time. There were no layovers, just constant travel. When I got to the airport I realized I was definitely in for an adventure as I tried to find terminal D arrivals. Eventually after using all the Russian I knew, a Russian guy walked me to the elevators. I found where I needed to be.

The ride from the airport was nothing less of exciting. Russian drivers drive like they are shown on youtube; CRAZY. The traffic was extremely backed up and it took us every bit of 2 hours to get from the airport to the dorm. I got into my room after a long drawn out process and I soon realized the lack of wifi. At this point I was tired, STARVING, dying of thirst and going through internet withdraws. We were given phones that can have minutes put on them so I was excited to call home when I found out the entire phone was in Russian. I really questioned my sanity and choice of coming to Russia at this point. My roommate came back from Sweden at around 6 am Moscow time and she was so sweet and helped me find where to get food and after I ate and was in a better mood I figured out the phone situation. Carbonated water is very common here and is sold right beside bottles of regular water. (I learned that the hard way.) I definitely have the word for non carbonated water memorized now.

Today (Feb 5th), the group got together and waited a long time for our passports to be registered with the university, then we went and took pictures for our student ID's, we then walked to the language department, walked around Moscow, went to a little mall and wrapped up the day at a sports bar that served boneless wings!

For everyone who is concerned for my safety, I promise, this has to be the safest campus in the world. The university is gated and in order to get through the gate you have to go into a little house and have your documents checked by very intimidating security guards. Once you are in the gate, in order to get into the area of the dorm rooms you have to have your documents checked by another security guard. Russia is very secure in the sense that they know who is in the country, where they are, and when they better be gone. I kind of like it.

I know that everyone is concerned about the weather and right now at 10:00pm it is 21 degrees. It honestly does not feel that cold outside because there is no wind. I was walking most of the day and had no problem. Some sidewalks are a mixture of snow and mud which can be slippery, but the majority of the sidewalks were pretty clear.

I'm having a good time so far and I'm excited for classes to start soon. We have a metro tour tomorrow, walking tour on Saturday and then a placement test on Monday.