Test post/ Pre-departure countdown

Well, folks, some of you may be back for Round 2 of my blogging adventures as I make my way back to the Motherland (thanks for keeping up with me!). This time around, I'll be spending nine weeks this summer in a full-immersion Russian program at Middlebury College in Vermont as a "warm up" to a subsequent nine months back in St. Petersburg, Russia on the Flagship program.

The Middlebury program is pretty neat; here's a link to the website: http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/ls/russian/

What's extra-special about Middlebury is that you sign a language pledge when you arrive, promising not to use any language but Russian for the whole nine weeks-- no music, movies, books, or conversation that isn't in Russian. How will I update my blog, you ask? Luckily for me, the Middlebury program understands that contact with home is necessary, so they ask that we keep any English usage to a minimum and not to disrupt others' language pledges by speaking too loudly on the phone, etc. Thus, I plan on "cheating" for a few minutes each week, because it's important to me to stay in touch with all of you! I will be in class 4-5 hours a day Monday through Friday, and they told us to anticipate 4-6 hours of homework a day. Yikes! However, I hope it won't be too overwhelming, and that I'll have time to participate in some of the co-curricular activities offered by the program (since you can't interact in languages other than Russian, they set up myriad activities within the Russian school, like theatre, radio, cooking club (yay!!!), yoga (double yay!!!), chess club, literary club, etc).

I'm also hoping I get a good roommate. I haven't had a randomly-assigned roommate since freshmen year. When I sent in my acceptance materials, I got to tell them on a little yellow card that I like to get up early and work out-- but that's not much information to base a match on! I'm sure it'll be fine (and it's only nine weeks, if nothing else), but it's still in the back of my mind.

After Middlebury ends on August 15th, I'll head straight to Washington, DC for Flagship orientation on the 18th. But more about that as it gets closer!

So I have this thing about getting ready to go waaaaay to far in advance. I think it's really a way of dealing with nerves. I spent all of yesterday packing up the clothes I don't want to take to Middlebury or Russia and "practice packing" my Middlebury bag (I'm going to need a bigger suitcase). As silly as it seems (even to me) to pack and then unpack an entire three weeks early, I know I'll feel better later having run through it once already.

I'm quite excited to kick off my year of Russian study with a three-day visit to Kerry in New Haven, Connecticut. Kerry and I met on my last study abroad experience, and her dry humor got me through many tough days that year!

I don't know how much I'll be posting before I leave Iowa City, but keep checking back-- I'd love to hear from you!