The hardest part ...
Trip Start
May 30, 2011
1
32
Trip End
Aug 21, 2011
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
I haven't even left for Russia yet but am already really wrapped up in this trip. I leave in 17 days if everything is in order.
I applied as an appeal program through the University of Tulsa and didn't hear back until April 19th. I immediately then submitted my conformation to go to Novosibirsk State University. This gave them only a month and a half to work with my paperwork, when 3 months would have been ideal. I have been dealing with everything on my own since this program is directly through the local university and not through some provider and not affiliated with the University of Tulsa. At least I'm getting good practice with using my Russian already. What made it hard to get things going was that Novosibirsk province is +12 hours from my time zone so I would write to them one day, they would receive the message the next day, and then a day after that I would receive the reply. If I needed a quick answer I would wake up around 2-3am and make a call to Siberia. You can imagine this is a slow process. Well we made a contract and I had to take the Test of Russian as a Foreign Language, and then they sent my paperwork to the Department of Migration Services in Novosibirsk to register my invitation, which then takes around a month for processing. They were supposed to have the invitation returned to them today (13 May) and ship it to me via DHL express mail. I need this to even apply for my visa, which itself can take a while. Once I get the invitation in the mail I will go to Houston to visit the Russian Consulate General to expedite the visa registration.
I guess the take home lesson is that it is much simpler to just choose an affiliated program and let others take care of all the official business for you. Though my deal was that programs were only offered in the major touristic cities of Russia (Moscow and St.Petersburg), and I wanted to see somewhere new. If you read the description of this blog, you can read about why I chose Akademgorodok, Siberia.
More to come when I get to Russia (thought I don't know about the Internet situation). Can't wait!!!
14 May 2011
This is getting exciting already. I know where and with whom I will live now. I already had a living assignment but I was not pleased with that option. I was supposed to live in a two-story cottage (really luxurious for Russia) 15 minutes walk from the university. The owner is a widow of an Academic of the university. She would allow us to use the kitchen but would not cook for us herself. Another thing is that I would be living there with two other English speaking students. I was upset to here that. I was not going to spend this chance I have to go to Russia to live among foreigners! So I politely asked my advisor If there was a way I could live with a Russian family without other foreigners.
She found an elderly woman (it was so sweet how she was described in the message I got) that lives in apartment still only 15 minutes walk from the campus and is willing to cook 1, 2, or 3 meals a day.
"Хозяйку зовут Тамара Николаевна Анчугова. Она чудесная заботливая бабушка"
("The owner's name is Tamara Anchugova. She is a wonderful caring grandmother")
This is going to be an authentic experience. I think I found a picture online of the apartment building that I will be staying in. Nothing screams Mother Russia like this place. The chipping paint is a good sign. The colors are excellent.
Above is Аkademicheskaya Street, Building № 4 (photo from 2005).
To the left is another photo I found online.
Мы не сделаем Вас умнее, мы научим Вас думать!
"We do not make you smarter, we teach you to think!"
