Orientation

I arrived at Bard's campus on Monday late afternoon for our pre-departure orientation. Everyone on the program (there are twelve of us, some of whom are pictured above) has been eating together, hanging out, and attending "sessions" on safety in St. Petersburg, academic expectations, transportation, current events, etc. We leave for Russia on Friday, although two of our group left today for various reasons.

Anyway, it's been really fun. Today we went on a hike around Bard's campus, and looked at the Hudson river. It was a nice hike, and we saw a swan, and the Hudson river was frozen over and beautiful. Everyone involved with the program is really friendly, and it's a new and exciting experience to be around a bunch of Russian nerds! At Swarthmore I have a couple of friends who are interested in Russian, whether they speak it or not, but now there are a dozen of us walking around talking about Russian literature, our programs at home, and occasionally slipping into Russian for a sentence or two. I think the program is going to be really challenging once we get to Petersburg, but I'm feeling a lot better about it now that I know some of the other people on the program. I think I've successfully recruited a handful of fellow Mariinsky theatre-goers, and I think that most of the kids on the program will be willing to speak Russian in Russia, so it should be a good experience in all social respects.

So that's my brief update for now... I'm getting simultaneously more nervous about and more looking forward to going to Russia as our departure date closes in on us. We've been warned of mayonnaise on salads, lard on spaghetti, and butter on everything else, so I think we're just about ready!

I hope all is well with everyone at home!