"It's like we're meeting our Prom Dates..."

Hey all!

It's been a crazy couple of days. Our first real day in Russia, Saturday, we explored the city and bought my metro card (which was pretty difficult) and I quickly learned how to use the Metro. It's actually really easy, as there are signs everywhere. I also bought my lunch from a kiosk (street food vender) and he knew my friends and I didn't speak Russian, so he tried to practice his English on us by saying "Hey baby" to the girl behind me, as some sort of "normal" Amerian greeting. Russians watch way too many American movies. Then we went out to dinner at an Italian place (very sub-par, but hey, it's Russia), with Alumni of the program and Russians who know English. The people at my table talked with Mascha, who goes to Moscow State University, which is by where I live. She ended up showing 8 of us all around Moscow - Red Square, The Kremlin, all these awesome fountains, GUM (this awesome shopping mall) and all these cool streets and concerts under bridges. We got back at 10:30 pm and were exhausted from walking the city. Sunday we had all day to do whatever until we met our host families at 7:00 pm. I went with three other girls, Paige, Rhiannon, and Erika from Bucknell University, to buy notebooks for class and flowers for our host mothers and I needed a cell phone. It's so difficult to speak to Russian vendors, but I'm trying to have courage. I bought the cell phone all by myself AND I bought extra minutes. Then we all (25 of us) checked out of the student dorm we'd been living in and waited by the elevators with out gifts and flowers to meet our families. We were all nervous and shaking, and Mikel, my friend from Grinnell goes "This is like we're meeting our Prom Dates." It was so true. FinallyJon Smith, the resident director, called my name, and I met my host mom, Liudmila Alexeevna. She's SO tiny!!! She's maybe 4 foot 11 (she only comes up to my shoulder) and she must be only 80 pounds. She has died blond hair and green eyes and is probably 40. She doesn't talk much, and when she does, I usually can't understand her, but I get the important parts, I think. She has a 23 year old son, Dmitri, who I briefly met this morning, because he came home so late last night, I was asleep by then. Ok, gotta run, my intenet minutes are flashing red. Oh, but I made my first phone call today in Russian (scary!) to tell my host mom I was going to the Internet cafe, and also tomorrow is my first day of classes and we can only speak Russian on the premises. Fun times are ahead... Love you guys! -Me.