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Where to begin...

So yesterday was our excursion to the banya. Everyone had pretty high expectations for this one because of the crazy stories we'd all heard about past semesters' trips to the banya. For those who may not know, a Russian banya is similar to a spa, but the main feature is the sauna. Typically when you go to the banya everyone sits in this unbelievably hot sauna and then after you have had a sufficient sweat (it doesn't take long!) you jump into a pool of cold water (which, in actuality, is a fairly pleasurable experience). Then you go back and do it all over again. In short, heat, rinse, and repeat.

There's also this weird tradition at the banya called париться веником, which involves being beaten with birch branches while you're in the sauna and is supposed to be pleasurable? Or maybe just good for your health in some way? I had it done to me, and I don't know if I would want it done all the time, but I guess it wasn't really uncomfortable either...

Anyhow, there may have been an assortment of напитки there. And I may have slightly overdone it. In fact, the title of this blog post may have been the soundtrack of my evening last night. But despite a slight headache and a hearty feeling of embarrassment in the morning, I felt normal again in class today.

Yesterday was also the first day of our lenten pact, пост, not to speak English until 6 pm every day. I was actually surprised at how difficult it was for my brain to switch back into English when it got to be 6 o clock. All of my sentences were really fragmented and Russian phrases kept popping into my head - it was kind of bizarre...

When I got home today, my host mother's sister was visiting so I briefly got to meet her while I was eating my dinner. Then later after we had all had some чай, my host father uttered the phrase, "мы поидём go lay down." It made my night.

Oh! I almost forgot to write about Leila's judo competition! It reminded me a lot of my brother's old wrestling matches, but it was surreal to see such young children competing! And Leila was the only girl in her division! She won her first match, but ended up losing her second two. Nadya told me later that this was the first time that she didn't win anything, so she was pretty bummed, but I was still really impressed! It lasted a pretty long time, but it was interesting for me, since I'd never seen a judo competition before. And I think Alina appreciated my iPhone games when we were passing time there, because she got me up to level 9 on Fling - she assured me that I could tell all my friends at home that I did it myself ;-)

Tomorrow is Friday, but it doesn't really feel like it because we have a regular class day on Saturday - in Russia, you apparently have to pay for your holidays. Это жизнь...

спасеб's for long weekends

home!
the kitchen/bath
at dacha

Well, I did not join a gym. The level of my indecisiveness this past month has been off the charts.... Despite wearing my tennis shoes to school and packing my purse with a sports bra and shorts, I nevertheless decided to buy a yoga mat on Friday at lunch instead of going to buy a gym membership. I actually ran stairs on Saturday morning when the family was out at Leilah's judo competition, but when I officially asked Nadia yesterday morning if I could run stairs, she said it wouldn't be a good idea because the neighbors would think it was strange. So I guess it's yoga, pilates, and Billy Blanks until the snow melts!

This weekend is super long because of the holiday on Tuesday (it's kind of like a Men's Day/Veterans Day mash up), so we were going to travel to Pskov as a group, but we kind of ran out of planning time, so we all just decided to stay here and relax and take in the city. On Friday night we all went to this place called Zoom Cafe for dinner and I had tongue salad - and it was actually quite tasty! I also had some tea with a flower in it.

After that we went to a pretty big bar called СПБ where you could get pretty cheap beer and had a fun time just hanging out together. The next day we went to the Hermitage and saw what we could see for about 3 or 4 hours - which was probably only a miniscule fraction of everything that is actually on display there - it's HUGE! But so cool - I can't believe that people actually used to live there - I would get so lost!

After that I stopped home for a quick minute and then headed back out to go to a blues club where a Russian band played and sang American blues songs - they played "Can't Buy Me Love"! A bunch of also made a pact that starting Wednesday we would give up speaking English until 6 pm for Lent - which if you think about it isn't so bad - most of that time we're in class speaking Russian anyway so it just cuts out lunch and a couple hours after class. Totally doable, but still challenging.

Then yesterday, I somehow ended up playing games with Alina, my host sister for the entire day while the rest of the family went grocery shopping. So I guess essentially I was babysitting and just didn't realize it.. We played Candyland, Guess Who?, hangman, MASH, hide-n-seek, tag, and then she taught me a handful of her own games, which involved traversing the room without touching the floor, naming colors and finding them before you get tagged, and a card game that I somehow won at, without ever fully grasping the rules. I finally got a break to finish putting on my makeup (we started playing games RIGHT after my shower) when she became entranced with the puzzle games on my iPhone. I'm not going to lie - I was a little exhausted.

Right after dinner I met some of the girls to go see Valentine's Day (in Russian) at a movie theater in the center. I felt like I understood the main idea of the plot pretty well and I really liked listening for the slang/idioms that the Russian voices used to say some of the things that we don't learn in class. Then after that we went to the club, Dacha, to see my tutor, Sasha, deejay. She was sooo amazing!! She has really great taste in music, so I'm really excited to get together with her so we can swap...

We ended up taking cabs home last night because the metro closes at 12:15 or so, and we had gotten kind of a late start because of the movie. But I got home fine with no problems, so it was fine. It's been SOOO cold this weekend though - I think I heard somewhere that the wind the past couple of days has made it feel like -15 degrees Fahrenheit! People's boogers and hair are freezing all over the place, and you have to concentrate really hard on every step you take so that you don't slip and fall on some ice or get impaled with a gigant-icle. But today it was a little warmer, and it wasn't so bad :-).

Today I slept in late and met with some friends to do homework at the cafe in the museum near school where I saw the exhibit on mirrors. It has a pretty chill, hipster-y atmosphere and really enormous tables, so it was a nice place to study. It's also looks right out onto this balcony-outdoor spot where it seems like they're always doing fashion photo shoots. I swear, it's like 15 degrees outside and there will still be some gorgeous Russian girl out there in a sleeveless mini-dress.

Now I'm back home and I think I'm going to have a chill night because I told my host family that I would go with them tomorrow to watch Leilah's judo competition and we're leaving around 7:30, I think. I'm excited to see what it will be like! Apparently, she's pretty good - she was the only girl at the competition on Saturday and she got 3rd place!

On Wednesday we get to go the Бания, which is like this very Russian spa-type place, where apparently they hit us with birch branches and we jump into extremely hot and cold water for the health benefits. Should be very interesting..... I'll keep you updated.

"crazy beaches"

We got to wear these lovely accessories on our feet in the palace...
Church of Spilled Blood
A taste of home..
Sushi with Nina and Jessica
My Bento Box

My host father is listening to "Du hast" by Rammstein in the next room. Lol.

Other than that, not much to report... Today was an excursion day to get our metro passes (yay! no more buying zhetony!!) and to Yusupov Palace (Юсуповский дворец) and it was really cool. These people were apparently loaded - just about every room had a different theme. One was all made of oak, one was all dark blue, one was in the style of the Romans, etc. And there were different floors for men, women, and children. I think my favorite part was the stairs. I really like stairs. And they would just pop up in the most random places in this palace, sometimes curvy, sometimes diverging into two, sometimes with a carpet down the center...

And the chairs all looked pretty comfy too, but you weren't allowed to sit on them, which was a bummer because we walked A LOT today.

We also got to see where Rasputin was murdered and a life-like model of the actual Rasputin - very attractive...

After the excursion, I went to have coffee at the dorm and then stopped at the mall at Sennaya Ploshad to buy a new purse. My mom said she was sending one with a zipper, but from what I hear, it could be a very long time before that package makes its way to St. Pete. And this one was a reasonable price. And it's big and red.

The other big news is that we have a 4-day weekend coming up - we get Monday and Tuesday off for what I THINK is like "Men's Day"? Or something? There seems to be some confusion about what this holiday is actually celebrating, but I'll get back to you when I figure that one out... Anyways since we have such a long weekend, we are going to try to take a little mini-trip. The peeps were talking about a place called Pskov, but plans are still uncertain. More to come about that soon, I hope...

Tomorrow my goal is to go and buy a gym membership. It's kinda pricey, but I think it will be worth it, since it doesn't sound like I'm allowed to use the treadmill... I kind of subtly brought up that I wanted to exercise because I used to run every day at home, but all Nadya said was, "Did you look for a fitness club with your friends?" SOO. I think that better be what I do.

I also had a pretty entertaining conversation with my host parents today about the importance of correct vowel pronunciation in the word "beach."

Here's some pics from today - I had sushi for the first time here nom nom nom...

tongue!

salty snacks from the sea!

mega-ginormic store


me and the mega mall

the mall

As you can see from my last post, I finally got my modem to work – hooray! I had to go back to the store again and sit for about an hour while Alexei, aka my hero, tinkered around with my computer until he got it to work. Meanwhile, he got out his MP3 player and had me try to transcribe an English techno song for him, without much success by me, I might add. He spoke English pretty well though and wants me to help him learn better English when I come in.


After I came home, I went with Nadya, Nazim, and Alina to a huge mall (Mega) – it had an IKEA, an H&M, a bunch of typical mall stores, a food court, and a giant Sam’s Club/Wal-mart/grocery store-like store! I bought a couple of basic shirts for layering and a little mirror for my purse. And at the grocery store we bought sooooo much food! We all got ice cream after shopping there and then proceeded to stop at yet another giant grocery store to get more food! I had a really good time though just looking at all the different foods and things that they sell there – I took a picture of the section for tongues J and I was so excited to see the dried raw fish snacks that they bought me some dried calamari. Num num num…


Today I went to church by myself at a Roman Catholic church (I think St. Catherine’s?) on Nevskii. The mass was in Russian, but the priest spoke slowly and clearly so I felt like I understood the vast majority of what he was saying. And the singing and the acoustics of the church were so beautiful that I thought I was going to cry! I definitely think I will add that to my weekly routine.


When I got back, Nadya had lunch ready for me – mashed potatoes, carrots, bread, and best of all – chicken heart! I was eating it and she was like, “So do you like the meat?” And I was like, “Yeah, tasty!” and she smiled that smile of hers and was like, “It’s heart of a chicken!” I was like, “Oh wow!” But honestly, it was pretty good, kind of the same texture as mushrooms. During lunch we talked about the Olympics. Nadya said that America always does well in running because we have a lot of black people. And she thinks that Michael Phelps takes steroids. Lol. Oh, Russia. I also found out that Nazim is from Azerbaijan and got to hear him speak a little bit of Azerbaijani, which I enjoyed. Apparently they visit his family there – it’s about a 3 and half hour plane ride away.


Today I don’t really have any major plans, so I guess I’m going to try and catch up on grant apps and my essay on our excursion for this week. My tutor texted me on Friday saying that she wanted to get together after 5 on Saturday, but then she never called, so I don’t really know what’s going on with that. She should be working at Dacha at 10 tonight though, so we will see what happens there.

wahoooo internetoooooo

sledding!
me and baba yaga
my room!
a lotta lexie
my head

February 12, 2010

I am currently not able to access the internet, so I haven’t been able to blog anything for a while! I’m worried that if I don’t write anything down now, then I won’t remember it – and so much has happened already!

First of all, I moved out of the dorm and into the apartment with my host family, which has been wonderful (despite the whole no internet thing)! I live with two young parents, Nadia and Nazim, and their two gorgeous daughters, Alina and Leila, 7 and 12. The apartment is tiny (ie. the shower is in the kitchen, the girls’ bedroom is also the living room, etc.), but comfortable. My bed takes up pretty much my entire room, but I have a desk and a dresser, so I have everything that I need.

One of the most difficult things that I had to deal with was the key to the apartment. It’s kind of an old fashioned key and you have to really jiggle it around in the keyhole until it fits – definitely took some practice, but I’m pretty sure that I’ve got it down. Nadia makes my breakfast and dinner, which have all been successes so far, even though I’m not always sure what kind of meat that I’m eating. Whenever I ask Nadia, she just kind of smiles as if she’s playing some kind of joke on me, but I feel healthy so far! What everyone’s been saying about Russian mothers liking to feed their kids is definitely true though! I have to tell her that I’m full a couple times every meal and she still brings me more food! For breakfast, I’ve been getting бутрбродs with an assortment of toppings (mystery meat, cheese, hotdogs) and this morning I got творог (kind of like cottage cheese) with pineapples! For dinner, I've always had borshch or some kind of soup, bread, and a meat & potatoes combo. And with everything, I always have tea – and she ALWAYS brings out the cookies to go with it! Oooh my, so much – at least, I have to walk everywhere to burn some of it off.

I walked to school all by myself today for the first time, so I was pretty proud. It's only about a 15 or 20 minute walk, but I was carrying my computer today so it was kind of tiring. I had to take my computer so that after school I could stop at the store where I bought my modem because when I tried to set it up, it didn't work. Actually, the story of how I bought my modem is a pretty good one in itself.

After school yesterday I had some time to kill before this Russian-American discussion group that I had decided to go to at 5:00, so I went to go buy a modem, so that I could use the internet. So when I asked the guy at the store about a particular brand that I wanted to buy, he told me that I should actually buy a different one because it was faster and also cheaper. I asked him why it was cheaper and he just kind of smiled and shrugged, so I decided to believe him anyway and just buy it. It ended up taking forever though because when he found out I was from America, he wanted to know all about what I was doing in Russia, why I was studying there, what America was like, etc. I even ended up giving him a penny because he had never had any American money. And when I was reading out my telephone number for him, he wanted to know if it was true that when Americans read out the number 'zero,' they sometimes read it as 'Oh,' which I guess I'd never really thought about. It was pretty entertaining talking to him actually, but I ended up being late to the discussion group because it took so long.

Even getting to the discussion group was kind of an adventure, because I was alone and only had a vague idea of what street it was on. It ended up being on the fourth floor of this library-like building behind a gate, so I was really proud to have found it, even if I was about 25 minutes late. The discussion group was really fun – the first half is always in English and the second half was in Russian and our topic this week was love, since Valentine's Day is coming up. I talked a bunch when we were speaking in English, but not as much in the Russian half. After the discussion was over though, I talked to a bunch of the Russians and even ended up exchanging numbers with a few of them – one of them even accompanied me all the way to my metro stop! So I definitely think that I will go back again next week.

Today was not as successful of a day. Like I said, I couldn't get my modem to work, so I went back to the store to see if the people there could help me install it. But the guy that sold it to me wasn't working today and the guys that were working tried and tried with no more success than I had. They ended up asking me to come back tomorrow when the guy that knew better how to install them would be working, so that is what I will have to do I suppose. After that, I went to the dormitory to Nathan's office hours to use his scanner and printer so that I can turn in my application to ACTR for the summer. I was going to print and scan my other grant apps for ND as well, but my computer battery died before I could email them to myself. Nonetheless, I at least got the ACTR form signed and scanned so as soon as I can get internet, I can send that off. After I had done that and was trying to leave, I ended up getting trapped in a hallway in the dorm and had to call Nathan to come and get me out. Somehow I have a knack for getting myself into situations like that.

But at least I made it home alive for some nom noms. And I did get that one thing accomplished. No plans for tonight yet. The other kids at school sounded like they might want to do something tonight, but noone's called me or anything yet so I don't know if we're doing anything. I know that Kaitlin and Lexie were going to be volunteering at this children's school until 9 though, so if they're doing something it won't be until after that.

Alina and Leila had judo training (that's right, judo - just like Putin) tonight, so the apartment's pretty quiet right now… I almost feel like I could fall asleep if I laid down, but it's only 8 o' clock so I probably should NOT do that.

Tomorrow night, I think I'm supposed to hang out with my tutor sometime after 5, but I'm not sure what we're doing yet. I really need to buy just a small mirror for my room though – there's only two really in the house, the one in the hall and the one in the kitchen/bathroom and I feel like I could take up a lot less time in the bathroom if I just had one in my room. I also need one of those big bottles of water, and, of course, my modem.

Nazim was asking my last night if I wanted to go ice skating this weekend, but I'm not sure if we will or not. He makes me laugh – he always gets really excited when he gets to try out the English that he knows. In general, I've had some pretty good conversations with all of them so far, I think. I attempted to help Leilah with her English homework yesterday (trying to explain what the Scotland highlands were in Russian was a challenge) and Alina tried to help me figure out how to get my SIM card in my modem yesterday – she is so adorable! Nadia has been really helpful with teaching me the ways of the house and the family (taking off my shoes and switching to slippers when I walk in, where/how I should clean off my dishes, etc.) and she usually sits and talks with me while I eat my meals. She really likes Patrick Swayze – she showed me a picture of him on her phone haha.

Fingers crossed that this will go up in the blogosphere soon!

Oh, wow I just remembered that I didn't even write about our awesome excursion to the Maslenitsa park on Wednesday! Basically we just played in the snow and went sledding (on tubes) on this huge slide/hill thing.. We also got to go to that exhibition after - it was all about mirrors! I took some pretty cool pics posted above…

lazy sundays

This weekend's events:

- waited in line in the 10 degree weather for an art museum for 40 minutes, before deciding we couldn't take the cold any more and we'd just come back Monday (but I did get to see the coolest shoe invention I've ever seen - high heeled snow boots (pictured))

- finally dined at the famed Samovar where the taste of the blinis and tea is almost as delightful as the price

- washed my clothes by hand in the sink and dried them on the radiator - more fun than you might expect, I kind of felt like the mother in that scene in Willy Wonka

- bought my first bottle of champagne from the grocery store and didn't drink it

- had one too many of the one dollar cherry cough syrup flavored shots at fidel's and paid for it the next morning

Overall, it was a pretty sweet weekend. Today's been a pretty lazy day, just doing homework and writing emails and such at the hotel, but I was talking to Lexie today and we basically decided that you can never have a boring day here. Everywhere you go and everything you do is so completely different from life at home that even washing your clothes has its fun points. Still to come (hopefully soon): tales of my transition into life with a host family!

Будные дни!

Finally, the weekend is here!

Thursday and Friday were basically just normal class days so I didn't blog anything for them right away. On Thursday we had two параs of grammar and one of our elective. Mine was линговокултурология, which is basically the study of Russian culture through language. Based on the first class, it sounds like it's going to be pretty awesome because we're going to learn about Russian fairy tales, folklore, songs, etc. The teacher and the other students in the class are also super laid back. We basically spent most of the class yelling out all the Russian words we knew for fruits and vegetables (because in many Russian fairy tales, those are the main characters! Monday we're going to read about the little pepper - it's just like Veggietales!). We definitely spent a good 10 minutes alone trying to figure out the Russian word for cantaloupe with no success. I am also excited because our teacher said that when the weather gets nicer, we're going to have most of our classes outside so we can go and observe different forms of Russian art in Petersburg!

On Friday we had 2 параs of conversation and one of phonetics - 2 classes that I've never really had before in college. I actually really enjoyed them both as well! Our teacher for conversation class told us that we could basically talk about whatever we want, even though we have a book that we can use as a guide when we want. We spent a lot of the time learning all the vocabulary for makeup and she told us that we will spend a class over at the market with her to practice the vocabulary that is used there. So I think it will be a very useful class! Phonetics was also really cool - it's really interesting because there's not really a lot of thinking involved, but we have to try extremely hard to make these sounds that don't really exist in English. I swear I would repeat a sound that the teacher said and think that I'd done it exactly right only to find that I had completely botched the sound to the ears of a Russian. I got a kick out of it though (or a "drive" as Kate says...). I was also really excited because at the end of the class we sang "Мыленкий ты мой" which I had sung for Russian ensemble back in freshman year!

After class yesterday I got laughed at by the Russian cashier lady when we went to a продуты to get some food for dinner. You had to pay for different things at different cash registers so after I paid for my bread and cheese (bread was like 50 cents!), I went over to the other counter to buy a Jaguar (this insane drink that Russians love - it's like an alcoholic Redbull that kind of tastes like liquid flinstone vitamins). After I'd paid, I thought that I had to wait for my receipt (because the other cashier lady had given me one) so I was just kind of standing there, but Kaitlin hadn't seen me pay, so she was saying, "Jaime, go ahead and pay her." So I automatically thought that I'd heard the cashier wrong and that I still owed her 10 roubles or something so I started digging in my pouch, really confused. Then the lady started laughing and yelling "Девушка! заплатила, заплатила!" which meant that I'd already paid and didn't need to do anything else. It was pretty funny.

When we got home we watched Jurassic Park in Russian and then we met up with some other students at this American bar called The Other Side. It's cool because it has American food (like chips & salsa, bagels, mozzarella sticks, etc.) and live music at night (there was a blues group there called Black & White last night). We had fun hearing some of the ridiculous stories from some of the students that were here last semester.

Today I think we're going spend some time exploring the Hermitage (it's nice because it's free for students). I should probably get some of my homework done as well, and buy some gifts for my host family (Nathan said that we would probably arrange to have a meeting either this weekend or Monday, but that he talked to them and they were ready for me to move in whenever, so that made me feel better). OH and do laundry! But I need some detergent, so I'll have to find that as well - maybe we'll go to the combo laundry/club that is on our street... that would be an experience!

До свидание!

The Death-sicles
Herzen University Tour
Winter Palace

On the Neva River

Yesterday was an excursion day so we were free until 3:15 pm. Kate and I decided to walk over to see the Hermitage, the Winter Palace, and the the Neva River. It was absolutely too beautiful for words, especially with all the fresh snow on the ground. Everyone just seemed happier that morning.

The excursion around one of the university's campus was cool, but I couldn't understand everything that the guide was saying. Two random Russian students pretended to be a part of the tour for a little while though and Kaitlin and I ended up meeting them, so that was fun. Then we went and got our library card photos taken and had some dinner before we went to meet our tutors for bowling.

My tutor ended up coming late, but she was sooo cool! She's 28 and a DJ at the club that we went to last night. She spoke pretty fast at first, but then slowed down when I needed her to. I didn't end up bowling (even though I got the shoes), but we both got drinks (I had beer with kuracou - I'm sure I spelled that wrong - syrup, so it was green!! and delicious) and just talked.

Gotta go to class now - at least we have just 2 more days till the weekend!

Chris's день рожденья

Yesterday was our first day of classes and I thought they went pretty well... Our regular class is just three people: Me, Kaitlin, and Brittany. We had grammar first for an hour and a half with Tatyana Alexandrovna. I thought it was funny how true the things that everyone warned us about were - she actually did give us suggestions on what to wear for the winter and made Brittany put on her scarf when she thought she was cold. And after a girl with a scarf around her head and a tanner complexion popped her head in, she made the comment that "Oh! She must be Turkish or something..." She also sang opera pretty unexpectedly one time during class.

Then we had politologia (politics and political history of Russia) for 2 units. For that day we had it together with everyone in the semester program. Apparently we will have 2 teachers, but yesterday only Sergey was there. He basically just did a powerpoint on what the class was going to be like and then we did an interview with our neighbors and introduced them to the class. After that we played a game and took a "fun quiz."

Last night was also Chris's 21st bday so we went out to the bars for the first time. It was kind of disorganized and we don't have everyone's number yet so only a few of us were able to make it. Our RD came though haha! And I think he drank enough that he had a pretty good time, I hope... I stayed classy and drank champagne for most of the night. There was this nutso dancing guy with a pipe that someone nicknamed "Charlie Chaplin" that kept us entertained for a while also.

Today we have a tour of the college campus at 3:15 and then tonight we will go bowling to meet with our tutors for the first time. I'm a pretty crappy bowler though, so hopefully they won't judge me too harshly....

testing over, cue sigh of relief.

Here's some pics of my dorm room/bathroom (excuse the mess...)

Note the cool lamp.

Also check out my awesome omelette from the downstairs cafe.

Today was a pretty epic day. We went to the class building for the first time this morning to have testing to figure out which class and level we would be in for the semester - Brittany, Kaitlin, and I (all the ND kids) apparently ended up in one class! I'm not sure if it's just us, but it seemed like it might be, which is pretty funny, but I guess not THAT outrageous, since we did all learn Russian from the same sources.

After we had our testing we went to Italian for lunch and I had the special, which yet again, came at a pretty amazingly reasonable price.. about 5 bucks for a salad, soup, pasta, a little dessert, and tea! And they were decent-sized portions! After lunch we had a little meeting back at the hotel with our RD and we paid for and received most of our textbooks.

When I met with Nathan to get my textbooks, he asked me how the dorm was and whether I was still interested in him setting me up with a host family because he apparently had one in mind for me.. I told him that the dorm had been just fine, but then afterwards, my Catholic guilt started to kick in and I started wondering whether I should consider switching into a family. When some of the girls and I went grocery shopping (cool experience, btws, more on that later) I told them how I was feeling and asked what they thought. One of the girls told me that if I had really felt like I could go either way (which I had said that I did when I filled out the app.) then she really thought that staying with a host family would be a good idea. And the more I think about it, the more I'm sure that I will feel better if do.

So later on, Nathan stopped by to help a girl that had been staying in our room for the night move in with her host family and I told him that I was reconsidering his offer if it was still possible to arrange. He told me that I should definitely sleep on it and then let him know and he would arrange a meeting with the family if I wanted.. So far I feel like that is what I am going to do. I feel like that way I can be sure to get equal amounts of language practice as everyone else without really having to seek it out like I would here. Ooh, my evil, fickle mind.

After he left, Kaitlin and Lexy made themselves dinners from what they bought at the grocery store, but I didn't really buy any dinner foods when I went, so I brought my Kindle downstairs to the cafe to get some food ($3 for a salad, tea, and vegetable spaghetti!). So I was just minding my own business, reading Anna Karenina and enjoying my meal, when all of a sudden, Nathan was like, "What are you reading?" He and Bridgid were waiting on her cab so they came to get some coffee at the cafe to pass the time. So I brought my food over to their table and ate with them. We ended up having a pretty sweet conversation about religious upbringing (the effect of Catholic schooling on a person's future religion, relgious views on sexuality, atheism, etc.). So that ended up being a nicer meal than I expected.

Then back in the room later on, Cheryl ended up coming over because apparently she was having some drama with her host family that she's not exactly sure what to do about yet.. Which is a little ironic since she's the one that strongly recommended staying with a host family. But I almost feel like that's all the more reason why I can trust her instincts, if that makes any sense....

Welp, I think I'm going to try and shower BEFORE bed tonight and see how it goes.. wish my hair tomorrow luck!