Extended Stay

I checked my email yesterday and was surprised at the mass of unread messages waiting for me. Here at home, email to my Lawrence account has dwindled to about one a day. I sorted through the ones informing me about the new voicemail options at Lawrence and the ones about finances to get to the most the Easter egg, titled "Change in Program End Date."

Now, the original date of the group flight back to the States was Dec. 30. This was frustrating to me because it meant I would just barely miss the New Year, which is a big deal in Russia. But here was the assistant director telling me that we would be staying for exam week, rather than leaving early, как обычно. The new return date is Jan. 12, which means I'll be in St. Petersburg for New Year's and Christmas!! I am really excited and I've been telling anyone who will listen. The secondary great thing is that the later return date justifies my taking off a term even more. Winter Term starts Jan. 6, and while I could arrange to return early, I've pre-saved myself the hassle of doing so.

The excitement has carried me through to the creation of this blog. I've told enough people that I'm going to keep a blog while I'm in St. Petersburg that I surely had better. So here we are.

Russian vocab of the day:
С новом годом! и С рождеством Христов!: two holiday greetings I will be using in St. Petersburg.
С днем благодарения! и С Хэллоуином!: two holiday greetings I doubt I will be using in St. Petersburg, unless we American students get together and roast our own turkey or knock on each others' doors for candy.