Surprise surprise--another crazy week.

On Saturday we went on a bus tour and learned all about all this fantastic city. I've got a bunch of pictures which I will post soon along with probably a very long but very interesting history lesson of sorts. The rest of this week has basically been sleeping, eating, and studying, but I'm still really liking it here.

Yesterday Roxy, Liz and I went to Shokolodnitsa, which is basically the Russian version of Starbucks. I ordered what I thought was hot chocolate but turned out to be a lump of ice cream in a cup of chocolate syrup, which all things considered was a pretty excellent mistake to make. It's nice just to get out of the apartment and do something once in a while, and it's actually more productive to study with a few people because then I don't get so antsy and start to procrastinate.

I'm trying to find an English-language library here because I'm going crazy not having anything to read. I'm told they have one at the British Consulate, so I'll have to check that out, but otherwise the pickings are slim. The English-language bookstore carries Sense and Sensibility and trashy romance novels for wives of diplomats--not exactly what I had in mind. Most of the other students brought at least one book with them, so there are a few options, but I'm feeling a craving for War and Peace or Anna Karenina or something. It's kind of silly, I know, but I'm hankering for a long, depressing Russian novel that I can read at my window when it's snowing and dark at 4:00 in the afternoon in a few months. The weather was absolutely gorgeous through Monday, but now it's started to rain and the forecast is gloomy (that's for the next six months). It's not super cold yet, but definitely sweater weather, which I actually love--right now I'm wearing the ridiculously cozy sweater that my grandma knitted for my dad when he was a kid. The Russian girls, as I think I've mentioned before, dress like they stepped out of Vogue, but I've decided that since there's no chance I'm passing for a Russian anyway, I'm just going to wear what I want.

On Friday we're going to see the Russian National Dance Company do this show that I think is about the history of Moscow, but I can't read the posters so I guess it'll just be a surprise. I really like the other students who are here so far, and we've been doing a lot of things together, so my fears that I'd just spend three months alone in my room can be safely put to rest. Also! We're probably going to take the train to Kiev next weekend before the other students arrive, which is so exciting I can't stand it. A lot of people have big travel plans for the rest of the quarter--Serbia, Istanbul, and Oktoberfest in Munich among them--so I think I'm just going to hop on to whatever plans seem reasonable. Aeroflot has a monopoly on flights out of Russia, so they're super expensive, so I'm thinking I'll mostly just travel within Russia, which is probably the better thing to do anyway. There's so much to do here!

Okay, off to the honey festival. Today our conversation teacher told us that if we have a cold, we're supposed to drink a cup of warm milk with a spoonful of honey and a spoonful of butter in it, which doesn't sound half bad. We're also supposed to mix equal parts cheap vodka ("because it doesn't matter if you aren't drinking it"), vinegar and water and rub it on our calves and feet if we have a fever. She told us it works. I can't say I'm a believer but I guess I'll give it a shot if that happens! Anyway, the honey festival is to encourage independent beekeepers to produce more honey--they account for 95% of Russia's honey production, which is good news considering what's happening to the honey industry in the States. It's supposed to be in some cool old building/museum, so free honey samples + history = good in my book.

Paka!