(Insert "In Soviet Russia" reversal joke here)

So, at last, after a long summer in Chicago and a two-day orientation in Washington DC, I've arrived here in St. Petersburg.  More accurately, I arrived yesterday.  I've been so busy that this is my first opportunity to update on here, and the only reason for that is that I decided to stay in rather than go out to the bars with a bunch of my fellow ACTR participants.  So instead, I'm here, drinking a Baltika (Russia's best beer according to the man who works at the nearest продукты (pronounced: pro-dook-tee) and silently typing away at my computer alongside my Hungarian roommate, David.  I'll post a picture of David when I get around to uploading files from my camera.


As the orientation is scarcely worth mentioning, I'll move right along to my now two days spent here in St. Petersburg.  On day 1 we arrived absolutely exhausted.  Most of us had not managed any sleep on either of our plane rides, lasting about seven and a half hours between DC and Frankfurt, and then about three and a half hours between Frankfurt and Peter. No baggage was lost whatsoever, which it seems may be a first for the program.


We immediately went from the airport to the dorm where we spend the first two nights. It was raining when we arrived, as it so often is this time of year here. We went out to dinner at a pretty typical Russian casual restaurant with counter service.  The place had a poorly translated English menu. Our favorite translation was "Language the beef broiled".  As it turns out, the word "tongue" and "language" are the same in Russian, so this was really broiled tongue, which is quite popular in Russia.  I got something that translated to "Chicken on-the-home", as well as a piroghki filled with meat.  


After dinner, exhaustion set in and many of us headed to the dorm to rest up, but most us eventually found a second wind and decided to hang out in the common space.  We bought a bottle of vodka (русскии стандарт) and a bottle of truly awful champagne.  Later, we also bought some sausage, bread, and a jar of both pickled tomatoes and cucumbers (delicious).


Today we got to sleep in (good after staying up nearly 35 hours straight) and went out to explore the city a bit.  Our most productive activity was purchasing cell phones, which took a VERY long time. We've since been hanging out around the dorm, meeting some other international students.


Tomorrow, our host families (in my case, one woman) will come to pick us up and take us home with them for the first time.  It's both exciting and intimidating.  I know for a fact that my homestay is one of the farthest away from the university, which I'm too pleased about, but I'm sure my hostess will be very inviting.  That's all for now, thanks for reading.