Hi everyone!!
It has been one week now that I've been in Chelyabinsk. After that headache of my first 24 hours, I have to say that everything is pretty great!!
First and foremost, the weather overall is absolutely perfect - mid 60s, sunshine. I went on a very nice run through the forest earlier this week. No music, just went out for a very easy jog. I set out to do 30 minutes but I was enjoying myself so much that I went ahead and ran for an hour.
I am pretty settled in to the dorm. I bought a few things to make it feel more home-y - a bath mat, a shower organizer, and - my favorite thing ever so far - a multicooker! These are not popular in the US but they are very popular here because they do a TON of stuff but take up very little space - in my cooker I can make soup, bread, yogurt, rice, oatmeal, sauces, french fries (!!!), and even a few desserts.
I haven't been very adventurous yet.... just made some borsch and that's it.
Another fantastic bit of news is that my classes are NOT all-day, 5 days a week like I feared. This week's schedule is Tuesday/Wednesday 9:45-1:05, Thursday 9:45-11:30, all in the same room. Next week I will have an additional two classes - I believe one was philosophy, and I didn't catch the other, but the dean said that I will likely have Friday free as well.
This is fantastic for a few reasons - first it opens up the possibility of traveling for competitions and events around Russia. Since I am not going to Germany, I am looking at trying to compete for my unversity at the Russian Championships among Students. Second - I can train with my coach! :)
Speaking of, I trained a little bit today which was nice. Just a nice, easy kettlebell set. Lots of stretching. A little ab work. Felt pretty good except for my neck/shoulder still acting up. Just need to stretch and get a massage!
Tomorrow is the first day of class - I'm sure it will be an interesting experience.
Thanks for reading!
Amanda
It has been one week now that I've been in Chelyabinsk. After that headache of my first 24 hours, I have to say that everything is pretty great!!
First and foremost, the weather overall is absolutely perfect - mid 60s, sunshine. I went on a very nice run through the forest earlier this week. No music, just went out for a very easy jog. I set out to do 30 minutes but I was enjoying myself so much that I went ahead and ran for an hour.
I am pretty settled in to the dorm. I bought a few things to make it feel more home-y - a bath mat, a shower organizer, and - my favorite thing ever so far - a multicooker! These are not popular in the US but they are very popular here because they do a TON of stuff but take up very little space - in my cooker I can make soup, bread, yogurt, rice, oatmeal, sauces, french fries (!!!), and even a few desserts.
I haven't been very adventurous yet.... just made some borsch and that's it.
Another fantastic bit of news is that my classes are NOT all-day, 5 days a week like I feared. This week's schedule is Tuesday/Wednesday 9:45-1:05, Thursday 9:45-11:30, all in the same room. Next week I will have an additional two classes - I believe one was philosophy, and I didn't catch the other, but the dean said that I will likely have Friday free as well.
This is fantastic for a few reasons - first it opens up the possibility of traveling for competitions and events around Russia. Since I am not going to Germany, I am looking at trying to compete for my unversity at the Russian Championships among Students. Second - I can train with my coach! :)
Speaking of, I trained a little bit today which was nice. Just a nice, easy kettlebell set. Lots of stretching. A little ab work. Felt pretty good except for my neck/shoulder still acting up. Just need to stretch and get a massage!
Tomorrow is the first day of class - I'm sure it will be an interesting experience.
Thanks for reading!
Amanda
