Moscow

W0w. Okay, so here was my flight schedule:
I left my house at 5:45 AM. Went to the airport, checked in, but one of my bags was like 52.5 pounds and not 50, so I was flipping out because I was trying to re-arrange but not having much success, so my mom suggested that I take out the cosmetics stuff and just carry them on (host family gifts). I didn't think twice about it and was like oh, okay, that works, and my bag dropped to 49.5 lbs. BUT as I was going through security they said they'd all have to be taken away because they're considered to be liquids over three ounces, so I'd have to re-check them. So I went out, went back to the desk, and found out that my luggage had already been sent through. But then there was this AMAZING woman who called up my luggage and brought me over to the booth at the very end of the counter and just told me to stick them in-she put on an overweight tag and told me she wouldn't charge me for it. AMAZING.

So then I flew from Cleveland to Chicago and had about an hour and a half layover. I was terrified that they weren't going to transfer my bags, because I was switching from United to Delta, and both have lost my luggage on multiple occasions. But then I landed in NY JFK and everything was there, which was fabulous. So I had to get my stuff from baggage claim, switch terminals, and re-check in with Lufthansa. Then Alya and I were just hanging out for like 3 hours before our flight boarded. Then began my first trans-atlantic flight. Almost 7 hours, which was tough (especially because I had the window seat, making it hard to get out whenever I wanted), but Lufthansa and Frankfurt made me pretty much love all Germans and Germany itself. I realize that's a pretty broad generalization to make based on the flight crew of 2 German planes, but I don't really care. It was amazing. First they fed us dinner, because we were on Eastern Standard Time...and then three hours later fed us breakfast, because then we decided to be on whatever time zone Frankfurt is in. Like Sonya said, they pretty much just picked whatever time zone was serving a meal and went for it. The breakfast was really quite exciting. Fruit cup with kiwi, blueberries (well, blueberry), watermelon, and strawberries. Some of the stuff was typical airplane food but on the whole I was quite impressed. And they were playing Looney Tunes at 4:30 in the morning.

We had a pretty short layover in Frankfurt, maybe only an hour, but our flight to Moscow was pretty empty so we each pretty much got half a row to ourselves. They served us breakfast AGAIN, which was excellent the second time as well. I had crepes. The people in front of me were having wine and gin and tonics, which I found to be an interesting choice of drink at 8 am German time and 11 AM Moscow time. In neither case is it really appropriate to start that early.

So we got into Moscow and "went through customs" which meant walking through a hallway and then exiting. We didn't even see anyone. Went to the hotel (free wi-fi!), slept for two hours, and then had dinner. Denis came to meet us for dinner and then took us around Moscow. It was really nice. We went to Red Square and saw the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral, etc etc. I had a lot of fun and hopefully we'll be able to see him again next time we're in Moscow.

So problem number one: my visa card still isn't working. My Dad said he called them, but it's still being declined. I have money on me, I'm just worried that tomorrow I won't have enough to pay for overweight baggage on Aeroflot (they have some weird calculation). Everyone says that I should be fine but I'm still anxious about it. Also I don't know if I should bribe the airport person. A lot of people told me I should, but I dunno. Anyway. Tomorrow we have more orientation and we leave for Irkutsk at 11:30 PM. I think it's like a 6 or 7 hour flight plus a 5 hour time change...so we'll be landing at like noon local time. Which is unfortunate, because all I'm going to want to do is sleep. In the past 60 or so hours I've slept maybe 11 or 12 (not including very short and infrequent naps on the plane).

Exhausted. Going to sleep.

I leave in two days

That is not okay. I'm not at all ready. My goal is to be packed by tonight (with the exception of the extra laundry I need to do, which will be done tomorrow). My fear really set in last night and now I can't sleep. GREAT.

I leave Cleveland at 7:30 AM Wednesday, flying to New York JFK through Chicago (? cheap ticket). Then I have to get my stuff from the baggage claim, go BACK through security, and fly out of NY at 4:35 to Frankfurt, Germany (I had to buy two separate tickets for this-my biggest fear is that my luggage isn't going to be transferred in Chicago and then I won't ever get it since I won't be in any one city for more than 24 hours before I get to Irkutsk). I leave Frankfurt at 7:15 AM and land in Moscow at 12:15. This is exhausting to even think about.

I need to pack and finish my application for this FBI internship. I also want to see people tonight. Maybe go to the Cheesecake Factory. But Cold Case Files is on at noon, which is clearly a priority.

I really like this font. Meaning it's likely that I'll post often.