At Least it has Four Walls...

Living in Russia is much different than in America…

Upon our arrival, our Russian RAs asked if we needed help making our beds. We replied that of course we didn’t. We were wrong. The mattresses were three inch foam pads rolled up. Upon unrolling them, we discovered that there was no fitted sheet. So Megan and I put our duvet covers over our foam mattresses… it was an ordeal. On top of that, the bedding is a random assortment of whatever the university collected from unwanted bedding somewhere. My sheets are the best, with sleeping teddy bears and ladybugs on them.

(My photos have been uploading with odd color schemes... I apologize.)

Since my arrival in Russia I’ve taken one hot shower… after the first day the university turned off the hot water for two weeks for maintenance. A cold shower sure gets your blood flowing in the morning. On the topic of my shower, a strange and unpleasant smell wafts from it day and night into my room. Ew.

Our rooms have a little entryway with four doors in it. Two doors are rooms. The room next to mine has four Russian girls. They all seem nice enough. I’m pretty sure their names are Elena, Lena, Lana, and the other one that I forgot. The next door is my room. It’s a double, but I have yet to get a roommate. Everyone else’s roommate has arrived, and I feel left out. The third door is the shower. It’s literally just a shower (the whole room is tiled) and a sink. Also, this room holds the only mirror in our entire unit. The fourth door is the toilet. And a sink. In Russia you can’t flush toilet paper and the dorm doesn’t supply it for you. Life is rough.

(Russia's next five star hotel. No joke.)

Quite often, the power goes out. For instance, as I write this from the small internet café near campus, I’m waiting for the power to come back on so I can post it. This is the second time today that the power’s gone out. Our first night, we blew out the power in the kitchen twice trying to boil some Russian potstickers. Luckily our Russian friend Dima was there to fix it for us.

But, despite the unreliability of amenities, roughing it in Vladivostok is pretty good. There are good people, decent food for the most part, beautiful weather, and the tea never stops flowing. Cheers!