Let's give this technology thing a try!

Okay, I give in. I'll try blogging. After being here for a week, it's clear that I need a better way to keep in touch with everyone stateside, so blogging it is! 

A quick recap. I'm spending three months studying at the Moscow Art Theater School (MXAT) as part of my MFA program in dramaturgy. I arrived a week ago, and so far it's been a whirlwind of discoveries. On the whole, most things are better than I expected. Here are the highlights:

1) I can eke out some basic communication in Russian, at least enough to buy groceries and order food at the столовая (cafeteria). I can even pick up quite a few phrases when seeing plays or listening to a professor lecture in class. (Our classes with Russian-speaking professors do have translators, but I enjoy trying to pick up the Russian words.)

2) There is so much good dairy here. And so much cheap, tasty bread. Bakery loaves can be had for 30 rubles, or about $1. 

3) The theaters are packed every night. People sit on the stairs and stand in the aisles. The theaters set up extra chairs in the aisles and attach fold-down seats to the ends of rows, ensuring that the aisles are effectively only about four inches wide during the shows.Granted, Russian fire code is nothing like that in America, but it is thrilling to see how many people consistently attend the theater.

4) The cafeteria is the best. I can consistently get lunch for $2-3 (60-90 rubles), and everyone goes there - from the students to the administrators to the head of the school, everyone loves the столовая.

5) The dorm showers. Hot water nearly instantly with better water pressure than I get at home. So nice.

And the lowlights:

1) My Russian is not nearly as good as I'd like. Reading the plays before I see them is an absolute necessity, even if I've read them before. And trying to find seats in the theaters or put money on the Metro cards seems downright impossible.

2) Despite the abundance of bread and cheese, Russia is not a vegetarian's paradise. Produce is very expensive in the supermarkets, and the outdoor markets require haggling to get good deals. I'm not a person inclined to haggle, and even if I were, my Russian language skills are not yet up to the challenge. Case in point: on Saturday, I got so flustered at the first farmers' market I found that I ended up paying 100 rubles ($3) for three small tomatoes. At least they were fresh and flavorful!

3) Russian etiquette seems impossible to decipher. Lines are optional, pushing is the norm, and if you can intimidate shy American students into giving up their seats for you, all the better. At the same time, handing money to someone is rude (because money is dirty), and everyone kindly stands to the right on the (impossibly steep Soviet-era) escalators.

4) It's expensive! A small cup of plain coffee at Starbucks (or Старбакс, as the locals say) will set you back about $6. KFC has coffee for the bargain price of $3. I'm so glad I brought my thermos!

5) The dorm internet. Of all the downsides to living in a dorm again, the spotty, finicky internet has to be the biggest. In fact, the on-again, off-again internet is a big factor in my starting this blog. Trying to keep people back home up to date over video calls that constantlyi cut out, lag, or drop was getting exhausting. So I'll spell out the details here, and hope that I can squeeze out just enough internet to upload the posts!