Week 1

It's been a week in Yaroslavl', so I thought I should send out an update! I wanted to send out an e-mail, but it turns out that it's kinda hard to make sure I get it to everyone. Thus, I'm doing the blog. Everything here has been good since I adjusted to the time change. After getting little sleep for the first few days, I've really enjoyed sleeping 9-10hrs a night. I'm living in a homestay with a babyshka (though she really isn't old). She's really into health (ie: her and my personal wellbeing). She really tries to eat healthy food, which is great! She's also really considerate about feeding me. I told her that I would try almost anything but that I couldn't promise to like it. She intersperces new, Russian dishes with food she knows I like. She's made me pasta and cheese, which is awesome because people don't really eat pasta here, but she knows that Americans like it. In fact, she's well traveled. She's been to the United States four times, Germany many times, and Africa (where I'm not sure yet, but she promises to show me pictures when I have free time). Surprisingly, she is fluent in English (this is surprising because the Middlebury program tends to choose host families that don't speak English). We speak only in Russian, but it's nice to know that I could communicate with her in English if I needed to.

School-wise, things are starting to pick up. I've had all of my classes at least once, though most twice. I'm taking classes that the Middlebury program designed especially for foreigners. That said, all of our classes are taught entirely in Russian. I'm taking Grammar, Speech, Writing, Culture, and Russian History (up to the 20th century). Grammar will be very hard, mostly because our vocabulary is still relatively limited. Speech (intonation, pronunciation) is really interesting and kinda hard. I've only had Writing once and the concepts we're learning seem really abstract. One of the students who was here last semester said that this class is hard and has a lot of homework. Culture is super easy but interesting. History is hard, but mostly because we have to do a lot of reading in Russian and we don't have the vocabulary of history writing. Fortunately, I took this same class last semester at Colby in English. As a result, I know what we're reading about in class without understanding every word. I feel bad for those students who have no sense of Russian history of this time period because they are really lost. Overall, my classes should be challenging but really rewarding. I can already tell that I'm going to learn a lot!

My life recently has revolved around getting to class, buying notebooks, finding time to eat (class schedules in Russia don't really permit time for lunch, which, ironically, is supposed to be the biggest meal), talking to my host, and sleeping. I haven't really had any down time until now (my first real weekend here). I think I'm going to try to go to the movies with a friend later on today. My host took me today to the local market and I bought some stuff that I needed. She bought two sets of sheets for her dacha (summer/country home—she grows her own fruit and veggies there!) and sour cream for the borsht that I'm trying for the first time today (hehe). Tomorrow, the Middlebury group is going to Rostov, a very historical neighboring town (about an hour away by train). I don't know what we're going to do there, but it should be a nice trip.

Okay, that's about all I've done so far. I hope all is well with you all!