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.

Myriad of thoughts

Hating the word 'healthy' as applied to food. 'Healthy' can be a person who is not sick or weak/sickly. I suppose 'healthy' can be a habit that is known to promote health: brushing your teeth, doing yoga, jogging, sleeping enough, spending time with friends and/or family, etc. I suppose a diet can be 'healthy;' one that supplies necessary energy and nutrients to allow the body to function at a high level. But a food...there is no superfood you could live off of forever by itself. You need meats for protein and iron and omega 3 and maybe even some fat to satiate you. You need plants--fruits and vegetables and mushrooms for fiber and vitamins and minerals. The list goes on. Everything we can eat, we probably need a little of...'Healthy' is about balance; and one food can't have balance by itself.

Had a really hard week, but really satisfied with the results. I got some data (I want to say a lot, but it's not quite true...still, more than before), I tried an independent idea, I went to two workshops (Time Management and Python Resources for Science and Engineering), I jogged twice, I had an hour-long and very productive conversation with my advisor regarding research, funding, and summer vacation (possibly a trip to Russia?). Spent 14 hour days on campus. Cooked for myself, maybe twice. Anyway. Made me think that the best, most satisfying weeks, are the ones where you do a lot of work and can be proud of yourself :).

When I was at home last weekend, my mom leaned back and hit her head on the doorjamb on accident. While she was wincing and rubbing it, I asked if I should "kiss it and make it better." She goes "sure." Then when I did it, she tells me in a shocked voice: "wow, that actually worked!" Apparently she had always thought it was a way to calm kids down when they weren't actually hurt, just asking for attention. Live and learn, I guess? Go placebos!

Anyway...I'm cold, I have hw, taxes, and an episode of FNL to finish :). Also, Avenue Q on Friday! *excitement*

Graduate School

I have accepted an offer, and rejected another!

I am going to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on a 12-month fellowship, by the end of which I will hopefully have a professor I can work for :)

Design projects are kicking into high gear (as if they weren't already).

Had an interview for a summer camp counselor position. Stressed my interest in being an "adventure camp trip leader" over a traditional counselor. Yaaaay backpacking through California for the whole summer. I hope I get it. Or at least the traditional counselor thing. I need to get away from the computer/calculations/homework/email/stress/engineering thing and try some outdoor life out :)

Basically, life is good and getting better.