The best week of the summer

... and the busiest week too! This past week I've been volunteering at the Western and Southern Financial Group Masters tennis tournament. What an amazing, fun week! I probably worked close to 40 hours in the press box and spent a few more hours hanging around watching great tennis. (I also worked a few nights at Krogers and did a day trip to Columbus, so that's why it was so busy). On my first day I came face-to-face with Andy Roddick in the players' lounge, which almost gave me a heart attack. I felt like a 16-year girl again. I also got to watch some great practices (Tim Henman, Andy Murray, Marat Safin, Rafael Nadal). And, I got to watch a few awesome matches from the Center Court photo blind, which means I also took a lot of great pictures.

The biggest highlight came when I sat in on a doubles match featuring Marat Safin and Mikhail Youzhny. This was a highlight because I followed 4 Russian-speaking men (one was a player) into Court 3. Then I started talking to one of them in Russian- a very gutsy move for me, because of how little I can actually can speak and because they were total strangers. One asked me, "Marat davai?" (Come on Marat?) and I was like, "Of course!" I enjoyed the atmosphere of the match- mostly Russian-speaking crowd, who all seemed to know Marat and Misha personally. It made me excited about Russia.

Speaking of Russia! I leave in two and a half weeks- that's 17 days! This past week I haven't felt as excited as I was feeling a week or two ago. I don't know why that is... maybe because there is so much to be done, or the reality is sinking in, or even that sometimes the reality hasn't sunk in yet. I'm nervous and anxious, but I don't know why... I think I am worried about the goodbyes and "lasts" that are coming up- I am trying not to make a big deal out of them. I don't want to act like I'll never see everybody again. I'm hoping that will prevent some of the inevitable homesickness I am fearing.

Anyway, it's the homestretch, so I have lists of things to do. I've given up on learning more Russian and made my peace with my ridiculously limited skills, haha. I'm so lazy.

Thoughts on moving

I moved back home the other day, mostly to save a little money and placate my dad. But it was good practice to see how I am going to cram nine months of my life into two suitcases. Okay, I won't be taking things like dishes or lamps or shower curtains to Moscow. But I had a huge box full of bath and beauty and health care stuff- okay, most of that can be bought over there too. Basically what I am trying to say is, "Kristen, you can't wait until the night before you leave to start packing and pull an all-nighter." (This has been how I have packed for my 3 other big trips, and it never quite worked. In theory, I would be so tired I could sleep on the plane. But I've probably slept a total of 4 hours in the 48 hours I've spent crossing the ocean.)

So, instead of using my day off to unpack and clean out my shower, I am blogging.

Globalization Grant

Yay! UC International Programs just e-mailed me to tell me I received a Globalization Grant for study abroad. I am extremely excited as I received more than I thought I would (Well I would be happy with whatever I got, really). Thank you UC International! I ought to mention that this blog is my outreach project for the grant... I'm linked to UC International's website so other students can read about studying abroad.

I really want people to think about studying abroad in non-traditional countries (basically outside of Western Europe). Also, the government really wants you to think about it too. They're throwing all kinds of money at students to learn Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Persian, and Russian... and other languages too. Unfortunately, I didn't get any government money because 1. the deadlines for application fell 6 months before I decided to do this and 2. I haven't been studying Russian long enough to be eligible. Even if you don't get any money from the government, knowing one of the languages they think is important for "national security" is a pretty good skill.

On the fun side, I spent hours last night looking for this music video by Diskoteka Avariya, a Russian rap-ish type group. The song is called Opa, the video is awesome... Their other songs are pretty cool too- they have a song called Pei Pivo (Drink Beer), which tells you to drink like they do. My new favorite band.

Baby Leah and not much else

In other news, I am an aunt once again! Leah Ryan was born on Friday, July 21. She's perfect in every way, although she didn't have a name for 2 whole days. If I knew how to put pictures from my phone up, I'd show you. She's absolutely gorgeous and looks a little like her mischevous big brother.

Nothing much has been going on right now related to my trip... I'm getting kinda worried about how much money I will have to spend while I am there. My plan was to earn $3000 so I could spend about $100 per week, but it doesn't look like I'll earn that much. I am trying to budget my money very carefully right now, to see how little money I can live on. In Cincinnati I can live on about $60-70 a week, including gasing up the Cadillac I'm driving right now. Hopefully that will hold when I am over in Moscow.

Flight Info!

Finally, here's my flight information:

--September 6--
Delta 5516 (Operated by Comair):
Depart IND 1:40pm
Arrive JFK 3:52pm

Aeroflot 316:
Depart JFK 6:40pm
Arrive SVO 11:45am (September 7)

(I'm flying from Indianapolis and not Cincinnati because it would have been more expensive to fly CVG-JFK than JFK-Moscow. Crazy Delta.)

Booking the flight makes my decision feel very final. Nevermind the fact that I've paid a few thousand dollars to [the company] by this point. There's no turning back now!

My Accident :-(

Well, as it turns out, the last day I posted (Sunday) was pretty much the worst day of me life. Not only because France lost to Italy in the World Cup, but because I wrecked my car. I slammed into a concrete barrier at 40+ mph. It was pretty scary, and it all happened so fast. But I wasn't hurt at all, aside from some airbag abrasions on my wrist. Just VERY, VERY shocked. My car is totaled, of course. I went to the ER later that evening to get my stomach checked out, and I left with five disgusting bruises on my arms. Luckily, I am fine, but very very sore and depressed.

On the study abroad side, because I couldn't work on Monday, I got almost all my business done. Since I complained about the Financial Aid Office last time, this time I have some good stuff to say. First of all, my academic advisor, Dr. Tolley, rocks. He won an advising award a year ago, and I can understand why. I e-mailed him about the form I needed signed, and he told me that although he was not on campus for the summer, I could call him at his home and he'd let me drop on by. That is above and beyond the call of duty. Also, he seems very interested in what I am doing and always asks questions. And then, the whole study abroad office at UC (UC International Programs) is also incredibly helpful. I should have known this since my friend Lauren is a Peer Advisor up there. But yesterday I went up to drop off some forms, and the student at the desk was ridiculously nice and made me an ISIC card in a few minutes. They always are when I visit. And, my Study Abroad Advisor, Jill, is always just the most helpful person. She responds to my e-mails within hours. Once I had a question about some forms and decided to call her, and she answered my questions and then explained the rationale behind the forms. So, Dr. Tolley and Jill are two really great advisors, and they make going to UC worth the not-so-good parts.

So, much of the paperwork is taken care of- for the time being, until I get more paperwork- and I get to deal with my car insurance claims now. Yipee!

Paperwork Abounds

Wow, so much to do! I've been doing a ton of paperwork lately, and it's really hard to believe that everything will get done in 2 months. Stuff needs/needed to be sent to [the company] by July 10, including doctor's report, HIV certificate, financial aid forms, money... etc. But stuff also needs to be done for the UC side of things- I need my advisor to sign a form and I have to turn in a financial aid form. Which doesn't sound like so much, but it's hard to track down all these people during summer. Also, I am very frustrated with UC's Financial Aid office because someone has been repeatedly rude to me.

Most importantly, I need to apply for a globalization grant and book my flight! September 6 is the day I leave.

I'm going to RUSSIA!

Well, it looks like I'm going to Russia!!

I had my phone interview with [the company] on Friday, which was pretty low-key. The program manager asked me if I had any questions and then he started talking about the visa stuff (I have to get an HIV test) and the group flight, so that was a good sign. And then at the end, he said "Oh yeah, I'll send you an enrollment packet on Monday." I took that to mean I was accepted.

Woohoo! I am so excited!!!

It's official: I'm definitely in Moscow

I went to Red Square today.

It was pretty emotional at first. I couldn’t believe where I was. It felt very surreal, and I was trying really hard not to cry or skip around in joy. We are going back tomorrow for a Kremlin tour, and so I can see all the newlyweds. It’s a tradition for newlyweds to visit Red Square and pay their respects at the Eternal Flame, and they’re all there at the weekend. We walked into GUM, which used to be the state store, but is now a huge fancy mall, where some woman mistook me for a Russian!

After that, we rode the Metro (subway) at rush hour. It was crowded, hot, and smelled like sweat. I like the feeling of being surrounded by so many people. You can’t do anything but shuffle your feet and let the people behind you push you along. Irina helped me pick out an electric kettle (chainik) for tea. Tea is the social activity here, to make new friends, so it’s important to have one. Then we went to Кафе Хаус (Coffee House, I kid you not). Oh and I bought a mug for my tea- it’s an MSU souvenir mug!

MSU (the main building at least) is amazing. This building is HUGE and has everything a person could ever want. In the core of the building are at least 3 cafes, a food shop, and a shop for all the non-food stuff. There are also 3 ATMs, some bookstores, bathrooms of course, a copy center, a shoe repair, a laundry. And I’ve heard there is a gym and a computer lab somewhere, but I have yet to see those. Forget UC’s crowing about the CRC being a building where “theoretically” a student could spend their whole student career- a student definitely could do that here, easily.

So far, I have to say that I am enjoying Russia very much. It’s true that I’ve only been here 2 days, haven’t had to rely on Russian (thanks to Irina and others), and haven’t really done much. Russia is a lot like America in some respects, and totally different in other ways, both good and bad.

The Application's in the Mail !! ... and the end of German?

Wow so finally my application is in the mail right now. Got all my recommendations, got my advisor to sign off on my classes, and now it is being overnighted to New York. So I should hear from them soon. I am so excited and nervous. They sent an e-mail today saying they still had spaces open, so I'm okay.

Anyway, my German exam was today, and both sections of the class were together so I was with all my German friends. Our proctor was German and he was joking and laughing with us in German, and I realized how much German I know and how little Russian I know. Right now I feel like I am crazy for giving up German and going to Russia. So, in all my sentimentality, I am going to miss these crazy people.

Basically, today it hit me that I'm going to be leaving a lot of stuff behind... and it's going to be harder than I think....