What happened over the past 36 hours?

I wrote these in Word 'cause I didn't have internet. Now I do.

Sunday 20/VI/10 1:33 AM

It’s finally dark outside, not for long I’m sure. These white nights are disorienting – I went to bed at 11 and it was still light outside. My host family is absolutely lovely, my host is named Nelya (she didn’t give me her patronymic, and she calls me ты) and her mother, who also lives in this apartment, is named Nina. Apparently she also has a 17-year-old daughter Katrina, but I've not seen her, and I've been told not to expect to (she has a difficult personality, worse than the cat's, says Nelya). Speaking of which, there is a parrot and a cat here (no dog – the dog died two years ago). The parrot's name is Чика, Chika, and the cat's name is Федя, Fedya. They are both great animals; Fedya acts like a dog in a lot of ways; he’s very curious and sniffs everything. Not a bit frightened, and a total sweetheart.

I had a delicious meal when I arrived, and believe me; the old adage about Russians feeding you and feeding you is in full force. I had chicken soup, toasted black bread, apple juice and a piece of a delicious chocolate-wafer cake. Nelya wanted me to eat more, but I just had to say больше не могу… then I took a nap for a few hours, got up and showered. Nelya knocked on my door with a plate of fruit (cherries and strawberries – yum!) and an ice cream stick (Russian ice cream – nothing better.)

I haven’t done my homework for Monday’s class yet; I’m thinking I’ll do it in the window well of my room. It’s a really big room with a high ceiling and gorgeous wallpaper. The weather here is gorgeous – windy and I’d say about 60-70 degrees. I hope it stays this nice!

I’m up at about 1:45 right now because I set my cell phone for an alarm at what it thought was 1 AM, since when I went to bed it was still on US time. During the interim it seems to have realized it’s not in Kansas anymore, so I was strangely woken up in the middle of the night. Ah, well, no big deal. Tomorrow they’re picking me up at 10:40 to go to the uni for orientation – I’m very excited! We’ll also get our SIM cards for our cell phones, I’ll (hopefully) find an ATM, and I’ll buy an Internet antenna and an extension cord. That’s all for now. Спокойные ночи J

Monday 21/VI/10 9:37 AM

I've got an hour until the other Americans come and pick me up to walk to the university for orientation. I slept very well last night, despite the crazy lack of darkness. It's rainy outside today, so I'm bringing my umbrella along. I just had some yogurt for breakfast; apparently (and luckily?) at least today I am to make my own breakfast. I suppose I'll lie down and read for a bit, set an alarm to make sure I get up with time to meet the other Russkies.

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Well, that last bit turned out not to be true - Nelya did wake up and feed me (and feed me and feed me) some delicious блины with jam. But I got to the uni on time... theoretically, anyway [Tobi and I waited with Constantine at the time we were supposed to, but Sasha got there late 'cause she was up really late due to the holiday that was yesterday.]

We went to the university, had our third orientation, got SIM cards and maps, and went on a short bus tour of the city (about 3 hours). Professor Firtich appears to be of the opinion that one can survive on culture alone - you don't need food, you weak Americans.

Once we got out I went to an ATM (which was easy to find) and then, with Panos, in search of a place to buy an internet modem. I did buy it, but it was expensive, and it was a hellish nightmare to set up an initial payment for the connection. Now my feet are killing me and I just want to eat dinner, read, and go to bed. Oh yeah, and do my homework, that too.