first day of school

I've arrived in Nizhnii! The university is gigantic. There are about 40,000 students. So a bit of a change from little old Northwest. It's chilly and rainy but no snow yet. I like it here must better than St. Petersburg, which was super touristee. This is real russia! We moved into our dorm at the Profilactorium. The international student office had a welcome party for us. They had food and a talent show and then a disco-techa, a DANCE PARTY! Russian's love to dance. The russian students are really nice and friendly and surprisingly know pretty good english. The meals are good but they serve us a lot! Basically potatoes, soup and bread. Major staples! The bathrooms are disgusting! You have to squat to pee and bring your own toilet paper. The first couple days we were here the women's bathroom was in Remont, which mean 'in repair.' There was literally a lake of toilet nastiness everywhere and it stank like a mother! I feel like I'm experiencing the missions trip I never went on. I've done my laundry russian style. By hand and in the sink. Not too bad. Just takes forever for things to dry and it drips all over your floor. We have a close line up in our room drying them. I'll have to post pictures on a later blog. I'm at an internet cafe right now because our computers havent been registered for wireless on campus yet. A group of us walked Pedestrian Street tonight. It's the big hub bub of Nizhnii. I got me a winter jacket!! And it cost me less than $50! STEAL! The buses are an adventure. You literally cram as many people as you can. No personal bubbles here. It's 8 rubles to ride the bus, which is pretty cheap. 25 rubles is $1. Last night we were coming back from our director's apt after watching 'the hunt for red october' (the guys choice) and Lica (our RA) got off the bus and we were all completely oblivious. 19 of us...just laughing as the bus drove away. Thankfully we got off at the next stop and made it safely back to Lica who was still laughing! Fun times! Classes started today. 3 hours of language in the morning with a tea break in the middle. Lunch and then 2 hours of lecture in the afternoon. It's pretty sweet. I have my first homework assignment. Writing and translating in russian! I love how russians will start to talk at you and then you have to just shrug your shoulders and shake your head and usually they just laugh and walk away but then you get the ones who will keep talking to you. Like you understand them the more they speak Russian! The Babushka's are the funniest! They are the old women, grandmotherly type, who serve us our food in the cafeteria and run the profilcatorium. Watch out for them!