Awesome Tram People

So, this is going to be short, but I wanted to put it out there. I was on the tram today on my way home when we got stopped. Why? There was a car stuck in the snow over the tracks. So what did they do about it? Well, what anybody would do. They opened the doors and asked all the men to get out and help! .... And they did! Like 8 people at the back of a little car (like 3 of which were these probably 12 year old boys) managed to get it off the tracks and onto the road in no time at all.

Congratulations, random tram people. My day is a little better because of you.

:DD

Things that make me Happy!

I've decided to put up a post just about the things that make me happy here... because it makes me happy, and maybe you'll find it interesting. ;D

1) I love that you can change words around in a sentence to make it sound better, in any way you want. Well, you might sound weird, but it's not grammatically incorrect.))
2) I love that Russian is such a pretty language and that I can speak it (mostly... well, usually)
3) I love that I thought that my teacher told the class to be late to school, and when I said as much, she said in English, "That's impossible!"
4) I love that I can't put my finger on the Russian accent... What does it sound like???
5) I love that we put sour cream in our soup
6) I love that the snow on the ground looks like a movie set when it's lit up at night. I swear that everyone just puts sparkles on the ground.
7) I think it's great that with my Thai friend, we speak Russian.
8)I love that I hear gunshots sometimes and freak out, and then realize that someone is setting off fireworks and I can watch them out the window.
9) I love my earmuffs and my gloves with the adorable poof on them and my new skinny jeans that look soo good
10) I love that I get to send postcards to people
11) I love that I understand songs and TV shows, even if I don't get all the words. Oh, and conversations. That's prolly important too. ;D
12) I love that when Putin's on the news his voice sounds so... normal.
13) I love that there's a Lenin statue in the center of town that I just found out is not in fact pointing to Moscow, but to COMMUNISM. Yes.
14) I love that seeing the Lenin statue is really normal, as well as all the onion top churches.
15) I love that Harry Potter is Gary Potter in Russian
16) I love that when I realize that it's only going to be -10 C, I am happy at how warm it's going to be
17) I love that I have so many things that I love
18) I love my host family, and I am so grateful that I live here in this town with them

I think I'll stop for now, just so that I don't drag on. Emily VanLoo, I completely stole this from you (although you didn't specifically set it aside as what you love) and reading your blog makes me feel better about being here. I am glad that everyone around the world is having a good time, and I am sorry for those of you that aren't. Please comment or just send me messages on facebook because I'd love to hear from anyone who is reading this!

I love you all, and miss you like crazy!

the girl who went to Russia,

Bettina

So...much... to say

I think the title explains a little, but I'll start by saying SORRY!! I have been amazingly busy (and out of town). But now I'm back and I will try to type more often, prolly shorter blogs. Anyways, I'll brush through my trip and put in a lot of pictures instead ;D

So I think everyone knows (maybe not) that I went to Krasnadar and Sochi in the south of Russia. I sent out lots of cards and I hope they reach everyone well. It was nice to be in the warm of the south and I saw the Black Sea, vacation spot of the Tsars (as well as many other Russians throughout history). So that was great.

But I am amazingly glad to be back in Yaroslavl again, just in time for the start of the snowy season! It has been snowing an almost constantly for a week (Although we had a bit of a melt yesterday, so yay-lots of ice....) but it is sooo beautiful!!! I will take more pics, prolly put up a vid about it on Youtube too.

The Black Sea!! The first one is just me (obviously...) and the second is of the sunset over the sea. It was so beautiful, I was almost shocked. It reminded me a lot of home, but there was also a different feel to it. It was great! XDD













Krasnodar! The left one is a bell thing for Catherine the Great, and the right one is our group. We were just walking in this amazingly autumnal park and... well, you can see. ;D












The picture here on the right is me and Ploy when we were playing in the snow!!! Our friend taught us a really cool trick that a lot of Russians do. We basically rubbed a frozen puddle to unfreeze a little part, stuck coins in, and then let them freeze over again. Voila! Art, beneath the ice! ;D It was so fun, and Ploy was super confused about the fact that we were just going to leave the money there! Hahaha, she is so cute.


Finally, this last picture (and actually another picture up a little bit of Dinara and her boyfriend Kostya). These are from Thanksgiving!!! We had our own Thanksgiving here, Russian style. We had a sort of cheesecake-y pear cake thing, the dark meat from the turkey (because it's really hard to find a full turkey here that's not so big it doesnt fit in our oven) and then pear slices and juice. XDD Oh, and tea--but that's a given. Pretty much can't do anything without a cup of tea here. Seriously, it just about gave Inna a heartattack for the longest time when I would run out of time and not be able to drink tea. She would yell as I went out the door "Don't forget to get some tea at school!"

Anyways. That's all for now. Again soon I hope, and Happy Holidays!

Bettina


And that's a heart, by the way (in case you can't tell) that I made in the snow

Plios!

So, yesterday, I went on an excursion to the (sort of) near by town, Plios. I don't know if anyone has ever heard of it (I hadn't) but it is very historical (I'm not sure exactly why, but I know that there were Tartars here and that it's like 900 years old (or something). So that's cool! It was soo beautiful, and it was also the home to the famous Russian artist Levitan (I have never heard of him... I think I might be a bad person...) and I think I'm going to live there some day (along with all of the other places I've said that about--yes, I know I say it a lot... ;.; )

Anyways. We went with another school and its archeology teacher (they have archeology at that school!!!!) so we ended up hiking up into the hills, which in like three inch wedges is not safe. Heck, it wasn't safe for the people in better walking shoes. It was very wet because of the recent rain, and it snowed at random intervals throughout the day (omg, I know!!!! ;)

Besides that, we also went into a really cool old Russian house (now museum type thing) where a lady dressed in traditional costume talked (about what, I'm not sure... I did get a bit of it though!) and we ate some porridge. I'm not totally sure why... maybe they're famous for their... porridge...? Haha, I kind of hope not. I'm pretty sure it was like traditionally made, or something. So that was cool.

I'm really tired now... I'm going to see if I can't sleep a bit. ;.;

Mostly just really international

Ok. So, yes, I completely realize how long it's been since I put up anything, and I sincerely apologize. I have been soo busy!

So, straight into things! It has been verry multi-culti here in Yaroslavl the last couple of weeks! I'll start from the beginning. My sister, Dinara, decided to make sushi for me and her boyfriends and--wow! She is an amazing cook! She tries new recipes all the time, but I've got to admit, this is my fabourite. She only made one kind of roll, but it was delicious! Her boyfriend brought her large white day lillies and so we set them on the table and ate to candle light, the sweet smell of lillies, and pop music courtesy of Evropa Plus!

Although I did not realize it at the time, that was only the beginning of my totally multi-culti...ness. (I sounded very commercially, right up until that last bit, tehe ;) Around the same time, I started to take Thai lessons! Yes, I know how random that seems... But it sort of makes sense and here's why: my friend, Ploy (I think I put up a picture with her a post or two ago...) is from Thailand and as it turns out, my Russian teacher, David, is super into languages, specifically Thai. He had already started to learn with one or two of the Thai students he had hosted, and asked Ploy to help him continue. She was really excited by this idea and was totally game, and then I joined in too, 'cuz--what the heck, why not? So, there's part to of my Yaroslavl's multi-cultiness.

Part Three: The weekend before last, we finally had our full orientation (thanks AFS, only a month late ;) It was... interesting. I ended up being an hour late, because a friend of mine misunderstood the 24 hour clock here and told me 4 o'clock, instead of 14 o'clock. Which was peachy. Really. But it wasn't too bad. I made tacos that turned out surprisingly well and they were a total hit! They were eaten in like seconds (and I mean that actually kinda litterally--go me! ...and everyone who helped me while we were rushing to be at the school half an hour ago. Thanks guys!) Anyways. That's when things went even crazier, because I found out that it was not in fact the orientation on Saturday, but only our "international dinner" (that's why I made tacos, btw. Everyone else also made something from home-- very tasty!). We then stayed with one night "host families" which was fun, because I made new friends. I was completely unprepared, but it all turned out great. The girl I stayed with, Yulia, was soo sweet! (That's her next to me in the pink coat) She had a dochson (I don't think I spelled that right, but I can't tell because the computer I'm on says that everything in English is wrong...) named Sonia who was soo freaking adorable!!!! And some of her friends also hosted students for the night, so she and I along with them and three other AFSers (from Germany, Brazil, and Italy) all went for a walk in the center as well as went on one of those swing rides at the permanent carnival type thing they have here (sorry, I don't know what those things are actually called.... ) and then to a cafe because we were all so cold from that!

The next day was the actual orientation where we learned about things like trips (Which by the way, I'll be spending my Autumn holiday by the Black Sea!!!) and other stuff that we had kinda figured out. But it was cool, because then we talked about all of our different little surprises that we've had from being here. It was really interesting, and funny, to hear what other people were surprised by here!

Finally, we all went to the center of Yaroslavl, on one of the little buses here, called Marshutkas and I swear, I would just die to know what the people on the bus must have thought was going on. Normally here, you only ever really hear Russian, and maybe you'll see a foriegner every once in a while (though I would imaging mostly only tourists in the summer). But we were like from all over the place, and we were speaking Thai, English, Italian, and German. Awesome. XDD

Part four: Okay. So then, we had our Teacher's Day here in Russia, something which is like a holiday at schools around the country. Basically, all the classes did little things for their teachers and then the teachers all go out together to like a restaurant or something. My class, the 11th class, decided to have a tea party for the three teachers which they had (Idk whether they chose them, or if the were just assigned...) Two of the girls from my class dressed up as Geishas and served them tea! Later, some girls from another class came in to give our teachers little gifts, and they were all dressed like belly dancers! It was so cute!
So that's about all that's been going on about that. Now onto other things.

It snowed today!!!! Well... sort of. It kind of actually snow-rained. The snow didn't really hit the ground or anything, but it still looked really cool even though it is really cold now. I have to go get my winter coat asap! I already got my winter boots, and not only are they really really cute, but they are very warm! I have also begun to dawn warm tights beneath my jeans, and so that's cool, but the coat which I am wearing right now is not keeping me warm (having no hat or gloves probably doesn't help either...). But I'll prolly do that after school tomorrow, since I need it asap (not the hat or gloves, just the coat. Idk what I want to do about a hat and gloves yet, but when I get some, I'll prolly also get my own scarf!).

It is so beautiful here, and Fall has seriously taken on an entirely more literal meaning for me now. Every day now, leaves fall from all of the trees at an almost constant rate, and it sometimes looks like it's raining leaves! Sadly, I haven't been able to get a picture of it yet (maybe later). I have seriously learned to appreciate a good sweater (Renee, you are a genius woman, I love you). Oh, also, here is a picture of Harry Potter--IN RUSSIAN (because I am a dork and this really, really excited me ;) Which, btw, I went into a book store the other day, because I am having serious book withdrawal here, and even though I can't understand almost anything in a real book, I wanted to have one really really bad! So I bought me a book, and I am working on it now (One page down, only 216 to go!) Oh, and I'd like to say how awesome Russian cartoons are. I watched one today about this little boy who's a really bad student, so his homework came to life and he had to solve all of the problems to save all of the characters from the exercises. It was seriously epic. An elephant like floated away at one point and then there was a huge flood and these black swan/2s were like taunting him, but then a swan/5 sang to him and he started doing math problems at the swan/2s and they sank into the water. Then the flood went away and the elephant came back to earth and started dancing. YES. So that was cool.

I think that's about all the news from Lake Woe-be-gone--Oops, I mean Yaroslavl. ;D I'd like to really quick make a shout out to the noisy pipes in Glendale, you guys are nonexistant compared to the pipes here which you can here from three stories down they are so loud. ;D

Love everyone, and miss you!

Bettina

Anniversary of Yaroslavl

So I realized that I completely forgot to talk about the anniversary celebration. I will be having dinner soon, so I will try and make this quick (I apologize if it is too short!). So, like I mentioned before, the city of Yaroslavl celebrated it's 1000 year anniversary. For the celebration, the city beautified the center of town, repainting and fixing up old buildings, repaving roads, and just generally making everything prettier.
<--The Volga

The Volga embankment pathways has been redone and although I did not see it before, it is beautiful now! Also on
the embankment of the Volga, they built an entirely new pavilion with a large bear topiary type thing as well as three fountains which dance to music and light up at night. They also built a new monument reminiscent of a famous monument in St. Petersburg. Maybe you'll recognize it! I was able to walk around town with some friends on the weekend of the anniversary and it was crazy busy with tourists as well as locals. Also, we ran into a parade of marching bands, and that was cool (although we only caught the tail end of it). And finally there were fireworks right on the Volga, over the new pavilion. It was beautiful.

Anyways. I'm going to put up a bunch of pictures now:

<--The new monument over the pavilion

















The Pavilion:




The marching band:









The fountain at night with the newly rebuilt church silhouetted.


Ploy and I at the fountains...


Completely random picture of our clothes hanging out to dry on the balcony. It's just really pretty (those are my pajamas... ;)

Dacha

Hello!!!

So, we went to my family's dacha in the village to pick apples and mushrooms, and OMG I swear I just about died. (So I'm going to be buying a dacha in like a year or two, just fyi.) If you don't know what that is, by the way, it's like a country home here in Russia. But they aren't like a rich people thing. They're these little houses in the villages (which are tiny--the villages, not the houses. The houses are not that small.) and they often don't have running water or toilets and they apparently cost like a few thousand dollars. So yes, I was actually being really literal when I said a couple of years. I seriously think I need to get one.

But I'm talking out of order here. I'll start from the beginning. As I think you know, we have no car. So to get to the village, we took a taxi to the train station, then a train, then a bus from the train to the village. In the morning, very early, it was so foggy that we actually could barely see out of the windows of the bus! So I did not even see the village until much later. When we got to the dacha, we set up a sort of camp outside, because the house itself is actually falling down. It is about 100 years old and it was badly vandalized a few years ago so it's not actually totally safe in there. But despite all that, it is still beautiful. But anyways, we made a fire and brought a table outside from the house, and then had breakfast. It was so awesome! I found a stick and then put the chicken on it and stuck it in the fire, and then Dinara and I were trading off the stick because we both wanted hot food! Hahaha.
After breakfast, we started to pick apples. It was soo fun! It was pretty cold out, and really really wet from the rain the day before and also the fog was pretty thick late into the morning. So my hands were freezing, but it was still great. XD

Later, we had a bit of lunch, and then my host aunt and grandpa and I went into the forest to get mushrooms!!! We found a ton, and we filled up our baskets. Now at my flat, we have a ton of now jarred mushrooms to go with our boxes and boxes of apples. But it was great, because the forest was beautiful and the mushrooms were soo cool looking (can you believe I've never seen any besides the ones that grow on our lawns and the canned ones??).

Then, later, a lady from the village came to visit with Inna (my host mom) and we got to go into her house. It is this old, traditional style russian house with this giant stone oven in the kitchen which is what heats the entire house! And I'm pretty sure she has not toilet, but I didn't ask about that. Anyways. She has bee house things in her yard where she makes her own honey (we bought some from her, and omg, I'm like a мёд addict (myode=honey)) and she also has chickens and roosters and her own apple trees.

Finally, Dinara and I lounged out front for a little bit, sunbathed while the sun was out, climbed the big yellow tree in front, and then Dinara left with her dad (with our apples in the back of his truck). Inna, Anya (Inna's sister) and I all went back by bus, then train, then bus and when we got home, Dinara made dinner. We were exhausted, but it was so amazing. The next day of school, I swear I almost passed out. But it was more than worth it.

So, I will be buying a dacha and spending my summers in my Russian village from now on.... ;D

School...And stuff.

Okay!! So I've been in Russia like two weeks now (or something) and I'm really loving it. Adjusting has admittedly been rather hard, but I'm feeling better all the time. I think I'm learning quickly, though not because it feels like it to me.... Everyone keeps being shocked by how much I know and my pronunciation. So I think that's good (or they just have low expectations....) ;D

Anyways. So my host family, Inna and Dinara, are so awesome. As it turns out, Inna speaks lots of English and Dinara speaks almost none. We live in a small flat on the 6th floor. With no elevator... (If I don't have amazing thighs at the end of the year....) It's really cute. I'll put up pictures, or a video or something, soon.

School! So, I go to School no. 80 (школа но. 80) which is an English specialty school. That means that a lot of the students speak lots of English. Which is cool, but bad since I'm not supposed to speak English (tehe). Luckily, they mostly prefer Russian, and I get to talk with them alot. I mostly hang out with 11th form-ers and they're cool, although apparrently I'm going to start taking lots of classes with primary school-ers (great...) which should be very very good for my language learning because while they are learning English, they must speak lots of Russian and so it should be very helpful to me (did that make any sense...?)

Also. I had my first individual Russian class and OMG, it was amazing!!! My teacher, David (pronounced like Dah-veed) is really cool. We had a small conversation (I'm getting better at understanding little sentences by picking out words I know, tehe) and looked at places on the map we had been. Then we did some exercises in my exercise book, and that was cool. I'm getting better at reading, and he says my accent is very good (which is really cool, cuz I didn't think so..) but I want to get better anyways. I want to have no accent someday! (I don't actually know if that's possible.... but hey, humour me) Anyways. And then we were talking about what I do after school (which currently is very very little...) and he suggested I participate in like a sport or something. He mentioned how he does lots of martial arts at some place and told me about this girls Aikido class, which sounds cool and I think I might do it (maybe with another AFSer from Thailand, a girl named Ploy (she pronounces it like Proy though)). Also, I mentioned that I like swimming and he suggested I do that too. I know that in the US the swim season is in the spring, but I wonder if it is here too? Also, I don't even know if they have like school swim teams or what. But anyways, I digress.

Oh, I have to make a presentation (like a ppt) for some event thing, on America and where I live. Any suggestions? That'd be helpful, thanks. ;D

Yaroslavl will be celebrating it's 1000 year anniversary next weekend, so we will have school off on Saturday (did I mention I go to school six days a week?) and there will be a big celebration all over town. I can't wait!! Inna, my host mom, told me that people will buy fireworks and that they will prolly big going off in the sky everywhere (heck, someone did that just yesterday, it was so cool). And yeah, buying and shooting off fireworks is totally legal and normal here. And we're talking full fledged fireworks too. It's kinda cool (and a little worrisome... haha).

So yeah. Things are pretty cool. I will put up like a zillion pics, asap. My camera died and I don't have a converter yet, but I promise I will have one before next week! (I hope...) If I don't, well then there will be lots of videos instead of pictures. Tehe.

Okay, I'm going to go.

Lots of love, all.

беттина

In Yaroslavl

Hello from lovely ярославль!! (That's actually a pic out the window at our camp near Moscow, not Yaroslavl, just FYI) haven't been on in soo long, but I'm trying to make this fast since I don't want to be on the computer too long. Ok, so I flew from LA to NY on... Monday night. And I got there on Tuesday soo early. At the airport, a volunteer picked me up, along with another girl named Jeanne who was going to China. The volunteer dropped us with some other volunteers at the hotel, and we were the first ones there. We both felt so gross, so we showered and then ate and then slept. Also, we watched some Doctor Who (Yes, I am that big a dork). Anyways. The orientation started at 2:00 and others that were going to Russia and China with NSLI-Y. On the first day, everyone was soo tired, but we all got into groups and played games and talked. It was soo fun!! I made soo many friends. Everyone was soo cool, and we all had so much in common. I'll put up pics asap. Anyways. So after the orientation, we all had to leave and it was so sad saying goodbye. Even though it was only two days, we all became so close. I can't wait to here about everyone's experiences!
Also, on the second day, more AFSers came (not NSLI-Yers) and one of them, Thomas, was going to Russia. Before the flight, none of us got any sleep (I got like three hours... ;P ) because most of us were sharing rooms with China people who all had to leave earlier than us. It was soo sad, because we had had to say goodbye the night before. But then we saw them at the airport!! XDD We all dorked out and were talking about languages and culture and how cool all that was. It was so cool, because usually us language lovers are kind of the weirdos, but all together we were soo normal. Hahaha.

Anyways. So, finally we said goodbye again. And that was even sadder!! Our flight was like... an hour later and that flight was short (just from NY to DC). I just listened to music. At Dulles, we hung out for like ever. I called Katie and my dad and everyone kept complaining "Jeez, you talk so much!!" and "get off the phone!" .... When I finally did, I played cards with Thomas and some others for a while. Then we saw a bunch of students going to the US from Germany! They were soo fun to talk to, cuz they all spoke English.... but with awesome accents. Oh yaa...
Finally, we got on our plane and we settled into the seats we wanted (we switched a bunch). I sat naxt to this lady, Olga, from Москва (Moscow) who was an actress visiting her stepfather in the US. But there was something wrong with our navigation system, so we had to get off and change planes. FINALLY, we got on our 10 hour flight and started toward Russia. I traded places with Zach and sat right next to Thomas. Who kept me up the entire flight. Thomas, if you're reading this.... Grr...
<-- That's Megan and Thomas.

But anyways. When we got to Russia, we were all soo tired. Especially those of us who DIDN'T SLEEP!! The bus ride to our "camp" (orientation) took like five hours and I slept a bit, but also hung out with Thomas, and then everyone else when they woke. The camp in Russia was also fun. We met so many other students, from Finland, Mexico, Sweden, Thailand, Austria, Venezuela, Brazil, Germany, Italy, France, Japan.... And maybe other places, but I can't remember. Mostly, everyone spoke English, but the girl who was from Mexico only spoke a little so I got to talk en espanol con ella. Which was awesome..... ;D

Yeah. Everyone was soo cool. Axel, from Sweden, and Maria from Finland wwere cool. We hung out in the kitchen and the kitchen ladies brought us tea (чай) and coffee (кофе) and sweet bread (булочка). They were soo nice!! They were listening to Russian pop music, all kind of techno, and Axel was soo cute. He kept dancing with it and saying "I love it!! It is so 90s!"

<-- Lauren, Zach, Alejandra, and Isabel, at camp/orientation thing

So that was awesome. Finally we had to say goodbye again and I was so depressed. Too many goodbyes! When we drove to Ярославль, there were fewer of us, and again we had to say good bye, and hello to our families. I met Inna, my host mom there. She is soo cute! She is short and adorable. We went straight home, to a small apartment with one bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom. It's very warm and homey. Dinara is not here yet, but I met her friend Alicya who is staying over to help me since Inna has to work crazy hours. She speaks alot of English, but I already feel like I am learning Russian. I wonder if she's getting annoyed because I always ask, "How do you say...?" and "что это?"

So, yesterday, we went to a concert at the church, celebrating ярославль's history and culture and such. Do you know they make movies here?? I also met Alicya's friend Mattew there. He's nice. He does not speak English, but I will do my best to learn Russian asap and then talk to him like that! When we got back, I found out that Alicya lives downstairs. She stayed over and she and Inna shared a bed. (I feel bad that I have a bed all to myself... Idk what to do though...;.; )

Today, we woke up really late and made breakfast (eggs) which was so yummy. Then we went shopping, though we did not buy anything. At the mall, we saw two of Alicya's friends, Nastya and Yulia. Nastya did not stay long, but we hung out with Yulia who is small, blonde and so adorable. She also did not speak much English, but I know we will be good friends, and I will learn Russian and talk to her!! Alicya showed me our school, which is nice. And then we went home and had dinner (pasta).

So, this has been so great so far! I feel like I'm already learning, though I want to speak Russian already!!!! Grrrr!


Okay. Until later, this is blackout. Ttyl!!

беттина

Yaroslavl

I finally got my host family today! They are Inna and Dinara, a mother and daughter (who is twenty--I don't know if she lives at home or not). They have a cat (koshka) and they are Russian Orthodox. Beyond that, I know just about nothing. I don't know what their email is, or even if they have emails, so I'm super nervous! I think I'm going to have to call them, which is nerve-wracking since I speak next to zero Russian!!! Gahh!

Anyways. I'm soo excited, because Yaroslavl looks like a beautiful city. It is about 155 miles (249kilometers) from Moscow (Moskva) and it is right on the Volga River. It was established in 1010 and it is rather famous for being a historical city. (I just found out about it today...)

Oh, and I realize that I have not written in a long time, so now I will mention my travel plans. I am leaving LA on the 16th of August, getting to New York on the 17th and then leaving for Russia on the 19th. I will fly from LAX to La Guardia, then the Orientation. Then I will fly from JFK to Dulles to Moskva!!! I'm not sure how I am then getting to my new home... Or is there another orientation then...? Haha. I don't really know the specifics. Right now, I have a list of things I need to do and I'll stick to those: 1) Learn as much Russian as possible, 2) figure out what I should pack in my 44 lbs limited bag and my 22 lbs limited carry on, 3) call my host family (Oh jeez), 4) get them gifts (Any ideas??) and 5) see everyone I haven't already seen and enjoy the rest of my summer!

Wish me luck!

So. I will write again when I know more!

Bye!

Hello for the First Time!

Well, this is my first blog (ever) and since I haven't even told anyone about it yet, I guess it's kind of like I'k talking to myself, haha.

So, while I receive notification from AFS Russia that my application was accepted and that I got the NSLI-Y scholarship a few weeks ago, this is the first time I've actually written about it! I've been soo busy, that it's kind of crazzy to even think that I actually got either of those things--let alone both!

This did not completely occur to me until after I had received both, but I guess I was super lucky to have gotten accepted by AFS Russia, AND NSLI-Y... both for Russia, yearlong! I am soo excited!! I have had so little time to even think about it, that it's still a bit of a shock to think about it. I'm going to Russia. Next year. The whole year. Wow.

Of course, it is super nerve-wracking to know that I speak zero Russian at this moment. But I am confident that I will learn quickly if I work hard (which I will). XD

Anyways, that's about all I have time for right now, so I shall say good bye! (For now)