The Arrival - Continued

So, first of all, I finally found an adapter for my computer. Like so many things in life, looked all over the place, stopping at every electronics store I could find, and yet the store where I finally found it (ИОН) was right outside the freaking metro in our area. It was around 20 dollars (599 rubley), but it was worth it. It also comes with pretty much ever plug and socket to every outlet known to man, so that's pretty neat.

Anyway, back to the first day.

The driver (who I have now learned is named Dmitri) took me towards the exit of the airport and outside.

Initial reaction? Not that bad actually. I expected a cold so extreme that my face would instantly turn to ice and possibly explode afterward.

We walked along a snowy path until we reached a parking lot. Dmitri turned to me and said something, something that ended with здесь (here). He turned around to walk on, I started following, he turned around, repeated himself, backed away with his hand outstretched to indicate that I need to stay right here. So I did. Figured he was just going around the corner to get his car, so I stood there taking things in. Apparently he was going around 7 or 8 corners, but the delay wasn't too bad. The delay on the flight made me late anyway - what's another 15 minutes?

Ten or fifteen minutes later he drives up and helps me put my bags in the trunk. I get into the back seat and we're on our way.

Dmitri.

Dmitri, I quickly learned, is not a talker. I doubt he speaks English, so during the roughly 50 minute drive to MosGU (my current university), he didn't speak a single word to me. But that's ok. I was preoccupied with snapping photographs of everything I could see that looked different from Florida (which was a lot), including Dmitri, though I made sure the flash was off when I took his picture.

Just one of the many huge buildings I saw
on the way to MosGU

Once we got out of the more industrial area, where I could see a significant (and significantly disturbing) amount of factories, with huge clouds of smoke and pollution pouring out of their tops.

Eventually we got back into a residential area, turning down a narrow pathway into what looked like a slum. At this point I was getting a little bit worried that maybe I might have misread the card Dmitri was holding - was he taking me to the right place? But I needn't fear. Soon we drove towards a wooded area, up to a gate that said Московский Гуманитарный Университет (Moscow University for the Humanities). He took me to a yellow building, where I met Dan, who would be roughly the equivalent of an RA in our dorm. He took me to the GRINT office (the program that caters to international students) where I got my entrance pass (you need to show it to guards to get into the campus and also to enter/leave your dorm) and took my placement test. Classes would start the next day, so in the meantime I got settled in my room.

The view from my room. Very welcoming, right?