First Impressions

Hey! 

So it has been two and a half crazy days in Russia. In the time since my parents dropped me off at the Raleigh Airport I have spent over ten hours on planes, visited my tenth and eleventh airports which resulted in extreme confusion, passed through Russian customs without any problems (I was certain that my Craisins would not make it through airport security, much less customs), and met way more friendly, helpful Russians than I can remember.

The hardest and most stressful portion of my travels came not with my entry into Russia, but in my attempts to traverse an American airport. JFK has to be the most incomprehensible airport. Two hours of my five hour layover were spent attempting to find my bags (since I was switching airlines and they did not automatically transfer), dragging them to the Aeroflot check-in counter, which I could not locate for a long while, and waiting for what felt like two hours in a unmoving line to hand over my check bags, pay another set of baggage fees, and pass through airport security. Again. Yet my luck changed when I met up with three of the other Americans students I would be spending the semester with. 

My arrival in Russia was marked with much less confusion and no worries except for the initial concern that our baggage would not arrive. We walked through customs without event and met up with one of the Russian professors in charge of the program and two Russian students, Денис and Mаксim (Dennis and Maxim) who helped us with our luggage and took us to our new home.

We are living on the fifth floor of a twenty-two story building that brings to mind recollections of past Soviet times. The elevators we initially used to transport our luggage have remained unused since the first day when we pressed the button for our floor and wound up on the 21st floor. The Soviet nostalgia is present throughout the campus with statues and monuments laden with snow including old Soviet cars and tractors on display in front of the agricultural engineering buildings.

In the morning we will take a tour of the city. This will be our first opportunity to see the Kremlin, Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral, and other areas of interest. Well I need some sleep. 

Bye Everyone!