Dear friends of mine I apologise for not updating this in such a long time but I've been going through the mother of all culture shocks for the past few days. It seems to have died down a bit yesterday and today, but man, it was bad. I suppose it was a mixture of the weather, the language barrier, and the schedule I've had recently. Whatever though. Life goes on. If I wanted it easy I could have gone to England or Australia.
Quite a lot has happened since I last updated. I had my first classes which went fine but let me tell you: Russian is an incredibly difficult language to learn. I felt like I was five years old trying to pronounce the days of the week. Multilateral Diplomacy in the Balkans seems both interesting and relavant considering where I am and what's gone on there. It's going to be fun where that class goes after a few weeks.
Plans are in the works for a trip to either Kiev or Odesa in one of the upcoming weekends. There are several buses that leave the city daily for both locales. I've just got to keep up with the Russian before I leave. Odesa's about five hours by bus and Kiev's about 12. So if I leave for Kiev I'll probably have to leave right after class on friday and get back sometime on monday. I'll update you all as the information becomes available.
There's also a chance I'll be heading into Russia at some point soon. I have to figure out when exactly spring break is over here, but I think that would be a prime time to head to Moscow and St. Petersburg. The only problem with Russia is that there is so much red tape associated with heading in there I have to start planning to get a visa pretty soon (it takes about 3 weeks to month to get a visa into Russia). It also helps that Air Moldova has relatively cheap fares to Moscow. It'd be much cheaper to take the train or the bus, but flying not only saves me time (the bus takes 32 hours versus 3 by plane), but I'll also avoid Transnistria. Don't get me wrong, I do want to go to Tiraspol, but now's not the best time.
That's about all I got for now friends. Until next time, take it easy.
By the by: listen to Air
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3 comments:
Worry not culture shock goes away after a while and then you get a hummdinger dose coming back to the U.S. You ought to get class credit for getting a Russian visa--Irina was really invaluable in this process because you need someone that can get you to the "front" of the line.
Take care, stay warm...and now you know "why" I laughed when you said "heck, yeah, lemme study abroad in Moldova."
CHR
PS...remind Dma Neagu that we need to get a signed letter of agreement from IRIM for Mercer.
Damn. Intense. As always though, things ease up after time. Have you met any students from your university yet?
When you get some time upload photos of your living space, neighborhood, and such.
so... I took some intercontenintal flights this summer... the planes were old russian models. Watch out for the smoke that comes in great clouds from under your seat and leaves an acrid smell in the air, just as you take off. The really cool part, however, is when the plane lands, and everyone starts cheering. Honest-to-god cheering. Gotta love it. So, what sort of spring do you guys have to look forward to? fiftyish, even?
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