In which I explore my new school with dry shoes

Day…6? Right, 6. First semi-official day of school! Busy, and not terribly productive in the students’ opinion, but a happy day nonetheless.

I just stumbled my way through a two-minute phone call from a colleague of Lyudmila Afanasyevna’s asking where she is. Apparently her son Misha is in the hospital because of (from what little I could make out, I’m guessing) ruptured sinuses or something. He’s her only son, and she dotes on him (understandably -smile-), so she left for the ‘poliklinika’ right after dinner and doesn’t know when she’ll be back. I didn’t understand most of the phone conversation, but after I explained that I’m not Lyudmila Afanasyevna, I’m the American student staying with her, we managed to communicate in English for a few sentences. I feel strangely accomplished.

Oh, and we’re getting along just fine with mixed-language texts, except that all of our Russian spelling is lousy. Having to look things up gets to be its own adventure. :)

So, the day. Lucky duck that I am, I was able to shower before school and still sleep in until 8:30. :D Lyudmila Afanasyevna walked me over (I’m proud to say I know the way now!) and I met up with a gaggle of Americans taking up the whole hallway. (Note: whenever you enter any major Russian building, you’re expected to remove and check your coat. This applies to large wet boots, too, so I brought a large plastic bag and my leather shoes to change into. Much better than tracking slush all over the building.)

We were talked at for a while by our Russian soon-to-be professors, of which talk I may have understood twenty percent; Jarlath then summarized for the Language Program students (thank goodness). Then came the dreaded placement test. It wasn’t that bad, actually; though I did peter out around question 42 of 140, so did all the other one-semester students I talked to. We’re being placed into groups based on our ability as determined by our scores on here. I’m happy with whichever group I end up in; too high and I’ll have no idea what’s going on, but I think the group below the one I’ll end up in will be the group of students with no Russian whatsoever. In any case, it’ll turn out just fine.

Afterwards came lunch in the café; it’s really a darling little place, with white walls hung with paintings, little iron-worked tables, and tablecloths, and the whole shebang. Then we all wandered around the building for a while as Jarlath pointed out our classrooms, the Internet-connected computer lab, the offices, the bathrooms (very important—and they all smell like chlorine), and the CIEE special rooms. I borrowed two books from the informal library (I left all of my literature at home because of the weight limit), Anna Karenina and The Other Boleyn Girl. Now I have something to do before bed other than caption my photos! :D (They have a strangely large stock of trashy romance novels. Is that really what people pack for a semester abroad? :P)

Post-tour, most of the students left to visit the bus stops where they’ll be commuting to every day; everyone came with their host mothers this morning, but the staff wanted us to know how to get to Smolny ourselves. For the few of us within walking distance, though, this wasn’t really necessary, so a handful of the girls stayed behind to check our email and write to our parents (and, in my case, post to my blog). That took until nearly dinnertime, so I walked home and got here about five minutes before Lyudmila Afanasyevna. She left right after dinner, so I’m sitting writing and drinking several cups of tea. A good thirty of us are planning to meet at Kazansky Sabor around nine and head out for a walk along Nevsky, probably including a bar, so I’ll write more later if anything interesting happens.

12:14 am. Got home shortly before midnight. A stroll along Nevsky did turn into ‘hey, there’s this great cheap bar along Nevsky,’ so the crowd of us made it a social occasion and met up with a few of our Russian tour guides from yesterday. SPB (not quite sure what the Russian name is) is, apparently, a cheap bar frequented by students; it wasn’t bad, really. Then again, it was the first time I’ve actually been to a bar, so I’m not sure I’m one to judge. It was clean, at least!

Had my first beer tonight, too. Beer is…definitely an acquired taste. I took the advice of Megan, who was on the program last semester, and ordered a very basic light beer, called Baltica 7 (and drank it over the course of about two hours). I’m not sure how to describe it…it’s pretty weird for me, but probably drinkable again. (I paid effectively $3 for half a liter, which is the smallest size the bar offers. As I understand from friends, this is a couple of beers stateside.) In any case, this will not be happening very often on Monday nights; we don’t have to be at the school until 11 tomorrow, so there should be enough time for even Fred to sleep off his pitcher. Yes, I do realize I’m not legal stateside. Very few of us are. I’m curious, and I figured I’d try it over here where I am legal, and it’s cheap. Now I know that beer is not something I want to try in great quantities in the US. I felt a little tipsy when I first stood up, but that’s about it.

I got home to Lyudmila Afanasyevna watching TV in her room, back from the hospital. I gave her a Baltimore Orioles baseball to give to Misha shortly before she left; she handed me a very nice note from Misha when I returned. (I did have to look up a couple of words, but I do for nearly every conversation.) I’m quite looking forward to meeting him, once he makes it out of the hospital!

The alarm is set to go off in eight hours, so it’s time to clock out. Hasta luego, all!