First lectures and host family

All the lectures are held in the same building where the international dorm is. Our first lecture on Monday was just meeting our counselor and meeting some other teachers. And an exam! The exam was to determine our skills in Russian language, and I bet I failed miserably.. :---D It was about 10 pages, mostly multiple choice problems about grammar and vocabulary.

After the first couple of pages of the exam I got so tired that I couldn't concentrate at all.. x__x The sentences were really hard and I couldn't even understand the multpile choice answers, because (I must admit) I'm still very poor in Russian. Especially my vocabulary is very bad. We also had to read a small text about Tolstoi and answer the questions and write a small essay about "Russian language in my life".

My meal after exam was ква́шеная капу́ста aka sauerkraut (sour cabbage). I just had to try something very Russian as soon as possible. :D

After the exam we had a little tour around the town with a Russian tutor, and after that it was something very exciting for me - meeting my host family! I had a lot of trouble convincing the babushka (granny who works as the dorm janitor), that I'm actually living in the dorm and she needs to give me the key to my room so I can get my things. She told me that there's only one girl staying in that room, and I said yes, because that's me. :D But she still didn't believe me and asked for my name. I said I'm Seppälä, after witch she asked if I'm Andrei (seriously, do I look like a boy to you?) living in the room 321 instead of 421. She was the same babushka, who said I can't live at the dorm on my first day there.. xD
Luckily the chief of the dorm came in, recognized me and came to check if everything's alright in the room.

I waited outside the dorm for my new host mom to pick me up and soon she arrived. I explained her that I know very little Russian, but I don't want to speak in English because I want to learn. She agreed on this and after arriving to our BEAUTIFUL apartment (top/8th floor) we had a very long conversation in Russian. I was surprised and happy that I could talk so much even though it was at level "I, uh, Finland, two-ten-two year, Russian --- study". xD

My mom's name is Olga and she's super nice! I also met my host brother Ivan, but I haven't talked to him that much. He helped me with getting access to the wi-fi and figuring out where on the map our apartment was. xD I also met Ivan's dad Ivan and he was talkative and pleasant person. They also have a daughter who's my age (as is Ivan), but she's currently studying in France. I'm living in her room. I'm happy I got to live here! :3

Why are you doing this to me? A broken guitar string, and of course I didn't bring any extras with me.

I told my host mom about what had happened.. And I got this! They had a guitar who no ones plays so I can borrow it until I find a store that sells strings. ^^

I started to get a little bit sick in Monday evening and Olga made me some delicious spice and herb drink that made my cough and sore troath a little easier. My flu got a lot worse on Tuesday when we were going to have our first real lectures, but I somehow struggled through them even though I was cold and my head was hurting. Big thanks to my classmate Elena who gave me some of her medicines and took care of me! <3

The first lecture was about Russian verbs, which are the most confusing things ever. I studied the same things during the spring in Finland, but I remember basically nothing. And how much home work we got...! It took me easily over an hour to finish them all. xD Our second lecture of the day (we're going to have 2 lectures 5 days a week through the whole semester!) was about Russian history, culture and communication. We read newspapers, watched news and got a little book about Tver and Russia. We didn't need to buy the school books, but I thought they might be useful after my return so I bought them anyway. And who wouldn't, if both of them cost about 2 euros?

All of our school books, price ranging from 80 to 150 rubles. Not too expensive. :D Also, bottled water! Don't drink the tap water here. ;)

After the lecture I felt so sick that I just returned home, did my homework and rested. In the evening I got a fever and my cough was just getting worse. My mom heard this, made me some tea with cranberry (vitamin-C!) and also tea with rum and honey. The most efficient medicines in Russia..! ;) I'm so thankful for her caring!

On Wednesday morning I started to feel so sick that I just gave up and didn't go to school. The fever continued for a couple of days, but the cough doesn't seem to get better. I have been home all week and also my host brother is sick. We haven't even met each other after the first day because we're both just sleeping in our own rooms. xD
My host mom has been very sweet, she for example noticed I had been too tired to cook and offered me Russian mushroom & potato dinner. And her breakfasts are awesome! ;3

Now I'm trying to rest, so I can go to school tomorrow. Go away you flu, I want to study, explore the city and start training taekwondo.

The view from my room window.

And suddenly the sky turned dark?! We got a big thunder storm out of nowhere and it disappeared as quickly as it came.