PRIVIET!!! yes i found a net-cafe within 24 hours of being here. and the best thing is it's just down the block from my "dom". where do i start? well, this costs .. uh 180rubles an hour. that's almost 6$/hour. that's a lot. the public library is 15 rubles an hour.

so....St. Petersburg...:!!! it's absolutely astonishing. here i am, finally, in the place of my dreams. the city is old, dirty, collapsing, and gorgeous. i live on Derpitskij Ulitsa, with an actress and her father (her mother is at the dacha). i have a large room all to myself, about 20' by 15' with high ceilings. i got here and was extremely tired. i slept until nine pm last night, had dinner with grampa, watched Cliffhanger in Russian and then went for a walk around 11pm. i walked about 6km around the area, and it was quite an experience. when i got back, almost 1am, the sun was still shining. it was dusk. i went to bed around 1:30 when it was still light outside, woke up at 4am, and it was purple out. within minutes the sun came up and i couldn't get back to sleep. i laid in bed for 2.5 hours trying to sleep. i have a large window by my couch i sleep on...it's about 8'high and has one lace curtain. darkness is impossible in this city in May. i eventually got up, had some tea (they have a really awesome modern samovar), and read some of my book. i also mapped out exactly where everyone in the group lives. class.....we tested and ended up being split by gender (the guys happen to have more experience than the girls, coincedentally). i changed $20 into rubles, and got a kabob and apricot juice for lunch -- 45rubles. i like the prices. then we took a tour around St. Pete in a van. it proceeded to get windier and colder... i have only my blue zip-up sweatshirt jacket.... tomorrow i will bring something warmer.

dinner awaits. i wrote so much in my personal journal the past few days i feel strange repeating myself... i'm sure this will get more exciting later on. so far...i'm alive, i'm extremely excited... i'm living a dream.

email me. i checked my email and had only five junk emails. very disappointing. people? is anyone reading this?