Well I created the blog back in April, and now less than a week before I leave I can make my first real post.
6 months ago when I signed a piece of paper, that I electronically sent to Language Link in Moscow, it never dawned on me that I was just mere months away from moving to the other side of the world. Well...now we're less then a week away, and I've finally had my 'Oh Shit!" moment. Until today, when I had my last shift at work I understood...I'm leaving everything I know and love to literally move to the other side of the world in less than a week. You know what else I didn't realize? How expensive it is to do such a thing. First you need a plane ticket, that was $632, then the Visa...another $270, on top of that I'm paying for my first month of housing out of pocket...so another $600. So there we have $1502 for an initial investment, and I'm not even counting living expenses, or the junk I need to buy before I leave. Happily, I'm getting reimbursed for all but the $600 of housing at the end of my contract, however this is still a nice chunk of change out of pocket. Adding all of that up just led to a second "Oh Shit!" moment, that it really is expensive to move to the other side of the world.
Well with that said, I still need to pack. Now may I ask, how to do you pack to move to Russia? I certainly haven't figured it out yet. Honestly I probably won't until Tuesday night, after all, that's how I packed for all four years of college. The only difference is that I can't drive down to Bangor to meet my parents and pick up whatever it is I forgot. Every one says, "Pack warm, you're going to need it!" The only issue with that, is when I land in Moscow it's going to be 75, and this week Moscow was in the 90's. So shorts or a parka? I think I'm going to be packing mostly Summer/Fall clothes, I can always buy new Winter clothes (or have them sent to me). Oh and I need to bring some peanut butter, they don't have peanut butter in Russia. When you think of Russia, can't you just imagine some old Babushka cutting the crusts of a PB&J for her grandson? Well apparently not.
I think that's enough to write for today. Don't forget to come to my party on Saturday 3:30-whenever.
-Kyle
