Got my luggage, now an update on Moscow

Ok now that I'm in clean clothes and am not frantic about potentially having to buy all new stuff here in Moscow, I can really update.

When I started my trip, it went really well, b/c i got upgraded from a coach seat in between a lady with a baby and a older woman to business class, since they brought a seat for the baby and it would basically trap me in my seat. Business class was niiiiiiiiice. :)

And then the travel gods decided to hate me after that. So to make the long story short, I missed my connection in London, apparently the worst airport to be connecting through, wish I would have known that when I was making the flight reservations. I would say live and learn, but that was a big pain-in-the-ass thing to learn from!

So the missed flight and subsequent lost baggage are a result of the construction they're doing at Heathrow, and in order to get to your next flight, you have to wait in a long line for a bus that will take you to another terminal, at which you wait in another long like for security (the downfall of my connection) and then walk forever to get to your gate. In other words, transportation hell.

I got it even worse when I missed the flight, I had to actually leave the arrivals part of the airport, go through customs, set foot on English soil, then go to another terminal in order to get a new ticket. Then had to stand in line to check in, and go upstairs for security, where I waited forever, and was just about to walk through the screener when they stopped me because I had two carry-ons, which you can have if you're connecting from the US, but not if you are originating in Europe.

SO I had to take all my crap downstairs again, pay to check an extra bag because I was over the individual weight limit, check that damn backpack, and go back up to security, where some tears persuaded them to let me skip the line to get to my gate. Oh yes, I used the tears, and ladies and gentlemen, they were not fake.

When I finally got to Moscow, I did get my backpack, but not my suitcase, shocker there. Stood at the lost-and-found counter for 2.5 hours before I was able to get all the correct forms filled out, declare my bag at customs and get all the stuff filed so there would be an actual record of my lost bad. FINALLY got out of that horrible place and my driver (the one bright spot) took me to the student house.

And then found days later, with the help of friends at the embassy, my luggage was delivered to me here at the academy and I lugged it home through the metro with the help of some lovely friends.  I had had to wash my clothes in my sink with dishsoap for four days. Luckily I met a girl in my program in the passport control line at the airport, so she was there and helped me through this whole thing, and her roommates have all let me borrow stuff so I'm not completely disgusting. They've really been great, so now I'm like the fourth part of their room.

Losing your luggage really makes you appreciate that question "if you were lost on a desert island, what one item would you want to have with you?" Umm, how about your entire bathroom? Or a noseplug.

I have my own flat in the building that the Academy is housing us all in and on Monday, my bedroom door had to be broken off the hinges with a prybar because the lock stopped functioning and wouldn't let me in. My flat is one of the nicest in the building, clean, fridge and oven, balcony, big windows. Not a bad place to live for a month.

Correction: a verrrry nice place to live for a month, after seeing the state of the flats other students were living in!  Crumbling wall paper, old appliances, peeling linoleum, windows that won't shut all the way - this is the true Soviet lifestyle.

This morning a pigeon flew in through my window at 6 a.m., an hour before my alarm was supposed to go off, and flapped around making all kinds of cooing noises that I was roused from my bed, and chased the damn thing back through the kitchen and out the window. Cooo!

Classes are good, I'm kicking ass in Russian, but really only because I already knew the alphabet. Today it started to get harder, so I suppose I will have to actually study now. :) That's about it for now, my friends are calling me off to go explore a little, but more is soon to come!!

I'm in Moscow and I'm alive...

...but there's not much else to report.

I have no suitcase, it got lost by the airline and hasn't been delivered yet. I spent two hours at the lost luggage desk, trying to get a form to fill out in English, and fighting with all the other irate Russians who had missing luggage, before I finally got the paperwork done and stamped. Still not convinced that I did everything I needed to.

I had to wash my jeans in the sink with dish soap last night! I am mooching shower stuff off these great girls I met in the program. At least we get lunch and breakfast here at the academy. 

Basically everything that could go wrong, has. But I'm still alive. The one bright spot - I was put in first class on the flight from DC to Heathrow, because I was traveling alone. But, on the flight from Heathrow to Moscow, when the plane touched down on the runway, all the passengers erupted in applause and cheers....makes me nervous when a normal plane landing is cause for celebration! Moscow is interesting, marketing people go over the top with their ads, giant billboards, and absolutely ridiculously huge building-covering signs, they must be paid really well.  Photo: my posh bathroom where I wash my jeans!

Diplomatic Academy of Moscow - Day One

Bam, we are right in the thick of it today. Day 3 in my traveling ensemble, hopefully the luggage arrives today, and also hopefully I don't smell...what a horrible first impression that would make! First I have to say that I might have had a panic attack if I had had to navigate the Metro this morning by myself. Luckily, the girl I met in the customs line last night, Nadia, and her roommates made sure to not leave without me, and we ventured out into the morning Muscovite commute en masse. These people walk fast, and you either get up to their speed or walk over in the grass because they do not mess. They will stare you down, and Russians have some ferocious stares, enough to make even Donald Trump's hair feel small.

Another good reason to be tagging along with my new friends: last night they ventured out to the store for provisions, and ended up finding the Metro station. Yeah, if I had been on my own, there's no way I would have found it, and no way I would have the courage to ask someone, and if I did, I probably wouldn't have been able to understand the directions. The station is up the walk, around the corner, around another corner, past the cart, etc etc. Then we had to buy tickets.

One of our girls actually spoke some Russian, so told us what to say in order to buy the 20 use pass. Bloody brilliant. Marijana, you're a saint! And then she figured out which way we needed to go, and how many stops until we needed to get off. So far, so good. Get on the train, grab a seat, and enjoy a nice, relaxing.... oh wait...what's going on....all these people... oh we passed a transfer station and suddenly the car is packed...all these people, holding on to the overhead railings....oh geez, they apparently don't believe in deodorant but do believe in too much perfume/cologne....aaaahhh I'm melting from the inside out, aaaaaahhhhh...... *puddle of choey goop on floor*

Ok, so ten stops and as few breaths as possible later, we get off. Fresh air! Now we have plenty of time to find the school, right? 15 minutes? So it's at 53/2 on whatever street this is, what the hell does that mean?! I don't understand this format of street address and apparently neither does anyone else in our group!  Twenty minutes of going up and down this street and around a corner, have passed some guys who are in our program going the other way, and we finally find the school. That has a big plaque of Lenin on the side.

They feed us breakfast! With coffee!! Gooood coffee too. And pastries filled with mystery substances...today, apples!

They had us come into the conference room, and I see that there are probably 25 or 30 of us in this program, its really quite intimidating. Then one of the professors says something in Russian, and then in English, "If you could understand what I just said, raise your hand." WHAT?! I wasn't even really paying attention because I knew it was in Russian and I had no hope of knowing what she said. And this is our "test"?! Yep, so it is. They separate us out into two groups: the understanders and the non-understanders. Clearly, this is the best way to do things in Russia.

The professors proceed to start us on learning the cyrillic alphabet. Hey, wait a minute, I already know this! I am assured that we will progress past it quite quickly, but I have my doubts, since the only letters we learned today are the ones that resemble Latin letters: T, M, K. Yep, we're flyin now.

After lunch, it is announced that we will have a sightseeing tour of the city by bus. Well, it would have been nice if we had known this, so, you know, we could have been prepared! Some people had on suits (uncomfortable at best in the Moscow high summer heat) and non-walking shoes, a lot of people didn't have their camera, and one person opted out because they were still too jet lagged. Lucky (if you can call it that) for me, my traveling ensemble is comfortable and I am wearing trainers, so no discomfort there with the walking. AND I had my big bag with me, filled with anything a girl could need, since I had no idea what today was going to be about and like to be prepared, so I had my camera all ready to go.

We load the bus and are off into Moscow city, driven by the slightly taciturn Sasha (a man), with narraration provided by our guide Olga, a native. She is the cutest little babushka (grandmother), all short and wrinkly! Just want to put her in my pocket, but I feel like that might be a bit awkward...