В Нижнем Новгороде

Wow. Where to start? We took the overnight train from Saint Petersburg to Nizhni Novgorod, a smooth 16 hours. Our train was very nice, and we slept well. We crossed parts of Russia where all you saw after 100 miles was a small village of huts, out in the middle of nowhere. Apparently these people will commute to the next largest town in their vicinity and work at factories and the like. I can't imagine.

Nizhni Novgorod is very different from St. Pete, much dirtier, smaller and less magnificent than St. Petersburg. Although Nizhni does have it's own set of wow factors: It is situated on the banks of the Volga and Oka rivers, so there's a good view over the banks to the rivers and the other half of the city below. Nizhni was named Gorky during the soviet times, and incidently was the hometown of Russian writer Maxim Gorky.

We are all getting used to Russian dormitory life, with the seatless toilets (I still don't understand?!) that can't flush toilet paper (oops) the meals in the столовая, the babushkas that yell at you (waaaaah) when you try to use the wrong doors, and the incessantly difficult-to-lock doors. But life here is good. We started classes today, Russian in the morning and cultural insight (I don't know what else to call it) classes in the afternoons. Our teacher gives us a lot of material, but that's why it's called an "intensive Russian" course, I guess. Although we have class for three hours in the morning, we get a Чай (tea) break, and it goes by fast. Fun fact: Russian students have only one test at the end of the year, unlike how we do it in the states with tests throughout the year.

The Russian students who are part of the "International Club" threw us a party when we got here on Friday. Russians expect entertainment at their parties, and the students had a bunch of songs and dances ready to show us. We gave them a skit. Ate a bunch of food, and then, my friends, we disco-ed :)

Well, hopefully I will have internet on the campus soon, and I can write more, but right now I have to share the computer with everybody else. So, for now, пока!