Finding My Temporary Home

Entry 2: September 10, 2011

            I woke up before 7am, proving that I was still not on this timezone. After a bit, I went to talk with the lady at the front desk of my floor. She said that they found that I was supposed to be on the fifth floor, which was the floor for foreign students, and that I could go down there right away. So I grabbed one suitcase and headed down. The floor host (every floor has person who watches over it and has a front desk) showed me where the kitchen was and where my room was. I share a bathroom with two other girls. Behind each door off the main hallway there are two rooms and a shared bathroom. Within my room there are two beds, two desks, lots of shelving, a wardrobe, and a narrow dresser where the drawers don't pull out but instead the bottom of the drawer is connected on a hinge and only the top part moves, creating about a 45 degree angle.

            I decided to unpack all of my things so I could get settled. Everything seemed to fair alright except one of the cups I had brought with me as a gift. My things seemed a little moved around from security at some point, and the cups, which had been surrounded, had found their way to the bottom of the suitcase to rest on the metal of the handle. However, everything else fared fine.

            When everything was unpacked I decided to try to get online to write home and say that I had successfully made it here. There was an ethernet cable already in my room, and the host had told me that there was internet in each room. However, despite all of my trying, I could not get online. I was connected to the internet, but there was no internet access. After about an hour of puzzling away and frustration, I decided to give up and would ask someone later. I was feeling pretty tired so I decided to lay down and take a nap.

            I slept until about 3:30 when I decided that I should probably eat something. I didn't really feel up to going to try to find an ATM and then go to the store, so I settled for a granola bar that I had brought with me. I read for a little bit, and then decided to just go back to sleep. I realized that this probably wasn't the greatest idea in the world as I would probably wake up sometime during the night,  but I was so tired I didn't really care. I woke up a few times to the noise of people talking out on the floor, but I was able to drift back to sleep.

            At about 3:30 am on Sunday I woke up and was unable to fall back to sleep after about an hour of trying so I read instead. I had an energy bar and a cup of tea for breakfast, and decided to try to find an ATM. I asked the hostess if she knew where the nearest ATM was and decided to venture out around 9 am. I was not successful in finding it, but I walked around for a bit anyway.

            When you leave a Russian dormitory you drop your key off with the hostess. There is only one key per room so this is done so that no one is ever locked out of their room. Whichever roommate comes back first can get the key, and if they happen to decide to go out before the other gets back, it's not an issue as the key is dropped back to the hostess. It seems I will not be having a roommate, but I've decided to leave my key anyway when I go out.

            When I got back, the hostess had changed. I asked her if she knew where an ATM was, and although she did not know herself, she recommended I try asking the hostess back up on the eighth floor at the hotel where I had been the first night. I thanked her, went back to my room to change into boots as it was raining and my ballet flats were not the best rain-walking shoes, and then walked up to the eighth floor. The hostess there explained there was one at a bank around the corner, and this time, I was able to find it. However, despite the fact that it says that a Visa card can be used at this particular ATM, it would not let me use my card. I still had some money left over from what I took out at the airport, but I'd sort of like to save that for a last resort. A little discouraged, I returned home, had another granola bar, and took another nap.

            I woke up around 2 pm, and despite wanting to sleep more, I forced myself to get up. I went and made myself some more tea, and noticed that it seemed the girls who lived next door to me were up as I heard one of them using the shower. I later knocked on their door and introduced myself. They are from Korea and are going by the names Mina and Nina. I asked them if they knew what time ordinary classes started at the university, as I wanted to show up tomorrow at a good time. It seems they aren't attending regular courses. They were working together to construct responses back to me, so I'm guessing that they are here to learn Russian. It's always interesting to communicate with others where the medium of communication is not a first language for either of you. I also asked them if their internet was working. They said not currently. Apparently, when the weather is bad, the internet does not work. I'm hoping for some good weather soon so that I can write home.

            I figure that I should at least be able to find a computer tomorrow at the school. I'm also hoping to find an ATM there so that I can go and buy some food tomorrow afternoon. However I'm very grateful for the protein bars my mother bought me, and I may splurge tonight and break into my box of Cream-of-Wheat I brought with me.