From Russia, with love...and apologies to 007

So...clearly I'm awesome at this "travel blog" thing, haha. Internet is pretty accessible, but finding a good time to use it is not...so here I am, a week and a half into my trip and just writing about the beginnings of it...Here's my luggage, while waiting for the bus that started my journey (an hour late, I might add!):

MC dubbed it 'the turtle' and the name stuck. I kind of adore it. Speaking of MC, he gracefully hosted me for a day in Chicago before I took off on a 20+ hour homelessness adventure. By gracefully hosted, I mean he made me a steak smiley face:
Then he made fun of it:
After that lovely dinner and a day of walking about Chicago, and sushi with the everyone (which I neglected to take pictures of because I fail, mostly), I got up at fucking 5 AM to go to O'Hare and fly to Atlanta, and thence to Moscow. Besides the usual, it was pretty uneventful...checked in, checked luggage, had a coffee, security, hour long wait for my flight. Bah. Stalkerishly watched a mom with two adorable little boys, 4 and I'm guessing 1 1/2 years old (because they were adorable!!!) while reading Dance with Dragons. Slowly. Flight to ATL was 2 hours, and not chock-full, which was nice. Mom with the two boys sat in front of me and managed to control them impressively well. (Having had little sisters, I remember how difficult it is to keep a handle on little kids in-flight). To my surprise, I started passing out toward the end of the flight and actually missed landing! Which is one of my favorite parts :( Oh well.

Atlanta airport is HUMONGOUS. The terminal had 5 sections (A-E)...I had to go through all of them (A-E) to make my connection). I walked from A to B...then I got tired/nervous about getting there on time and grabbed the train. (They had shuttle things coming by every minute or two.) Finally got to E-wing, found my gate, wandered around a bit, grabbed a food. Tables in the food court were decorated with pretty flowers:

Hallway in the airport was decorated with dresses made out of recycled materials:

Those were my two favorites. :) Made of plastic bags and bottles. There were others that were paper, etc. Anyway, I got to my gate, waited a half hour, boarded, and sat on a plane for 10 hours. Sunrise:

Delta wasn't as terrible to fly as people would have had me believe...true, no modern conveniences like power outlets or internet, or free alcohol, but the flight attendants were super nice and the flight was half empty so I had two seats to myself. They also cleverly served breakfast and coffee right before landing, so I arrived in Moscow feeling fresh and alert and ready for adventures. Quickly found the express train to the city that my parents had told me about. My mom had also warned me not to pass out when I got on it; I found out why:

It was NICE! The ticket was like 11.50 for a 40 minute ride, though...Impressively quick for that ride, though, so it's worth it. First impressions: Russian cars, people selling veggies at the elektrichka stations (sort of like metra, commuter trains), little country houses (dachas), a group of goats, giant piles of trash, and graffiti. Also, old-school and new-school Russian block apartment buildings:

They looked really shabby to me on first glance (and some of them actually are) but mostly it was just open windows (windows here actually open, guys!) and laundry drying on balconies that gave this impression (dryers are considered a huge luxury here, even well-to-do people dry their laundry on a line on the balcony). So really, things aren't as bad as I first thought, haha.

My next stop was the "Belorusskiy vokzal" or Belarus Station to take an elektrichka a few stops, then catch a marshrutka or "route taxi" to my grandma's. These 'taxis' run along existing bus routes (or their own routes that don't follow bus routes) and are actually cheaper than bus fare by a few rubles! They aren't taxis in your typical sense, and sometimes they seem kind of sketchy. But I've discovered that a lot of things I would think are sketchy (taxis, kiosks, smaller shops) are actually standard here. So, here's the train station sign and here's the elektrichka.

Going to go spend family time now with cousins, my further adventures will follow another day ;)

63.7 miles: Watching paint dry...plus blog redirection.

Hello all! I am watching paint dry. This is my job. Actually, I tried to pawn it off on a lab undergrad, but he had to go to class. :\ And the other undergrad I could/was going to pawn it off to is off with one of the other students on his usual project. So...I'm wasting my time. *ahem* I mean using, productively :D

I'm actually pretty happy with how research has been moving this week. Construction of the test section went slower than I expected (omg, how surprising, in research--sidenote: most things go slower than expected, in my experience, they take between 2 and 7 times as long as planned...) but at least at the end of every day I felt the need to shower, put a bandaid on each new blister/scratch/cut/gaping wound (j/k), and proudly declare: I did something today! ;)

In other news, the positivity project has largely worked, so I'm largely scrapping that idea (I may come back to it when I feel particularly crappy about my day and need to find good things about it). Generally, though I am focusing on more good things in my life lately, either because of the positivity project or just because, I don't know.

Instead, YLEDO is going to be come a .... TRAVEL BLOG! With PICTURES (I hope)! I'm going to Russia for a month, so I hope to document what I am doing for all you readers to experience. It's interesting, as it's my first trip overseas 'alone' and although I'm going to my 'home' country, it really feels more like a vacation to a foreign land. Granted, I know the language, but not the customs, so it's like going to Britain or Australia. I'll be able to interact, but I'll stand out like a sore thumb anyway (I think). But I guess now instead of saying "I live in the US," I can at least say "I study in the US" and not feel like as much of a foreigner. Because Russian students go abroad all the time, right?

Anyway, look for long detailed posts in the near future as I have few things to do. As well as suggestions for things to do/see/visit.

From (Champaign, for now) with love, GS

63.7 miles: Fantastic Weekend

I'm quite certain I don't need the positivity project to feel good about this weekend/trip to Chicago.

1) Awesome evening of dinner + wine + Doctor Who.

2) Violet Hour.

3) Seeing people (MC, JB, KL, CW, LG!)

4) Bagpipes on parade!

5) Beach!

6) Fireworks!

Also, day off, cooking, good foods, late-night dessert at Clarkes, etc. etc.

And something.

63.7 miles: Good things about today

1) Was productive.

2) Called grandma.

3) First Zip-trip!

4) My awesome lab mates, who not only are moving office to make room for my experiment, but came to help me out in a pinch.

5) Sushi for dinner.

63.7 miles: Today was good...

1) I got to begin building things in the lab! [Assemble a unistrut structure.]

2) We (the guys and I) moved around furniture in/around one of the new offices.

3) Long teatime & talk with my roommate. :)

63.7 miles: How are you?

1) MC came to visit this weekend! And I think he enjoyed his stay :)

2) I ran 4 miles last Thursday at the gym; it was highly satisfying!

3) I got a bunch of books at the library book sale on the US education system (from elementary school through college). It's one of the subjects I never seem to be able to learn enough about. (Passion?)

4) I finally cleaned off my desk!

5) I had a 90-some minute phone conversation with Z about interesting things. Prompted in part by me spontaneously writing an essay at 11PM about immigration, and asking for her response/input. Parts of it will be posted later, when it's more refined.

And, because this is actually a seriously bad thing that I am quite sad about, a bad thing that happened is:

1) Carmons, the delicious crepe/French restaurant in downtown, closed on Saturday. :( I didn't know so I didn't even get to go one last time. I found out Sunday.

59.7 miles: Today was good

1) Got to look at office options for my lab; everyone basically agreed on one option, with windows (including me). [This is particularly good because once we move people into the office, I can start building in the lab.]

2) Got a bunch of annoying little tasks done.

3) There was no tornado here.

4) Raspberries were $1.99 at Country Market (I got 2).

5) I ate well.

59.7 miles: The Positivity Project

So...while some of my friends and readers may be convinced that overall I'm a pretty positive person, I feel like lately anytime I'm asked "what's up" or "how was your day" I focus on something negative and/or find a "but" in an overall positive event. This sucks, in part because it's a vicious cycle (the more I focus on the negative the more I get myself down, the more I see negative things, etc) Therefore, it needs to stop. To help myself stop, for an undefined (as yet) period of time, I will be posting at least one positive thing per day [I might not post every day, but I'll find something positive to say about each missed day.] To start, I will (positively) answer three questions on everyone's mind:

What's been up lately (last week)?

1) KL came to visit!

2) I got to play hands and feet!

3) I took a nap! (Several, actually.)

4) I cleaned my room/did laundry/went grocery shopping!

How was your weekend?

1) I saw Green Lantern, which was fun.

2) I got 5 new (used) books at the library.

3) I replenished my black tea supply.

4) I ate an eclair from Pekara (and it was delicious!)

5) I enjoyed my freshly-cleaned room and my new books (and my TV).

How was your day?

1) I woke up to find a small dog following me around the kitchen. He was cute. I later found out his name was Spiderman.

2) I went for a 2.7 mile run in spite of skipping almost 2 weeks (le gasp!).

3) My almost-no-battery MP3 player survived the entire 40 minute run!

48.0 miles: Best Running Song EVER (end of Month 1!)

Caught up on Make It or Break It today. [ABC Family show about gymnasts. Laugh if you want, but watching shows about sports makes me want to do sports. Which is good for running motivation ;)]

Not the point: The most recent episode ended with a song that instantly got adopted to my running library: One More by Superchic[k].

It's interesting because this past week I have been thinking, this is my approach to increasing my distance! I go just one more block...or just one more block in each direction...and suddenly I've run 3 miles instead of 2! :)

Other lessons, or strategies learned? I learned I can run much better without music than I thought. That I can convince myself to run in the morning :) That my best runs happen when I'm distracted; when I'm daydreaming, usually.

Goals for next month: Run 4-5 times a week, not 3-4 as happened this month. I mean, aim for 5, 4 is an absolute minimum. Also, hydrate better! I also aim to finish 105 miles by June 30.

So, "Got 100 steps to go| Tonight I'll make it 99" Or rather, tomorrow I finish my first 50 miles! In just a little over a month! :D

39.7 miles: How I lost my faith in humanity...and gained it back again.

So, I was sitting at Corner Bakery in Union Station today on my layover between Megabus and Metra, and I witnessed an appalling scene. Well, actually, I'm judging based on only partial information here, but I think my assessment was fairly accurate in this case. When the commotion ensued, I looked over and a middle-aged guy with a backpacking-backpack and 2 other bags was trying to sit down at a table (I'd say next to mine, but that would be redundant as the seating area is tiny). The problem? He had put down one of his bags in an empty chair at another table. The table (for 4) was occupied by a Cubs fan and his two lady friends. I didn't hear the first comment (by Cubs fan, henceforth A-hole), but I suspect it was rude. The middle aged guy (henceforth: Backpacker), responded akin to "I'm sorry, I just need to sit down to use the internet.") I again missed A-hole's next comment, but Backpacker removed his bag from the seat, asking "You would call the police if I leave my bag there?" incredulously. To which A-hole responded "Not only would I call the police, I would f**k you up!" (Censorship added). What followed was a back-and-forth with Backpacker feeling he was "threatened" and that "we don't treat people like that here," and "this is a public place!" and A-hole using words like "pussy" to describe Backpacker. The only reasonable sentiment came from one of the ladies, who at one point wisely suggested that "Ohmigod, everyone at this table needs to, like, shut up!"

Now, you have probably guessed that my sympathies lay with Backpacker; however, I actually feel that the situation was escalated and perpetuated by both parties. Sure, Backpacker probably set his stuff down without asking...but it was an empty chair and he was obviously overburdened (it was obvious if you saw him) and tired. Any (in my opinion) reasonable, decent human being, even if he/she was bothered by this, would have asked politely "Excuse me, would you mind moving your bag?" possibly after Backpacker sat down. Or "Excuse me, are you planning to move that in a second?" before he did. I'm guessing that A-hole's response was more akin to "What the hell, dude? Get your sh** out of here!" Backpacker, on the other hand, could have moved his stuff and kept his mouth shut instead of starting a moralistic lecture(it's like getting into internet arguments...see xkcd). No one wants to be told they're being rude by a stranger on the street (or in a train station).

So, that was the losing faith part. Made slightly worse by the fact that I felt terrible for Backpacker, but didn't want to get involved (perhaps wanted to see if they would figure it out on their own, which they did). I did give him a small smile as I left. And he thanked me for throwing my trash away o.O I only actually realized what it was he was thanking me for after I had practically left, so I couldn't even brush it off properly. So, the experience seemed somewhat incomplete on my end, having not given him reassurance of my siding with him there.

Fortunately, on the next leg of my journey I was in a Metra car with a couple with a baby (maybe 8 mos old?). They were all, collectively, adorable (and the baby independently adorable as well, of course). Furthermore, when the conductor came by, she got distracted by their baby and accidentally punched the 10-ride pass twice instead of once like they wanted/needed. They pointed this out, and she was immediately super-apologetic, started thinking of ways to fix it, and ended up writing a note on the ticket as well as giving them her phone number in case they had trouble with it, even though (according to her) they shouldn't. Furthermore, as she was doing this, the couple got slightly flustered and started saying that it was fine, no big deal, etc. Which is the part that restored my faith in people :D Because sometimes not making a fuss over a few dollars is just easier on everyone. Still, the conductor had already figured it out so she wrote them a note, reasoning that "a ride is a ride." Points for righteous business practices/customer service people. :D Further restoring my faith in humanity.

Incidentally, I currently have a pretty terrible opinion of Cubs fans.