So – days one and two are finally at a close. We left Detroit a little later than our
scheduled 9:40pm departure time, but with our four hour layover in Paris, a
little delay doesn’t really hurt anyone.
The whole travel experience was made up mostly of sleeping, but my
little triumph for the day was that they did have vegetarian meals for me and
the other two veggies. So… hooray! Arriving back here in Moscow was a really
strange experience. The name of the game
for me today has been “cognitive dissonance.”
How can I be having a once in a lifetime experience twice? Coming through passport control, claiming our
bags, being met by our fabulous liaison Настя – it was all so foreign, but all
so familiar. In particular, it’s nuts to
come halfway around the world to have someone you know hug you and say how nice
it is to see you again. Weird.
So we bussed out to the dorm – it was right where I left
it. I have a bigger room this year,
since I’m the RA/Den mother/house frau, which is nice. And there are a bunch of other American
students around this summer as well, so that should be an interesting little
cultural exchange within a cultural exchange.
Mostly, once we got to the dorm, we met to plan out
tomorrow, there were plenty of complaints that we don’t have web access yet,
and plenty of disbelieving stares when I broke the news that we don’t
flush toilet paper here. I already have
my guesses as to who’s going to be high maintenance, who’s going to be late all
the time, who’s going to be easily distracted… so we’ll see whether I turn out
to be right. But overall, I have a good
feeling about this group.
Things I’ve forgotten: scotch tape, the correct extra bag
(the one I brought is my tiny red one, not my medium red one) and my copy of
Chekhov’s plays.
Things I should have forgotten: I packed way too many
clothes. This is extremely unlike
me.
I get the feeling that homesickness is going to be a bit
stronger for me this year…but once we get started, I don’t think I’ll have too
much time to notice.
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