Camp

Hi Guys!

I just got back from a fun four days at at a Russian summer camp! It is a camp owned by our university, so most of the people there were students at the Linguistics University, and almost all were learning English. It was a lot of fun. The camp was about an hour and a half out of the city, and it was in the woods, as were many, many, many mosquitoes. Russian mosquitoes, it should also be noted, are ENORMOUS. There was also a lake and a nice beach where we swam some, but it was a man-made lake leftover from the Soviet era, and it was very shallow, so it was kind of hard to swim. You could probably walk all the way across it. We took boats across the lake to go berry-picking one day, and we also did things like have a sand-castle building contest, and sing American karaoke for the Russian students. It was nice to relax- we celebrated the 4th of July there, and we had to make a short skit telling the history of the 4th of July for all the Russian students. We attempted to sing the National Anthem in the middle of it, not too successfully. We still had class there, but less frequently, and they were more low-key. On the last day there, in our history class, we learned that it was Ivan Kupala Day (an old Russian pagan god.) Apparently, people celebrate Ivan Kupala Day by having beach parties! I was in a cabin with 3 other girls in our group, and our cabin was literally located right next to the beach. We got to our cabin late, after our evening camp activities, and our cabin was shaking from the music they were playing. It was as if someone had placed loudspeakers in every corner of the tiny cabin. So at first it was fun- they were playing American pop music that we all knew, so we danced along in our cabin, and then we got tired, so we just kind of sat in the main room in the dark and talked (and really confused our Resident Director when she came to check on us.) The music got progressively worse, and progressively louder as the night wore on. We ended up falling asleep probably around 4 am once it ended. Looking back on it, it's actually hilarious, but I am very, very tired.

Today we left the camp, and we spent the day touring around a small Russian town called Gorodets. It was really pretty, and we visited a museum entirely of samovars! That's not something you see every day.

Then we took a bus back to the university, where each of us got on our local buses to go home. "Home" as in our host families' houses. It was kind of odd, after spending 4 days with our group of Americans outside of the city, to be going "home"- except it's not really home, it's someone else's home in an entirely different country! But I am really settling in well, and having a great time.

More soon!

Nina

Not in Kansas Anymore

Hi Everybody!

I realize it's been quite a long time since I last posted on here, but yes...I am now in Russia! I have been here so far exactly a week, and I've just been too busy to post anything. The orientation in DC was fun, and then last Saturday we all flew out of DC. We had an all-night flight, and then we landed in Moscow around 10 am local time. Then, our Nizhny group (there are 14 of us) got on a bus for about six hours, where we pretty much alternated between sleeping, singing Eminem songs, and frantically looking up words in Russian so that we would be able to communicate with our host families later.

(Oh yeah, host families!)

I have a very lovely host family. My host mom's name is Elena, my host dad is Anatoly, and my host sister is named Olesya. She is 16. I was also happy to discover they have pets; they have a dog and two cats, which is the same as my American family. We live in an apartment on the 9th floor. It's very cozy.

This is basically my daily schedule:

-Wake up at 8 am, eat breakfast, get dressed, etc
-Walk to the bus stop at 9:10-ish
-Take bus to the university
-10 am: First class, Russian history
-11 am: First Russian lesson of the day
-11:50 ish: Ten minute break
-12 pm: Second Russian lesson
-1 pm: Walk to cafe for lunch
-2 pm: Last Russian lesson of the day

Usually there is something after this as well; either consultation with the teachers or going on some excursion. Then I take the bus home, eat, do homework, usually eat again when my host parents come home from work, and then do something with my host sister. Yesterday was Saturday, so I pretty much caught up on sleep all day, did homework, and then my host sister took me to this amusement park. Unfortunately, between the two of us we were scared of most of the rides, so we ended up just going on 3. But there was this lovely path through the woods that went along the Volga, so we walked there, and some guy took a picture of us, which was kinda awkward.

Well, I have to go-- will try and post again soon!

-Nina

Host family(s)!

So, at long last, two days before I leave, I have received my host family information! I will have a host dad, host mom, and a host sister (but it doesn't say her age.) I am going to try and email them before I go. I don't have much information about them, but I am so excited to meet them next week!

Packing is essentially done, I'm just finishing a few projects around the house before I go.

Oh, and this isn't related to my trip to Russia, but my (American) family is probably going to be hosting an exchange student for this upcoming school year through AFS! We had an in-home interview for it yesterday. The girl that we might be hosting is 15 (my age), from Thailand, and she has a lot of similar interests. It sounds like she would probably be arriving around 2 days after I get back from Russia, which seems sort of crazy, but I don't care- I'm excited for the possibility of having family members from all across the globe.

Nina

12 Days

Привет!

What happens in 12 days? THAT'S RIGHT! I WILL BE IN DC! Which means the first leg of my journey to Nizhny Novgorod, Russia! We spend approximately a day and a half-ish there before boarding the plane to Moscow (still not clear on how we're getting to Nizhny from Moscow- I'm guessing taking a train or something- but we have a direct flight to Moscow from DC.) I think I'm as excited for the orientation as I am for actually going to Russia, just because it's the start of it all. Yesterday I got a memorandum thing in my email all about the NSLI-Y orientation, and today I got my final flight itinerary/e-plane-ticket to DC from my home city [classified because this is a public blog, though probably the only people who bother to read it know me personally.]

Last week I made a photo album online with pictures of my town/life in the U.S. to show my host family, and it came in the mail yesterday. I'm really excited to show it to them, because I'm guessing it will be a good conversation starter. Unfortunately, I still don't know anything about my host family. I've been stalking my email like a crazy person for the past week because I think all the other American Councils Russia summer groups have gotten their family's information already, but the Nizhny group still hasn't yet. I would kind of like to have an older host sibling, since I'm the oldest of two in my house (my sister is 2 years younger than me). It would also be fun to have a much younger host sibling, because I love little kids. But I don't really have any preferences. I'm sure I'll love whoever I end up with, and I know I'll feel bad later if I go into the whole host family thing with any strong set opinions before I even know anything about my host family. So I'm keeping an open mind, but I desperately want to know! I just checked my email again. No, really.

The good news is, I now officially leave in less than two weeks! Which means I can't be more than a week away from getting my host family information.

Cheers to staying positive!

-Nina

The dreaded visa application

So, this morning, I very productively woke up and dutifully filled out my visa application. It is now somewhere in the depths of FedEx.

A girl posted this on one of the NSLI-Y facebook groups, and I think it describes the process of filling out a visa fairly accurately:

http://thetimeistudiedabroad.tumblr.com/post/22049230037/when-i-try-to-apply-for-my-visa

But it was a learning experience, as I hope to travel to many more countries in the future. You guessed it, that means more visas!

Love,

Nina

Thoughts, and Cheburashka :)

So, after publishing my last post, it occurred to me to write about a really great experience I had last weekend. In February, I participated in a Russian Olympiada (a competition of spoken Russian) where I met some kids that were heritage speakers of Russian. They participate in a local Russian children's theatre group that performs at nursing homes, libraries, etc. For Russian Victory Day, last weekend they performed at two different nursing homes with significant populations of Russian people. There were a bunch of kids of all ages, and they performed different poems and songs related to Victory Day. I got to participate- I performed a poem called Война, Война (War, War) and I also got to announce each of the presentations in English for any American people in the audience. It was a really wonderful experience, because practically everything was in Russian and it was great immersion. I am to the point where I can understand a lot of what is said in Russian, but it's harder for me to speak it myself. One of the things I am most excited about in going to Russia is letting the Russian part of my brain take over and just having the opportunity to speak it whenever I want to!

On a random note, I am watching the end of Saturday Night Live right now and am getting teary eyed because it's the end of the season :'(

On a more Russian-related note, here is a picture of my very favorite Russian cartoon character! His name is Cheburashka, and he is a cheburashka. His best friend is a crocodile named Gena, and he was found in a crate of oranges, being mistaken for an orange.

Okay, bye for now!

Nina

In the meantime...

Well, it's been a while since my last post. Since then, I have completed all three of my Russian placement tests (1 grammar, 1 reading and listening, and one oral) and sent all my paperwork to the NSLI-Y/American Councils people over in DC. I also had to send in a picture of myself, which will the first impression that my host family has of me. Probably the most stress felt over a single photograph that I have ever experienced. The only things I have left to do in the 34 days left until I leave for orientation in DC are fill out my visa application, which I will probably get in the next week or so, get my host family information (early June sometime) continue studying Russian, and pack! I think I'm going shopping this weekend, it will be a long process.... My school stuff is all starting to wind down. I have a big paper due on June 1st, about two weeks from now, so once that hurdle is over I can seriously think about leaving! Until then, Nina