Russia

We arrived in Russia almost two weeks ago and I feel like I have finally settled in. Russia is different than America, as expected, but it also has quite a few similarities.
Similarities:

• The plants are ALL the same, they just look a little different.
• People wear American clothing.
• Anyone who has a car will drive to the store even if it is less that a 10 minute walk away.

Differences:

• Everyone lives in a small apartment.
• People go for walks for fun.
• It is cold (60 degrees F).

My host family and city are both fantastic. My host sister calls Kirov a large village, but I would call it a city. 420,000 people is not a village. The people here are very nice once you get to know them and the food is fantastic. I am not joking. Russian food is amazing. You might not expect cabbage soup (щи) to be good, but it is.

I started Russian class at last week and regular classes this week. My regular classes are taught in all Russian so considering that I don't speak the language learning is going to be a challenge. But I am up to it. Our Russian classes are going well. I can now ask what something is and say the words cat, dog, magazine, engineer, food ect. ect.

Anywho everything is going fine in Russia.

On August 19th I will be departing for a nine and a half month journey to Kirov, Russia on a scholarship provided by the US Department of State administered by American Councils. The program, NSLI-Y (National Security Language Institute for Youth) provides full scholarships for high school and recent graduates to study abroad in several counties. Approximately 500 scholarships were given out, of which 100 were given to students wishing to participate in Russian programs of varying length. About 10 students, including me, will be there for a complete academic year. The students staying for an academic year will be living in two cities, Kirov and Kazan.
The city where I will be staying has a population of 475,000 and is located in the Kirov oblast (state/province). It is an old city founded in 1181 on the shores of the Vyatka River. It is now a major transportation hub due to its location along the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Below is a link to the city website. It is all in Russian, but you can look at the pictures!
http://www.mo-kirov.ru/