The first day

So this is the inaugural post of this blog documenting my trip to Moscow. For those you who don't know, my name is Harrison and I'm a math major at UNO. I'm spending this semester in Moscow, Russia as a participant in the program Math in Moscow (MiM).

I arrived yesterday in the late afternoon after three uneventful flights. I love Lufthansa airlines, you get to eat with real silverware and they pass out hot towelettes! It's the little things. The flights themselves were fine, I just couldn't sleep at all. So my first day here was not the most pleasant just because I was extremely tired. After making it through Passport Control and Customs, I was met by Shura and driven to the dorms. She is a nice, friendly musician that plays Baroque cello. She and Lena (her mom I think) drove me to the dorms, where Shura introduced me to Anya, another Russian student that helps MiM students. The two of them gave me a quick tour, gave me my key and ID card for getting in to the dorms, and then I was left to get moved in and situated.

This is Shura in front of my dorm building.

Ideally, I was going to take a quick shower and go pass out for as long as possible, but sleep eluded me that evening. So instead, I gave up trying to nap, met my roommate (Chris from Alabama), and decided to go with two other MiM students for a tour of the neighborhood given by two Russian students (Natasha and Natasha). They showed us the metro station, the nearest supermarket, and a pharmacy. The supermarket is called Magnolia, which is where I bought oatmeal and tea.

After our little tour, I came back for Round 2 of the battle against exhaustion. I lost again. Didn't fall asleep until 4am, then woke up at 10. Definitely better than nothing, but I think it will take me a few more days until I feel like myself again. Today, Shura showed me around the neighborhood also, but going in a different direction (and this time during the day, so it was easier to remember directions). Found where the ATM is, the bank, a pharmacy that supposedly understands English, and a farmer's market! Shura had to leave because she had to teach a music lesson, but I went with Ryan (a fellow MiM student) back to the farmer's market and Magnolia. We bought some decent apples from the market and I got some more food from Magnolia: butter, eggs, bread, sugar, yogurt*, and some frozen dumpling looking things.

*A note about the yogurt. It is more like a drink than yogurt is back in the US.

Here are some pictures of my room:

Our room. My bed is the one closest to the door.

My bed

Some weird fire mask thing. These are the instructions
on how to use it. There are 2 in our room.

The other side of the box. Apparently this turns you
into a super-hero.

The view outside my window. This is where many gather
to smoke cigarettes.

Here's my desk and the bookshelves.