Welcome to Russia.

It's my third day here, and I'm still decompressing. The flight was long, longer than I remembered it being five years ago, but maybe that's because I didn't sleep. At all. Because of that nasty time change, the result was that I ended up awake for about 30 hours straight. In retrospect, going to a bar that first night wasn't such a great idea (um, hi Mom...) Ended up staying there all of a half hour before going back to the hotel and crashing for what seemed like a year, but was actually more like 12 hours.
Yesterday, had an overwhelming in-city orientation. All this stuff about the metro, and phone cards, and God knows what else because it was all in Russian. Also got some more info about my host family, whom I'm meeting in about an hour (!!!) Unfortunately, I'll be about twenty minutes away from anything or anyone in my group--we'll see how that works out when I go out at night and try to get back after the metros have stopped working. Fun stuff.
Finished off yesterday with dinner at a Georgian restaurant and a trip to Money Honey, a rockabilly bar with pictures of Elvis and confederate flags all over the walls. The band played fairly credible versions of hits from the 50s, and I only felt out-of-place when I tried to order a drink. Generally, though, my--and the rest of the group's--American-ness has been pretty evident to most natives here. We're the only ones walking around wide-eyed, money pouches visible, taking pictures of buildings that most Russians pass daily on their way to work. I've got an entire semester to learn how to fit in, though, and a small amount of money to spend on makeup, impractical heels and short skirts, which seem to be essential to most Russian women.
Damn these Internet cafes--I was about to comment on the quality of the food (good) the rudeness of the servers (ouch) and the fact that NOBODY smiles here, not even for pictures, but my time is up. Do zaftra.