Now Arriving in St. Petersburg...

Safe and sound in St. Petersburg, in a hotel for orientation that appears to specialize in group travel and tours so there are all kinds of groups of people walking around which is really amusing, I love being back in a place where you can hear so many different languages just by walking down the hallway.

My travel day (well, day and a half, but who's counting) went as well as could be expected, flights were on time and my luggage made it all the way here with me. Had some great conversation and laughs with a young guy from Nepal who is working on Wall Street on the transatlantic flight, interesting stories and friendly people can make a day so much better. The fuss about the weight requirement turned out to be a non-issue - which I was slightly bummed about in a way since I was so excited that I had managed to pack less than the 77 lb limit - and we all just walked right through customs after having our migration cards stamped, nothing out of the ordinary customs procedure at all. Maybe thats what happens when you prepare for the worst.

Haven't actually seen much of the city at all, we took a bus from the airport to the hotel that took about 10 minutes so was able to witness some rather crazy drivers but not much of St. Petersburg itself, as the airport is on the outskirts. Tomorrow begins orientation and I think we will be riding public transportation at least a little so I'll let you know what I think of the city after I've seen more of it!

I'm doing just fine, a little nervous about the host family situation since I don't know anything about them yet, but I'm sure it will work out how its meant to - and I think we'll get some more information on it tomorrow. Excited to start a new adventure, and the people I've met have been great and full of stories so I'm sure there are plenty of fun and interesting times ahead!

I know everyone wants contact information, pause. Military with gun just walked into the lobby, and nobody pays them any attention. Must just be business as usual, I think they're checking up on the restaurant/bar that has music playing. Anyway, where was I...contact information. Well I'm at the hotel at the moment and I have 30 free minutes of internet which I'm about to use to create this blog and talk to whoever happens to be online! I'm assuming we will find out tomorrow about the internet at the CIEE office and once I know my class/activities schedule I will post it here so that we can work out times to chat. (Also, for those of you that I told about the voicemail number, I left the card somewhere at home I think so I'm going to see if mom can find it, so hold on for that.)

I think thats it for now...feel free to comment via your favorite social media site, or email me, and when I post my other contact info and convenient times to chat I'll post the address where I can get mail in case you're more old-fashioned than email :-).

Love to you all, and thank you for all the support you have each given me in getting this far. I will do my best to keep in touch, and please help hold me to that! All the best and love to all of you! xo - beth anne