And the learning begins...

Well, I'm just going to continue blogging and hope Jess catches up soon. I'll try to put pictures up eventually, but be patient. So, yesterday (Monday), the group met to go to school together. We were shown around, welcomed, etc. which was fun interesting. We had a surprise entrance oral test which I was very nervous for, but it was fine; I got into the highest of 3 levels of classes! From there we got lunch at one of the cafes which was quite the ordeal because of course everything was in Russian. After lunch we were given our kick-ass student IDs which we have to have on us AT ALL TIMES. Then we were free to go so Jess and I walked around the university area and ended up in a restaurant/pub called "Biergarten". Before we walked in, there was this nameless van and a group of extremely large and scary Russian men all in black with bullet-proof vests and we believe lots of money that came out of that restaurant and into the van. We were slightly taken aback, but walked in anyways. Inside was totally normal, thank God. So, Jess and I just chilled and had a beer and talked. It was nice to get out of the extreme wind and cold (yes, it's FREEZING here). We were both very tired and just went back for dinner and a nap after that. We met the group at 9pm again and decided not to venture far. We went to this karoke bar place that looked like a tent of some sort. It was very fun; we met Russian guys, sang karoke (in English!) and drank some beer. We also ended up talking with 2 policemen with huge guns for like 2 hours and they were SO cool. One was only 22 and very interested in Americans. One of the guys in our group exchanged numbers with him, so we're gonna hang out with him when he's not on duty. It was almost dark when I was waiting to catch the bus and they pulled up in their police car and offered to drive me home. I accepted and felt pretty damn awesome. Needless to say, we totally have connections now if we ever get in trouble. Today, Tuesday, was our first day of school. I got up and caught the right bus just fine. We were early to class which was great, but our teacher was late. My class today consisted of talking a lot about nationality stereotypes and drinking vodka in Russian (very odd class...) I was a bit offended how overwhelmingly negative the American stereotypes were and how amazingly positive the Russian ones were - not something I would've chosen for the first day of a class. Anyways, I already have homework and feel challenged, which is good I suppose. After class, we all got lunch and went to the Hermitage, which is just across the river from our building at the university. IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE. Google it. Seriously. Anyways, I need to go home for dinner now, so I'll blog again soon. Ya lublu vsye i shoslyeva!