Preparation....South Korea's Got Seoul!Well, we're here.....We are gloopy....Have a great weekend!Hello, Friends!Snow! Snow! Snow!Another Monday....Where is the sneg of yesteryear?!?Merry Christmas!С Новым Годом!Наш Рай!Back to School.....NovgorodAnother week has passed......Very quickly....
 | megtait |  | From Masha With Love..... |  | Well, we're here..... |
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Dec 4 2007, 05:05 PM
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St. Petersburg (Saint Petersburg), Russia
Then, when we got on the plane, these Russian guys were sitting behind us and drinking heavily from a bottle of cognac.....which they eventually passed over to us! They were trying to speak to us in English, and they were really nice, but we kept getting in trouble from the flight attendants for being too loud. It was a really fun flight though, and we arrived in Moscow in a great mood.....which changed very quickly as soon as we got to immigration, or 'passport control'. Now I really understand why everyone talks about the queues here.....we were waiting for two hours to get through, and there were so many people, it was crazy. Then when we went to get our bags, this man started yelling at us - all I could understand from what he was saying was 'faster, faster'......so we got out of there so fast that we completely missed customs. I really hope that doesn't have serious consequences when we leave!
The next hurdle was our domestic flight. We had already booked the tickets online, we just needed to get them from an Aeroflot office, which was ok. Then we managed to find the free shuttle bus to the domestic airport, then we settled in for a LONG night of waiting around - we arrived at Terminal 1 at about 11:30pm, and our flight didn't leave until 8:15am the next day. We slept in shifts for a couple of hours, then we met this nice guy, Sergei, who came and chatted to us, and showed us pictures of his family. He was really nice, even though he said we definitely didn't look Russian because of the way we sat and dressed - eg. badly. Ouch!
There was meant to be someone waiting for us at the airport from the university, but they had forgotten when we were coming or something, so we took a taxi to the dormitory we were meant to be staying in. No sooner had we arrived, then we were unceremoniously kicked out to a different dorm - it's pretty nice there, although we do get locked in of a night, and we can't stay out later than 1am. Although, I'm sure we can find a way.......Our room is pretty nice, we have our own bathroom and TV, and it's just the two of us. We have a kitchen too, except it takes about half an hour to boil enough water for two cups of tea, and we don't have any kitchen implements. We wandered around for ages yesterday afternoon, and finally found a pan.....Hooray! So now we can toast bread in the pan, boil water in the pan, and make many other exciting creations!
Today, we had to go to the university and take the test to find out which classes we were in. There was a free bus running from outside our dorm, but we didn't know where it left, so we missed it. Then we tried asking some people, and got hopelessly lost - we took 2 buses, both of which were wrong. Then it started snowing! We were getting pretty distressed, so we went back to the dorm to ask for more directions....as a consequence, I think that the lady who works there thinks we are the stupidest girls to ever come to Russia (a sentiment which may hold some truth, but still.....) The upside is, now I can truly tell people that I used to have to walk to school, for 10 miles, in the snow......
We made it to uni, sat the test - we're in the 5th class, whatever that means - and attended a class. It was SO HARD! It was a news and current events class, and I found it so difficult.....the teacher was really nice though, so hopefully it will get better as time goes on. There were only 6 poeple in our class, including us, so we'll certainly get plenty of practice. Tomorrow we have about 3 hours of grammar, and as nerdy as it sounds, I'm actually looking forward to it - I can't possibly make more of an idiot of myself than I have today!
It's hard - it's really cold, and obviously the language is a factor in the difficulty. But even today is better than yesterday, so hopefully it's all uphill from here......maybe with a few trips or something on the way! Anyway, I've started writing down daily highlights and low points in my journal, here's what I have so far:
2/12
HIGHLIGHT: Seeing the babyshki as they finally got through the baggage check - they were so happy! To get through, they had been wearing the clothes and the material they had packed in their bags........they were each wearing about 6 layers of clothing, it was hilarious! But they were so happy :)
LOW POINT
Waiting for nearly an hour in one line at 'passport control', then watching them close down the booth that we were waiting for. We had to go to the end of a different line......It was pretty funny, Zoe and I were laughing a lot, but I think we were delirious from exhaustion at that point.
2/12
HIGHLIGHT
Asking a shop assistant in a store for a pot, being taken to a child's potty.....I swear she didn't even crack a smile. Yeah, I think we may have used the wrong term there....
LOW POINT
All the electricity stopping in our room straight after we got there - it's fixed now, though.......our room is so hot, it's like a tropical island.
4/12
HIGHLIGHT
Seeing the beautiful Smolny Campus, where we will be studying.....it's really wonderful!
LOW POINT
Our first class......it really was very stressful. It can only get better, it can only get better, it can only get better......
Well, I think that's enough from me......Hope everyone is well, and I'll write again soon!
Love, Meg and Zoe
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hey
Written by sammm 14 months ago
hey meggy, man your trip is sounding awesome, glad to hear you're having a crazy awesome time. missing you, say hi to zoe for me! sam
i don't want to enter a title, why must i?
Written by barnacle 14 months ago
well i finally figured out how to use this wonderful invention of a site... meg and zoe, what a crazy travel experience! and to think i was fuming after spending three hours in a stale box of air brisbane city council likes to call 'public transport' when i was just going to visit my parents at the beach. you two are troopers! i hope it is better already today. i was about to write something inappropriate but i think i will just forward on my suggestion to zoe's facebook inbox. hope you can tell who it is from the name, lots of love to you both