The End of A Semester and the Start of Hot Cocoa's Vacation

So, it's been a while since I've written on here. It's the end of my first semester in Moscow. In this post I will talk more about my thoughts so far on life in Moscow more than retell recent events. But I'll include a few of course.

The last day we had some group event was yesterday when the remaining people went to go ice skating on Red Square! It was umm.. well.. an experience for me haha All I am going to say about it is my people were not meant to be on ice. But I'd like to thank Kim and Kelly for helping me finally get off the wall. Sadly at the end we had to say goodbye to Amy at the end since she was only here for the semester. A week before we also had our goodbye dinner with Pat and Nina who have already left. It was a great semester with the three of them and I will miss them dearly. I feel like it's going to be really strange to start the next semester without them here. But I will definitely see them when I get back to Dickinson next year, even Amy, she's coming to visit.

Today is my last day in Moscow. I haven't packed yet haha but that's alright, it doesn't take me long. I will be flying with Kim to Frankfurt and then taking the train to Kara's house. I have some travel plans for January which include: Bremen, Palma De Mallorca, London/Norwich, and Paris. I am beyond excited for this winter. I finally get the opportunity to travel in Europe and I am definitely taking advantage of it. I will hopefully be able to update while I travel in segments I will call "Hot Cocoa's Vacation".

My experience this semester in Moscow will definitely be unforgettable. I would have never imagined myself here in a 100 years. But I would not trade this experience for anything. Out of all the places we've been to and seen, in all honesty, Moscow is still my favorite. I can't quite put my finger on it but there's just something about it that the other places just do not have. The interactions that I have had with Russian people have all been interesting. On the street and on the metro the blank cold face is put on by almost everybody. But once you get to know them and are in an environment where you can socialize with them, their attitude changes and their bright side definitely comes out. Also, living with homegurl Eleonora has been quite the experience. She is a character, our previous conversations have been about UFOs, our past lives, politics, and traveling. I will obviously miss her. Next semester is going to be crazier with the internship and project and a CLASS WITH RUSSIAN STUDENTS. But of course, I will keep you guys updated. I know it's early, but one of my new year's resolutions is to write a lot more on here.

I know I know I know

Yes, I know I've been bad. But what can I say? Again It's been quite a while since my last post. But I do have a semi-good excuse. I've just been SO busy. Life in the big Russian city doesn't keep you idle. Plus classes just got a little more real.

So, in this post I just want to discuss my trip to Pskov. I actually plan to make a post around Sunday discussing other things that have happened in the couple of weeks before. I like reverse chronological order. So it was a pretty busy time in Pskov. On the first day we met with out lovely guide Annya in the AM. Our first stop was the Kremlin of Pskov. We got a tour and went inside a church. It was quite different than what we have previously seen. The style was much more simplistic, which is not a bad thing. Afterwards we went to this like metalworking place. We got a tour and we got to make our own Pskov coins! And you know what was even more amazing? WE WERE ON TV!!!!! So I got to make my own coin by striking a piece of metal with a hammer and I got my exposure on TV. It was a successful dyen(day). After everything we were left to relax and do whatever. So... what do American students do in a small Russian city at 11:30 PM? We go see New Moon of course. If you don't know what New Moon is, it is the sequel to Twilight, a teen romance movie with werewolves and vampires. Like it's a pretty horrible movie, but it was in Russian so it wasn't all in vain.

And the next day begins with an hour trip to Pechory which is a few kilometers from the Estonian border. In Pechory we visited the Pskovo Pechersky Monastery. It's a large monastery that houses about 100 monks and priests. I liked it quite it a bit and we learned about how it there were caves where people are buried. But unfortunately, people are no longer allowed down there. So we continued our journey and headed to Izborsk, where one of the oldest fortresses in Russia is located. We climbed to the top of a tower from where we could see the whole place. It was a pretty amazing view. We also headed to these springs where if you drink from them you will receive either love, money, wisdom, or like death. Obviously I drank from the spring of wisdom haha Our last stop of the day was the honey farm! We got a tour of the place from the head beekeeper and at the end we got to sample pretty much all of his products. They were all pretty good which was evident when everyone in the group went up to buy something after the tour ended. That night we didn't do much except go out to eat. No new cinema adventures unfortunately(New Moon was the only thing playing x_x)

Our last trip with Annya was to a pottery class. It was pretty amazing. We learned how to make different little things out of clay and we even got to throw pottery! I made a hedgehog, a cat, a Pskov plaque, and my own pot. I really enjoyed everything that was planned out for us. Going to a small Russian city was quite a different experience than being in big Russian cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg. I felt more at ease in Pskov than I did in Moscow. But at the end of the day I could not survive if I had to in a place like Pskov for a year. I just don't feel like it has what I need, it doesn't have the energy and that "it" factor that Moscow does. But overall it was a nice break and I could definitely visit again.

Circus and Sickness

Hey everybody! Sorry this post is a bit late, but my internet wasn't exactly being cooperative last night. But now it's all good. Last week was a bit odd since I was out because I got sick with the flu(I know x_x).

We had our first official holiday off from school this past week. It was on Wednesday to celebrate Day of People's Unity(Dyen Narodnovo Edinstva). Nina and I went for a walk that day through Manezhnaya Ploshad and the surrounding area. At one point we found a huge line for something, we were curious so of course we asked one of the people waiting in line. It turned out to be something for the orthodox church. It amazed me how devoted people are. They will use one of their days off(I don't think it's many) and they will wait in a huge line in the cold to see some icons. So we continued on our stroll and guess what we found?! Stalin and Alexander I haha I of course could not miss the chance to take my picture with them simply for the ridiculousness of it. I'm definitely uploading that one to my flickr account. And later that night the group went to the circus!

So, the circus is something quite different than what we usually do here. We usually go to like ballets and plays. I think I've only been to the circus like one other time in my life haha But anyways, I had mixed feelings...It was a nice show and some of the tricks the acrobats and the people on the horses did were quite amazing. It just felt awkward at times because it felt like I was at happy hour at the playboy mansion rather then at an event for children. Women usually wore quite revealing outfits/costumes and did some dances. Also it just seemed a lot of the times the women in the shows had animal costumes while the men were running things. I wasn't really crazy about all of that. So yea, but I'm really glad I went and I'm excited for the events that we have planned for this month (especially Pskov).

Things at home are going well, except that homegurl Eleonora recently got really sick but I'm pretty sure I gave it to her when she was helping me out(oops...). I went to the doctor on Friday which went alright. His English was a little broken but he was quite helpful and I'm mostly better now, all I got is a cough. On another note, I can't believe the semester is almost over! I think we have about a month left. Overall I have enjoyed my stay in Moscow so far and I'm sure there's way more to experience and I definitely have time :)

Calling Out All My Single Ladies!

Hello Hello! I just got back from the Beyonce concert! I was so excited to go and it was a really great time. I went with one of my favorite single ladies here in Moscow, Kim. I'll discuss some thoughts that came up during the concert later in this post. But first I'll recap my life, as usual.

Unfortunately, the whole week was a bit uneventful. It's just one of those weeks you know? Plus, although it is not a secret to anybody here. I have been feeling pretty down lately. I think I have finally hit that depression stage in the study abroad year. Hopefully I will get back to feeling my normal self soon. Classes are going well, although I am starting to feel a bit tired of the routine. There was one little change in the routine last week though. Pat and I went to an art history class with other Russian students. It was a bit interesting to see real Russian students in a classroom setting. But I don't think Pat or I are going back anytime soon, it just wasn't our cup of tea. On the home front, homegurl Eleonora has been pretty great so far. We had a lovely conversation today about the pyramids and reincarnation haha She totally believes in it which I am all for. One of these days I am going to ask her what she was in a previous life.

My weekend was actually relaxing for a change. On Friday we went out to this place called Billingua. We were there before, but only as a cafe during the day. At night it turns into a pretty chill club. The music was pretty fun, it was all like 70s music and in English of course. We all had a really good time until the end. Some asshole decided to come up to our group and talk shit about me because I'm Mexican. But thankfully Nina was there to stand up for me(Gracias mi muñeca Griega). Halloween was a bit weird. Like back in the states I would of definitely been in a more celebratory mood. Here in Russia, Halloween isn't really celebrated all that much, I mean you see like a couple costumes and like you see clubs having some special DJ or w/e but it's not like the big event back home. So it's weird, I don't feel like I missed anything by just staying home on Saturday. Sunday I went shopping with Kim, I thought maybe the rush of consumerism would make me feel better. Don't get me wrong, it did, but it was only a quick fix.

So now the Beyonce concert. First, I got to say it was amazing. Beyonce is a great performer so it was quite a show. Now onto what I want to really talk about. One of the parts of the concert was her singing Etta James' "At Last" with a video backdrop of the civil rights movement and then some Obama clips. As soon as I saw it I thought about how weird it was. Here I am in Moscow, and at a concert there are clips of like a moment in American history. It also got me thinking about how Americanized other parts of the world have become or are becoming. Now I know it's Beyonce and she's an American celebrity, but still. It just makes me wonder sometimes...

Out On The Weekend

Hey everyone! I am actually going to keep the updates on the regular. Unfortunately this last week I was out of commission since I was sick. But thankfully I got better by Friday so I have plenty of stuff to talk about :)

Alright so nothing really happened during the week except sleep. Although when homegurl Eleonora realized I was sick, she went into like super host mom mode. She brought me like some chicken noodle soup, like two different kinds of tea, lemon slices with honey and oranges. She also cleaned my room and said that if my room looks nice I will get better soon. And on top of it all, she made me recite positive affirmations in Russian haha it was like "I am too strong to be sick... The Russian cold is not cold to me" and some others. She was really sweet and I definitely need to buy her some flowers soon. I also told her today that I am going to the Beyonce concert next week and explained Single Ladies to her. She totally loved it haha

Alright so now onto my weekend. So Friday I returned to my regular schedule. I felt much better and all that good junk. So the usual group plus Pat's friend and our classmate went out to this club called Propaganda. It was a fun time except they took forever to clear the tables to make the dance floor. We had to leave early though since we had an excursion to Yasnaya Polyana(Tolstoy's Estate) early the next day. I got up on time and everything, but all I'm gonna say is I should not have had that extra Long Island Ice Tea haha... His estate was really nice. My favorite place was his actual house, I have read his books and it was just so interesting to see where he made it all happen. It's also always really interesting to see the huge contrast between huge cities like Moscow or St. Petersburg and like the rural areas of Russia. The only really unpleasant part of the trip was the train ride. I don't know who thought it was a bright idea to heat the train up to like 90 degrees, like I know it's freezing outside but let's calm down. After we got back from the trip Pat and I decided to go out.

This time I really wanted to see the drag queen show. So we met up later and went back to Tri Obezani. We had a really great time. We actually met this one Jewish guy who goes to the theater institute here. Pat and I call him UFO because of his hair haha all I'm saying is gurl needed some help with that. It was actually quite hilarious because he thought Pat and I were together and he asked me "are you going to share him?" and I looked at him and was like "ummm no..." and said "oh you bitch" he laughed and so did I, then I said "Yea, I know". We ran into him a few more times. But anyways, we stayed long enough to catch the show! I was so excited. I actually couldn't believe I was watching this defiant act of the gender norms in Russia. They did a few Russian songs but they also performed "Stronger" by Britney and "Human Nature" by Madonna. It was a nice little performance but I was a little dissatisfied with how little attention some of them payed to their tucking technique. Some of you reading this might not know what I mean by "tucking" haha well it's basically what drag performers do in order to hide their junk down there. I mean, it's part of the whole performance. So, we left a little bit after the show and called Kim up because the plan was to stay at her place since the metro is closed and her apartment is like 10 minutes away from the place.

Finally, on Sunday, we went to the Bolshoi Theater. We went to go see a ballet, Giselle. So far, this has been my favorite one. I enjoyed it more than the first one we went to in Moscow and the one in St. Petersburg. Basically, it was a love story, how could you go wrong right? Well that's what has been going on during the past week. I'll definitely keep on updating this thing regularly(I'll probably have a new post up every Monday night).

It's Been A While

Hello everyone! It definitely has been too long since my last post. I think it has been almost three weeks. Well don't worry, I'll try to catch you all up with what has been happening in my busy life in Moscow.

Well I left off with the trip to St. Petersburg. It was an amazing trip. I did so much and was quite exhausted at the end of it, but it was well worth it. I saw Catherine the Great's Palace, Dostoevsky's home, Pushkin's place of study, Mariinsky Theater, Hermitage, and of course some old churches. It seems like I can never escape them haha But anyways, I would have to say my favorite place was Dostoevsky's home. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about it just really captivated me. The hostel we stayed at was actually really nice too. The location was great. And of course, people have asked me which city do I like best. St. Petersburg felt different than Moscow, and it is definitely more Western than Moscow. But in all honesty, I don't think I can answer that question. I was in St. Petersburg for about 4 days and I spent those days as a tourist. I didn't actually live in St. Petersburg. It is impossible for me to judge a city like that. If I ever do spend time actually residing in St. Petersburg, then I will definitely know the answer.

Now, onto the next weekend(that's when everything happens). We had an excursion through Chistiye Prudy(Clean Ponds) and went to a quite peculiar museum. It was a museum about the history of lights in Russia. It was interesting because it's something so specific and something I actually have never really thought about. Well, onto the nightlife haha So Pat and I decided to go to a new club that weekend, Tri Obezany(Three Monkeys... yea I don't name these places). So I would call this one an actual club, it has three floors and a huge dance floor which was cool. The other place I mentioned before is more like a bar... like where you can have a few drinks with your friends and listen to music and stuff. It was a fun time and I'll definitely go back. I actually really want to see the Russian drag queen performance. But, highlight of the night haha we got stopped by the Moscow police. We were rushing to the metro because it was about to close so this police car like rolls up and I told Pat "uh.. I'm pretty sure this is for us..." So we stopped and so did the car. Two officers came out and asked for our documents aka Passport + Visa. They like asked us where and what we studied. Then asked if we used and had any drugs, to which of course I replied no. They patted us down then gave back our stuff and let us go. Unfortunately they made us late to the metro so we had to take a taxi home. The taxi driver told us he liked Obama so it was all good haha

And now, this past weekend was pretty good. On Saturday night, the whole group was invited to Pat's house for a performance/party. We also got to meet Amy's parents who were visiting for a few days. They were pretty cool, I liked them. Pat's host father was in the band that played which was really awesome. It was a really good time. I could actually see the band having a good following back in the US like among college students and people of that age group. Overall it was a good time, Pat's host family is really cool and his apartment is actually really nice and big. On Sunday Kim and I made a rough plan for our travels to Europe this Winter. Kara's house in Germany is headquarters, which I'm really excited for.

Ok, so I summed up the past three weeks very briefly. I will definitely go back to my weekly schedule(and will def talk about homegurl Eleonora). So expect another update next Monday :)

It's Getting Real

It's been a while since my last blog post. Sorry to everyone, but don't worry I'll try to catch you up with what has been going on. I'll start with last weekend :)

We finally left the city to travel a bit. We went to Alexandrov Kremlin and Sergiev Posad. We had to meet early for the train to Alexandrov. We didn't go with Irina, we went with someone named Dasha. She was quite fun. It was quite strange for me when I first got there because I was used to the big Russian city and I just got to this town. We went to the Kremlin which was the residence of Ivan the Terrible. I really liked that tour and I could understand a lot of what our tour guide was saying. We went to Sergiev Posad next and met two of the people who unfortunately overslept. It seemed like it was a bigger town than Alexandrov. We had lunch there and I had what is possibly my favorite thing to eat, pelmeni! I don't know what it is about them, but some pelmeni with sour cream just makes everything better. But anyways, we got to the church and it was really nice. There were some souvenir stands set up in front of the church that I browsed with Nina. I thought it was kind of odd that there was this church place and right in front of it is some Russian guy selling all kinds of fur items. The contrast was a bit weird.

This week something really exciting happened. Well... at least I think it was. I finally went to a Russian gay club! After our meeting for info about the trip to St. Petersburg(keep reading haha) Pat, Nina, and I decided to go try it. The place was actually pretty decent. It was small but there were a good amount of people for the space. I felt like I found a good place in Moscow to just let my hair down and have some fun with a friend or two. The music was really good, it was like better than a lot of the stuff they play back at Dickinson parties haha I got to just dance and have some fun which I needed. I am definitely going back there again and possibly exploring more of the gay scene here in Russia. From what I have seen and heard, it's more of an underground thing. Hmmm possibly for my research project next semester? I think so.

Now to the future. I am leaving in a couple hours for St. Petersburg. I have heard a lot about the city but I have not actually seen it. I am expecting this European looking city and a different atmosphere than Moscow. Our schedule is packed with stuff to do and see. I'm really excited but part of me is a bit worried. I'm gonna be real for a second. I have a feeling like 9 people are going on this trip but only 6 or 7 are coming back. I am definitely coming back so don't even worry haha So yea... I expect some drama to happen. I mean, it's only natural with the kind of group we have. Not that we don't have a fantastic group, but I'm just saying... there is definitely some clashing happening. It's gonna be fun :)

PS. I want to plug Kim's flickr account. It's www.flickr.com/moscow-2009. It's probably going to have more photos than mine haha Don't worry, I'll upload when I come back from St. Petersburg.

Homegurl Takes A Tumble

I can't believe I have been in Moscow for about 4 weeks already. Time goes by too fast. Lately I've been feeling like Moscow is becoming like home to me. But at the same time I still feel like I'm some crazy foreign city and I don't know what's going on. I'm sure as the semester progresses I will feel more and more at home in Moscow.

How's the academic part going? It's actually going great. I have no complaints about the classes so far. Although this week I started to feel a bit overwhelmed by the language. I mean I understand pretty much everything the professors say but when I'm at home flipping through the dictionary or even looking at the new words we learned in class I can't help but feel overwhelmed. There are so many words, so many constructions, and so many rules to learn. But I'm pretty sure I got it. I'm not like cocky, but I'm confident I'll learn it haha Also, I'll give my thoughts about the other students. So far, I definitely only like the Korean and Japanese girls in our class. The Dickinson group has also gone out with a couple of french girls, they're also pretty great. The other American students are just like really weird or sound like tools. My favorite professor is still the phonetics professor. She makes us get up in the end of class to stretch and we repeat some words while we do it, it's actually quite fun haha

I unfortunately have some sad news about homegurl Eleonora. Early this week she fell. She told me she was going down the underpass and didn't see the last step and she went down. When she first showed me her ankle I of course freaked out and said "Oh my god girl what happened?!?!" and few seconds later I realized that she did not understand a word of that. It has gotten better from what I can see. I actually asked her yesterday how was her ankle and she said "Well, I cannot dance, but I will survive" which I thought was hilarious. As for my roommate Chris, he's pretty cool so far. When we have breakfast or dinner together we talk about everything that's going on in our lives. The Dickinson group wants to meet him haha so I definitely need to set up a date. So far the life at home is going well. We'll see what happens next week :)

I'm Loving It

Another week in Moscow has ended. I am starting to get really comfortable here. Although I do think to myself once in a while "oh my god. I am here for a whole year. What did I get myself into?" I'm pretty sure that's completely normal for students studying abroad. But overall, I am definitely loving life in the big Russian city.

This week classes finally started. I have 5 classes and 4 of them are in all Russian. Unfortunately our Dickinson group was separated into two different groups for the Russian classes. I was talking to Kara(a girl in the group) how it felt like forever since we have hung out or something and she felt the same. We laughed when we realized it had only been a day and a half since we all had lunch together at a cafe. I guess that's what happens when you're attached at the hip the first couple of weeks and then you suddenly different schedules. I am happy to meet new people though. In my new classes I met 4 new students, two are from America, one is from Japan, and the other one is from Korea. The girls from Korea and Japan are pretty cool. The one from Korea speaks English but the one from Japan does not which forces me to use my Russian with her. So far my favorite class is phonetics, the teacher is really great and I like what we learn. I'm pretty happy with my schedule.

Things at home changed a bit as well. Someone new arrived at the apartment. His name is Chris and he's from Brown but he's from Germany. So far he's pretty cool. His Russian is better than mine, which means he can talk more with homegurl Eleonora. It's great having somebody else living here with me other than homegurl Eleonora. Not that I don't like her. Other than last week's incident she's been great. Plus I'm still calling her homegurl. It just feels awkward for some reason just having the two of us and the cat. Maybe it's because in the beginning there were three people in the house. I don't know haha The one thing I will say is that she tries to feed us all the time. I'm just like sorry homegurl Eleonora, I'm not a turkey, you can't stuff me. I feel bad sometimes because she says that I must not like what she makes and I of course try my best to tell her that it's not that, I'm just really full or still full from the previous meal. It was actually quite funny, on Monday she called me during classes just because I didn't eat butter brod (like a sandwich?) with breakfast and also I didn't have any tea haha

Last week when the whole coming out incident occurred I was relieved to find such great support from everyone in the group. I am also very thankful to all who sent me emails/facebook messages and such. Your support means a lot. Thank you :)

Photos

As I promised I have uploaded some photos for all to see flickr.com/hotcocoasmoscow :) I will add many more tomorrow. Also I would like to plug my friend Pat's blog moscowinlightandshadow.blogspot.com It's a great photo blog! Also I will definitely make a new post in a few days so look out for that.

Всё будет хорошо

My second week in Moscow is coming to an end so it's time for another post! I feel like the sightseeing has slowed down a bit and now we are slowly being left alone to explore the city on our terms. I am looking forward to the day where we are in full РГГУ mode next week and have our regular classes and everything. It's actually quite daunting haha

Being the only one living in the apartment with homegurl Eleonora is a bit strange. Since James left there is nobody else to help me so you can imagine the many awkward moments where I have to go to my room to get the dictionary. I wouldn't want it any other way though, I came here for the real experience. I was also left alone for the weekend because she went to the dacha(summer home). Today she told me that the student from Middlebury will be arriving tomorrow. I'm actually a little bit excited, the only thing I know is that his name is Christopher. We'll see.

Now onto a more serious subject. I feel like me and her definitely had a falling out today. I decided to ask her about marriage and when people in Russia usually get married. She said now it's usually when people have their careers set. I said it's like the same in America a bit, and then she asked me when I plan to get married. I thought about for a second, "should I lie or should I be completely honest?" and what did I decide? To be completely honest of course... oh what a mistake. I told her how I don't believe in marriage and then I came out to her. At first she seemed completely fine with it, she said oh you know if that's how you want to live your life, to each his own. But as we went on, she was definitely not accepting. I could tell that her stance was that people are made gay or they can change into the "correct" and "normal" orientation. It was quite difficult for me since I am not really anywhere near fluent in the language so it's not like I could defend myself. I simply did my best and flipped through the dictionary desperately trying to find words that would make her understand. Unfortunately there weren't any. We ended the conversation by having some wine, which wasn't bad.

Right now I could be quite pessimistic about my future and also vent about how close minded some people are. But I will not. I am quite resilient, even if I don't appear to be. This experience won't stop me from continuing to enjoy my stay in Moscow. I'm simply gonna take it one day at a time and hopefully всё будет хорошо(vsyo budyet khorosho, everything will be alright).

My First Week in Moskva

Hello everyone! My name is Jonathan and I am a junior at Dickinson College. The main purpose of this blog is to simply share my experience with the world while studying abroad in Moscow. I will do my best to update this often(weekly/maybe biweekly?) and such. Now onto my week :)

The first week in Moscow is pretty much coming to an end. This is definitely one of those moments I'll remember for the rest of my life. I arrived Sunday evening with my friends Kim and Pat. When I got to my host mother's apartment I was terrified. I could barely understand what she was saying to me and plus I was tired. Thankfully the director of the program(Irina) was with me and helped me out a bit. I also met James, the really hot italian guy who lived with Eleonora(my hostmom/homegurl) during the summer. Unfortunately, he went back to Italy today. He was quite helpful since I could ask him anything I didn't really understand. I moved into my room which I jokingly call a closet since it is probably a little bigger than a walk-in closet. Eleonora, James, and I had some tea and I attempted to speak but nothing seemed to really come out. James and Eleonora were just chatting it up and I simply listened. We all finished our tea and I went back to my room to go to sleep.

During this whole week I feel like I have walked around more than I have ever walked in my entire life. It is crazy how big Moscow is and how much there is to see. I have been to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Red Square, Manezhnaya Ploshad, Novodevichy Cemetery, various cafes, Tsaritsina Park, a couple of really really really old monasteries/churches, and more. I promise pictures will be up soon, I will do the flicker thing. Our group also has class for a couple of hours starting at 11 am at РГГУ(the university) which is just basically review of Russian and our chance to ask Irina anything about the language. There is a new girl that joined us and her name is Amy, she's from Wesleyan and she's pretty cool. The group is actually really awesome. We will definitely have fun this year.

So far Moscow has been amazing. I am definitely liking it. My favorite place so far is Tsaritsina Park. It is just so huge and pretty. I will probably go there often while the weather is still good. And let's be honest, the situation with racism/nationalism is not the best. During the day I feel pretty safe since I'm always with the group and such. I have only been out at night twice and both times I am just always looking around for any suspicious/angry looking people. So far so good. Let's hope it stays that way. Also, about the coming out situation, I haven't given it that much thought but I do plan on coming out to homegurl Eleonora. I don't know when or how... but it's probably not anytime soon. I need to know her stances on those types of things first, although we did have a conversation about racism in the US which went pretty well. We'll see what happens. But so far everything is great and I am definitely glad to be here :)