So let my introduce myself. My name is Jeni and I'm studying at UCL in London, England, but I'm spending a year abroad studying in Moscow, Russia and Budapest, Hungary. I'm totally excited for all the wonderful things I'm going to experience but I also know times will be tough! The language barrier will probably be the worst, along with leaving my best friends (you know who you are) behind in the US & UK. At least I have my Star Trek dvds to cheer me up in times of need!!
I arrived in Moscow on Sunday and I'm living in student halls with other regular students and international students. It's pretty basic but I went to boarding school so I'm used to it all! Nothing new for me and nothing I can't handle really, bar annoying room-mates!! The only irritating thing is not having a lamp in our room so one of us can stay up late without having to leave the bright main lights on! Maybe I'll buy one tomorrow.
My Russian is pretty rusty as I haven't had practice since my exam in May this year, and I speak French & German too which usually confuzzles me. Some of the int'l students here are also German and French so it's harder for me to think clearly in Russian. I'm sure by the end of my 4 months here I'll be totally fluent. At least I've got a heads up on some of my contemporaries here who've come to Russia for 4 months/a year without knowing ANY Russian & hardly anything about the culture of the country!! It's impossible to survive here without knowing some basic Russian and having a grasp of the cyrillic alphabet, especially in terms of eating! Don't want to end up having horse soup or something!! Also Russians will often take advantage of foreigners, as happens in every country really, if you speak a different language you'll be taken the longer route in your taxi. There's no helping that!
My Russian is pretty rusty as I haven't had practice since my exam in May this year, and I speak French & German too which usually confuzzles me. Some of the int'l students here are also German and French so it's harder for me to think clearly in Russian. I'm sure by the end of my 4 months here I'll be totally fluent. At least I've got a heads up on some of my contemporaries here who've come to Russia for 4 months/a year without knowing ANY Russian & hardly anything about the culture of the country!! It's impossible to survive here without knowing some basic Russian and having a grasp of the cyrillic alphabet, especially in terms of eating! Don't want to end up having horse soup or something!! Also Russians will often take advantage of foreigners, as happens in every country really, if you speak a different language you'll be taken the longer route in your taxi. There's no helping that!
I'll be updating this blog as and when and putting information up about my experiences and all the quirks of living in Moscow! So far I have been bemused by a lot of what I've seen. Today's highlight was a man carrying a 7 ft high birch tree sapling on the subway and struggling to get on a subway train with it!!
Peace out y'all. xxx
