settling in, day before classes

I didn't end up exploring the Bay of Finland yesterday. This is primarily because when I wandered into the kitchen at around 10:30pm to announce that I was about to explore the bay of Finland, наталя Natalia started feeding me dinner! We talked for a while during dinner about various things: my family, her дача dacha, a type of vacation hut that all Russians seem to have, my plans for tomorrow (now today), the economic crisis. So I didn't get to sleep until after midnight.

I didn't sleep thoroughly due to a mix of excitement and broad daylight blasting through my large window. I suppose this is something I will get used to.

This morning, Ariel (a boy), Olivia, Jesse (a girl), and Michelle successfully navigated the Metro (the deepest metro in the world) из приморскаей from Primorskaya в Невский проспект to Nevsky Prospect. This was a great accomplishment. We switched lines! We met the rest of the group at the top of the subway and walked to Спас на Крови the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. This is a remarkable structure with majestic domes and elaborate mosaic images depicting religious scenes.

After listening to a tour of the Cathedral by the director of our cultural program, Оля Olya, we walked around the nearby Летний Сад Summer Garden, a large green park with canals, statues, trees, and many random flowers popping out of the grass. Оля Olya continued to tell us all about the sights we were seeing. The only thing was that for the duration of the tour, including the Church tour, she spoke in Russian, which made it difficult for me to understand her.

I ate lunch with Ariel, Clare, Kristen, Alex, Olivia, and Kristen's friend from home Colby in a cafe called федерация Federatsiya. I successfully ordered my first Russian food! Almost entirely through luck, I recieved a dish perhaps the most excellent dish imaginable (if you are me). I chose a dish under the рыба fish menu with по-полский Polish in its name. I figured I couldn't go too wrong, so I ordered it. 15 minutes later, the waitress arrived with a smallish piece of white, light fish with...hard boiled eggs on top! I was besides myself.

I met my host sister наташа Natasha today. She is 19 years old and very nice but has a large German test tomorrow! So I am moving about the apartment quietly, like a mouse, so as to not disturb her studies.

I'm a bit antsy right now. I want to go do something exciting, but I have to get sleep so I wake up tomorrow morning for the first day of classes. It is also confusing, and tempting, because it is still very bright outside, but already 10pm. I will resist!