Safely Arrived

I am in Middlebury! Vermont is gorgeous-- gently rolling mountains, plenty of open space, cute little towns. I got a little twinge of happiness when I saw peonies blooming in someone's yard-- it makes it feel like home. Middlebury itself is a lovely place, and the campus is really beautiful. I'm looking forward to exploring more tomorrow.

I arrived and got checked in around 6 PM (after 10 hours on a bus and shuttle!). I've spent most of this evening just getting settled in.

Here is a picture of my half of my room:

As you may or may not be able to see, the room is very long and narrow, but it's kind of nice because it gives me and my roommate our own halves. Even better, our room is part of a suite, which we share with two single rooms. The four of us share a bathroom and, best of all, a kitchenette! With a stove! I can cook while I'm here!! =D

My roommate is named Stephanie. She's from Los Angeles, has taught English in Moscow, and spent 2 months in Ukraine. We're both hoping we end up in the same class so we can help each other with homework. She used to dance ballet-- I seem to befriend dancers wherever I go! We're still getting to know each other, but Stephanie seems very sweet and quiet, AND she loves to work out and do yoga, and Russian pop music. I think we'll get along fine.

I've met one of my other suitemates so far: Susan, who is an orchestra conductor. She has self-taught Russian for a while, and now she's jumping in to really get her head around it, so she can understand Russian opera. We've already bonded over our love of Eugene Onegin, so I hope we continue to find things to converse about. Our other suitemate, Elizabeth, I haven't met so far.

Tomorrow is designated for testing. I took the grammar test online earlier this month, so that just leaves the oral interview at 10 AM tomorrow. The rest of the day, I plan to explore campus and the town a bit, and to buy a few things that I couldn't fit into my bag (hangars, a shower bucket, etc).

Sunday night I take my language pledge, so the blog updates will likely slow, especially at the beginning as I really try to throw myself into the immersion. Hope to hear from you!