Amanda Goes East (and other stories)

First of all, I am typing this on my netbook's insanely small keyboard, so any mistakes should be attributed to this. I don't really have anything to say, and I'm not really in a mood to write, but I wasn't doing anything productive...so this seemed like a reasonable pastime. Additionally, I love spellcheck. While once a pro speller, the Russian language and a pronounced lack of time to read for fun (thanks college!) have taken a huge toll on my comprehension of spelling rules. Not that English really has any.

Friday, August 13th, 2010: Day 2 since the end of the language code

Mood: coherent/shocked
Hours of sleep: 11
Location: Sahuarita, AZ
Hours of homework done today: 0

So, once again life is back to "normal". I currently find myself back in my usual position, which is on my bed glued to my computer. However, I can't help but feel vaguely unsettled by all of this. I feel like I've had so many wonderful and bizarre experiences in the last few weeks that my brain is still working on processing them all and hasn't had time to catch up to the present....which just leaves me mildly confused. It certainly doesn't help that within the span of 48 hours my life has gone from one extreme to another.

At this time 2 days ago I had just finished my final exam. I was in bed attempting to get in a nap before lunch because the night before, and every night for the past 4-5 weeks, I had gotten far too little sleep. If I was awake at this time, I would have been thinking about what I would have for lunch, when I was going to see Brian, and what I wanted/needed to do that day. These thoughts also probably would have been in Russian.

Actually....come to think about it, those thoughts aren't very different from what's going through my mind at the moment. The only differences are that they're in English and I've already had lunch. The point that I was trying to make though is that a whole lot has been going on lately.

I spent the majority of this summer back in Middlebury, VT enduring their 9-week summer language program. This is the same program that I did 2 years ago, and I really hadn't had any intentions of repeating the process because 1) It was hard, and 2) The people were such a huge part of it that I really didn't think that I could do it again and have similar results. BUT, for some reason (caprice, fate, boredom, forethought..I don't know, I can't explain it) back at the end of the school year I decided "Hey! I'm going to do a language program." So I did...and boy am I glad. Of course it can never replace all of those times with Jasmine, Jared, Jordan, and all of those other people with J names, but I have to say that this time was absolutely amazing. First of all I met this pretty wonderful guy (who I hope by now knows who he is) who, as Kendra sagely pointed out, is perhaps the only person known to man who has the capability of making me sacrifice massive quantities of sleep for extremely prolonged amounts of time. The people were also fantastic. I had many a great night playing billiards in The Grill(e?), dancing in every discoteka available, wanding aimlessly around Middlebury at every hour of the day, going swimming, playing volleyball, putting off homework for as long as possible, and other such variations of hooliganism. This time around I was in the 7th level (the highest) as opposed to the 4th, which meant that I understood pretty much everything and was considerably less intimidated by the Russian language. Overall this summer was amazing, and I'm going to really really miss everyone. Thank God for facebook, skype, telephones, planes, cars, letters, smoke signals, and every other possible form of communication or transportation available.

There are some pluses to being home though...especially the pronounced lack of homework and the ability to express myself fluently. Also the food is better.

My current plans are: finish visa applications today and go to Russia sometime soon. Also, A.K.A. needs to have a reunion immediately. I am sorely overdue for picnics, Dutch Blitz, girly movies, and T-Pain.

That's all I can think of to say at the moment. More to come later, probably.

Oh no, not the language code!

If you don't hear from me again, the Middlebury KGB got me.

So then....life. Where did we last leave off? May 2nd? Well, a lot has gone on since then. For starters: I graduated. However, after surviving only 1 month of freedom, I once again find myself in a rigorous university setting. The only difference this time is that I've switched languages.

I also now know where I'm going to be in Russia -- Tolyatti (Togliatti). It's a rather large industrial town on the Volga River that was named after an Italian communist. All of the historical sights that dated from before the Soviet era were also washed away in a flood 50 years ago. Sounds pretty picturesque, huh? However, the good news is that the people seem really nice, and the town is located in an interesting area. I've corresponded a little with the girl who was there last year, and she said that she had a really good time. It is also pretty far off the tourist track (unless there are people out there with Lada fetishes), so it will be really good practice for my Russian speaking. As far as the living situation goes, it sounds like I have a choice: I can either live in the dorm, or find an apartment. The apartment sounds like the better situation to me, but I'll admit..the idea is a little frightening. I've never had to rent an apartment before, let alone in Russia. The idea of being alone in Russia is also kinda scary. Of course I'll have a babysitter from the university who will make sure that I don't die, but I won't have a Russian хозяйка to make me food, tell me how the buses work, and make sure that I don't go out on the street with wet hair. I also suspect that my daily diet would consist of a whole lot of macaroni and sandwiches. Not that I mind that too terribly.

My current problem is dealing with the constant stream of paperwork that insists on overwhelming me. The worst part is that I keep having to juggle it all between different addresses. By the way -- getting a visa approved? How does that work anyway? I have had very little guidance on this subject. I know that my invitation has been approved and is being expressed mailed to me at this very moment...but then what? I guess I'll figure that out when it gets here. If I were to get metaphorical, this would be the part of life where the training wheels are starting to come off. There's still a hand lightly holding on to the seat of life, but you know at any moment it's going to let go and pretend it didn't.

On a lighter note, today I saw a baby squirrel and a baby bunny within 5 minutes of each other. It was so adorable I thought I might choke. This year at русская школа I'm living in a dorm that's off in the woods. You wouldn't think that there would be as much wildlife around since it's not a particularly dense section of woods, but there is. The vast majority of this wildlife also enjoys peeking into my room to see what's going on. The other day I was sitting at my computer looking up Russian verbs or checking facebook or something and I look over to find a little face looking at me! It was a SQUIRREL! He was sitting on the ledge outside my window and seemed very intrigued by the goldfish crackers on my desk. I tried to take a picture, but I couldn't get my camera ready fast enough :(

Oh, by the way, Coolio did come to Sewanee. It was absurd and epic all at once.

I suppose I should go be social or something.

p.s. - the bugs here are crazy. Something bit me on the ear and it is really unpleasant.

I really don't know why I'm still awake. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I was up until almost 6 am last night. It's really a bad sign if you can sleep until 1 and only get 7 hours of sleep. It doesn't help that I'm one of those people that needs an average of 9 hours of sleep to feel healthy, so for me 7 hours just leaves me feeling deprived. Lately I've also found myself lost in time -- by that I mean that I keep confusing the days. I've also developed this habit of waking up a few minutes before my alarm clock goes off (but who can blame me for that, my alarm clock is awful). This is nice in some ways, but in other ways it just leaves me more confused. Take Friday for example: at 9 am my eyes pop open; (<-- I'll just be frank here, I really don't know how to use semi-colons, but I'm trying to integrate them into my writing because they make you seem smarter. This didn't seem like an appropriate place for a . or a , so perhaps smashing them together into a ; will do the trick) my alarm clock is set for 9:02 because it's 2 minutes ahead, but I can't bear to short myself on sleep time. With trouble I turn over to look at the clock. Then I think to myself "I didn't hear any noise, why am I awake right now? Isn't it Saturday? .....ohh....right, it's only Friday and I have class. !@#$." On the bright side, today has felt like Sunday all day, so it's a relief to know that I still have another day of freedom. Perhaps this confusion has come from my current feelings of being in a deluded time warp -- I know logically that I only have 2.5 weeks left in Sewanee, but I've managed to fool myself into thinking that A) I have months left, or more accurately B) I'm never leaving because college never ends.

Guess what, college does end....temporarily at least. I'm one of those unwilling academic types: I always swear that this is the last of my education because I can't take it any more, and then I get roped into further schooling. Well, to be fair, it wasn't like that after high school, I've always intended to go to college. Grad school is definitely that way though. There's still time for me to chicken out, but I'm coming to the realization that school is much easier and more interesting than getting a real job. I just hate writing essays...and taking tests...and reading boring books.

I discovered last week that Scrubs is a hilarious tv show. One of my suite mates happens to own seasons 1-6, and so I popped a DVD in in order to entertain me during a solo dinner in the room. We have a pretty large collection of movies in the room (mainly thanks to the same suite mate), and it seemed impossible at first that I'd exhaust all of my choices, but movie nights are now met with long negotiations about which movies we can "stand" to watch again. 10 Things I Hate About You is almost always a contender. Anyway, I'd seen an episode of Scrubs here and there when it was on tv and I knew that it was amusing...but it turns out that it's hilarious! I'm so out of the loop of popular culture, but I'm not so sure that that's a bad thing...

Sewanee is going to be under a severe storm and tornado watch for the next week or so (seriously -- our last weather bulletin was entitled "It Ain't Over---yet. More to come."), but so far I've yet to see much of anything. The problem is that counties here are fairly large, so any time there's a watch on the other side of it, we get included. Apparently Nashville is legitimately flooded though, I watched a video of a building floating down I-24. There's certainly something to be said in favor of living on top of a mountain...flash flooding is a very minor concern. The wind has been a little crazy, but most of all it's just a tease. Kendra and I have tried diligently for the last 2 days to go kite flying, and every time we get out there the wind lets us down. It lures us outside, and then strings us along hopefully with gusts at perfect kite strength. However, the gusts are just far enough apart that the kite never gets up very high, and running doesn't help...in the end it just makes us look foolish. Friday afternoon I believe that there was a wedding or ceremony of some sort in Cravens Hall, which has large windows looking out onto the soccer field behind our dorm. I'm sure that they got quite the treat watching Kendra and I frantically run back and forth with unruly kites...it certainly didn't help that Kendra's kite is a rather elaborate pirate ship.

Coolio has, sadly, been delayed. Last weekend his plane got canceled due to heavy rain. We'll see if he ends up coming or not...perhaps he's just *cough* too cool for school?

Tomorrow's plans include a whole lot of nothing, so I guess I better go now and get rested up. It is, after all, 4:30 am.

HERE's a link to the video of the building floating down the interstate. I'm not entirely sure where it is, but I'm sure that I use that section of road regularly.

I found a good poem last night. With Russian poems I'm never sure if I've understood the meaning correctly or not, but in my mind it amused me. I'll make an attempt at translation (it's much prettier in Russian, of course).

Евгений В. Харитоновъ /Yevgeny V. Haritonov (the author)

В "Детском мире" / In "The child's world"
в детство впал / in childhood it sank in

невоздержимо / uncontrollably
захотелось купить / that I wanted to buy
пластмассовый / a plastic
пистолетик / pistolette

из тех / from which
что стреляются водой / shoots water
я хотел такой / I wanted that kind

в детстве/ in my childhood

но они были жутким / but there were terrible
дефицитом / deficits

теперь я счастлив - / but now I'm happy
и у меня есть / and I have a
пис / pist <-- you will not here that he's starting to break words apart
толетик / olette
стреляющий водой / that shoots water

есть у меня свой / I have my own
личный пистолетик / personal pistolette
писто / pisto
летик / lette

peace
peace!

сто
сто!
<--- peace сто лет = the same sounds as the word pistol, but means "peace for 100 years"
лет
лет!

лети
лети!
лети!!
<--- лети к = the diminutive ending, but means "fly away to..."
к...

иду / I'm walking
стреляю в прохожих / I'm shooting passersby
мокрый террорист/ I'm a water terrorist
из-за меня / because of me
не умирают люди / people don't die

+30° в тени / +86° in the shade
29.05.2007 / May 29, 2007

Well, I've passed my comprehensive exams, so it looks like I'll be officially graduating (not that there was ever any doubt that I would). I also apparently won honorable mention in a national Russian essay contest. My professors congratulated me Wednesday, and I happily accepted the congratulations (I had mostly forgotten about that contest, I'd done it once or twice before and never won anything) and decided that I would go online later and find out more information. However, I haven't been able to find anything! I really wanted to see who the other winners, since there's a good chance that I know at least one or two of them...and it's always fun to see your name in print. I think that I was in the 4th and hardest group, so that's pretty impressive.

The essay contest news couldn't have come at a better time either. I found out on the day that I had to give the oral part of my comps, and it's always a good idea to put your professors in a good mood before they begin the interrogation section of your exam.

With comps out of the way, I now just have to write my honors thesis, write another paper, survive a couple of more classes, and take my final exams. Unfortunately, I only have about a week to do the honors thesis (which will probably be 20-30 pages) and the other essay (probably 8ish pages), so I'm freaking out a little bit. I also found out a bit of irritating news. It looks like I'm going to graduate .001-.05 GPA points short of summa cum laude because Sewanee doesn't round. This didn't bother me before because I figured I either had it or I was too far away for it to be an option, so I could just get my work done and coast to the end with a clear conscience. If I end up getting a 3.749 I am going to be severely irked.

While we're on the subject of GPAs, let me rant a little bit more. Basically, it's unfair. Everything is severely weighted here. Unlike many schools, where an A is a 4.0 regardless of a plus or minus beside it, an A- here is a 3.67. A B-, in comparison, is a 2.67. Since when is a B of any sort below average? Teachers don't seem to realize the extent of the damage done by those pesky little minuses, and slap them on at random if there's any doubt. I also find math unfair..one bad grade can drop your entire GPA drastically, but one perfect grade can only bring it up a tiny bit. Math is also unfair in another sense...I only wanted to take Calculus I, but I was forced to take Calculus II because by some fluke I got a 5 on the AP exam. I know I suck at math, and I tried to say so...I blame that B- on Sewanee.

There's a reason I only donated $2 to the Sewanee Anual Gift Fund (that and the fact that I got a hilarious thank you card)....

In other news, Coolio (THE Coolio) is coming to Sewanee tomorrow. One of the fraternities was suspended from having parties last year, but they still collected dues. As a result, they've amassed a large quantity of money, and they figured that the best way to spend it would be to hire a famous rapper to come for Spring Party Weekend. It's a pretty good idea, I have to admit. Unfortunately, it's supposed to be really stormy tomorrow, so hopefully it won't get canceled.

This summer is looking like it's going to be hectic, to say the least. However, I think that it will be an improvement from last summer, which was completely inactive (save for 5 or 6 days in there). I'm going to begin by driving solo cross-country. I've driven up to 13 hours by myself, but I've never had to go for multiple days. More specifically..I've never had to book a hotel room on my own before. I think it'll be pretty easy though...as long as the credit card works.

Well..this is enough procrastinating for now. Mostly I just wanted to rant about my grades, and there's no one online and everyone that I live with has disappeared. That's the way it usually works.